ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Armed robbers have stolen art worth $100 million, including works by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, from a Zurich museum, police said Monday.
Zurich police said the robbery took place Sunday. Also among the works stolen were oil paintings by Paul Cezanne and Edgar Degas. Police called the heist a "spectacular art robbery," but did not identify the museum, saying only that it is in the city's eighth district.
The prosperous and peaceful outer district on the eastern shore of Lake Zurich is home to several notable art collections.
The FBI estimates the market for stolen art at $6 billion annually, and Interpol has about 30,000 pieces of stolen art in its database. While only a fraction of pieces are ever found, the theft of iconic objects is rare because of the intense police work that follows and because the works are so difficult to sell.
The incident recalled other thefts that have hit Switzerland's museums and galleries over the years. Last week, Swiss police reported that two Pablo Picasso paintings were stolen from a Swiss exhibition near Zurich. The two oil paintings, "Tete de cheval" ("Head of horse") and "Verre et pichet" ("Glass and pitcher"), were on loan from the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany.
In 1994, seven Picasso paintings worth an estimated $44 million were stolen from a gallery in Zurich. They were recovered in 2000, and a Swiss man and two Italians were jailed for the theft. In the late 1980s, three armed men robbed a Zurich art gallery, making off with 21 Renaissance paintings worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
#1
I guess mentally challenged Swiss art museum directors have never heard of armed guards, plexiglass, or security companies? Given a $6B annual market in stolen art, perhaps a guard or three for each major museum may not really be worth it.
Give them a few more years and perhaps they'll be out of art and will by my dog's nosepaintings for $20M each or something so they'll have something to have stolen display.
The three masked men wearing dark clothing entered the museum a half-hour before closing Sunday, police said. While one of the men used a pistol to force museum personnel to the floor, the two others went into the exhibition hall and collected the four paintings.
One of the men spoke German with a Slavic accent, police said. They loaded the paintings into a white vehicle parked in front of the museum.
Police, asking for witnesses to come forward, said it was possible that the paintings were partly sticking out of the van as the robbers made their getaway.
#4
Typically, such things are inside jobs, and the thieves grab very carefully selected items.
I say items, because the artworks they steal are often forgeries, put up just that day. Then, if they steal say, $30M, the museum reports $50M stolen, a theft being an excellent opportunity to make off with some of the better stuff themselves.
Then a lot depends on the insurance companies.
Many will pay a reward for stolen artwork, no questions asked, which is a fraction they would have to pay the museum. So if it is a legit theft, the thieves can make more money going that route than by trying to fence it themselves.
If the museums steal their own stuff, they already have prearranged private collectors lined up to buy it. Since these buyers are buying "stolen" art, they can't display it or brag about it. So the museums often sell several forgeries to several different buyers, each of whom thinks that they have the real one.
But on top of everything else, a lot of museums would never exhibit real valuable artwork to begin with, figuring correctly that 99.9999% of its viewers can't tell the difference. So they keep the real stuff in a vault and display good fakes.
I know it all sounds terribly nonsensical.
However, I just read elsewhere that a British family has been busted for selling a large number of superb quality fakes to museums. If a museum knows that it has been ripped off, what can it do?
It can either take a hit of perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars, become a laughingstock, and be shunned by the public; or, it can arrange a theft or destruction of the forgeries, collect the insurance money for them, and hope for the best.
Fine art has long been a racket, for well over 1500 years.
#7
AlanC - Aaron's Chris Norgren series is indeed entertaining, and informative, to read.
But he hasn't written any Norgren books in the past few years, AFAIK. When I talked to him a few years ago, he said that the publisher didn't want to continue the series. I think (though Aaron didn't say) that the Gideon Oliver series sold better. Too bad - I love the Gideon Oliver series, but loved the Norgren series, too (I know quite a bit of the science in the Oliver series, but very little about the art world of the Norgren series, so those books were a wonderful source of information as well as being good reads).
He also co-authors a golf series (Lee Olfsted) with his wife, Charlotte. I'm not sure if that series is still going or not - I haven't seen a new book in a couple of years, but could have missed it. I think they come out as original paperbacks.
I can heartily recommend any and all of his books. And if you ever get a chance to sit down and talk with him for a while, count your lucky stars! A nice man, very interesting, and a gentleman.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/11/2008 19:19 Comments ||
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#10
TW__The Wiki entry is, I suppose technically correct, but in my long-forgotten youth, the term applied to any Yankee redneck and was in common usage in the Vermont logging town I was exiled to in the summers, but less so in the Berkshires where I lived the rest of the year. Still, folks knew what you were talking about.
