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.
The Daily Mail told us that choloclate can help you lose weight.
John Bohannon writes:
“Slim by Chocolate!” the headlines blared. A team of German researchers had found that people on a low-carb diet lost weight 10 percent faster if they ate a chocolate bar every day. It made the front page of Bild, Europe’s largest daily newspaper, just beneath their update about the Germanwings crash. From there, it ricocheted around the internet and beyond… The Bild story quotes the study’s lead author, Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D., research director of the Institute of Diet and Health: “The best part is you can buy chocolate everywhere.”
I am Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D. Well, actually my name is John, and I’m a journalist. I do have a Ph.D., but it’s in the molecular biology of bacteria, not humans. The Institute of Diet and Health? That’s nothing more than a website.
Other than those fibs, the study was 100 percent authentic. My colleagues and I recruited actual human subjects in Germany. We ran an actual clinical trial, with subjects randomly assigned to different diet regimes. And the statistically significant benefits of chocolate that we reported are based on the actual data. It was, in fact, a fairly typical study for the field of diet research. Which is to say: It was terrible science. The results are meaningless, and the health claims that the media blasted out to millions of people around the world are utterly unfounded.
Buddhist nationalists demonstrate against the UN and the return of Rohingya Muslims May 27, 2015 in Yangon, Burma. Radical Buddhist nationalists protest the international pressure on Myanmar to accept the repatriation of persecuted Rohingya boat refugees.
Ashin Wirathu, the leader of Burma’s 969 movement, tells the WaPo article in a story titled “The serene-looking Buddhist monk accused of inciting Burma’s sectarian violence: “You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog. I am proud to be called a radical Buddhist.”
A catchy pop tune titled “Song to Whip Up Religious Blood” is often played at 969 rallies. The movement is named for three digits that monks say symbolize the virtues of the Buddha, Buddhist practices and the Buddhist community, but its theme song is far from devotional. The lyrics reference people who “live in our land, drink our water, and are ungrateful to us,” according to the Times. And the chorus, “We will build a fence with our bones if necessary,” is repeated over and over again.
Wirathu claims that his movement is not responsible for the violence against the Rohingya [Burma’s Muslims]. But he does repeatedly insist that Muslims — whom he often calls “kalars,” a derogatory term roughly equivalent to the N-word — need to be kept in their place. He calls for boycotts of Muslim-owned businesses, warns Buddhists to protect their women from Muslim rapists and was a vocal backer of a law restricting marriages between Buddhists and Muslims…
Does human law apply to chimpanzees? Hercules and Leo, two chimps living at Stony Brook University, are having their day in a NY State court:
Its lawyers said that personhood rights have already been applied to corporations, rivers and ships. If chimps are also eligible, they are then eligible for the writ of habeas corpus, which gives those who believe they are unlawfully detained or imprisoned the right to appear in court.
During the hearing, Nonhuman Rights Project’s president and animal-rights lawyerSteven Wise drew parallels to past court cases over the rights of slaves, prisoners and Native Americans.
Assistant Attorney General Christopher Coulston said these cases didn’t apply.
“There is simply no precedent anywhere of a nonhuman animal receiving the kinds of rights they’re talking about,” Mr. Coulston said.
But there is an understanding that law evolves, said New York Supreme Court JusticeBarbara Jaffe, based on scientific discoveries and social mores.
“Witness marital rights,” she said. “Isn’t it incumbent upon the judiciary to at least consider whether a class of beings may be granted a right or something short of a right, under the habeas statute?”
In a brief filed Friday, the attorney general’s office wrote that current animal-rights laws are sufficient, and to grant chimps additional rights was a slippery slope.
To extend the writ of habeas corpus “could set a precedent for the release of other animals held in captivity, whether housed at a zoo, in an educational institution, on a farm, or owned as a domesticated pet,” the brief reads.
Where does human law end? You might argue it ends with humans. But the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) says chimps are people, too, as are elephants, dolphins, whales and ticks. In December 2014, an Argentine court recently granted a habeas corpus petition and ordered the release of an orangutan being “detained” in a zoo.
Can you dog sue you for beng detained in your home or a kennel, or your goldfish be upset by the tank? Animal abuse is an awful thing. But the animals are not humans. They are animals. Whether or not all lawyers are human is an open debate…
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health decrees that all porn productions in California mut comply with health and safety. And that includes the wearing of sagety goggles on set:
Personal Protective Equipment.
