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.
Tornadoes hit Kentucky and Indiana: Child survives dead family (photos)
THE Tornado that has struck Kentucky and Indiana has killed at least 30 people. Marysville is “gone.” Last week, at least 12 died when tornadoes hit Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. But there is hope. A child has been found forty miles west of Chelsea, in Salem, Indiana. Reports are that she was in a field surrounded by her dead relatives – her mother and two younger siblings. She is no older than four.
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Atheists recruit New York’s Jews and Muslims to unite in race war
LET’S get the atheists! The atheist group American Atheists has invested in billboards declaring that God is “a myth”. The statements will be erected in New York’s Muslim and Jewish neighbourhoods.
Why preach to the believers? Calling them stupid will not change views. It will just harden them.
American Atheists – not to be confused with the less patriotic Atheists of America – say:
The purpose of these boards is to advertise the Reason Rally and the American Atheists National Convention to the atheists in the Muslim and Jewish Communities. Insular communities like these are designed to squelch individualism and religious criticism, making the atheists in these communities feel particularly alone — they are not…
These billboards are not meant to inflame or enrage, and while the comparison of how the Jewish and Muslim communities react will be interesting, we expect no violence nor vandalism. Although some in those communities might not appreciate our outreach, we have every right and every responsibility to advertise our organization and our movement as we see fit. In the future, there will likely be more boards in these and other communities, as we extend our hand to the entirety of the very diverse atheistic American population.
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Posted: 3rd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
St Laurence O’Toole’s heart stolen from Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral
WHO stole St Laurence O’Toole’s heart? St Laurence is the patron saint of Dublin. His preserved heart has been stolen from Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral, where it’s been kept in a wooden box behind iron bars. (If only all priests’ love organs were so out of reach.)
You need to be pretty sure of your spirit to steal a Saint’s heart. But, then again, sticking a human heart in a box is a little macabre.
A church spokeswoman says:
“They specifically targeted this, they wanted the heart of St Laurence O’Toole. It’s completely bizarre.”
The thief or thieves ignored the gold and candlesticks and went only for the dried organ.
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Coast Concordia: Captain Francesco Schettino forgot to put on his glasses
COSTA Concordia: Reasons why 25 popele died when the lines ran aground off the Tuscan Coast: Captain Francesco Schettino as not wearing his glasses.
Says the ship’s first officer, Ciro Ambrosio (pictured), through his lawyer Salvatore Catalano, quoting his client’s testimony to magistrates.
“That evening Schettino had left his reading glasses in the cabin and repeatedly asked Ambrosio to look at the radar to check the route.”
No making passes if you’re not wearing glasees…
Global warming saves thousands of lives
GLOBAL warming saves lives. The New York Times has news:
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this January was the fourth warmest in the documented history of weather in the contiguous United States.
If anything, the exceptional snowstorms of last winter and the uncommon gentleness of this one are further evidence of global warming, which is characterized by extreme and erratic weather patterns rather than an unceasing rise of the planet’s temperature.
The long-term troubles this sort of weather predicts are alarming. In the short term, however, our warm winter may have one unforeseen and felicitous consequence: a drastic reduction in the incidence of influenza.
…There has been a wide variation in the number of deaths attributable to influenza in past seasons — it has reached as high as 49,000 — but the average is around 12,000….it is likely that no more than a few hundred people in America, and possibly far fewer… For every individual who has been hospitalized this season, 22 people were hospitalized in the 2010-11 flu season. Even more strikingly, 122 children died of flu last season and 348 during the flu outbreak bvcof 2009-10 — while this time around that number is 3.
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Did Liverpool’s Luis Suarez make Manchester United fan beat up his lover?
LIVERPOOL’S Luis Suarez causes men to beat up women? When Liverpool FC striker Luis Suarez refused to shake hands with Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, over in Eccles a row broke out. In Manchester magistrates court, United fan Graham Trelfa claimed he was so angry at Suarez he tossed the TV remote in his partner’s face. He then said something about “foreigners refusing to shake hands”, grabbed his lover by the throat and stormed off. She called the police.
Judge Taaffe then spoke:
“The actions of Mr Suarez were at best ill-considered and at worst the actions of a petulant individual who behaved like a spoilt child and brought contempt on both his club and the many professional footballers who conduct themselves properly week-in, week-out. It’s undoubtedly the case that the actions of a so-called role model can affect the behaviour of many and the need to act responsibly both on and off the field as they hold privileged position and are idolised by many.”
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Posted: 3rd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (3)
Samantha Lewthwaite: The truth about the British terror suspect
SAMANTHA Lewthwaite, 28, is being sought by the CIA, Scotland Yard, Kenyan Police and more agencies of justice. Samantha Lewthwaite is from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. She is the widow of Jermaine Lindsay, who killed himself and 26 passengers on a Piccadilly Line train in July 2005.
It is alleged that she is a terrorist, a mum of three funded by Somali pirates and training local Islamists how to make bombs in readiness for an attack on Western targets in East Africa.
She is suspected of being a paymaster, scout and reciter for the al-Shabaab terror group, part of the al-Qaeda network.
