Officials in Ferguson, Missouri, say they will replace two recently planted saplings this week, including one planted in memory of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1yKcJeM ) reports that both trees were found damaged Sunday. They were planted in January in Wabash Park and had been donated by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Maybe plant one of these instead. Somewhere way out in the desert would be good.
One of the trees was dedicated to Brown, who was fatally shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in August, setting off months of protests. The second sapling was dedicated by a Ferguson resident to a dead pet. Shoulda left this one alone.
City officials say both trees were chopped off at the trunk. Concrete plaques placed at the bases of both trees were taken.
#1
Given the number of 'false flag' racist actions over the past few years, one has to wonder whether this was the doing of some drunk Klucker or one of Zero's sons if he had sons.
[AnNahar] Nigerian health authorities said on Monday that ethanol poisoning from a local gin may have been responsible for the sudden death of 18 people last week.
"We strongly suspect ethanol poisoning and in view of this, we have ordered for another toxicology test for the surviving victims," Ondo state health commissioner Dayo Adeyanju told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Preliminary investigations ruled out viral or Ebola infection for the outbreak of the mysterious illness in the southwestern town of Ode-Irele on April 15.
"Our investigations revealed that five of the victims took local gin mixed with herbs. Three of them died while the other two have been put under close observation," he said.
In total, 23 people were affected, out of which 18 died. The five others were referred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital for further tests and monitoring.
Adeyanju said the disease was not contagious, adding no new case has been reported for the past four days.
"We will continue to monitor the situation. We are appealing to our people to report any case of sudden illness or death to the health authorities for immediate action," he added.
Experts from the World Health Organization were in Ode-Irele to investigate the ailment with a view to containing it.
The global health body said on Sunday that pesticide poisoning was the likely cause of the mysterious deaths.
The victims, whose symptoms included headache, weight loss, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, all died within a day of falling ill.
An Egyptian criminal court on Tuesday sentenced ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison on charges linked to the killing of protesters in 2012, the first verdict to be issued against the country's first freely elected leader.
The conviction, which can be appealed, and muted Islamist reaction following it, underscore the dramatic downfall of Morsi and Egypt's once-powerful Muslim Brotherhood group. Morsi escaped being sentenced to death in the case.
Morsi and the Brotherhood rose to power in the elections that followed the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in a 2011 Arab Spring uprising. But the military overthrew Morsi in 2013 amid massive protests against his divisive yearlong rule, and now he and other top Brotherhood leaders are in prison facing a raft of charges, many of which carry the death penalty.
Now, as Mubarak and members of his government increasingly find themselves acquitted of criminal charges, Morsi and the Brotherhood are at the receiving end of heavy-handed sentences.
Tuesday's verdict sparked no immediate street protests, reflecting the toll of a heavy security crackdown on any show of dissent -- either by Islamists or other activists.
During the hearing, Judge Ahmed Youssef issued his verdict as Morsi and other defendants in the case -- mostly Brotherhood leaders -- stood in a soundproof glass cage inside a makeshift courtroom at Egypt's national police academy. Seven of the accused were tried in absentia.
In addition to Morsi, 12 Brotherhood leaders and Islamist supporters, including Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Youssef dropped murder charges and said the sentences were linked to a "show of force" and unlawful detention.
The case stems from violence outside the presidential palace in December 2012. Morsi's supporters attacked opposition protesters demanding that Morsi call off a referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution. Clashes escalated into deadly confrontations overnight that killed at least 10 people.
In a statement, Amnesty International called the case flawed and full of loopholes, while describing the trial as a "sham."
"Convicting Mohammed Morsi, despite fundamental flaws in the legal process and what seems to be at best flimsy evidence produced in court under a gag order, utterly undermines this verdict," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy Middle East and North Africa director.
Morsi's questioning took place without his lawyers present during his detention in an undisclosed location for four months following his ouster in July 2013.
Amnesty said Morsi's legal team was only able to access case files days before the trial began. It also documented irregularities, such as where abuses of his supporters -- not his opponents -- were the only evidence documented. The court also ignored what Amnesty said were deaths among Morsi's supporters during the same protests.
