Reviews Category
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Obama threatens a repeat of Trayvon Martin, Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian
BARACK Obama says that race relations are going to get worse in America unless… The White House Dossier reports:
President Obama said that if economic prescriptions of the type he supports to increase economic growth and reduce “income inequality” are not adopted, then race relations in the United State may deteriorate further.
“If we don’t do anything, then growth will be slower than it should be. Unemployment will not go down as fast as it should. Income inequality will continue to rise,” Obama said in an interview published Sunday by the New York Times. “Racial tensions won’t get better; they may get worse, because people will feel as if they’ve got to compete with some other group to get scraps from a shrinking pot. If the economy is growing, everybody feels invested, ” he said.
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Posted: 1st, August 2013 | In: Money, Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Bradley Manning: Nobody likes a grass and other views on the celebrity leaker
BRADLEY Manning has been found guilty of betraying his colleagues in the US Army and the people they fight for by leaking thousands of classified documents. He has been convicted of espionage and 20 charges of all but not of aiding the enemy.
Some, views:
…if our secrets are entrusted to the likes of Bradley Manning, best we not keep too many of them…
The “aiding the enemy” charge was always weak, since Obama doesn’t seem to think we’re at war with anybody. Manning isn’t really a “whistleblower,” though, since he didn’t even know what was in a lot of the stuff he turned over to Wikileaks, and when he did know, it was often stuff like troops’ personal information.
The most damning piece of news he got out was that we entrust secrets to idiots like him. I’m sure they’ll do better with your healthcare information. . . .
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Kyron Horman: the magical August 1 deadline and what mother puts a price on her son’s head?
THE Kyron Horman case is ‘heating up’. It’s been 3 years and 2 months since the seven-year-old boy went missing from the Skyline Elementary school in Portland Oregon. The local Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office are still without a single clue as to what happened to him.
No-one has been named as a suspect. What crime, if any, befell the child has not been established. the media has been doing the police dirty work in cranking up pressure on Kyron’s step-mother, Terri Horman. She is now estranged from the boy’s father, Kaine Horman.
Why is the step-mother in the frame? Terri Moulton Horman is the last person known to have seen Kyron before he vanished from Skyline School on June 4 2010. And that’s it.
The Oregonian reports:
Kyron Horman’s mother to drop civil suit in son’s disappearance
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Posted: 31st, July 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (4)
THIS is an undated image showing a circa 1780 newspaper advertisement by the slave-trading dealership of Austin, Laurens and Appleby announcing the arrival of African slaves to the American colonies at Ashley Ferry outside of Charleston, S.C.
THIS is an undated image showing a circa 1780 newspaper advertisement by the slave-trading dealership of Austin, Laurens and Appleby announcing the arrival of African slaves to the American colonies at Ashley Ferry outside of Charleston, S.C.
Posted: 29th, July 2013 | In: Flashback, The Consumer | Comment
1900: The smallest shop in London
IN 1900, this was the smallest shop in London – a 1.2 square meter shoe shop.
Spotter: collectivehistory
Posted: 29th, July 2013 | In: Flashback, The Consumer | Comment (1)
Leslie Cohen Berlowitz is ‘clearly a victim of the patriarchy’s obsession with facts and evidence’
“The 233-year old American Academy of Arts and Sciences has announced that its longtime President and Chief Executive, Leslie Cohen Berlowitz, has agreed to resign effective at the end of this month following an investigation of charges of resume embellishment and other misconduct. Berlowitz falsely claimed to have received a doctorate from New York University, and has also been criticized for her behavior towards scholars and subordinates, and for her compensation package ($598,000 for 2012) relative to the size of the non-profit organization she led.”
Looks like massaging your CV pays off…
Gwent police appeal for return of stolen pie
WE would not say that Gwent police are busy; more that they are diligent.
Good work, Gwent. But what was the pie filled with? Blackbirds? Was it cooked? Are you worried about the welfare of the pie thief. Those things can be deadly. Call the burns unit… Tweet us with information.
