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.
Rurik Jutting: ‘The Wind in the Willows’ Killer ‘Confesses’ To Being An Educated Banker
RURIK Jutting is accused of murdering two women in Hong Kong. The dead women are Sumarti Ningsih, 25, and Jesse Lorena, 32.
The media round-up, focusing on Rurik Jutting, who “appears to have mysteriously quit his job in the days around the first murder” (Mail).
The Sun: “I’ve been taken by the devil”. The paper produces the above image and quote.
EMAILS to the Brit banker charged with murdering two prostitutes get the reply: “Please contact someone who is not an insane psychopath.” Ex-public schoolboy Rurik Jutting, 29, faces magistrates today over the double killing.
The prostitutes’ rotting remains were found in his Hong Kong flat, with one stuffed in a case.
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Posted: 3rd, November 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Ebola Panic Over: Top Men Say Only 130 Americans Will Die – But Which Ones Yet To Be Decided
EBOLA panic over: well for all but 130 of you it is:
Infectious disease experts predict anywhere from a mere one or two additional cases of Ebola to a worst-case scenario of 130, according to simulations conducted for the Associated Press.
Almost all of the predicted cases will be healthcare workers returning from West Africa.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a huge outbreak here, no,” Dr. David Relman, a professor of infectious disease, microbiology and immunology at Stanford University’s medical school, told the AP. “However, as best we can tell right now, it is quite possible that every major city will see at least a handful of cases.”
A total of eight patients have currently been treated for Ebola in the U.S.
Only two of them contracted Ebola within the U.S., and both were healthcare workers who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, who contracted Ebola in Liberia.
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Islamic State’s War On Women And Children Play Soccer With A Servered Head
THE Islamic State is waging a war against women:
Last month in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where 2 million people live, ISIS reportedly executed several notable women, including lawyers, physicians, activists and politicians for various reasons. Among them was a famous lawyer who refused to charge the families of the Iraqi detainees in the U.S. military detention facilities between 2003 and 2011.
The Iraqi writer Mushriq Abbas says Samira Salih al-Nuaimi was born in 1963. She was illiterate until the age of 18, when she enrolled in a class and learned how to read and write, after which she earned two bachelor’s degrees, in literature and law. Because of her continued criticism of ISIS on social media and in person, she was arrested and tortured for five days and then killed in public in Mosul.
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Posted: 2nd, November 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Madeleine McCann: Have You Seen Pumpkin Maddie?
MADELEINE McCann: a look at reporting on the media’s favourite missing child.
The Daily Mail has news:
How is that the “most poignant image this Halloween”?
The photograph was released on Friday to mark Halloween, and appears beside three others of Maddie, including the well-known one of her clutching three tennis balls under her chin. A source close to the McCanns said: ‘The photo which hasn’t been seen before has been put out as part of the campaign and is authorised by Kate and Gerry.’
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Posted: 2nd, November 2014 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comment
Israel: Appeasing Obama Hasn’t Worked
APPEASING OBAMA has hurt Israel. Well, appeasement never works:
First, the unbridled attacks against Israel’s democratically elected – and popular – prime minister show us that when we are faced with an inherently hostile administration, the wages of appeasement are contempt.
No Israel leader has done more to appease a US administration than Netanyahu has done to appease Obama. Against the opposition of his party and the general public, Netanyahu in 2009 bowed to Obama’s demand to embrace the goal of establishing a Palestinian state.
Against the opposition of his party and the general public, in 2010 Netanyahu bowed to Obama’s demand and enacted an official 10-month moratorium on Jewish property rights in lands beyond the 1949 armistice lines, and later enacted an unofficial moratorium on those rights.
And Netanyahu bowed to Obama’s pressure, released murderers from prison and conducted negotiations with Abbas that only empowered Abbas and his political war to delegitimize and isolate Israel.
And for all his efforts to appease Obama, today the administration abets Palestinian terrorism and political warfare.
Posted: 1st, November 2014 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Boko Haram: 200 Kidnapped Schoolgirls Are Now Muslim Brides
WHAT happened to the 200 girls kidnapped by Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram?
Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram, says:
“Don’t you know the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls have converted to Islam? They have now memorised two chapters of the Koran… We have not made ceasefire with anyone. We did not negotiate with anyone… It’s a lie. It’s a lie. We will not negotiate. What is our business with negotiation? Allah said we should not… We have married them off. They are in their marital homes.”
Looks like the hashtag failed…
Halloween Horror: Vicar Hands Out Terrifying Devil Pamphlet To Trick Or Treaters
TO Bournemouth, Dorset, where a local Church of England vicar is opening the door to trick or treaters and handing them no sweets, but a pamphlet.
TRICK OR TREAT?
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Have A Sexy Halloween: Artist Lampoons The Fashion For a Slutty Costume
WHAT do you find sexy? Jillian Tamaki has sketched a few a outfits you sexy babes might consider running up on your sewing machines this Halloween. It’s not all cheerleaders and schoolgirls.
Spotter: A Tiny Piece
University of Wisconsin Bans White Blonde Princesses And Other Gangsters
THIS Halloween the University of Wisconsin want students to be compoliant. Dominic Lynch of The College Fix claims the following email was sent to students:
Halloween: Questions to Ask Yourself before Donning a Costume
WEARING A FUNNY COSTUME?
Ask yourself: Is the humor based on “making fun” of real people, real human traits or cultures? Though intended to be funny, the “Mental Patient” costume by Disguise was considered demeaning, dehumanizing, and humiliating to individuals struggling with a mental illness and their families. Complete with a “Hannibal” type mask and a straightjacket, the costume reinforced stereotypes and fears about persons with mental illness.
WEARING A SCARY COSTUME?
Ask yourself: Is the “fear factor” based on real forms of violence or grotesque depictions of human traits? “This scary stud can empty out a full house just by walking through the door,” touts the tag line for Fright Catalog’s “Vato Loco” mask. The bandana clad, tattooed, brown-skinned vinyl creation makes light of gang violence, which takes a serious toll on families and neighborhoods across the country. The costume also sends the message that Latinos are violent.
WEARING A HISTORICAL COSTUME?
Ask yourself: If the costume is meant to be historical, does it further misinformation or historical and cultural inaccuracies? The “Indian” get-up prevails each year as culture-turned-costume. But did you know few Native Americans wore buckskin and headbands and even fewer wore them together? Did you know “war paint” and feathers carry religious meaning and were never worn by Native American children?
WEARING A “BEAUTIFUL” COSTUME?
Ask yourself: If the costume is meant to be beautiful, are these characteristics drawn from commercial references, such as movie characters? Too often, beautiful at Halloween means white, blonde, princess masks. What statement does your Halloween costume make about what constitutes beauty — and about who is beautiful and who isn’t?
You want scary? You can’t handle the scary…
Spotter: John J. Miller
Sugar Is A Legal High: Low Fat Makes You Fat And John Yudkin Was Right
REMEMBER the war on fat? Fat was bad. Now sugar is the target of the bansturbators. It’s is like “crack cocaine”.
“Nothing gets me high as that sandwich cookie does. But I love the filling most. I rub it on my roast, mix it in with my coffee, and spread it on my toast. I love the white stuff, baby. In the middle of an Oreo.”
Weird Al Yankovic said that in 1992.
The Atlantic noted:
That concept has been shown before, but remains important. In a 2010 study published in Nature Neuroscience, rats who spent 40 days eating bacon, sausage, cheesecake, and frosting—someone please market that combination; I mean please don’t—became “addicted.” They continued eating even in the face of electrical shocks. Non-addict rats did not. The researchers, at Scripps Research Institute in Florida, likened the brain activity in the addict rats to that of cocaine and heroin addicts.
Biscuits are legal cocaine? They’re a legal high. Ban them!
The HuffPost:
Sugar is the ‘most dangerous drug of our time’, according to a senior Dutch health official, and should be treated accordingly. Paul van der Velpen, head of Amsterdam’s health service, suggests that food and drink with high-sugar content should come with health warnings. He suggests introducing hard-hitting campaigns similar to the anti-smoking messages found on cigarette packets.