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Posted: 3rd, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (4)
Annie George accused of keeping servant as slave in 24-carat gold New York mansion
DID Annie Gorge and her husband Mathai Kolath George induce an illegal immigrant from India to overstay her visa and live in a cupboard at their Saratoga County, New York, mansion?
The Smoking Gun has news of the allegation that Annie George, 39, and Mathai George secured the services of a woman known only as VM from Kerala. VM was, reportedly, offered around $1,000 a month pay. She would live at the Georges’ 34-room, 15-fireplace, 24-karat gold coated ceilinged, 30,000-square-foot Llenroc mansion. VM would look after the couple’s four young children and do other stuff (a lot of polishing).
New York’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. But V.M. claims to have received 85 cents an hour, for working 17-hour days, seven days a week. She lived in the Georgs’ home for 67 months. The law says V.M. is entitled to $206,000 in back wages, health benefits, sick days and time off.
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Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (4)
Bromsgrove gets Speakers Corner in Sanders Park – EDL and Muslims welcome
BROMSGROVE is to get a “Hyde Park-style Speakers’ Corner”. People of the shopping precinct. Look beyond the pigeons to new audience. To the Bandstand in Sanders Park, off Kidderminster Road.
The corner has been set up by the Bromsgrove and Redditch Alternative Support Service, (BRASS). The corner opens on Sunday, April 1, at 12.30pm, with three speakers presenting talks on life through the eyes of a local Muslim man, a view of the English Defence League, and the Magna Carta of 1215 and the Bill of Rights, 1689.
As Yammy says: It will be like turning up at a Hunt with a fox
Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (5)
Dobbin-gate: The best comment on David Cameron’s ride on Rebekah Brooks’ and The Met’s Raisa
DOBBIN(G)-GATE: The best comments on David Cameron’s ride on Raisa, the horse the Met lent to Rebekah Brooks. Before the horse died, Rupert Murdoch’s tame tabby Rebekah Brooks let David Cameron have a ride on it – to go for a hack, as it were. Thanks to Murdoch, even right-wingers are agreeing with the Guardian. The media mucks out:
Michael Crick, Channel 4:
#horsegate In Commons in 2004 Cameron attacked plans for horse passports. He said they’d affect “every child’s pony, every happy hacker.”
Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (2)
Police powers on photography in public places – the facts
THE Press Gazette reports that the Chartered Institute of Journalists is to give “journalists and photographers across the UK are being given wallet-sized guides outlining their legal rights to take photographs in public places”.
The guideline is applicable to everyone:
Members of the media have a duty to take photographs and film incidents and we have no legal power or moral responsibility to prevent or restrict what they record. It is a matter for their editors to control what is published or broadcast, not the police. Once images are recorded, we have no power to delete or confiscate them without a court order, even if we think they contain damaging or useful evidence.
If someone who is distressed or bereaved asks for police to intervene to prevent members of the media filming or photographing them, we may pass on their request but we have no power to prevent or restrict media activity. If they are trespassing on private property, the person who owns or controls the premises may eject them and may ask for your help in preventing a breach of the peace
while they do so. The media have their own rules of conduct and complaints procedures if members of the public object…Members of the media do not need a permit to photograph or film in public place…
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Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Parisian Prostitutes from the 1950s and 1960s – wonderful photos
VIA Dangerous Minds ia Retrogasm: “Swedish-born photographer Christer Strömholm shot these absolutely stunning black and white photographs of Parisian prostitutes (some female, some transsexuals) in Pigalle, starting from the early-50s into the late-60s. These photos, plus many more are in the book Amies De Place Blanche.”
These women could be in their 70s and 80s now…
Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Flashback | Comments (14)
Dobbin-gate: Rebekah Brooks on her horse – photo
REBEKAH Brooks was loaned a horse by the Met. It’s Dobbin-gate. Will the horse talk? David Cameron says he never went riding with Brooks, only with her husband. Rebekah might have stayed at home…
Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
John Kafunda and Reece Donovan convicted of cowardly attack on Ashraf Rossli
JOHN Kafunda and Reece Donovan have been convicted by jury of mugging injured Malaysian student Ashraf Rossli, 21, in Barking during last August’s London riots.
Beau Isagba had broken Rossli’s jaw and stolen his bike when the heroes arrived.
At Wood Green Crown Court, Kafunda 22, of Ilford, was convicted of robbery and violent disorder. Donovan, 24, of Romford, has been convicted of theft, violent disorder. He would go on to burgle a Tesco store.
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Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (6)
Cancer patient on medical marijuana denied transplant for substance abuse
A MAN with liver cancer is denied a transplant. Why? Well, he’s taken medical marijuana. This makes him a substance abuser. You can treat your pain with other approved drugs. But having been given medial marijuana, the patient is banned from getting a new liver. How can this be right?
