31 May 2014

Neo-Nazism rears its ugly head in Germany - where else?

Okay, so Udo Voigt, aged 62, is the new face of German extreme right-wingism, nay, neo-nazism (leader of and MEP for the National Democratic Party - don’t be fooled by that “Democratic”: Hitler was neither a Socialist nor a Democrat), but does he have to be “the son of a Nazi SA assault division member” and have that moustache?

Read the rest of the appalling story here, if you have the stomach for it. That said, this might be sufficient to convince you that you don’t need to: “Three years after being found guilty in 2004 of promoting Nazism after he called Hitler “a great man,” Voigt questioned the number of Holocaust deaths and demanded the return of German land lost after World War II.

By Brian Goldfarb.

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30 May 2014

Nikolai Klyuev or how to look death in the eyes


There are different kinds of heroism. We tend to exemplify heroism by valiant behavior of a soldier who, facing almost certain death, behaves in a way that either expedites the victory or saves lives of his friends and/or innocent bystanders. I wouldn't dream of arguing against the valor and the value of this kind of heroism. But here comes an example of a hero that looked his death in the eyes and brought upon himself untold suffering and eventual death by sticking to the truth and nothing but the truth - when he didn't have to do it. When denouncing his beliefs and walking away was an option.

Nikolai Alekseevich Klyuev*** (October 10, 1884 - between October 23 and 25, 1937), a great Russian poet, whose misfortune was to publish a few anti-bolshevik poems. For a reader familiar with that dark period of Russian/Soviet history, the date of death is a sure indication of the circumstances of death. Indeed, the reference to his last years in Russian Wiki is fairly typical for many outstanding poets and writers of the period:
On February 2, 1934 Klyuev was arrested on charges of "compilation and dissemination of counterrevolutionary literary works" (Article 58 10 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). Investigation of the case was led by Shivarov N.Kh*. On March 5 after a Special Session of the court he was sent to Kolpashevo, Narymsky region. In the autumn of the same year as a result of a plea by actress N. Obukhova, S.A. Klychkov and, possibly, Maxim Gorky, Klyuev was transferred to Tomsk.

On June 5, 1937 he was arrested again and shot at the end of October. Investigator in the Klyuyev's Tomsk case was inspector of Tomsk NKVD third Division Lieutenant Georgy Gorbenkol.
And here comes an excerpt from a protocol of "investigation":
Question: What are your views on Soviet reality and your attitude to the policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet government?

Answer: My views on Soviet life and my attitude towards the policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet government determined my reactionary** religious and philosophical views.

Originating from an ancient Old Believers family through the mother of Avvakum, I was brought up in the ancient Russian culture of Korsun, Kiev and Novgorod and absorbed the love of ancient, pre-Peter Russia, of which I am a singer.

The building of socialism in the USSR, carried out under the dictatorship of the proletariat finally ruined my dream of ancient Russia. Hence my hostility to the policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet government which are aiming towards the socialist reconstruction of the country. I consider the measures toward implementing this policy as violence against the nation, which is bleeding and in fiery pain.
Think about the kind of heroism that takes... and ask yourself what will be your behavior in a similar situation.

(*) It is with some measure of satisfaction that I have learned that Mr Shivarov N.Kh. was himself later charged as "Bulgarian spy" and died in a prison camp.

(**) The "reactionary" definitely comes from the above mentioned Shivarov and not from the poet.

(***) The English version of Klyuev's bio is very uninformative, focusing for some reason on the homosexuality aspect of Klyuev's life. While Klyuev's lifestyle was one of the reasons of his murder by NKVD, it was by no means the only one.

29 May 2014

'Honour killing' - you can feel better about it

From CNN report about the "honour" murder of Farzana Parveen, a pregnant Pakistani woman, beaten to death by her relatives:

So-called honor killings often originate from tribal traditions in Pakistan but are not a part of Islam.
So it may seem when you read this. Verbotten, say the clerics.

But... but read this.

And that.

Feeling better now?

Update: to make you feel even better, there is more to the story:
Now Parveen's husband Mohammad Iqbal, 45, has admitted killing his first wife.