During Tuesday's hearing, Morsi and the rest of the defendants in white jumpsuits raised the four-finger sign symbolizing the sit-in at the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where hundreds were killed when security forces violently dispersed the sprawling sit-in by Morsi's supporters on Aug. 14, 2013. They also smiled for cameras filming the hearing.
It was a far cry from when the trial first began, when Morsi repeatedly shouted to the court: "I am the president of the republic!"
During subsequent court appearances, Morsi and other defendants turned their backs to the court when Youssef played several videos of the clashes outside the palace in 2012.
From his exile in Turkey, top Muslim Brotherhood figure Amr Darrag called the ruling "a sad and terrible day in Egyptian history."
"They want to pass a life sentence for democracy in Egypt," Darrag said.
Under the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who as army chief overthrew Morsi, Brotherhood members and Islamists have faced trials that end with mass death sentences, sparking international condemnation.
The heavy sentences have raised questions about the independence of Egypt's judiciary, something analysts say could have contributed to the sentence Morsi received Tuesday.
"Morsi's trial gripped international attention and a heavy sentence would have put the judiciary under a spotlight," said Sameh Eid, a former Brotherhood member who researches Islamic movements. "Today, the judiciary seemed keen in preserving its image."
Political science professor Hassan Nafaa said average Egyptians have seen the differences between the trials of Morsi and Mubarak.
"People are not reassured of the fairness of these trials," Nafaa said.
Morsi faces four other trials on charges that include orchestrating a prison break and undermining national security by conspiring with foreign groups. Thousands of Brotherhood members are in jail facing a variety of charges, most linking them to violence that followed Morsi's 2013 overthrow.
Morsi is being held at a high security prison near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Tuesday's hearing took place amid heavy security, as hundreds of black-clad riot police deployed at the police academy, backed by armored vehicles.
US paratroopers on Monday began training Ukrainian government forces who will fight pro-Russian separatists in the east, angering Moscow as the deadly conflict rumbles on in the ex-Soviet country.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko welcomed troops from the US 173rd Airborne Brigade in a rain-soaked ceremony at a military base in Yavoriv, western Ukraine, to launch Operation Fearless Guardian.
"We are the eyewitnesses and direct participants in forming the new Ukrainian military, which like the phoenix is rising again after years of decline," Poroshenko told the assembled troops.
"This is not only a war for the independence of Ukraine, but also a war for freedom and democracy in Europe and the whole world."
Officials said some 300 US troops will train 900 members of Ukraine's National Guard, which is deployed in the east where heavy artillery fire is rumbling on despite a February ceasefire.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict in the past year and more than a million civilians have been displaced, according to the United Nations.
US Army Major Michael Weisman told AFP the mission would provide training in individual and medical skills and defence manoeuvres with the kind of weapons already used by the Ukrainian forces such as AK-47 assault rifles.
As the US brigade arrived in Ukraine last week from its base in Italy, Russia warned the move could "destabilize" Ukraine and said it was a step towards the United States arming.
- Alleged Russian arms deliveries -
Washington has sent $75 million (70 million euros) worth of non-lethal military aid to Kiev, but has so far held off from supplying arms.
And the United States plans to give another $17.7 million in humanitarian assistance for those in need, such as shelter, health and sanitation support, food vouchers and potable water, the White House said.
Britain has also deployed personnel to Ukraine to train government forces, in a mission that ministers said would involve up to 75 trainers at a time. Canada announced last week it would also send 200 trainers in the summer.
US troops have trained with Ukrainian forces in the past, but this is the first time Washington has trained members of Ukraine's recently reformed National Guard.
"It is the first time that joint exercises of such scale and content have been carried out in Ukraine," Poroshenko said.
"I am sure the exercises we are launching here today will be effective in reinforcing and stabilising the situation."
Kiev and the West say there is mounting evidence that Russia is arming separatists who control parts of eastern Ukraine and is sending troops to fight alongside them. Russia has repeatedly denied this.
In a telephone call, Poroshenko and US Vice President Joe Biden "called on Russia to abide by the terms of the Minsk agreements and to stop the transfer of heavy weapons into Ukraine and massing of troops along the international border," the White House said.
Ukrainian army spokesman Andriy Lysenko said shelling in the east eased on Sunday, but intelligence services had detected scores of vehicles bringing arms into eastern Ukraine from Russia over recent days.