1. Where occupational exposure remains after institution of engineering and work practice controls, the employer shall provide, at no cost to the employee, appropriate personal protective equipment such as, but not limited to, condoms, gloves for cleaning, and, if contact of the eyes with OPIM-STI is reasonably anticipated, eye protection. Personal protective equipment will be considered “appropriate” only if it prevents blood or OPIM—STI* from passing through to or reaching the employee’s eyes, mouth, or other mucous membranes, or non-intact skin under normal conditions of use and for the duration of time which the protective equipment will be used.
If you have searched and searched for videos of your favourite adult movie stars in goggles, you’re luck’s in.
“ “Other Potentially Infectious Materials – Sexually Transmitted Infections” (OPIM—STI) means bodily fluids and other substances that may contain and transmit sexually transmitted pathogens. These fluids include, but are not limited to, pre-ejaculate, ejaculate, semen, vaginal secretions, fecal matter and rectal secretions, secretions from wounds or sores that are potentially infected with sexually transmitted pathogens, and any other bodily fluid when visibly contaminated with blood or all bodily fluids in situations where it is difficult or impossible to differentiate between bodily fluids.”
Looks like hashtag activism isn’t working. The call to #BringBackOurGirls never did prick Boko Harem to hand back the women it stole in Nigeria. Even vain Michelle Obama – wife of a man who supported ousting Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 and sided with Libya’s version of the BNP – could not appeal to the better nature of Islamist loons drawing up new boarders in Africa by tweeting the aforesaid hashtag and tilting her head.
Publicis Singapore’s advert for Crisis Relief Singapore tells us “Liking isn’t helping”. The advert has won a Gold Lion in Press category at Cannes Festival.
Not liking can win you an industry gong in a swanky resort. Liking just makes you feel better about yourself and lets everyone else know how morally correct you are…
The stash of pornography reportedly found in the hideout of Osama Bin Laden by US commandos will not be declassified released “due to the nature of their contents”, an official has said.
Among the thousands of documents was what Reuters described in 2011 as a “fairly extensive porn stash”.
Brian Hale, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told The Telegraph that the pornography would remain classified even as details of Bin Laden’s other personal files were released.
We’ve obtained the full lsit, which includes such titles guaranted to detonate a jihadi as:
Did you people in Kent and Essex feel the earthquake in middle of the night? The epicentre of the quake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale was just south of Ramsgate.
What was it like?
Graham Young (Times): “It felt a bit like a bomb going off. The whole of the building shook for about seven seconds and the sky filled with seagulls.”
Others wrote to the British Geological Survey:
“…like a train running under the house, shaking everything. Woke me up. So disturbed I make a cup of tea!”
“Woke me from deep sleep and first thought it was thunder as very disorientated. Lasted about a minute I suppose but was a very odd experience! House shook, I’m a bit scared now!”
“Heavy shaking – like a lorry crashing outside the house – couldn’t believe it!”
Stella Hulott (Facebook): “I am in Westgate on Sea. My cats are upset and the husband has slept through it. My heart is still pounding!”
Jake West (Guardian): “At 3am it’s normally quiet. There was silence, then there was shaking. It was very odd. It felt like there was someone very heavy who was stomping down the stairs.”
Paul and Janette, Worsfold (Telegraph): “My wife and I jumped out of bed at 2 50 as our flat in Deal began to shake quite violently. Indeed it shook enough for the to crash into the bath and break.”
Keeley Brady, Hullbridge, Essex: “My daughter said she was woken up and her clothes hangers rattling on the door handle.”
Susan Fry: “The vibrations felt like being on cruise ship when it comes onto port sideways.”
London is getting bar ABQ, a venue set in a large RV named after the setting of the TV show Breaking Bad in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
For £30, 22 punters-a-time will not get to sample the blue meth, but”cook” two drinks.
Anyone unable to afford £15 drinks can pop along to Danny’s Burger RV (formerly Danny’s Burger Van) on the M62 betweeen 2am and 5am every weekday, where so long as you’ve got the cash, Danny’s pretty much got anything you want.