The point is, that somehow folks have the idea that the Appalacians (never could spell it) ended someplace in West VA; t'aint true - they go all the way into Canada and so did the mindset - of course MA and VT have been yuppified so probably most of that is gone. Anyway, as I recall, the only real difference I could see at the time between a southron redneck and us swamp yankees was that our mothers would beat the cr*p out of us if we wore our hats at the table.
Sometimes it just does not pay to get up.
An elderly man lived for at least eight years with the body of his dead lodger in his council flat in Bristol, it has emerged.
The remains of Dennis Pring, who would now be aged 73, were discovered by council workers on a sofa in the lounge after neighbours complained of a foul smell emanating from the flat.
Police said Mr Pring's body was found by council workers on January 30, and the tenant was arrested in connection with the discovery. But they said they were no longer treating the death as suspicious.
It is believed the tenant, who is also in his 70s, failed to report the death because he suffers from severe mental health problems. An inquest into the death has been opened and adjourned. "The owner of the flat was suffering from dementia, yer 'onor, and 'e didn't know what 'e was doing."
"Well, that is unfortunate. Put it down to natural causes and let's go to lunch. It is quarter past noon already."
Meanwhile, Bristol City Council has launched an inquiry to determine how the body went unnoticed for so long.
A spokesman for the council said: "We were alerted to the body after we received reports of a smell.
"We are shocked and concerned by this discovery and are carrying out an urgent internal review of the circumstances of the tenant. Big hurry? Why? It eight years to find the corpse? Who was bringing the flat owner his groceries, and why did not they say something?
"A police investigation is ongoing, and it would be inappropriate to comment further while this is taking place." "We can say no more....at this time."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/11/2008 20:12 ||
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"He was a good lodger, didn't complain much"
one would think that after 8 yrs the smell might have subsided...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/11/2008 20:37 Comments ||
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"We thought we had come out of the blizzard," Goudie said. "We thought we were through it. Then we hit a patch of ice. The Wienermobile weighs 7,000 pounds, so usually ice and snow isn't much of a problem. It was this time."
Stuck, Volpini called 911 dispatchers in Wellsboro. Though skeptical at first, they notified state police at Mansfield. As passersby called in the crash on cell phones, the dispatchers became convinced that the barkburger was indeed in hot water.
Police contacted Dave Kurzejewski of Costy's Truck and Auto Mart, and he showed up in short order with a heavy four-wheel-drive vehicle and some chains. Johnson, the trooper, grilled the women briefly and concluded that a routine and sober spinout was all he had on his plate.
Kurzejewski hooked up and Emily fired up the highway hot dog, and a few well-timed tugs later, the Wienermobile was back on the highway.
For Kurzejewski, veteran of hundreds of tows over the years, Sunday's experience was a new one.
"I've pulled out a lot of vehicles," he said. "But that's the first wiener I've ever pulled out."
#7
Hotdogger's Oath (for the drivers of this delectable drivable delicacy)
As official Hotdogger of the celebrated Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, I salami swear to uphold the dogma set forth here, and I promise to:
Encourage wiener lovers nationwide to relish the delicacy, ketchup on the great taste of hot dogs, and give in to the craving once it's mustard. Be frank and furthermore, to be upstanding in a line for hot dogs at ball parks, barbecues, buffets, and other bashes. Journey into the streets, dachs, und ports of my community, wish well to all comers, plump and lean and leave them with a wiener to roast about. As once I wished I were, now I am an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Hotdogger.
They're not above a pun or two themselves.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/11/2008 21:55 Comments ||
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The Anglican bishop of Hereford has been ordered by a court to undergo "equal opportunities training" and pay a fine of £47,345.00, the equivalent of $92,106.00 Cn., for refusing to hire an active homosexual for a position of trust with young people. The ruling also stated that Hereford diocese staff "involved in recruitment should receive equal opportunities training".
"The respondents discriminated against the claimant on the grounds of sexual orientation," said the ruling from the Cardiff Employment Tribunal.
The Right Reverend Anthony Priddis refused to hire a homosexual man, John Reaney, as a youth worker on the grounds that the Christian religion holds sexual continence within natural marriage as the norm. He told media that he stands by his original decision and may appeal the ruling.