"I was in love with Farzana and killed my first wife because of this love," adding that he had strangled her.
No comment.

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28 May 2014

Let our people come! Or go? Or what? Too many options...

Science is a wonderful thing. When it comes to provide a confirmation of out beliefs, it somehow looks even wonderfuller*. But sometimes science and belief taken together open too many roads at once, and thus create a headache. Here is the case I am talking about.

To start with, the Jewish population of Colorado, US.

A population of Native American Indians from the US state of Colorado has been found to have a genetic mutation typical of Ashkenazi Jews. The finding suggests the presence of common roots that date back to the days of Christopher Columbus.
Etc... it is not known precisely how many Jewish Native Americans (or, better, Native Jews of America), but probably not much more than a few hundred thousands.

Then came the news about the Buba of the Lemba.
A British anthropologist arranged for genetic testing of members of the tribe, finding that 10% of Lemba men carry the kohen modal haplotype on their Y chromosomes. Even more impressive, the Lemba have a priestly clan whom they call the Buba. Fully 52% of Buba men who were tested bear that same marker of kohanic descent.
Located in South Africa, the tribe counts no more than seventy thousand members. On one hand, that number could be easily absorbed by Israel, known to manage Aliyah of a considerably larger size. On the other... but wait.

Now, the other African tribe, the Igbo people, good Jews to the last one, are a more serious proposition.


The Igbo tribe is somewhere around 36 million folks strong, and even a Purim visit by that group may cause some severe transportation and accommodation issues here. And they are raring to come over too.

And recently members of a Jewish tribe called Shinlung spoke up too. They are located in two states in eastern India: Manipur and Mizoram.
Rabbi Avichail has visited the area a number of times to observe the group and study its connection with the Tribe of Menashe. According to his information, the Shinlung number approximately one-and-a-quarter million people, but according to their own research institute, the number in reality reaches some four-and-a-quarter million, some of whom are related not only to the Tribe of Menashe but also to the Tribe of Ephraim.
While the number quoted is significantly smaller that that of the Igbo folks, this could create some traffic jams too.

And of course, we can't discount or forget the people of Chiang Tribe:
In the mountainous area of northwest China, west of the Min River, near the border of Tibet, in Szechuan lives an ancient people called by the Chinese, Chiang or Chiang-Min, who numbers about 250 thousand people.According to their tradition, the Chiang tribe is the descendant of Abraham and their forefather had 12 sons. Those among them who did not take Chinese wives after their victory in war still look Semitic. The character traits of this people are integrity, love of neighbor, mutual aid, generosity, modesty, shyness, gratitude, and stubbornness. They also have a fear of heaven or respect for God. They believe in one God whom they call Abachi meaning the father of heaven, or Mabichu, the spirit of heaven, or also Tian, heaven. As a result of Chinese influences they all call Him God of the mountains as the mountains are the central place for worship of God.
Of course, the number of the tribe members is not what matters in this case. Geography does, though.

Then let's go as far to the East as possible: Japan. Here you get enough information to put all you thought you  knew on its head. Like this:
At the festival, a boy is tied up by a rope to a wooden pillar, and placed on a bamboo carpet. A Shinto priest comes to him preparing a knife, and he cuts a part of the top of the wooden pillar, but then a messenger (another priest) comes there, and the boy is released. This is reminiscent of the Biblical story in which Isaac was released after an angel came to Abraham.
And more. Let's not go into bean counting here and say that all of the Japanese people, around 127 millions, give or take a few, qualify. How much more serious it could become? The same source, on another page, gives a graphic answer:

