Albertoo
Albertoo's JournalFor history buffs: has any past presidential election been that murky?
Let's assume the final contenders will be Hillary vs Trump:
- Trump is openly disavowed by the two past GOP candidates, Romney and McCain
- Hillary ,under a FBI probe over her e-mails, has been reviled by part of Bernie voters
Hence my question: has there ever been an American presidential election where both contenders were so contested within their own ranks?
And if not, is it a reflection of deeply troubled and uncertain times?
(2008 crisis still underway, Europe debt and refugee crises, world jihad,..)
Russia: burka-clad nanny decapitates four-year-old child
The murder is religiously motivated, as the nanny shouted 'Allah akbar' and reportedly declared: 'I hate democracy. I am a terrorist. I want you dead.'. As long as Islam will not contextualize the war verses of the Quran, some unbalanced nannies will feel they have a God-given right to slay infidels. Even when the infidel is a 4 year old with learning disabilities.
Eyewitnesses say they saw the woman holding the severed head of a child
She is said to have shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as she appeared close to station
Body of Anastasia Meshcheryakova was found at burnt-out block of flats
Child's nanny Gyulchehra Bobokulova, from Uzbekistan, has been arrested
The four-year-old's body, dressed in night clothes, was found in her cot
Horrific new details of how a nanny beheaded a four-year-old girl and paraded through the streets of Moscow with her severed head have been revealed. The woman, dressed in a burka, threatened to blow herself up as she walked near Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station holding up the little girl's head. Investigators claim she murdered the girl, who is believed to have learning difficulties, after starting a fire at the child's family home in a block of flats.
The nanny, Gyulchehra Bobokulova, 38, from Uzbekistan, has been arrested.
It is now known that the beheaded remains of the girl, identified as Anastasia (Nastya) Meshcheryakova, were discovered inside her cot. Her body had been dressed in her night clothes, consisting of a T-shirt and shorts.
According to local media, Bobokulova shouted in the street: 'I hate democracy. I am a terrorist. I want you dead. 'You have become so hardened, you have eliminated so many of us. Look I am a suicide bomber, I will die, doomsday will come in a second.' She pulled the severed head out of a bag and walked near the metro station entrance in north-west Moscow.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3469100/Woman-black-burka-holding-child-s-severed-HEAD-shouting-Allahu-Akbar-shuts-metro-station-Moscow.html#ixzz41ijeIf9s
George Pell and the power of indifference
Cardinal Pell says reports of pedophilia among his Roman Catholic Church were of no particular concern to him. Which speaks volumes about the confidence with which people can entrust their children to that Church: its molesters are apparently of no particular concern..
Victims of child sexual abuse have reason to feel disappointed by George Pell's testimony so far at the Royal Commission, writes Cathy Humphreys.
"It was a sad story and not of much interest to me."
There are moments in Cardinal George Pell's testimony when you realise that he is telling the truth.
In the 1970s, Pell was an ambitious young priest who had returned to Australia, fresh from Oxford, wanting to be a man of power and influence in the church.
The lives of vulnerable young people and their families held little interest for him. Inconvenient truths about paedophile brothers and priests were best avoided by a man on the make.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-02/humphreys-george-pell-and-the-power-of-indifference/7213120
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTracker/
2 Bishops Hid Sex Abuse of Hundreds of Children
Will the movie 'Spotlight finally bring the Roman Catholic Church to clean up its act?
Two Catholic bishops who led a small Pennsylvania diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 50 priests and other religious leaders over a 40-year period, according to a grand jury report that portrays the church as holding such sway over law enforcement that it helped select a police chief.
The 147-page report issued Tuesday on sexual abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, home to nearly 100,000 Roman Catholics, was based partly on evidence from a secret diocesan archive opened through a search warrant over the summer.
In announcing the findings, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said the diocese's two previous bishops "placed their desire to avoid public scandal over the well-being of children."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/grand-jury-bishops-hid-sex-abuse-hundreds-children-37307357
Norway wants to deny all refugees if 'it all breaks down'
Looks like the refugee crisis is sending Europe topsy turvy.
In an effort to stem the flow of refugees coming from other Nordic countries and Russia, the Norwegian PM is proposing a law that would allow the nation to prevent asylum-seekers from non-conflict areas entering Norway.
Solberg said that the legislation would only be implemented in an emergency situation and would protect Norway from the deteriorating situation within the Schengen region and the mounting strain the Swedish asylum system is facing from the current refugee crisis in Europe.
Under her plan, asylum seekers entering from Russia or other Nordic countries would be immediately rejected if they are not coming directly from areas of conflict.
http://www.thelocal.no/20160223/norwegian-pm-proposes-stricter-refugee-laws
Is religion a clear and present danger?
Boko Haram, ISIS, Chinese western province, Al Qaeda, Chechnya, regional problems?
But Paris, then Copenhagen? Over freedom of speech? Freedom of cartoons?
Yes, terrorists are extremists, and a majority of muslims are peace loving individuals.
But extremists are enabled by the majority which agrees the 'Holy" Book can't be amended.
Is it time -for peace sake- to realize religions are not sacred?
The cartoonist and the drawing the Copenhagen shooter was trying to suppress:
Let's test when a cartoon is free speech vs hate & blasphemy
The Torah (˜ Christian Old Testament) and the Quran say: death to blasphemers.
PC people (press, some at DU) are squeamish to state that fact when it applies to Islam.
the following cartoon expresses that Torah/Quran doctrine + the PC squeamishness.
My question: is this cartoon free speech and satire, or is it racist blasphemous hate speech?
Are radical Islam and Political Correctness stifling/killing free speech?
I've been a weekly reader of Charlie Hebdo for quite a few years in the past.
It was solidly progressive and bitingly anti-religious. Anti ALL religions.
And it was a strong support/relay of all the French anti-racism associations (ACLU-like).
That's why, the bodies of the victims not buried yet, I was horrified by some comments:
• First, when reading here at DU some remarks that Charlie engaged in hate speech
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6054888
Religious caricatures were clearly aimed at the religions themselves, or at their bigots.
I defy anyone on this board to come up with a racist comment printed in Charlie.
Chalk victory #1 for the terrorists: victims get some blame, mocking religion is hate speech.
• Second, Kristof's column in the NYT says roughly Islam was not to blame. Wonderful.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/opinion/nicholas-kristof-lessons-from-the-charlie-hebdo-shooting-in-paris.html?_r=0
Yes, many/most? muslims are peaceful. But millions are ready to follow crazy rules.
It is written in the Quran (and in the Torah/OT) that blasphemers should be put to death.
Chalk victory #2 for the terrorists: Kristof doesn't mention the doctrine problems that Charlie mocked.
• Third and last, the Charlie shooting will be a strong incentive to kill mockery of religion.
Let's remember that no major US newspaper reprinted the Danish cartoons in 2005. Risky.
After this Charlie Hebdo attack, journalists will double up on the PC with personal safety.
Who wants to become the next Salman Rushdie? Or Danish or Charlie Hebdo cartoonist?
Chalk victory #3 for the terrorists: voices critical of religions themselves will be smothered.
Some comic relief to conclude: what the Vatican had to say at the time of the Danish cartoons:
"The right to freedom of thought and expression .. cannot imply the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers."
Here, a 'best of' of Charlie's anti religious cover pages. Hoping nobody will say I'm spreading hate speech.
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