It’s getting tough to figure out airline dress codes. One thing’s clear, though: The tightest, tiniest “pants” will fly. Days before a college football player was bounced—and busted —for wearing saggy pants, an older male passenger tarted out in women’s bikini briefs and thigh-high black stockings was allowed to…
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Police say loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force set off two nights of rioting in which press photographer was shot in leg Dissident republicans were responsible for the gunshots that wounded a press photographer during rioting in Belfast, police said. The Press Association photographer was taken to the Royal Victoria hospital with an injury to his right leg following the burst of three shots. He is said to be in a stable condition. Petrol bombs, fireworks, bottles and bricks were among items thrown at police during a second night of the worst violence in east Belfast for many years. A police spokeswoman said: “Police can confirm that dissident republicans were responsible for the shots that were fired during last night’s disorder in east Belfast.” Dissident republicans have been responsible for a string of attacks on members of the police and army. In April they killed Constable Ronan Kerr, 25, in car bombing outside his home in Omagh, County Tyrone. There have been pitched battles between loyalists and republicans in the Lower Newtownards Road and Short Strand areas during the past two days. The police were targeted after they came between the two sides. The Ulster Volunteer Force has been blamed by senior police for igniting trouble after a second night of serious rioting in Belfast. Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said the loyalist paramilitary group started the violence. Finlay said: “The UVF in east Belfast started this – there was no sense of anyone trying to finish that. Their hands are upon this, whether by direction, by omission or commission.” A 20-year-old woman was arrested on a weapons charge during the rioting, which saw youths smashing police vehicles with sledgehammers and hurling petrol bombs. A water cannon vehicle sustained a cracked windscreen and there were marks from live fire. Finlay said the attacks were less orchestrated than the previous night, when two people were injured by gunfire. He refused to say whether the shots were fired from the nationalist Short Strand or the loyalist Newtownards Road but called for dialogue to discuss all issues behind the violence. “Last night again we witnessed serious, sustained violence. Over two nights we have seen three people shot and injured, communities wrecked, houses and businesses damaged, lives put at serious risk. “This has got to stop, it is a time for cool heads, for people to take a step back.” Northern Ireland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Police say loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force set off two nights of rioting in which press photographer was shot in leg Dissident republicans were responsible for the gunshots that wounded a press photographer during rioting in Belfast, police said. The Press Association photographer was taken to the Royal Victoria hospital with an injury to his right leg following the burst of three shots. He is said to be in a stable condition. Petrol bombs, fireworks, bottles and bricks were among items thrown at police during a second night of the worst violence in east Belfast for many years. A police spokeswoman said: “Police can confirm that dissident republicans were responsible for the shots that were fired during last night’s disorder in east Belfast.” Dissident republicans have been responsible for a string of attacks on members of the police and army. In April they killed Constable Ronan Kerr, 25, in car bombing outside his home in Omagh, County Tyrone. There have been pitched battles between loyalists and republicans in the Lower Newtownards Road and Short Strand areas during the past two days. The police were targeted after they came between the two sides. The Ulster Volunteer Force has been blamed by senior police for igniting trouble after a second night of serious rioting in Belfast. Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said the loyalist paramilitary group started the violence. Finlay said: “The UVF in east Belfast started this – there was no sense of anyone trying to finish that. Their hands are upon this, whether by direction, by omission or commission.” A 20-year-old woman was arrested on a weapons charge during the rioting, which saw youths smashing police vehicles with sledgehammers and hurling petrol bombs. A water cannon vehicle sustained a cracked windscreen and there were marks from live fire. Finlay said the attacks were less orchestrated than the previous night, when two people were injured by gunfire. He refused to say whether the shots were fired from the nationalist Short Strand or the loyalist Newtownards Road but called for dialogue to discuss all issues behind the violence. “Last night again we witnessed serious, sustained violence. Over two nights we have seen three people shot and injured, communities wrecked, houses and businesses damaged, lives put at serious risk. “This has got to stop, it is a time for cool heads, for people to take a step back.” Northern Ireland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …NRSC, Helmed By John Cornyn, Fakes Twitter Posts To Make Democrats Look Bad