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Man Banned From Lying On The Ground In Buckinghamshire
“DAVIES came to police attention initially by making time wasting calls to the emergency services,” says PC Chris Allman outside Wycombe Magistrates’ Court, where Andrew Davies, 51, of Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, has been haded an ASBO for feigning injuries.
“On most occasions he would be intoxicated. When dealt with by a police and council joint team he gave away his telephone to stop the temptation. However he then took to pretending to fall in the street near his home as a way of attracting attention to himself. He would lay there feigning an injury until an ambulance attended.
“On a number of occasions he was taken to Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he was more thoroughly checked over but he was always discharged as having no injuries. He has been offered support from numerous agencies and given many opportunities to change his behaviour. Davies’ continual lack of engagement has ultimately resulted in this town wide ASBO.”
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Posted: 31st, October 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Woman And Tiger Caught Having Sex In Devon Toilet
“THERE was a couple in the baby changing room having full blown sex,” says grandmother Maryanne Saunders of goings on in a public toilet in Dawlish, Devon. The man was dressed as Tigger, from the Winnie The Pooh books.
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Posted: 31st, October 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Climate Change Watch: Europe Freezes As Snow Becomes A Thing Of The Past
CLIMATE Change Watch: Compre and contrast:
The risk of severe winters in Europe and northern Asia has been doubled by global warming, according to new research… The new research, published in Nature Geoscience, shows that the increased risk of icy winters will persist for the next few decades.
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Voyeurism Not Sex Prevents Cancer In The Over 50s
CAN lots of sex reduce the risk of prostate cancer? The NHS asks:
Could sex with 21 women ‘cut prostate risk’?
The Telegraph says it could:
Sex with 21 women lowers risk of prostate cancer, academics find
The University of Montreal has found that men who had sex with more than 20 women lower their prostate cancer risk
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Posted: 30th, October 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Madeleine McCann: James Nesbitt Is Missing The Plot And 100 Hairs
Just as the Daily Express gets its weather news from looking at a crystal ball, the ‘World’s Greatest Newspaper’ conjures front-page news of Madeleine McCann from the ether.
The headline tells readers:
Madeleine McCann: 100 strands of untested human hair provide new hope in DNA hunt
100.
Gerard Couzens reports:
Nearly 100 strands of hair tested during the original Madeleine McCann investigation were never DNA-matched, it emerged today. Portuguese forensic experts analysed 444 hair strands they believed could hold the key to the youngster’s May 3 2007 disappearance.
They found 432 were human and 12 non-human. They were unable to DNA-match 98 of them and only obtained partial results from 19 of them, Portuguese daily Correio da Manha reported.
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Posted: 30th, October 2014 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comment (1)
Woman Robs Chemist By Squirting Breast Milk At Victim
GET Richard Desmond on the phone: a German woman has invented a new late-night TV sport.
The woman arrived at a chemist in Darmstadt, Hesse. She asked to buy a breast pump. She handed over a €200-note to pay for her €20 purchase. When the till opened, she whipped out a breast and squirted milk at the pharmacist.
She continued to spray milk before fleeing with her cash, €100 from the cash register and no pump. The store worker only realised he’d been robbed when much later he totted up the day’s takings.
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Posted: 30th, October 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Watch the NASA’s Antares Rocket Blow-Up From Loads of Angles!
THERE’S something in the human psyche that loves seeing things blow-up. Explosions are even better when there’s no casualties, because you can just enjoy the show without wanting to vomit with the weight of it all.
Yesterday, NASA launched the unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp Antares rocket as part of a $1.9billion contract, however, it didn’t make it out of the atmosphere as it turned into a huge molten fireball seven seconds above the ground, before crashing back into the earth, blowing up everywhere.
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Posted: 30th, October 2014 | In: Reviews, Technology | Comment
Epic Fail: The Britsh Council Can’t Spell EUROPE
THE British Council’s stated aim is to promote Great Britian in its overseas missions. The British Council is big on education:
Our work in education focuses on internationalising education, sharing the UK’s expertise and innovation globally, and bringing partners together to work on collaborative projects.
