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.
Builder survive 15 tonne building collapse (video)
WHEN a building collapses on you, you’ll probably think you’re a dead-man. Well, Jake Weir thought just that as he was demolishing one and it fell on him. All 15 tonnes of it.
The best bit? Someone caught it on film! Hurray!
Weir felt the full force of a load of bricks hitting him and pals managed to dig him out of the wreckage, before whisking him to hospital with his left leg hanging off.
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Lancashire duo killed and roasted lamb in field, a la Bear Grylls
OUR attitude to meat is odd. We’re all entertained when Bear Grylls pops up on the telly to climb inside a hollowed out camel or eats raw zebra. But when Matthew Davidson, 28, and Kevin Sherratt, 33, picked up a lamb at a Macclesfield, Cheshire, farm, killed it with a hammer and roasted it, we’re sending them to court.
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Posted: 24th, May 2013 | In: Reviews, TV & Radio | Comment
Mother gets young son arrested for stealing her Pop-Tarts
WHEN Latasha Renee Love, 37, noticed her $5 Pop Tarts were missing, she called the police. They came to her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. They arrested the bandit – her juvenile son.
The boy’s been charged with larceny/misdemeanor.
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Woolwich: We’re mad to elevate Lee Rigby’s insane murderers to the rank of rational soldiers
WHO to blame for the barbaric murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich? You could start with the alleged jihadis, like Michael Adebolajo. The alleged killer says the West made him do it. There can be excuse for this repugnant act. The men who hacked Lee Rigby to death are deranged murderers making human sacrifices to their god.
The question is how do we fight it? The question is if fighting it in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East and other foreign places works?
Writing in the Guardian is Joe Glenton, a former soldier sentenced in 2010 to nine months prison for refusing to serve a second tour of Afghanistan. He objected on legal and moral grounds. He was the first British soldier to speak out publicly against the war. He writes:
So at the very outset, and before the rising tide of prejudice and pseudo-patriotism fully encloses us, let us be clear: while nothing can justify the savage killing in Woolwich yesterday of a man since confirmed to have been a serving British soldier, it should not be hard to explain why the murder happened.
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Sponsored content is really making big websites swing
ANORAK doesn’t take sponsored posts. Sorry. Wr know you love them. We’re sorry. Instead we try to pick out the best of the web and look beyond the headlines.
It’s hard work. But it’s not as good as posting branded content for cash.
The Onion speaks for millions:
Sponsored Content Pretty Fucking Awesome
PS – We need writers. We also need money. If you can give either/ both, please get in touch.
Lee Rigby RIP: a British Muslim’s message to Michael Adebolajo and all the Far-Right and Far-Left nutters
THE soldier murdered in Woolwich was Cornwall-born Lee Rigby of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. He was a military bandsman in the Corps of Drums. He had seen active servie inAfghanistan, Cyprus and Germany. Since 2011 he had preformed ceremonial duties at the regimental headquarters at the Tower of London.
He was father to a two-year-old boy.
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Posted: 23rd, May 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Woolwich murder fact: the EDL is not the EDF
WHEN the lunatics murdered an off duty British soldier in Woolwich yesterday, the EDL, aka English Defence League, went down there to scream and shout at the police.
EDF, aka Électricité de France, went on twitter:
“Hi. The protest was from EDL (English Defense League) not EDF Energy. Regards”
And:
“Hi Josh. If you are referring to Woolwich the protest was from the English Defense League (EDL) not EDF Engery. Best”
Yeah. Defense. Go EDL! Yayyyy!*
* Spoken in American cheerleader voice.
Woolwich: EDL attack police in a cock-eyed fight against religious barbarism
SO. How did the UKIP-supporting English Defence League react to the apparently religion-motivated barbaric murder of a British soldier in Woolwich, south London?
Well, Tommy Robinson and EDL supporters gathered outside The Queens Arms pub in Woolwich.
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Posted: 23rd, May 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
George Galloway says ‘we’ are just like the barbaric Woolwich murderers
THE murder in Woolwich has all the hallmarks of a religiously motivated attack. One of the two murderers said to camera:
We swear by the Almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. The only reason we have killed this man this is because Muslims are dying daily. This British soldier is an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth …
An eyewitness says the killers screamed “god is Great” in Arabic before murdering:
“I saw a guy with no head lying on the ground. He had been decapitated. There were two black guys walking around his body saying ‘This is what God would’ve wanted’.