Moscow accuses the United States of backing an uprising that preceded the ousting of Ukraine's former pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych in February last year. Moscow subsequently annexed the Crimean peninsula.
France and Germany brokered a ceasefire agreement in February, but European OSCE observers in eastern Ukraine say exchanges of artillery fire have continued over recent weeks.
However, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said monitors had brokered a truce in one flashpoint village, Shyrokyne, near the strategic government-held city of Mariupol.
"There is a good chance for peace at this moment and we need to invest as much as we can in this," Zannier told AFP during a visit to Lithuania.
"But there is always a risk of relapse in the conflict."
Poroshenko said there had been negotiations on setting up a 24-hour observation post for the OSCE in Shyrokyne, in comments quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
"We hope that it will be achieved in the coming days through joint efforts with our partners," he added.
#3
They had great success in Afghanistan and Iraq under similar circumstances, right?
Under US/NATO commanders, with secure communications.
Their top general is essentially a cop, and a lot of Ukrainian volunteer battalion leaders believe that Ukrainian communications are hopelessly compromised.
Two Russian journalists go to Rostov Na Donu to investigate graves of Russian soldiers killed in southeastern Ukraine
There were rumors of secret burials even three years ago: some civil activists thought that the authorities underreported the number of casualties from the floods in Krymske by several times. Referring to the anonymous statements by “emergency service workers,” they insisted that over a thousand people died, not 171. They looked for their graves in the adjacent Slovyansk district, but no evidence was submitted.
It seems that it is possible to hide anything in the North Cemetery in Rostov-on-Don, one of the biggest [cemeteries] in Europe, even a battalion or a division. The head of the administrative department for city cemetery services, Valeri Zykov, says that the area of the churchyard is more than 400 hectares. Half a million people have been laid to rest here over 40 years. This is the only active cemetery out of eight city cemeteries; the others are only used for very close relatives. Much more at the link
#1
"How can a 70-year-old grandfather or 60-year-old pensioner be useful in a fight"
Yes, but there's such a thing as collaterals. Shrapnel is not your friend.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/21/2015 8:20 Comments ||
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#2
We grandfathers CAN be useful in a fight. Just try something with our grandkids and see. But understand - we do not fight fair.
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Russian supported rebel forces continued to exchange fire with Ukrainian forces in several key areas, including near Donetsk city, according to Russian language rebel and Ukrainian press.
According to a post on the VKontakte page of FSB Colonel Igor Girkin by Donetsk Ministry of Defense spokesman Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian forces violated the ceasefire numerous times since last Saturday.
Ukrainian forces claim that rebels in the suburbs of northwest Donetsk have fired on their positions several times since midnight March 20th.
According to a report published on tsensor.net, rebel 82mm and 120mm mortars fired on Ukrainian positions near Avidievka and Peski. Other weapons used included automatic grenade launchers, light antiaircraft artillery (23mm/2) and small arms.
The previous day, according to Ukrainian news accounts, rebels fired on Peski and Avdievka using mortars and small arms fire.
Colonel Basurin said that Ukrainian armed forces hit at targets at Spartak, the Volvo Center in far northwestern Donetsk and at the airport Sunday.
Basurin claimed that Ukrainians used tanks, mortars and small arms fire in their attacks.
Shirokino
According to Colonel Basurin, Ukrainian mortars struck targets in southern Shirokino, an area that has been hotly contested since early February, characterizing the artillery attacks as "intensive." According to Basurin, 82mm and 120mm mortars as well as small arms were used in the attacks.
According to Ukrainian news accounts, rebels attacked positions of the Azov Regiment, now deployed in eastern Mariupol and clinging to western parts of Shirokino.
According to a tsensor.net report, quoting the Azov Regiment press service, rebel forces used tanks and mortars to hit Ukrainian forces deployed in Shirokino.
Additionally, rebel mortars hit targets near Berdyansk as well as in Shirokino. The press service was quoted as saying the bombardment was "intensive."
According to Russian language sources, Ukrainian commanders advanced a proposal to demilitarize Shirokino on Sunday, but the proposal was completely rejected by Donetsk president Aleksandr Zakhatrchenko on Monday.
Zakharchenko said the proposal would have left Shirokino in Ukrainian hands, and rebel forces moved several kilometers to the east.