And it’s got a word puzzle game for scholars.
Says he:
Yes. If only you were there, EURROPE would be complete. *slow hand clap for the British Council.
Spotter: @sturdyAlex
Thought Crimes: Man Persecuted For Tiger Sex Tape Was A Victim Of Furry Fury
THE police said they found footage of a tiger have sex with a women on Andrew Holland’s mobile phone. You read that right. A tiger and a woman having sex. That’s not something most of us will have contemplated. Some of us might even want to see what that involves. But take care because looking at the depraved and bizarre could be a criminal offence.
Mr Holland was arrested. The footage, which he had not directed not taken any part in, was deeemd extreme pornography, and that’s unlawful.
Something is classed as extreme porn “if it shows necrophilia or bestiality, threatens someone’s life or could cause serious injury to anus, breasts or genitals.” It’s also extreme porn if it is deemed to be “grossly offensive”.
He said friends had shared it with him, forwarding the tiger-female sex footage to his account. He had looked at the film for six seconds.
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June Steenkamp’s Book Washes Away The Rivers Of Bilge Around Reeva’s Killing And Oscar Pistorius’ Crime
WHEN Reeva Steekamp was shot dead by her famous lover, Oscar Pistorius, the media went into overdrive. Today, the Times features an extract when June Steenkamp’s book, Reeva: A Mother’s Story
The beginning of the nightmare
Dromedaris Road, Seaview, Port Elizabeth. We are up and about before dawn. Barry sets off for the stables at Arlington Racecourse to prepare his horses for their morning exercise. I potter out to the overzealous dogs — and little Moby Dick, Reeva’s dachshund — to give them their breakfast. The sun rises just before 6am. I’m preoccupied with thoughts about the day ahead, about supervising progress at the Barking Spider, a pub we’re building at the Greenbushes Hotel on the Old Cape Road, when my mobile phone rings.
A voice introduces himself as Detective Hilton Botha.
“Hello, is that June Steenkamp?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a daughter, Reeva?”
“Yes.”
“There has been a terrible accident.”
“What kind of accident?”
“Your daughter has been shot.”
Pause.
“You’d better tell me RIGHT NOW if she’s dead or alive.”
“I’m sorry. I’m afraid she has passed on.”
He says he thinks it looks like an “open-and-shut” case. “There were only two people present — your daughter and Oscar with the gun.”
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Human Rights Infects Ebola: US Nurse Kaci Hickox Sues For Being Quarantined
KACI Hickox had treated Ebola victims in Sierra Leone. Back in her native US, nurse Hickox was quarantined.
She’s upset at being interrogated “like a criminal” under the strict rules introduced in New Jersey, New York and Illinois.
She was left wearing paper scrubs in a tent outside the main hospital which was equipped with a bed, shower and a non-flushing chemical toilet for a planned 21-day quarantine which the nurse said violated her human rights. She has shown no symptoms and has tested negative for the disease.
She’s suing.
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Posted: 27th, October 2014 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)
Fang Falls Into A Vat Of Raw Human Poo And Presents The Funniest Joke In The World
TO China for a prelude for the funniest joke in the world. Chi Fang was in a bar when his wife called. She wanted him home fast. So. Fang took a shortcut home over a bridge. He’d drunk a lot and felt ill. He stopped on the bridge to vomit.
He leaned over the railing. And fell head-first into what the bridge was passing over: a septic tank full of human faeces.
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Posted: 27th, October 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment
Conformists Get A Tattoo: Rebels Get A Burqa, Hassidic Hat And Tie
THE Sun has news of the tattooed mum from Bournemouth, Dorset, who was “horrified in Marks & Spencer when a shop worker called her tattoos disgusting”.
Natasha Henson, 35, tells one and all:
“I was approaching the till when a shopper ‘tutted’ at me and made a comment about my tattoos. I mentioned it to the lady on the till and she replied, ‘I’m not surprised she tutted. Why on earth would you want to mutilate and disfigure yourself?”
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