When Mr. Reaney, an active homosexual who sees no conflict with his lifestyle and his Christian beliefs, was refused for a position with the diocese as a youth officer, he launched a complaint with the Employment Tribunal. This complaint was funded by the homosexual political organization Stonewall and was considered by them and others as a test case in the application of the so-called "religious exemption" of recently passed Equality legislation that prohibits "discrimination" on the grounds of "sexual orientation".
The Tribunal dismissed the arguments of Bishop Priddis who said the refusal was not about "discrimination" but about upholding Christian sexual morality. He said he had made it clear to Mr. Reaney and the Tribunal that a person in a sexual relationship outside marriage, whatever their "sexual orientation", would be turned down for a post in the diocese.
"The Church's teaching draws distinction between sexual orientation and practice and lifestyle," Bishop Priddis said. "We didn't discriminate against Mr. Reaney on the grounds of sexuality. Had we done so we wouldn't have called him for an interview."
But Philip Whealy, spokesman for the Christian Congress for Traditional Values (CCTV) told LifeSiteNews.com that the decision is about more than just one man and one bishop. It "highlights the general trend in the UK towards the destruction of freedom of conscience and speech."
Whealy identified the decision of the Employment Tribunal as a victory for the homosexual movement that wants to suppress and ultimately criminalize the public expression of Christian sexual morality.
The Tribunal heard that after Mr. Reaney was refused the position, the diocese did not hire any other applicant and the position was dissolved because of financial constraints.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the compensation award to Mr. Reaney includes £7,000 damages for "psychiatric injury" and £6,000 for "injury to feelings"...
All Things Considered, February 8, 2008 · The lights have gone out in most of Tajikistan, the poorest republic in the former Soviet Union. The country is facing an energy crisis in the midst of the coldest winter in more than 25 years.
With millions of people left without electricity, heat or running water, aid organizations are warning of a growing humanitarian crisis.
For the past 15 days, there has been no heat, electricity or running water in the freezing maternity ward of a small country hospital in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. In that time, Adolat Shoreva and her small team of nurses have helped deliver 13 babies by candlelight. "In my 40 years as a nurse, I've never seen it this bad," Shoreva says. "I sit in the dark at night and cry."
The unusually cold winter has overwhelmed the country's aging Soviet-era infrastructure, leaving millions of people cold, in the dark, without access to clean water. Aid workers say that even before this crisis, more than 60 percent of the population was living below the poverty line.
With many Tajiks spending what little money they have on fuel to heat their homes, the country is about to face widespread food shortages, says the United Nation's Zlatan Milisic. "Increased food prices, previous reduced harvests, very, very cold weather, and the energy crisis have all contributed to the fact that the people are not able to cope anymore on their own," he says.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
I've been stirring up the Warmers in several forums with comments about how catastrophic global cooling will be. This is a glimpse of what a future cooling world will look like.
#3
Due to extreme cold promoted by Global Warming, China is mining and burning more coal than ever before in their history. They have to, just to survive, in the face of the tremendous winter resulting from Global Warming. Ju Jintao even made trips to the coal fields to exhort the miners to work continuously in the mines without interruption to save China during the extreme winter (due to Global Warming). And, he didn't mention any interest in clean burning plants. The effluents from their plants waft heavily over the western US, due to prevailing wind currents. Thankfully, China unlike the US, is trying to bring reactors online quickly to provide power for their growing economy. They are also not worried about storing waste. Just worried about getting it done fast, because this is in their national interest.
#5
The Russians don't have pipelines into China. The Russians recently signed a gas pipeline agreement, but they have been really squirrelly on whether they will actually build it.
Posted by: ed ||
02/11/2008 19:07 Comments ||
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#6
"The Russians ... have been really squirrelly"
Isn't that their default mode, ed? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/11/2008 19:22 Comments ||
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#6
Any bets whether Maggie is the designated hitter to bring home the Black vote?
Hint to Shrilary: it not the campaign manager who is the loser.......
WASHINGTON - Among Billaryland's inner circle, Maggie Williams is renowned as the ultimate Hillary loyalist, fierce and unwavering in her devotion for nearly 25 years. As the First Lady's chief of staff, her office was in the West Wing, right next to Hillary's.
Her title gave away the extent of her clout: assistant to the President as well as Hillary's gatekeeper and chief enforcer. Even detractors agree with her admirers that Williams would go to the mat for Hillary.