June 22, 2011 No Comment
Thanks to Allen at the indomitable Angry Black Lady Chronicles for curating this list: enlarge Credit: AngryBlackLadyChronicles For those not on the Twitter, it’s a little complicated to follow this story, but bear with me. These are the tweets from the National Senate Republican Committee account . Now in Twitter parlance, “RT” refers to “retweet” and is customarily used at the head of someone else’s tweet that you wish to amplify to your followers. It does not necessarily connote approval or agreement with the original tweet, but simply a desire to share it with your followers. Got that? Well, here’s the thing with all those RTs on behalf of the Sen. John Cornyn-headed NRSC: they’re all fakes. They wrote them themselves and crafted them to look like they were merely re-tweeting something written by prominent Democrats and Democratic groups. And this goes out to the more than 14,000 followers of the NRSC twitter account. The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s getting blowback today from both the left and right for a series of fake re-tweets sent from the NRSC’s official @nrsc Twitter account . The bogus RTs each make reference to Democrats failing to produce a budget, and include a link to a webpage, www.demsplanforamerica.com , that is–wait for it– a blank page .[..] And surprise–nobody’s laughing. Even Andy Levy , who helps bring the funny to Fox News Channel’s overnight Red Eye , was quick to blast the NRSC via Twitter, “@NRSC What the hell is wrong with you? How do you not realize it’s unethical to make up fake tweets from people?” Klassy with a K, non ? The NRSC is willfully impersonating tweets from the President of the United States in order to smear him. Twitter itself is an interesting phenomena…it’s like a cocktail party with a 1000s of conversations taking place simultaneously, and one weaves around, jumping from conversation to conversation, overhearing stories and new items and you choose how much or how little you want to add to the conversations. At its best, Twitter is an incredible platform to broadcast your messages to your self-selected followers. But at its worst, it’s a cesspool of sock puppetry, harassment and cyber-bullying. And the Twitter gods simply have not figured out a way to deal with this kind of hackery. Calls to both Cornyn’s office and the NRSC to defend this have as yet not been returned. Allen at ABLC imagines if this kind of behavior is considered fair play what fun could be had retweeting faked tweets from Cornyn’s account . They are definitely not safe for work, but hilarious.
Continue reading …NBC Picks on Supposed Republican Stumbles Before Showing Obama Soothing a Baby
June 22, 2011 No Comment
On Tuesday night, NBC decided to highlight a series of stumbles by Republican presidential candidates, none of them all that significant (Romney having $100 bills in his wallet and Perry referring to Twitter as “tweeter”), before later in the newscast showing White House-produced video of a baby which stopped crying when handed to President Obama. “The White House would probably love for us to believe this next piece of videotape is evidence of special healing powers,” Williams announced, feeling obligated to make clear he realized “it isn't, but it is amusing.” Looking at the announcement by Jon Huntsman, Andrea Mitchell cited his “faulty sound system,” how the press pass misspelled Huntsman’s first name and how “the press corps was first directed to a plane bound for Saudi Arabia instead of New Hampshire,” but “even there geography was a problem.” After a clip of Huntsman saying “we’ve just come this morning from New York where we announced in front of the Statue of Liberty,” Mitchell pounced, complete with a big map on screen: “Except he wasn’t in New York, it was New Jersey.” Mitchell proceeded to bring up what she described as “an iconic moment as occurs on these campaigns” when “Mitt Romney in Colorado when at Mexican restaurant trying to trade a dollar bill with a young boy, all he could find in his wallet at first were $100 bills.” The horror. Williams chimed in, recalling “these little moments from the campaign, seemingly inconsequential can sometimes be indelible or when they're President, both Bushes had theirs – the supermarket scanner and George W. Bush saying ‘the Googles’ about the Internet era. I understand there's yet another from the campaign trail?” Mitchell confirmed on the Tuesday, June 21 NBC Nightly News: “There is yet another. Not yet a candidate, but Rick Perry, very likely to get in, the Governor of Texas, today trying to show that he is down with social media.” NBC then played a clip from a Web video of Perry: “Until then, if you've had enough, take out your phone and text ‘Fed Up’ to 95613. And you can always follow me on tweeter ‘@GovernorPerry.’ Thanks for this award. God bless you.” Mitchell mocked: “You can always find him on tweeter.”