To New Zealand, where Member of Parliament Ron Mark is addressing the House. The opposing benches are jeering him. He looks their way and speaks softly. What’s that? We didn’t catch it. But it was picked up loud and clear by Parliament TV’s sign language interpreter who relayed the words to viewers back home. She’s making a guest appearance as part of Sign Language Awareness Week.
Note: The New Zealand television channel TV3 was banned for three days from filming in Parliament in August 2006 for showing Mark repeatedly giving the finger to another MP.
Westminster paedos: a look at reporting on the story of historical sex abuse gone unpunished.
The Guardian tells us that since Sir Jimmy Savile was dug up, stripped of his knighthood and beaten with sticks, 1,400 people have been investigated for child sex abuse.
That sound a lot. It might even be too much to actuall fund. Talk of a paedophile amnesty would be on the cards were the issue not so toxic. And, then, if you investigate the suspect, do you also investigate those who turned away and failed the victims?
The Guardian sums up:
Officer leading Operation Hydrant inquiry says out of 1,433 alleged offenders 76 were politicians, 43 were from music industry and 135 were from TV, film or radio
The Mirror Group titles have been found guilty of phone hacking. We’ve been listening out for what Labour MP Chris Bryant has to say about it. When Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp was found guilty of the same, Bryant, a phone-hacking victim, was verbose and demanding:
“They argued for a long time that there were very few victims – that there was just one rogue reporter – that they had done a full investigation and all that proves to be untrue. One of my anxieties is the police didn’t do a full investigation in 2006, 2009 and 2010 when lots of people were calling for a full investigation. Consequently we still don’t know the full level of the criminality that went on at the News of the World and in fact many of the victims themselves don’t know they were involved.I think this is just the beginning of the story. I’m seeking a judicial review of the Metropolitan Police’s activity. I have a big anxiety about why the Metropolitan Police didn’t do a proper investigation themselves.”
….
“The next thing is, I’m writing to all the non-executive directors, including the former Spanish Prime Minister Mr Aznar and others of News Corp, to ask them what they knew, when they knew it, what actions they took to ensure that their newspaper was complying with police investigations,” Bryant told Reuters yesterday. “What did the directors do to check on what Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson said about phone hacking back in 2003, and did they know about hush money that was paid? This company has shown itself completely unable to act within the law, and if it’s not able to do that, if it’s true as the police said on Tuesday that they had deliberately thwarted the police investigation, then I think they shouldn’t have any share in a British media organisation.”
…
“Leave aside the original criminality of hacking people’s phones – including the victims of crime who never asked to be brought into the public domain at all – it’s the cover-up, the lies. ‘This was just one reporter,’ ‘This was just one newspaper,’ when actually we know it was endemic in the whole of News International.”
They were “drunk on power”:
….
“There was a major cover-up at News International which stretched right up to the very highest levels of the company, as we know even up to James Murdoch.And that, in the end, I suspect, will prove to have been the biggest crime.”
“This is designed to try and protect Rebekah Brooks, and I believe that if she had a shred of decency after what we have heard about Milly Dowler’s phone being hacked, which happened on her watch as editor, she should have resigned by now. Everything that’s been announced today just goes to show that there’s been a cover-up, that Parliament has been misled, that police have been corrupted, that police investigations were undermined. This strategy of chucking first journalists, then executives and now a whole newspaper overboard isn’t going to protect the person at the helm of the ship.”
Chris Bryant has been far less vocal about the Labour-supporting Mirror’s crimes.
If they have it their way, our MPs will control the free press.
Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne has been awarded £188,250 in phone-hacking damages from Mirror Group Newspapers.
Others who had their privacy unlawfully invaded by the Mirror’s titles include: Sadie Frost (£260,000), Shane Richie (£155,000), Lucy Benjamin (£157,250) Shobna Gulati (£117,500), Alan Yentob (£85,000), Robert Ashworth (£201,250) and Lauren Alcorn (£72,500).
Meanwhile, hacking victim and Labour Party stalwart John Prescott continues to write for the Labour-supporting Mirror.
In case you missed it, this is what Prescott said when Rupert Murdoch’s titles were caught hacking:
The Washington Post reports that suspected IRA member Prince Charles is to meet Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams to promote “reconciliation and healing”.
What?!