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Posted: 23rd, May 2013 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comments (6)
Woolwich terrorists: Ingrid Loyau-Kennett kept a cool head amid the madness
EVER horror needs a hero. The media demands it. We need it. Having seen what terrorism looks like, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, 48, a Cub Scout leader and mother-of-two from Cornwall talked to one of the murderous psychos who had just hacked a man to death with a meat cleaver.
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Posted: 22nd, May 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Woolwich murderer was ‘arrested on his way to join al-Shabaab in Somalia’: the front pages
HOW have the newspapers reacted to the horrific scenes in Woolwich? An off-duty British soldier has been murdered by two men. One psychotic nutter shouted “…we swear by almighty Allah, that we will never stop fighting you. Until you leave us alone, your people will never be safe”. He added: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day.”
The victm was beheaded.
@suttonnick tweets:
Richard Watson on #Newsnight: Can’t confirm but source says last yr one of men was stopped or arrested on way to join al-Shabaab in Somalia.
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Posted: 22nd, May 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment (1)
Happy-slapping terrorism in Woolwich – bloody lunatics murder man in cold blood for kicks
NOT since the horrors of 7/7 had terrorists claimed a life in the UK. Today two men used meat cleavers to murder and, apparently, tried to decapitate a white British a soldier from Woolwich Barracks on the streets of London. He was wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt. Police shot them.
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No-one wants to buy Gandhi’s blood for pacifist clone army
HE may not have spilled any blood in his lifetime, but famous pacifist Mahatma Gandhi had his blood on sale this week at a rather peculiar auction.
With his blood, you could create a charming, pacifist army, but alas, no-one wanted to buy his body fluid for the £10,000 reserve price.
Gandhi’s blood had been available after being placed on two glass microscope slides, like Dexter collects.
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FBI kill Boston bomber’s friend Ibragim Todashev
CONSPIRACY theorists tune in now. The FBI in Orlando have killed a man reportedly linked to Boston marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. NBC News reported that the FBI shot dead Ibragim Todashev, 27, who shared the dead bomber’s passion for mixed-martial asrts.
Todashev had been arrested for alleged aggravated battery after a fight in a car park.
ABC News quotes a source who, apparently, saw what happened:
“There was some sort of aggressive movement that led the FBI agent to believe he was under threat and he opened fire.”
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Oklahoma tornado linked to global warming in 2013 and global cooling in 1975
CAN the Oklahoma tornado be blamed on global warming? What do you think?
Wonkette writes sarcastically:
Good News! Massive Killer Tornadoes Just The Normal Kind, Not the Global Warming Kind (Updated)
Red Green And Blue blog writes:
Yes, global warming IS giving us bigger, more devastating tornadoes,,,
The connection is simple: Heat energy is what drives storms. The more heat energy you have in the system, the bigger the storms will be. the bigger the storms are, the greater the devastation. And the cost. And the loss of life.
While the fossil fuel industry is still in denial, the insurance industry has known this for years. They know all about uncertainly – if they don’t manage uncertainty correctly, insurance companies go broke, and quickly.
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Laura Fernee phd claims she is too pretty to work
AS everyone knows, it is hard finding a job at the moment. One lady is finding it particularly difficult because she’s just so good looking, in her own words.
Laura Fernee graduated with a PhD and worked in a laboratory for three years before quitting in 2011 and hasn’t had a job since. She says: “I’m not lazy, and I’m no bimbo. The truth is, my good looks have caused massive problems for me when it comes to employment, so I’ve made the decision that employment just isn’t for me at the moment.”
“It’s not my fault… I can’t help the way I look.”
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Posted: 22nd, May 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (5)
Oklahoma tornado video: Barbara Garcia finds her dog in the debris
CYNICS, grab a hankie. Barbara Garcia survived the Oklahoma tornado.
“I was sitting on the stool holding my dog,” she said. This was the game plan all through the years, to go in that little bathroom (together). I rolled around a little bit and when it stopped I was right there (and) that stove cooker is what I saw. I never lost consciousness and I hollered for my little dog and he didn’t answer, he didn’t come, so I know he’s in here somewhere.”