At a glance, this creates an even bigger problem, doesn't it? So let's check out all possible solutions:
  1. We go there. First of all, who goes where? Of course, everyone could choose his/her favorite location, hopefully not causing family splits or similar unpleasantness. Difficult to organize, and why moving? To make some neighbors happy?
  2. They all pack up and come here. Of course, can't be done in a day or even in a week. We'll have to plan, build, rebuild and even... nah, doesn't bear talking about in the current neighborhood situation. Bothersome, all in all.
  3. Now, there is another grand idea, picked up from no other than Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. It is as simple and as doable as that Crimea disappearance from Ukraine trick: now you see it - now you don't. First of all, referendum. OK, in reality first of all some brotherly/sisterly military assistance. Just to make a point, you know, but then still a referendum. After 96-99% (no more, it is all free, you know) of the voters say "yes" to independence, a temporary state will be declared on the spot. Then a nicely worded letter to our Chief Rabbis (two copies), our PM and our President, asking to join the IF (Israeli Federation) on the grounds of being Jewish and suffering religious, economic and other kinds of persecution. And voila - another autonomous republic... or is it an autonomous region? Whatever, this could be checked with Kremlin and fine tuned later.
What is it I am aiming at? - you may ask. Simply that after the British empire somehow lost it zest for being the one on which the sun never sets, no one volunteered to fill the vacuum. And the clock is ticking, so here we come. (Now, I hope, you see the importance of Colorado in the overall scheme).

We have three options or a mix of all three, with some time available for discussion, but not too much, before Vladimir Vladimirovich realizes that hitherto he was thinking too small and that he should expand his horizons.

And no matter the outcome of our thinking, the following governments are being put on notice**:
  • State of Colorado, USA
  • Nigeria
  • South Africa
  • India
  • China
  • Japan
The new map of the world will be distributed shortly for familiarization and preparation to arrival of our bureaucrats (don't bother to offer your used ones, we have a glut of our own).

What, UN? NATO?

Tee hee...


(*) Lovely word, by that way, so if you are a spelling Nazi, buzz off.

(**) Of course I realize that there are some possible gaps as far as sunset is concerned. No worries, Hawaii, Argentina and some other places are being considered as we speak.

Disappearing Jews is what BDS is all about

Not really a secret, but the more it is displayed the better. Here, from this article by Gabriel Noah Brahm (that should be read, it's a short one and to the point), a quote from one of the BDS-holes:

At least in the present the very announcement of a process of ending a Jewish State of Israel would probably precipitate a mass exodus of Jewish Israelis to Europe and the United States—if, that is, the borders of the various states would accept millions of Jewish Israelis.
Enough said.

Via Terry Glavin.

27 May 2014

Elliot Rodger's case and the gurus


Elliot Rodger's tragic murder spree simply couldn't be passed over by the press, I fully realize the impossibility of at least a week of expectant silence before some serious information and professional analysis of the case is released.

Without intending to (I wanted to give myself that week of ignorance before starting to read about the tragedy), I have stumbled today on a mind-boggling in its venomous stupidity article in Salon.com, by one Ms Brittney Cooper, who "is a contributing writer at Salon, and teaches Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers". The contents of her fairly long piece could be distilled to one sentence: the tragedy is only an expected outcome of being white, heterosexual and middle-class male, full stop. It is the privilege of being all of the above that led to the murder spree. That the same statement is repeated endlessly all along this massive and tedious article shouldn't count for "analysis", I humbly submit.

At this point I was too incensed to stop. Follows a (random, as Google produced) small collection of unbelievable nincompoopery from all kinds of self-important and self-inflated experts.

The next guru comes out with a totally fresh angle:
Fox News expert says 'homosexual impulses' could have caused Elliot Rodger's killing spree. Dr Robi Ludwig, a licensed pyscotherapist, was appearing on the channel’s Justice With Judge Jeanie programme when she made the remarks. A guest speaker on Fox News has suggested that Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger could have been acting upon “homosexual impulses” when he targeted his victims.
Yep, it takes a "pyscotherapist" to discern a latent homosexual, for sure...

The third angle is even more interesting: Racism played a role in Elliot Rodger's Santa Barbara murder spree: experts. This conclusion (unequivocal as death and taxes in that article) comes based on the following quote:
How could an inferior, ugly black boy be able to get a white girl and not me? I am beautiful, and I am half white myself. I am descended from British aristocracy. He is descended from slaves. I deserve it more.
To me it looks like an attack of rage directed at a specific black boy (ugly or not is subjective) that cut him off some attractive girl at a party. But the confession by the authors of that same piece that Rodger is a product of a mixed marriage (British father and Asian mother) somewhat undermines this beautiful theory.