A Kansas City native, Williams, 53, was a central player in the Clinton damage-control machine during the White House years. In 1995, a uniformed Secret Service officer swore under oath he saw her leave White House lawyer and Hillary confidant Vince Foster's office carrying documents after Foster committed suicide. Williams denied it.
She ran up more than $100,000 in legal bills defending Hillary in various investigations.
A former aide to Reps. Morris Udall of Arizona and Robert Torricelli (later senator) of New Jersey, Williams' ties to Hillary date to when they both were at the Children's Defense Fund in the 1980s.
After the Clintons left the White House, Williams was named president of Fenton Communications, a leading public relations and consulting firm.
When Bill and Hillary Clinton made remarks before the South Carolina primary that offended African-Americans, the campaign put her on the airwaves to try to quell the uproar.
"She's never run a political campaign, but she has run a staff and isn't afraid to crack heads," a Democratic booster said.
At least 13 bandits were killed in a gunfight with villagers in a village near Sahiwal early on Sunday morning, police and witnesses said. More than 25 bandits robbed a house in Chak 135/9-L and were about to break into another one when villagers opened fire on them. At least 13 bandits were killed in the fight that lasted more than one hour. Twelve others, most of them injured, fled. Police said the bandits belonged to the Oar Gang, which was wanted by police in a number of cases.
Police have seized the truck and car that they left behind. The dead bodies have been sent for autopsy and the weapons and ammunition they were carrying have been seized.
Sahiwal Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Malik Daud told reporters the gang was involved in a number of inter-provincial incidents of crime. He said police teams had been sent to search for the bandits who fled. Witnesses said the bandits had first robbed the bungalow of Sardar Najeeb, whose nephews climbed the surrounding rooftops and fired at the bandits. Other villagers then joined the gunfight, they said, and injured five of the bandits. Najeeb said the bandits had robbed goods worth Rs 10,000 from the same village 11 months ago. Ghala Mandi Police have registered a case.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Crime is the fault of society, not the individual criminal. Poor criminals are entitled to what they take. Submitting to criminal predation is more virtuous than resisting it.
Barbara -- Tuesday night might be popcorn night! Folks comin'from near and far
If you want to get a seat at Tuesday night's Berkeley City Council meeting, you better start lining up now. And you might want to bring earplugs. And a flak jacket.
Hundreds of protesters from across the country and the political spectrum are expected to descend on City Hall with bullhorns, drums, banners and plenty of vitriol in anticipation of the City Council's debate over the Marines' recruiting station in town.
The ruckus started last week when the council voted to send a letter to the Marines, calling them "unwanted intruders" for opening the recruiting center on Shattuck Avenue last year. At the same time, the council granted Code Pink a parking space and a sound permit to make it easier for the peace group to conduct protests outside the center.
On Monday, Councilwomen Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli introduced an item for this week's meeting, asking the city to retract its statements about the Marines and clarify that the city is against the war, not against the armed forces.
"We're starting to get people coming in from all over the U.S.," said Catherine Moy, executive director of Move America Forward, one of several pro-military groups planning an all-day protest Tuesday at Maudelle Shirek City Hall. "People are pretty upset. We want to avoid clashes, but it could be really, really big. We don't really know what's going to happen."
Peace groups, disgusted that the council would cave in to pressure from the pro-military groups, plan to host their own rally, an "emergency 24-hour peace-in vigil," complete with singing, drums and dialogue.
"We want to protect our city from the onslaught of the right wing," said Code Pink spokeswoman Zanne Joi. "We're facing people who are willing to kill or send other people's children to kill to get what they want. We understand the reality of that, and we're prepared to face that in a nonviolent way."
The city's statement about the Marines immediately ignited an uproar from conservative, pro-military and pro-war factions around the country. A South Carolina senator introduced a bill rescinding $2 million in federal funding for Berkeley. The Semper Fi Act of 2008 would transfer Berkeley's money to the Marine Corps.
City officials were deluged with hundreds of irate e-mails, some containing death threats. Moy said her group got so many e-mails its Web site crashed.
Both sides will be protesting at Tuesday's meeting. Code Pink and its allies plan to camp out on the lawn at City Hall beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, while Move America Forward, the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and other pro-military groups plan to rally at Martin Luther King Jr. Park across the street starting at 5 a.m. Tuesday.