The Documerica Project: photos of Chicago’s black community in the 1970s
IN the 1970s, the US Government created Documerica Project (1971-1977). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hired freelance photographers to capture images relating to environmental problems, EPA activities, and everyday life in the 1970s.
John H White was one of nearly one hundred photographers hired for DOCUMERICA. His photographs captured the spirit and struggle of the African-American community in Chicago, Illinois in the early 70’s.
The captions are the original texts:
Sidewalk Merchandise On Chicago’s South Side. Many Of The City’s Black Businessmen Started Small And Grew By Working Hard Today Chicago Is Believed To Be The Black Business Capital Of The United States, 06/1973
Graffiti On A Wall In Chicago. Such Writing Has Advanced And Become An Art Form, Particularly In Metropolitan Areas. Black Artists Also Have Used Walls On Buildings In Black Communities In Chicago To Paint Outdoor Murals. They Feel It Is A Means Of Sharing Art With People In The Ghetto Who Don’t Go To The Museums. The Artists Also Have Given Painting Lessons To Community Groups By Decorating Walls On Some Buildings In Their Communities, 05/1973
Street Scene On 47th Street In South Side Chicago, A Busy Area Where Many Small Black Businesses Are Located, 06/1973
Black Beauties Complement A Float During The Bud Billiken Day Parade, 08/1973
Isaac Hayes Dancers Perform At The International Amphitheater In Chicago, 10/1973
Black Children Play Outside The Ida B. Wells Homes, One Of Chicago’s Oldest Housing Projects. There Are 1,652 Apartments Housing 5,920 Persons In 124 Buildings On The South Side. Many Buildings In This Part Of The City Have Been Systematically Vacated For Various Reasons. Even Though Many Are Salvageable, They Are Razed And Replaced With High Rent Highrises Which Have Little Or No Appeal To The Area’s Previous Residents, 05/1973
Worshippers At Holy Angel Catholic Church On Chicago’s South Side. It Is The City’s Largest Black Catholic Church. The Pastor Is Father George H. Clements, A Leader In The Black Community, 10/1973
Illinois Governor Dan Walker Greets Chicago Constituents During The Bud Billiken Day Parade, 08/1973
Black Products And Services Was One Of The Themes At The Annual Black Expo Held In Chicago. Also Present Were Black Art And Culture, Education, Talent, A Voter Registration Drive And Other Aspects Of Black Consciousness. The Aim Is To Make Blacks Aware Of Their Heritage And Capabilities, And Help Them Towards A Better Life, 10/1973
A Black Band Performs At The Lake Meadows Shopping Center In Chicago. Not Well Known, They Are Sharing Their Music At Home And Hope Their Start Will Lead To Greater Recognition, 08/1973
Black Muslim Women Dressed In White Applaud Elijah Muhammad During The Delivery Of His Annual Savior’s Day Message In Chicago. The City Is Headquarters For The Black Muslims. Their $75 Million Empire Includes A Mosque, Newspaper, University Restaurants, Real Estate, Bank And Variety Of Retail Stores Muhammad Died February 25, 1975, 03/1974
“The Fruit Of Islam”, A Special Group Of Bodyguards For Muslim Leader Elijah Muhammad, Sit At The Bottom Of The Platform While He Delivers His Annual Savior’s Day Message In Chicago, 03/1974
The Rev. Jesse Jackson Speaks On A Radio Broadcast From The Headquarters Of Operation Push, At Its Annual Convention. One Of The Aims Of The Organization Is To Open The World Of Business To Small Black Owned Businesses. Rev. Jackson Is Credited For Helping To Make Chicago The Black Banking Capital In The Country. He Helped Persuade White Companies To Stop Taking Profits They Earned From Black Consumers To The White Suburbs, 07/1973
Vote Registration Drive Was One Aspect Of Black Expo, An Annual Exhibit Of Black Talent, Education, Products And Other Aspects Of Black Consciousness Held In Chicago. The Aim Is To Make Blacks Aware Of Their Heritage And Capabilities, And Help Them Towards A Better Life, 10/1973
Black Man Operating A Newsstand In Chicago On The West Side The City Is Believed To Be The Black Business Capital Of The United States. Census Figures Show In 1970 There Were 8,747 Black Owned Businesses In The City That Grossed More Than $332 Million. But Black Capitalists Still Have More Trouble Staying In Business Once They Begin And The Main Reason Remains Racial Prejudice. Lack Of Capital Lack Of Business Expertise And Lack Of Support From The Black Community Are Other Factors, 06/1973