Now let's listen to Ann Hornaday, critic, in WaPo, with another recipe: mental illness and Hollywood:
Indeed, as important as it is to understand Rodger’s actions within the context of the mental illness he clearly suffered, it’s just as clear that his delusions were inflated, if not created, by the entertainment industry he grew up in. With his florid rhetoric of self-pity, aggression and awkwardly forced “evil laugh,” Rodger resembled a noxious cross between Christian Bale’s slick sociopath in “American Psycho,” the thwarted womanizer in James Toback’s “The Pick-Up Artist” and every Bond villain in the canon.
And here comes (but of course) the weapon of last resort: blame the police. In this case the blame is apportioned by one Dr. John Grohol, "the founder & CEO of Psych Central". "And why didn’t the police pick up on this soon-to-be killer?" - asks the Psy D., after uttering a totally jaw-dropping statement in that same article:
Luckily for the rest of us, his “Day of Retribution” apparently lasted about 20 minutes. Which is a fitting end [emphasis mine] to a man who appears to have been at least a little bit narcissistic.
This is what a learned Psy D., who is a "researcher and expert in mental health online", considers to be a fitting end to all narcissists - even ones who are "at least a little bit narcissistic" - I dare to ask? Oh boy, oh boy...

And then, at the end of my tether, I have found someone who, at least, made an attempt to move past the insufferable crapola that the other "experts" provided so copiously on no basis at all. A blogger, Ann Theriault (I am almost sure), writing under a masthead "The Belle Jar", brings a few relevant facts in her post Elliot Rodger And Men Who Hate Women. While she rushes to some pretty unsupportable (at this stage) conclusions too, she, at least, tried to use some hard facts that put the other above mentioned gurus to shame.

First of all, Rodger suffered from Asperger syndrome. If you look at its basics, like in Wiki, there is some indication of what might have caused his inability to make contact with women:
Asperger syndrome ... is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.
Then, there is the issue of Rodger being a Men’s Rights Activist, or MRA:
He was an active member of the “PUAhate,” an online forum (which has been down since the shootings) dedicated to “revealing the scams, deception and misleading marketing techniques used by dating gurus and the seduction community to mislead men and profit from them.” And just to clarify, they’re not revealing these scams because of how vile and misogynistic they are, but rather because these men have tried these techniques and still failed to trick women into sleeping with them.
Rodger went through a traumatic experience of being uprooted from his country of birth (Britain) and from his relatives and through another traumatic experience of his parents divorce.

Finally, as all the experts agree (at least), he suffered from the fact that at 22 he still remained a virgin...

And no, unlike the luminaries mentioned above, I am not even dreaming about coming to any conclusion. After all, many kids with all (or more) of the problems mentioned above, don't buy an arsenal of weaponry and go on a hunting expedition.

Actually, I do have one conclusion to offer: why don't you all stifle for a while?

P.S. At least CNN in this case has done a professional job, offering the facts without getting on the high horse of "expertise".

An angry (and brave) young man

This reflects my own feelings, but I'm not sure that I have his level of courage to post as he did.

Okay, I accept that this (from Stand With Us) is old news (from 9 May), but given what has happened over the last couple of days in the Brussels Jewish Museum and now outside a Paris synagogue, this is pertinent.

So, after the shootings at that Kansa City Jewish Community Centre, this young man (Avery by name), posted the following "The Jews ain't leaving. We're never gonna leave. So they can say what they want about my people. Slander us, picket us, even shoot us in our schools and homes. Because every single time they hurt us, we will only come out stronger." He lives just across the road from where the (we now know antisemitic) shooter was arrested.

He goes on to say, in part, that having heard about the event, "I am by no means an observant Jew. I don't keep most of the laws, especially now that I'm in college. But when I heard the news about the shootings back home, you can bet your ass I ran to my dorm and put on my old kippah. Not as a resolution, nor as something that I've committed to doing everyday. I didn't do it for myself or even God for that matter." So, in that case, why did he do it? The clue, of course, is in the first quote. But just in case we haven't got it, he goes on: "I did it as a response to unadulterated evil."

It's good to live in the same world as this young man, an undergrad at Kansas Uni. Long may he thrive. And remain as brave as he was that day.