"Maybe we should do a reality TV episode," said Mayor Tom Bates. "But in some ways it's good we're debating the war. Iraq has sort of been pushed aside lately because of the economy. The trick, though, is to focus the debate on the right issues."
More police, fire and paramedics will be working that night, and the city is holding a meeting Monday afternoon with representatives from all the protest groups to establish the ground rules.
"We want to ensure the safety of the public, city staff and City Council," said Deputy City Manager Christine Daniel. "We expect that everyone will protest peacefully, but we want to be safe."
The city has not yet decided whether to move the meeting to a larger room or install metal detectors.
The council plans to start the Marines debate at 9 p.m. Members of the public can address the council for one minute each, but the comment period can continue indefinitely. Officials expect a long night.
On Fourth Street Friday morning, nearly everyone had an opinion about the issue. And in typical Berkeley fashion, no one agreed.
"I am absolutely incensed," said Cheryl Tolman, a 12-year Berkeley resident. "It's outrageous that the City Council is trying to close the Marines office down and let these total radicals protest there. This is supposed to be the city of free speech."
Donna Bell, a musician, also thought it's a free-speech issue.
"I can't believe there'd be these threats of retaliation from the federal government," she said. "Asking the Marines to leave is really a statement about the war, and Berkeley should be able to do that."
Mehdi Hussain, an apartment manager originally from Fiji, said the Marines should be able to stay in Berkeley.
"They should have a right to be here," he said. "I don't see why Berkeley should be such a holier-than-thou city. But Berkeley's always been that way."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/11/2008 11:28 Comments ||
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#2
"We want to protect our city from the onslaught of the right wing," said Code Pink spokeswoman Zanne Joi. "We're facing people who are willing to kill or send other people's children to kill to get what they want. We understand the reality of that, and we're prepared to face that in a nonviolent way."
BOOGABOOGABOOOGA!!!
Lighten up and take a pill, hippie bitch...
#4
Sorry, Zanne. I'll spread the word to the right wing onslaughters to try not to point and laugh...
About Me
i'm a 57 yr old jewish lezbian anti-racist mother striving radical womonist/feminist; daughter & granddaughter of survivors of the holocaust, mother of a young amazon healer & amazing human being, lover of wimmin & student of consicous living............even tho i am the one actually driving the truck, i could not even head out from home if it were not for the support of many, many, many wimmin (and several men as well). If you want to help support my trip across the country, spreading codepink, registering voters, working to DEFEAT BUSH, please click the "Make a Donation" link below- it's secure!
Why did I bother looking this up? I knew it already...
#5
This has a lot of potential. In past, protests by pro-military people have been all military branches, but this time it will be all Marine.
Now Marines may be very disciplined, but their families and friends are under no such restriction if they don't want to be.
I can picture some KIA Marine's mother standing up to object, then getting punched in the mouth by some bearded, obscenity screaming stinky hippie anarchist wearing a Che t-shirt.
That would about do it. Imagine hundreds of inactive Reserve Marines, retirees, their family and friends just plowing through the hippies like an M-1 tank through a turkey farm.
#6
I'll start cutting up vegetables, make a few dips, and get out the cheese and crackers. Oh, and poke my head into the storeroom of the O Club to make sure there's enough beer and club soda. Tea won't do for this kind of shindig. Party at the Berkely thread tomorrow evening!
#7
I'm having thoughts of when the hardhats in NY beat the crap out of hippie protesters during the Vietnam war. Never laughed so hard in my life. These Berkeley bums merit a truly righteous butt-kicking and I hope they get it tomorrow night.
#8
"We're facing people who are willing to kill or send other people's children to kill to get what they want. We understand the reality of that, and we're prepared to face that in a nonviolent way."
#9
"Maybe we should do a reality TV episode," said Mayor Tom Bates. "But in some ways it's good we're debating the war. Iraq has sort of been pushed aside lately because of the economy. The trick, though, is to focus the debate on the right issues."
No, dumbass, Iraq is being pushed aside (by the media) because we are winning - not because of the economy.
Also, FYI, "Reality TV" isn't real. No more real than the "Pro Wrestling" put on the the WWF (or whatever its called nowdays).
That should have been the title. Looking at the facts it's pretty clear who the problem is and it isn't the Governor. Typical of misplaced blame in dealing with the problem of failed subcultures The two Minnesota's: Report outlines crisis in disparities for communities of color
The healthiest. Tops in education. High quality of life. Minnesota and a fair number of its cities and communities have garnered such labels over the years. But how about "tops in health coverage disparities" or "educational failure" or "highly skewed incarceration rates"? It might be a hard pill to swallow, but those negative labels apply just as accurately.