Continue reading …NBC Picks on Supposed Republican Stumbles Before Showing Obama Soothing a Baby
June 22, 2011 No CommentOn Tuesday night, NBC decided to highlight a series of stumbles by Republican presidential candidates, none of them all that significant (Romney having $100 bills in his wallet and Perry referring to Twitter as “tweeter”), before later in the newscast showing White House-produced video of a baby which stopped crying when handed to President Obama. “The White House would probably love for us to believe this next piece of videotape is evidence of special healing powers,” Williams announced, feeling obligated to make clear he realized “it isn't, but it is amusing.” Looking at the announcement by Jon Huntsman, Andrea Mitchell cited his “faulty sound system,” how the press pass misspelled Huntsman’s first name and how “the press corps was first directed to a plane bound for Saudi Arabia instead of New Hampshire,” but “even there geography was a problem.” After a clip of Huntsman saying “we’ve just come this morning from New York where we announced in front of the Statue of Liberty,” Mitchell pounced, complete with a big map on screen: “Except he wasn’t in New York, it was New Jersey.” Mitchell proceeded to bring up what she described as “an iconic moment as occurs on these campaigns” when “Mitt Romney in Colorado when at Mexican restaurant trying to trade a dollar bill with a young boy, all he could find in his wallet at first were $100 bills.” The horror. Williams chimed in, recalling “these little moments from the campaign, seemingly inconsequential can sometimes be indelible or when they're President, both Bushes had theirs – the supermarket scanner and George W. Bush saying ‘the Googles’ about the Internet era. I understand there's yet another from the campaign trail?” Mitchell confirmed on the Tuesday, June 21 NBC Nightly News: “There is yet another. Not yet a candidate, but Rick Perry, very likely to get in, the Governor of Texas, today trying to show that he is down with social media.” NBC then played a clip from a Web video of Perry: “Until then, if you've had enough, take out your phone and text ‘Fed Up’ to 95613. And you can always follow me on tweeter ‘@GovernorPerry.’ Thanks for this award. God bless you.” Mitchell mocked: “You can always find him on tweeter.”
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Continue reading …A horrifying side effect is emerging among people who use cocaine cut with a drug that deworms livestock. Users who suffer a bad reaction to the drug levamisole are developing large patches of dead, blackened skin on their faces and bodies as the additive damages blood vessels and causes skin…
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Ancient community discovered after small forest clearings detected on satellite images Brazilian authorities say they have pinpointed the location of a community of ancient and uncontacted tribespeople in one of the remotest corners of the Amazon rainforest. Fabricio Amorim, a regional co-ordinator for Brazil’s indigenous foundation, Funai , said the indigenous community had been found after three small forest clearings were detected on satellite images. Flyovers were carried out in April, confirming the community’s existence. Four straw-roofed huts, flanked by banana trees and encircled by thick jungle, can be seen in photographs taken during the flyover. The community is likely to be home to about 200 people, probably from the Pano linguistic group which straddles the border between Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, according to Funai. Amorim said the region — known as the Vale do Javari — contained “the greatest concentration of isolated groups in the Amazon and the world” but warned of growing threats to their survival. “Among the main threats to the well-being of these groups are illegal fishing, hunting, logging, mining, cattle ranching, missionary actions… and drug trafficking,” he said. Oil exploration over the border in Peru could also have a negative impact on indigenous tribes in region. Officially, Funai recognises the existence of 14 uncontacted tribes in the Vale do Javari, making up a total of at least 2,000 people. But that number is likely to rise as expeditions to this region of the western Amazon continue. Government officials currently seek to avoid direct contact with Brazil’s uncontacted tribes, instead working to identify and protect their lands from afar. But many believe limited contact may become necessary in order to protect the groups from external threats. José Carlos Meirelles, a veteran Funai official who has spent more than two decades working in the Javari region, said in 2009: ” If this situation continues, contact will become inevitable, and it is better that it happens with us than with loggers or goldpanners .” Indigenous peoples Brazil Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rolls-Royce has agreed to compensate Qantas for the mid-air disintegration of an Airbus A380 engine last year. The Australian airline grounded all of its A380s for weeks after the incident last year, which investigators blamed on an oil fire caused by a manufacturing defect. The disintegration triggered an emergency landing,…
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