Black Youngsters Performing On An Empty Lot At 5440 South Princeton Avenue On Chicago’s South Side At A Small Community Program Called “an Open Air Fashion And Talent Show” Presented By “the New Between The Tracks Council”, A Community Block Group. It Is One Of Many Block Clubs And Community Groups Organized To Help Youngsters “do Their Thing” During Special Weekend Programs In Empty Lots In The Black Communities, 08/1973
Black Beauties With Colorful Hair Grace A Float During The Annual Bud Billiken Day Parade Along Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Drive On Chicago’s South Side. Up To Half A Million People View One Of The Largest Events Of The Year, Held For Blacks Of All Ages And Economic Status. The Parade Also Includes Black Politicians, Black Businesses Displaying Their Products And Black Bands, 08/1973
Chicago Ghetto On The South Side. Although The Percentage Of Chicago Blacks Making $7,000 Or More Jumped From 26 To 58% Between 1960 And 1970, A Large Percentage Still Remained Unemployed. The Black Unemployment Rate Generally Is Assumed To Be Twice That Of The National Unemployment Rate Published Monthly By The Bureau Of Labor Statistics, 05/1974
Posted: 29th, July 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Photojournalism, Reviews | Comment
Divisive immigration posters should include a humour test for illegals
NEW Home Office adverts urge illegal immigrants to”‘go home or face arrest”? Leaflets are being distributed in East and West London boroughs: Hounslow, Barking & Dagenham, Ealing, Barnet, Brent and Redbridge.
It’s PR politics. The Government looks threatening and tough whilst also coming across as soft and understanding. The message beneath the tools of arrest and detention informs: “We can help you return home voluntarily without fear of arrest or detention.”
See. It’s not intimidation. It’s an advert for free travel. Sure, you fled poverty /persecution at home, breached national borders and adapted to a new country. But you might get arrested at some point so best to hand yourself in. These posters can’t fail to work. The illegal immigration must be forming an orderly queue.
A few views:
Vince Cable MP (Lib):
“We have a problem, but it’s not a vast one. And it has got to be dealt with in a measured way, dealing with the underlying causes…Actually, it’s quite difficult being an illegal immigrant in Britain. You can’t work, certainly legally. You can’t have access to benefits. So the idea that there’s some vast hidden army of people is almost certainly wrong.”
Sadiq Khan MP (Lab):
“I think this is David Cameron’s attempt to try to win over Ukip voters. I think anybody that buys anything off the back of the lorry is foolish, and that includes this sort of silly posters.”
Nick de Bois MP (Con):
“Are people saying after all then: ‘Well, it’s OK, we’ll let people stay here illegally’? That’s not what the British public wants, and I think my colleagues in coalition are divorced from the reality that the British public are pleased that … illegal immigration is something that just shouldn’t be tolerated.”
Nigel Farage (UKIP):
“What the billboard should say is: Please don’t vote UKIP, we are doing something. That’s what it’s all about. I think the actual tone of the billboards, it really is Big Brother, nasty, it’s unpleasant. I don’t think using messaging like this makes any difference, what would make a difference is enforcing our borders properly.”
Immigration Minister Mark Harper:
“This is about people who are here illegally, the messaging on the advertising is very clear. We are working very closely with a lot of community groups who actually welcome the opportunity for someone who is not here legally to leave the country in a dignified way rather than being arrested, detained and having an enforced removal.”
…I texted the number advertised on the bilboards. The auto reply offered a callback in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, English or other language. I noted the racial profiling but went to bed and thought no more of it.