Did John Edwards write this?
This is the other Minnesota, the one never touted by tourist boards. And its story emerged last week from a report from the Organizing Apprenticeship Project, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that aims to advance racial, cultural, social and economic justice in Minnesota. Read, we know what the problem is but how can we blame others and get someone to believe it... Bad grades for Legislature, Governor
The report gives the Legislature and the governor a "D" on racial equity in the context of what its author, Jermaine Toney, calls "a growing racial fault line running through our state." OK now let's look at their own facts
While only 5.9 percent of whites lack health insurance, Latinos have an uninsured rate that is nearly six times higher (34 percent) and blacks two times higher (12.8 percent). Meanwhile, 21 percent of American Indians and 9.8 percent of Asian-Pacific Islanders are uninsured. (Minnesota Department of Health) (PDF)
So health insurance is in fact available and sufficiently reasonable in price that virtually anyone can afford it, but a significant proportion of the non-white population declines to do so. Do the numbers, by the way, include Medicaid enrollment? Or are is the Medicaid population considered uninsured?
Although 94 percent of white students graduate from high school, only three-fourths (71 percent) of blacks, and two-thirds (66 percent) of American Indians and Latinos graduate. (Minnesota Department of Education)
Right. The opportunity's there, but those who are culturally not interested in education don't take advantage. But that's really not their own fault. It's somebody else's. The somebody else, in this case the gummint, should require them to remain in school until graduation, except that if they did that'd violate their cultural preferences. Sounds pretty Catch-22-ish.
More than one-third of Minnesota's black children are raised in poverty. The rates for other groups are: 18 percent for Latino and American Indian children, 13 percent for Asian-Pacific Islander children, and 4 percent for white children
This is of course not connected in any way with the graduation rates or the value they place on education...
Blacks are arrested at a rate that is 817 percent higher than whites, and although they make up only 4 percent of the state's population, they make up roughly one-third (31.7 percent) of the prison population. (Council on Crime and Justice) Nothing racial but it shows the ridicuous response to cold hard stats
It's another cultural thing, though the numbers are actually a bit higher than the national average. Blacks make up 12 percent of the population and account for around 53 percent of violent crime nationally.
But, "Despite some progress, Minnesota lawmakers are still not making the grade. No mention of the parents, dads working two jobs so he can afford to keep his family safe and put himself through school and better their lot in life. By this reports account my father's own actions are discounted by this typical blame others outlook.
It sounds like Minnesota minorities aren't making the grade, despite living in a land that pretty much flows with milk and honey.
#1
Meanwhile, 21 percent of American Indians and 9.8 percent of Asian-Pacific Islanders are uninsured.
So you're claiming native Americans are not covered by the Indian Health Services? Or are you claiming, while they have access to federal programs, they lack private insurance?
#2
Consider the source:
Google the author's name to get her myspace home page and then read her blog titled "god really is a hilarious bitch" or check out her "influences" including "the incredible revolutionary poets of Central America".
One of Minnesota's finest, and a Harvard graduate.
#3
"It's another cultural thing, though the numbers are actually a bit higher than the national average. Blacks make up 12 percent of the population and account for around 53 percent of violent crime nationally."
Icerigger, WTF? How many times do I have to tell you: DON'T CONFUSE ME WITH FACTS!
That is, for some items, one set of ethnic groups is used, for other items, a *different* set.
So tell me, what percentage of Asian-Pacific Islanders graduate from high school? Is it close to the white rate, which is not unusual for those of Asian-Pacific Islanders descent?
And I bet that Asian-Pacific Islanders are almost negligible in arrest rates. But she doesn't even mention Latinos, either. So is it just exclusively blacks who get arrested all the time, and if so, why is that?
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.
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Armed robbers have stolen art worth $100 million, including works by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, from a Zurich museum, police said Monday. 
At least 13 bandits were killed in a gunfight with villagers in a village near Sahiwal early on Sunday morning, police and witnesses said. More than 25 bandits robbed a house in Chak 135/9-L and were about to break into another one when villagers opened fire on them. At least 13 bandits were killed in the fight that lasted more than one hour. Twelve others, most of them injured, fled. Police said the bandits belonged to the Oar Gang, which was wanted by police in a number of cases. 