Lugansk
Accoridng to a rebel report on VKontakte, Ukrainian RPG fire hit the town of Belaya Gora, on the right bank of the Northern Donetsk River near Lisichansk on Monday morning. Much of the town has been abandoned due to shelling, but many civilian residences were hit.
Ukrainian reports say that rebel RPG and small arms fire were directed into Schastye on the night of April 19th to April 20th.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
Unlike so many industrial innovations, the revolving door was not developed in Detroit. It took its first spin in Philadelphia in 1888, the brainchild of Theophilus Van Kannel, the soon-to-be founder of the Van Kannel Revolving Door Company. Its purpose was twofold: to better insulate buildings from the cold and to allow greater numbers of people easier entry at any given time.
On March 31st at the Wayne Country Treasurer's Office, that Victorian-era invention was accomplishing neither objective. Then again, no door in the history of architecture -- rotating or otherwise -- could have accommodated the latest perversity Detroit officials were inflicting on city residents: the potential eviction of tens of thousands, possibly as many as 100,000 people, all at precisely the same time.
Little wonder that it seemed as if everyone was getting stuck in the rotating doors of that Wayne County office building on the last day residents could pay their past-due property taxes or enter a payment plan to do so. Those who didn't, the city warned, would lose their homes to tax foreclosure, the process by which a local government repossesses a house because of unpaid property taxes.
#1
...I'd be interested in several bits of info the article doesn't mention:
*What's the average amount of property tax owed?
*Are these houses clustered in a particular area?
*Has there been interest by investors in those areas?
I suspect that the good people who run Detroit know something they ain't telling.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/21/2015 8:48 Comments ||
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#2
Property taxes are little more than rent paid to the gov't. They are an evil mechanism of servitude in Detroit and elsewhere.
you also might add a question concerning ethnicity of the foreclosed individuals, and I will bet that you can make a case that foreclosure is racist.....
#4
I'm waiting for the UN to speak up, like they did when the water department threatened to shut off the water for people who hadn't paid their water bills.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/21/2015 15:24 Comments ||
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That, my dears, is what a solid tin ear looks like.
[AnNahar] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... shares the pain of Armenians whose parents or grandparents were killed under the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday.
"We once again respectfully remember and share the pain of grandchildren and children of Ottoman Armenians who bit the dust during deportation in 1915," Davutoglu said in a statement released by his office to mark the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
Armenians consider the mass killings a genocide, a term Turkey has consistently refused to recognize.
Davutoglu made clear once more in the statement that Turkey did not accept the word genocide to describe the killings.
"To reduce everything to a single word, to put responsibility through generalizations on the Turkish nation alone... is legally and morally problematic," he said.
The relatively conciliatory tone of the statement contrasts with the furious reaction from Ankara early this month when Pope Francis used the term genocide to describe the killings.
Davutoglu had on April 12 lashed out at Francis for what he described as "inappropriate" and "one-sided" comments on the issue.
The latest statement said the "Ottoman Armenians" would be remembered at a service to be held at the Armenian patriarchate in Istanbul on April 24.
Davutoglu said Turks and Armenians should "heal their wounds from that century and reestablish their human relations."
The statement builds on an expression of condolences issued by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... while he was still prime minister in April 2014.
In that statement, Erdogan described the killings as "our shared pain" in what was the weightiest statement yet from a Turkish leader on the issue.
Armenia and Armenians in the diaspora say 1.5 million of their forefathers were killed by Ottoman forces in a targeted campaign ordered by the military leadership of the Ottoman empire to eradicate the Armenian people from Anatolia in what is now eastern Turkey.
Turkey says hundreds of thousands of Turks and Armenians bit the dust as Ottoman forces battled the Russian Empire for control of eastern Anatolia during World War I.
The controversy has long prevented the establishment of normal trade and diplomatic relations between Turkey and neighboring Armenia.
h/t Gates of Vienna
Heads up to the unsuspecting people of India: The liars of the U.S. State Department have taken it upon themselves to teach "ethics" to your nation's upcoming journalists.
Don't get caught up in the controversy that it "has even proposed appropriating the name of Robin Thicke's 2013 hit "Blurred Lines" as a title for the course.