He was:
Colour film of London in 1927 – rare video and photos
THE British Film Institute has added colour to this 1927 film of London shot by Claude Friese-Greene in Biocolour.
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Man who wanted to record ghosts in the kitchen accidentally filmed wife having sex with his son
Posted: 22nd, May 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
The epic Douglas Cork playground typo
THE Douglas Cork playground has been renamed by popular demand:
Spotter: Broadsheet.ie
In photos: The anti-IRS Tea Party protests
THE Tea Party is protesting against Obama, naturally, and the politicised IRS. Under Obama, the IRS refused to approve Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status. But the same IRS did approve dozens of progressive applications:
NASHVILLE
ALBURQUERQUE
CHARLESTON
LANSING
DENVER
AUSTIN
ORLANDO
ST LOUIS
KANSAS
ATLANTA
CINCINNATI
PHILADELPHIA
WASHINGTON
CINCINNATI
NEW JERSEY
ATLANTA
NEW JERSEY
ATLANTA
Some photos via Instapundit
On Israel, apartheid and Steven Hawking’s boycott for anything but peace
DOES accusing Israel of apartheid reduce the history of South African blacks and demonise Israel? Yes, says The Rev. Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, a member of the South African Parliament and president of the African Christian Democratic Party. He explains his view on posters put up on San Francisco buses calling Israel an apartheid state. The ads have been paid for by American Muslims for Palestine.
On my recent trip to San Francisco, I was deeply disturbed to learn about the posters in The City accusing Israel of apartheid. As a black South African who lived under apartheid, this system was implemented in South Africa to subjugate people of color and deny them a variety of their rights. In my view, Israel cannot be compared to apartheid in South Africa. Those who make the accusation expose their ignorance of what apartheid really is.
Apartheid was a legal system of segregation and oppression based on skin color, with a very small white minority dominating over the vast majority of people of color.
As a black South African under apartheid, I, among other things, could not vote, nor could I freely travel the landscape of South Africa. No person of color could hold high government office. The races were strictly segregated at sports arenas, public restrooms, schools and on public transportation. People of color had inferior hospitals, medical care and education. If a white doctor was willing to take a black patient, he had to examine him or her in a back room or some other hidden place.
In my numerous visits to Israel, I did not see any of the above. My understanding of the Israeli legal system is that equal rights are enshrined in law. Black, brown and white Jews and the Arab minority mingle freely in all public places, universities, restaurants, voting stations and public transportation. All people have the right to vote. The Arab minority has political parties, serves in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) and holds positions in government ministries, the police force and the security services. In hospitals, Palestinian patients lie in beds next to Israeli Jews, and doctors and nurses are as likely to be Israeli Arabs as Jews. I also understand that an Israeli Arab judge presided over the trial of former Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who was convicted of misconduct. An Ethiopian Jew recently won the title of Miss Israel. None of the above was legally permissible in apartheid South Africa!
The PLO’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, disagrees:
“Today in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem … I can sum up the situation with one word – apartheid. Worse than that which existed in South Africa. Today Israel justifies its apartheid by the term security.”
They also disagree:
Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) became the first academic union in Europe to endorse the Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel. The motion, which refers to Israel as an “apartheid state”, calls for “all members to cease all cultural and academic collaboration with Israel, including the exchange of scientists, students and academic personalities, as well as all cooperation in research programmes” was passed by a unanimous vote during today’s morning session.
Israel is the test that all the elite and opinionated see fit to take. Your views on Israel are a handy way of explaining your character. Steven Hawking recently agreed to boycott Israel. Hawking’s statement:
“I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference. Had I attended I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.”
Hawking is, however, happy to use Israeli technology in the computer equipment that allows him to function.