The next day, just as I was looking for a distraction from my dull sandwich-at-a-desk routine, the telephone rang. It was the Home Office. Although I had no script planned, I was up for some fun.
“Umm, I need to go home.”
“Where do you need to get home to?”
“Willesden Green.”
“This scheme is for people who need to go home to a place abroad.”
“Yes but I’m in Harrow now and your poster said you’d help me get home …”
“We provide help to people who are here illegally, such as people whose visas have expired.”
“I don’t have a visa.”
“Do you think you might be here illegally?”
“I don’t know. Do I need a visa to travel between Willesden and Harrow?”
Maybe the low-value migrants – the people whose jobs don’t score highly on the UK Border Agency’s check list for would-be immigrants and who aren’t rich – can petition for a test on their senses of humour?
Caroline Criado-Perez: twitter trolls and narks show us how police bigotry works
DO the police use an even hand when confronting the Twitter mob in full cry? When Caroline Criado-Perez decried the Bank of England decided to replace Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on new £5 notes – this meant no women, save for The Queens, were on bank notes – she and others who campaigned for equality on folding money brought about a change of heart.
The Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, caved in to pressure and announced that Jane Austen is going on the £10 note.
This brought Criado-Perez to attention of the Twitter brains trust, some of whom called for her to be raped and murdered.
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The 1931 cooked hot-dog vending machine
IN 1931, you could buy a warm sausage from a German vending machine, like this one.
You can buy pretty much anything from a vending machine: live crabs, tax discs for prostitutes, gold, drugs, used panties, breasts, lobster, toilet paper, eggs, iPods, flowers, cars and caviar.
Would you eat this sausage? Not now. It would be in its 80s. Then. It looks a lot like the machine is is going to the toilet. and this sausage model, the good hot dog owner, is collecting its waste to chuck in the bin…
Posted: 28th, July 2013 | In: Flashback, The Consumer | Comment
Francis Ford Coppola’s original cast list for The Godfather
AROUND 1970: Francis Ford Coppola produced this potential cast list for The Godfather.
Posted: 27th, July 2013 | In: Film, Flashback | Comment (1)
In photos: North Korea marks Armistice Day – 60th anniversary of Korean War ending
ON July 27 1953, the Korean War ended.
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What Teachers Make – a poetic answer to the idiots who wonder what a good teacher does
THESE are excerpts of What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali:
REad it all here.
Broadwater Farm: Nicholas Jacobs harks back to when the racist State attacked black youth
THIS is court drawing of Nicholas Jacobs appearing at the Old Bailey in London, via video-link from Belmarsh prison, where he is charged with the murder of Pc Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985.
…
In 1985, Cynthia Jarrett died during a police raid on her home. She was black. The police then went to the estate in force. They would put down unrest before it happened. A woman had died. Then the police invaded. Trouble was inevitable. The reaction from the locals was fierce and bloody. In the mayhem, PC Keith Blakelock (above) was hacked to death.
What did the police then do? They arrived as an occupying force. Around 9,000 of them set up camp on the estate. Almost one home in four was raided. One tenth of the residents were arrested: most of them black youth. The police were targeting the blacks. Racism was rife. The Force terrorised suspects and witnesses. Desperate the ugly, the police framed three men for PC Blacklock’s murder.
Nicholas Jacobs was 16 at the time of PC Blakelocks’s murder. He was a teenger who had grown up in a ghetto patrolled by the racist’s State’s front-line urban Army. His trial will stir up a lot of bad feeling and memories.
More here.
Wash your hands kids or else the UNICEF clown will get you
WHAT did you do on Global Handwashing Day in Uzbekistan? In 2012, those hygiene thinking Uzbeks employed a clown to remind the kinder that failure to wash their hands would result in a hiding they would never forget. Either that or else Botchulism Bonzo is reading palms, explaining to this child that he has a very short life line and gripping your wrist leads to godless behaviours…
Spotter: HIAControversies blog, Boing Boing
Eight-metre tall naked man pissing in a river makes waves in Sweden
FINALLY, Charles Clarke, the former Labour Home Secretary, has been honoured with a statue worthy of his talent.