It's not the name of the course, that could just as easily be called "Liars like us", but what the course is teaching that's the clear and present danger:
"The U.S. State Department is looking to design and facilitate a media ethics course for journalists in India, and has even proposed appropriating the name of Robin Thicke's 2013 hit "Blurred Lines" as a title for the course. (Weekly Standard, April 20, 2015)
This seems an odd thing for the president of the United States to do.
[Dawn] NEW DELHI: A red coloured Chadar (Holy Cloth), which was sent by US President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... on the occasion of the 803th annual Urs of Hazrat Khawaja Moinudeen Chishty, was offered at Ajmer Dargah Sharif in Rajasthan on Monday, Press Trust of India said.
The Chadar with a message 'Greeting of Peace' from Mr Obama was handed over to Haji Syed Salman Chishty, Director of the Chishty Foundation by the US Ambassador in India Richard Verma.
According to Haji Chishty, the Chadar was received from the US Embassy a few days back.
[AnNahar] Japan plans to launch an unmanned mission to the moon as a stepping stone to a future visit to Mars, officials and local media said Monday.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) unveiled the plan for a moon lander to a council of the cabinet office and the ministry of education, culture, sports science and technology, a JAXA official said.
If successful, Japan will be the fourth country to send an unmanned probe to the moon after Russia, the United States and China.
"This is an initial step and a lot of procedures are still ahead before the plan is formally approved," the official said.
According to the evening edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun, JAXA plans to launch the moon mission as early as the fiscal year starting in April 2018, with a development cost estimated at up to 15 billion yen ($126 million).
The probe, named SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon), will be carried by the nation's solid-fuel "Epsilon" rocket, the newspaper said, adding that the ministry plans to request a budget for the programme next year.
If successful, Japan will be the fourth country to send an unmanned probe to the moon after Russia, the United States and China, the daily said.
This is part of Japan's effort to prepare for a mission to Mars in the future, the Yomiuri reported.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/21/2015 7:33 Comments ||
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#4
First, they'll raise the Yamato...
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/21/2015 8:10 Comments ||
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#5
I'm all for it, but come on Earth. Put a man up there, visit the landing sites and take data on what happened to the stuff left behind. Send the conspiracy monkeys into a frenzy. Come on.
#7
USN Ret. - from yesterday's thread, I totally forgot about my first post (it was off the screen and I forgot all about it). Yes, the Section 8 story was from personal experience, and it's not my only story...
h/t Instapundit
Two years ago, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the nation's top military officer, laid down an edict on the Obama administration's plan to open direct land combat jobs to women: If women cannot meet a standard, senior commanders better have a good reason why it should not be lowered.
Today, the "Dempsey rule" appears to have its first test case.
The Marine Corps just finished research to see if female officers could successfully complete its rigorous Infantry Officer Course. I don't grok
#7
Not only will this degrade the military effectivness by its very nature, but once enough women are killed in combat the likelyhood of going to combat will be reduced.
They couldn't destroy the military with the draft (Rangel you snot) because they'd lose all the young voters so they are trying a new route.
I have no problem with women in combat but think they should pass the same standards and should probably have their tubes tied during their enlistement to prevent the inevitable can't deplay because...
#8
I was privileged to observe the progress of what was called at the time [2012-2012 timeframe] 'U.S. Army Female Engagement Teams.' Interesting program, out in the morning - back at the FOB by nightfall. Special undergarments for MRAP riding, no 'cat hole' or field defecation as I recall. I wonder if Harmony Church, Duke Field, or the Ranger Camp at Deloganah will offer special undergarments, and bus everyone back to post for a shower, hots and a cot ?
#11
Quantity has a quality all of its own; so, if the lady marines would agree to be paid at a rate proportional to their physical performance, then we could afford enough more of them to compensate for their lack of ability, and our military effectiveness would be unchanged.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
![]("http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll224/SmokeJumperFirearms/SMILEYS/CRYARIVER.gif")
Officials in Ferguson, Missouri, say they will replace two recently planted saplings this week, including one planted in memory of 18-year-old Michael Brown.![]("http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx59/moonjazz/Arizona%20Classic%20Sunsets%20Rattlesnakes%20Deserts%20Hikes/SaguroCactrusArizona.jpg")