As for Israel, well, it’s a unique case. Howard Jacobson surmises his view:
I first heard the news in a motion passed by the University and College Union declaring that criticism of Israel can “never” be anti-Semitic which, if “never” means “never”, is a guarantee that Jew-hating is over, because … Well, because it’s impossible to believe that an active anti-Semite wouldn’t – if only opportunistically – seek out somewhere to nestle in the manifold pleats of Israel-bashing, whether in generally diffuse anti-Zionism, or in more specific Boycott and Divestment Campaigns, Israeli Apartheid Weeks, End the Occupation movements and the like. Of course, you don’t have to hate Jews to hate Israel, but tell me that not a single Jew-hater finds the activity congenial, that criticising Israel can “never” be an expression of Jew-hating, not even when it takes the form of accusing Israeli soldiers of harvesting organs, then it follows that there’s no Jew-hating left…
“Peace”, that is all Professor Hawking seeks, a word that was left out of his statement as reproduced on the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website, presumably on the grounds that everyone already knows that peace is all the PSC has ever wanted too…
John MacGabhann, general secretary of the pro-boycott Teachers’ Union of Ireland, made clear when he talked of “expecting more of the Israeli government, precisely because we would anticipate that Israeli governments would act in all instances and ways to better uphold the rights of other”, which implies that he expects less of other governments, and does not anticipate them to act in all instances and ways better to uphold the rights of others. And why? He can only mean, reader, because those other governments are not Jewish.
I’d call this implicit racism if I were a citizen of those circumambient Muslim countries that aren’t being boycotted – a tacit assumption that nothing can ever be done, say, about the persecution of women, the bombing of minorities, discrimination against Christians, the hanging of adulterers and homosexuals, and so on, because such things are intrinsic to their cultures – but at least now that we have got rid of anti-Semitism, tackling Islamophobia should not be slow to follow.
Upon Israel, the vested interest groups and righteously fair minded have placed the burden of protecting the West from the enemies at the gates. Israel must also make amends for Western colonialism. Israel can be Nazi-like, they say. Israel can be using apartheid, they say. Israel, say the liberals and the Left, is the place where the discredited values of old and dusty Europe hold sway. And that won’t do. And with that Israel is no longer a country. It is a place where the guilt of the past can be beaten and cured.
Israel is the place where the elite turn to feel better about themselves…
Photo: World renowned British scientist Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University, lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006. Hawking is on a one week visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Date: 14/12/2006
Posted: 21st, May 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Desperate mother who ‘sold’ her toddler on Craigslist deserves help not hatred
OTHER parents – our occasional look at bad parenting – presents Stephanie Redus, the mother who tried to sell her three-year-old son Conner Danger Redus on Craigslist. The 29-year-old Texan has been charged with “unlawfully intentionally and knowingly” placing the boy in danger.
Her ad went thus:
“Hi, I’m trying to adopt out my three year old son. I’m not in a good place in my life and don’t feel like I can care for him properly, but I don’t know where to start. If you or know anyone who is interested in caring for him please let me know. I’m a single mom and can’t do this. Thanks, Desperate.”
This desperate woman is admitting to her own failings and crying out for help, right? Good that Craigslist reported her to the authorities. But Redus is pregnant and says her condition means she is unable to “take her medication to combat her depression and her anxiety”. Can we be compassionate?
Of course, her ad has worked. Conner will surely be removed from his mother’s care, although not placed in a home of her choosing. Chances are Redus’s other child will be removed from her at birth.
The law appears to state that the mother is in line for a $10,000 fine and/or a prison sentence ranging from two to 20 years. How will a long sentence and a hefty fine help her children?
Note: In 2012, 202 babies were born to imprisoned Texas offenders. Some get access to the Baby and Mother Bonding Initiative (BAMBI). Offenders and their newborns are housed at the Santa Maria Hostel in Houston. Others are placed with carers.
Does keeping mother and baby together in a secure environment work at BAMBI?
Prison officials and policy-makers are increasingly aware of how much damage can result from separating mothers and infants. Those who experienced it firsthand, like social worker, advocate and mother Veronica Lockett, said the trauma of losing a mother to prison led her straight into prison as well. In an eloquent letter to then-chairman Jim McReynolds of the Texas House Corrections Committee in 2010, Lockett described how a chaotic family was still a family.
“At 12, my mother’s rights [were] terminated without my consent, and my younger siblings and I were adopted out like slaves during the trade. No one ever asked me if I wanted to see my mother again. No one even asked me if I wanted to visit my mother in prison,” Lockett wrote.
“A mother who drinks or sometimes takes drugs is still the mother of her child,” said state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and sponsor of the bill that created BAMBI. And if that mother could receive intensive therapy and education, he asks, wouldn’t a rehabilitated mother be a healthier role model for the child and possibly break the cycle of incarceration?
Spotter: The Daily Dot, The Frisky