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Posted: 27th, July 2013 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
Jamaican police clampdown on snorting soap powder ‘cocaine’
SHARON Jaddoo, 44, packed 4 oil drum with goods for her partially sighted aunt in Kingston, Jamaica. The supplies included: cooking oil, rice, custard, teabags, toothpaste and Prudax washing powder.
Mrs Jaddo, who lives in Birmingham, spent £770 on the goods and £370 more to transport the goods her aunt never received in full. When the lot arrived in jamaica, customs officers identified the washing powder as cocaine. Says Mrs Jaddo:
‘‘How stupid can you be? Hasn’t anyone told them you don’t smuggle drugs into Jamaica, you smuggle drugs out of Jamaica?”
We’d like to think that at that point Mr Jaddo held up a huge package marked “Love from Aunty Mavis”. But she didn’t.
Instead, we hark back to a 2002 article in the Jamaica Gleaner, now required reading amongst that country’s border patrollers:
Tony Hendriks, contributor
Every pair of my underpants I own is now squeaky clean!
You can see through them clearly and if you hold them up to the light they sparkle.
There are no drip marks and if you were to rub a slightly damp finger round the edge of the waistband you may get a high-pitched note to resonate forth…
I knew we use tablets not powder (I listen) so like Moses I scoured the place for tablets but found only two such boxes and the one I finally chose boasted power to clean away hard stains like dried egg and baked cheese.
“Wow”, I thought, these English people have some strange eating habits and their soap powder caters for them but if it can move egg and cheese it sure as shirt can shift my under-stains…
It did a good job too, not that I had egg on my shorts or cheese on my toes but it didn’t smell as nice as a usual powders do. I figured it must just be fragrance-free. It was because I’d bought dishwasher tablets.
Locally known as Ecstasy tablets…
PS – Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (GHB, GBL, And 1,4-BD) is nicknamed ‘soap‘.
Adverts tells NASCAR fans to buy hangover-free, lo-cal marijuana not beer
MARIJUANA has gone mainstream. We’ve yet to see weed adverts on the side of F1 vehicles, as we have for cigarettes and booze, but NASCAR fans heading to the 2013 Brickyard 400 races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will get to see a TV advert hailing cannabis.
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The Bank of England keeping token women on banknotes is no victory
LIKE many people, I’m delighted with the news that the Bank of England will be keeping women on our banknotes. I made this cartoon in support of the campaign.
There’s a few things about the reaction to the news which have struck me, so I thought I’d jot my notes down.
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Bad loser shows slot machines what he thinks with an axe
YOU think you’re a bad loser? Think you’re ratty in the heatwave? You’ve got nothing on the man who decided to go nutso with an axe on a load of slot machines after he apparently lost 5,000 euros.
CCTV footage showed Nure Bregu walking into a bar in Fontaniva, Italy, complete with an axe, going postal on the machines before as customers legged it in terror.
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Posted: 26th, July 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Transfer Balls: Arsenal ‘captain’ says Luis Suarez is the top player Manchester United’s Robin Van Persie never was
TRANSFER Balls is brought to you by Arsenal’s former captain Frank McLintock:
“I think Suarez could play alongside Giroud and then you have got pace on the flanks and it could be very good. But I think you need more than that and Arsenal, hopefully, will go in for people like Marouane Fellaini and Wayne Rooney. I don’t know if that is too much for them but it would be lovely for the fans, who have been waiting for eight, nine years for a top player.”
In your face, Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri, Jack Wilshere…
Posted: 26th, July 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Granny batters burglars with Guitar Hero controller
A GRANDMOTHER fended off three armed- ARMED – intruders using the best weapon money can buy – a Guitar Hero controller!
Melinda Walker – whose home had been broken into numerous times before – hit the burglars repeatedly with the guitar-shaped controller after becoming fed up at their constant attempts to snatch her belongings by robbing her house.
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Posted: 26th, July 2013 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