Charles continues to deny being a member of the IRA, Hot Gossip and The Sex Pistols.
Varma has given a TED talk on the process and what he found.
And this has a purpose: a parasitic mite is threatening to destroy bee colonies. Scientists have bred mite-resistant bees. Can these creatures be introduced successfully into the wild?
The Universal ShowQueen Pageant 2015 features the world’s greatest transgender and drag divas in competition. The winner was Aleeciya Ashton, aka Jerrica Benton.
Chantae Marie Gilman, 28, admitted climbing on top of a sleeping man and raping him. Gilman, a 16-stone mother to three, says she can’t recall anything.
Detective Roger Ishimitsu reported: “Once arriving home he fell asleep on his bed (and) slept very hard due to a long day.”
Detective Drew Fowler, with the Seattle Police Department tells Komo News:
“From a statistical standpoint, yes, it is atypical to have a female aggressor. But we work to hold all people responsible for their actions. The law is specifically written to be gender-equitable and we will charge anybody with a crime that they’ve committed.”
The fact he has to say there is one law for all and women can be guilty of rape is odd…
Al Sharpton’s daughter Dominique Sharpton, 28, is suing the city of New York for allegely spraining her ankle on a wonky pavement. Dominique says the the ankle is “severely injured, bruised and wounded”. She wants $5 million in damages to compensate her for “loss of quality of life, future pain and suffering, future medical bills, [and] future diminution of income.”
Currently on vacation in Bali, the membership director for her gadfly dad’s National Action Network claims she “still suffers and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries,” according to the suit filed against the city departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection.
…
And despite claiming “permanent physical pain” in a breathless notice of claim in December, at around the same time there were social-media shots of her in high heels and fancy dresses and climbing a ladder to decorate a Christmas tree.
Dominique has recently posted this message on her Instagram about the view from the top of a Bali mountain she hiked up:
Officials at the Greek port of Kavala were scheduled to unveil a memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust – 1,484 Jews in the city were murdered by the invading Germans and their Bulgarian allies.
But the burgers won’t show the tribute to the dead because the monument features a Star of David. That same symbol appears on the flag of Israel, and because the local leaders don’t like that country the Jews must go without their ancient symbol or else find a new one, perhaps of a teddy bear, say, a broken plate or an unmarked pit?
It’s not anti-Semitism, of course. It’s just anti-Israel. And if Jews can bury their dead without any Star of David showing, the Greeks and all decent folk would be appreciative.
The Sun says “Good riddance” to Hull City’s Jake Livermore who faces the “sack over drugs shame”. A routine drugs test revealed traces of cocaine in Livermore’s urine. The club suspended him. His future is uncertain. Livermore is an idiot.
But for the Sun to attack the player who took a non-performance enhancing drug that cheats only his teammates is lamentable. Cheering the idea that he should be sacked for his foolishness is weak.
According to the BBC, Pope Francis called Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas “an angel of peace” while presenting him with a gift.
The BBC’s David Willey in Rome says that after 20 minutes of private talks, Pope Francis gave Mr Abbas the medallion depicting an angel of peace adding: “It is appropriate because you are an angel of peace.”
The New York Times, Fox News and Independent agree. Yep, The Pope dubbed Abbas an “angel of peace”.
As is tradition with heads of State or of government, Francis presented presented a gift to the Palestinian leader, commenting: “May the angel of peace destroy the evil spirit of war. I thought of you: may you be an angel of peace.”
So. The Pope did not call Abbas an angel of peace.
The Sunday Times says the inquiry into historic sex abuse will publish its findings in…2023. Phew! All nonces and their enablers will have eight years to get ill or die. They say the Devil looks after his own, so Hell should arrive by 2022 for most.
During a meeting last month with campaigners, a senior Home Office official was recorded as saying the inquiry, headed by the New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard, could “go on for eight years”.
Could?
So. It could go on for longer.
As you were, sickos. You can dawdle on Earth for a while yet. Factor in any criminal cases and trials and chances are you’ll be getting a congratulatory letter from the Queen before you give the old gel her pleasure…
Ben’s mother Kerry has been on the TV in Greece. She’s still hunting for her son who vanished 24 years ago. A new photo is doing the rounds. It was emailed to Kerry and British police? Is it Ben?