Spotter: Sullivan
Libya: Hoodies and Islamists desecrate Christian cemetery – video
TO Libya, where the Arab Spring of enlightenment allows Libyan hoodies to desecrate a Christian a cemetery – and some Jewish graves too – and upload the video on YouTube. Isn’t freedom great:
Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (5)
Tabloid letter of the day – a list of Sun pet hates
TABLOID letter of the day arrives in the Sun (it might be the Mail, or the Express). Harry Simpson is sick of it all (but not Page 3, corrupt police and phone hacking)…
Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (3)
Buttock Implant death: British woman Padge Windslowe arrested in America
PADGE Windslowe has been arrested in the US. Padge is a “person of interest” in the death of Claudia Aderotimi, 20, who suffered a fatal heart attack after having buttock-enhancing injections in a Philadelphia hotel in 2011.
Padge Windslowe, 42, was arrested as she got ready to host a “pumping party” . Among items seized were bottles, gloves, needles and vials of superglue. The glue is thought used to cover the would the silicon has been injected into.
Ms Windslowe, a self-titled “Black Madam” and transsexual, is being held on US$10 million bond.
Philadelphia police Lieutenant John Walker alleges that another of Windslowe’s clients – an “exotic dancer” – suffered serious lung problems after an injection. She is on oxygen.
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David Rathband: Raoul Moat was ‘evil’ Voldemort and Daily Express wants his Facebook fans dead
RAOUL Moat: Anorak’s look at the death of Pc David Rathband and the man who shot him in the news…
The Sun (front page): “Moat still haunts me like Voldemort”
To help readers understand that Raoul Moat – a murderous thugs turned into a media folk hero – is like the Harry Potter villain – a work of fiction – the Sun shows thumbnail portraits of both men. Moat is a “monster”. Voldemort is “evil”. We hear from David Rathband – an ordinary man tossed into an extraordinary situation who then, apparently, took his own life:
“I may be blind but I can still see Moat’s face… It’s more of a melted face now — like the evil Voldemort from the Harry Potter films. The strange thing is that while I can see Moat in my mind, I have no recollection of how my wife or children look whatsoever. They are as featureless as an orange to me, and that’s what hurts the most. The doctors have no idea if my memories of my family will ever come back. Sure I can hear their voices and have a cuddle, but I can’t see their smiles which instantly cheers you up. I can’t even remember Christmas Days with them — it’s all gone. It’s very lonely in here every day, living in the darkness without having the images of my family for company.”
Posted: 2nd, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Levenseindekliniek: The mobile Dutch euthanasia clinic
FIRST the Dutch kill off England, then they roll out the Levenseindekliniek, a mobile euthanasia clinic to kill the old (and their dogs). (Insert joke about popping clogs here.)
Walburg de Jong is a spokeswoman for the Right to Die-NL society. To qualify for a State-sponsored offing, you need to be over 18 – if you;re 17, you need to ask mum or dad:
1. You must face a future of unbearable, interminable suffering.
2. You and your doctor must agree that there is no cure for what ails you.
3. Your doctor must verify both of the above with at least one other independent physician.
4. You must be mentally alert (get off Facebook, please, this is serious) when making your request for euthanasia.
5. Your request must be voluntary and persist over time.
6. Your case must be reported to one of five special commissions, each consisting of a doctor, a jurist, and an ethical expert, who must verify that criteria 1-5 have been observed.
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Posted: 1st, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (3)
Virginia Wheleer arrested – The Millies are dead
VIRGINIA Wheeler is the latest Sun worker to be arrested. Wheeler, the paper’s defence editor, has been arrested today on suspicion of corruption and aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.
Wheeler, 32, has been bailed until May 2012.
She was arrested as part of the Met’s Operation Elveden. To date, there have been 23 arrests.
A Met spokesman tells media – the bits he has not already tipped off (joke):
“Detectives from Operation Elveden have today arrested a 32-year-old woman by appointment on suspicion of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office (contrary to common law) and conspiracy in relation to both offences.”
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Posted: 1st, March 2012 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Andrew Breitbart is dead
THE American blogger and rabble rouser Andrew Breitbart has died. He was 43.
On Breitbart.com the notice says:
“Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles. We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior. Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love.”
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PC David Rathband you legend: Raoul Moat victim’s brave suicide
DAVID Rathband has, apparently, killed himself at his home on Blyth, Northumberland. The policeman shot in the face and blinded by half-French murderer, Facebook legend, dick-head magnet and media hero Raoul Moat – who was Tasered (to death?) by the police – has hanged himself. Has Moat killed from “beyond the grave” again?
The media reacts:
The Sun (front page): “MOAT COP ‘SUICIDE’ – Blinded Rathband found dead at home”
It is the “torment of tragic hero“.
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Posted: 1st, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (15)
A “two-fingered salute” to the Leveson Inquiry
AS THE Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press trundles on, online magazine spiked launches an “intellectual two-fingered salute to the creeping conformism and censoriousness being unleashed by the Leveson process”.
Explaining the decision to launch a “Counter-Leveson Inquiry”, spiked editor Brendan O’Neill said the magazine intends to “carry a torch for press freedom”. The campaign will “put the case against Leveson, against judges and police getting to tell the press what its ethics should be, and against any stricture whatsoever on the right of the press, whether highbrow or low-rent, to investigate and publish what it sees fit”.
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Posted: 29th, February 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (11)