By Brian Goldfarb.

Medical tourism in Israel: what we can't treat here

This is a translation of a dialog overheard by a Russian speaking medical professional in one of the Israeli private clinics.

While walking down a hall of a clinic where I work, I see out of a corner of my eye two women - one, a patient of the clinic in a wheelchair and the other her escort.

Then I hear this, in Russian:

- Such a surgery, such a high level! They operated yesterday and they promised to discharge me tomorrow! Great country!
- Yes, a great one, mom. Only I wish they didn't have all these Jews here...
- Oh well, where don't you find them... you can't hide from these antichrists nowhere.

(Both shake heads in resignation)
Just for reference: medical tourism in Israel.

Hat tip: L.W.

María Belén Rodríguez naked uncensored shots

Will not grace these here pages, it could be promised with a fair degree of certainty. However, this bird will:

Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
Enjoy.

26 May 2014

My short converstation with George Galloway (The Spiv)

I am not at all sure that the person behind the Twitter nickname George Galloway is indeed The Spiv himself, it could very well be some other moron seeking fame and followers. But anyway, here is my short Twitter dialog with the intellectual prodigy (click to read comfortably):


Frankly, I wouldn't waste my time on that ultra-demagogue and sleazebag, but it so happened that recently I watched the clip, mentioned in my last tweet and here it is in all its glory (I warmly recommend to watch it for the whole 15 minutes it requires):


I don't know... one just isn't left unimpressed by the depth of commitment and sincerity when The Spiv (PBUH) talks about the Religion of Peace. Only a true (and ardent) follower could reach these peaks of passion. And this is all I meant by this innocent remark about Allah, who is obviously closer to The Spiv's heart that any other deity.

Only... one small detail bothers me, intruding on the clear picture of The Spiv as true* follower of Islam: several times during the clip he refers to HIM (His Islamic Majesty) Prophet Muhammad ascending to heaven from "the roof of Al Aqsa". This blasphemous statement may very well lead The Spiv to some special section of Islamic hell. Because... well, it's all here, and Al Aqsa doesn't have anything to do with that specific launch.
The Dome of the Rock is not a mosque, but a Muslim shrine. Like the Ka'ba in Mecca, it is built over a sacred stone. This stone is believed to be the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven during his Night Journey to heaven.
So there. I wonder, shouldn't some enclave of Ayatollahs gather to decide The Spiv's fate now, after his blasphemous nature is outed?

(*) Well, as far as truth and George Galloway go together, which is not a long way.

Consider me fartly amused

By this:


25 May 2014

Happy towel day, you all!


And to the hoopiest frood who burnt so bright and so quick.

23 May 2014

Kill the kike, save Babay: judeomasons and "negroes" behind Ukrainian unrest

You probably remember the fairly recent accusation of antisemitism, hurled by Vladimir Putin at his Ukrainian foes. Unexpected as it was, this was (still is) a part of the Russian propaganda maelstrom, an unprecedented deluge of misinformation aimed to present Russia as a benevolent power, caring in a motherly way for the oppressed minorities (Russian first, of course, but others too) wherever the said minorities are being oppressed.

Of course, propaganda is one thing and real life is quite another. Let's look at one of the thorny examples of real life not conforming to the Kremlin-issue imagery: the famous bearded man of Ukraine. Not the mythical one that was "discovered" by NYT (which goes to show the somewhat relaxed journalistic standards of this august progressive mouthpiece). No, the one I have in mind is a real, larger-than-life Russian mercenary in Eastern Ukraine city of Slavyansk, one Alexander Ivanovich Mozhaev, nicknamed Babay (the Russian word for bogeyman). The life story of Babay is already on Russian Wiki, but most of it is retold in Simon Shuster's exclusive in Time. The man (Babay, not Simon Shuster) is a typical thug, with undistinguished military career and a criminal charge:
His reasons for coming to Ukraine in March had a bit to do with Russian nationalism, but more to do with adventurism, and even more to do with his apparently being a fugitive from Russian law. Earlier this year, Mozhaev said, just as a revolution was forcing Ukraine’s old regime from power, he was charged in Krasnodar with a violent crime — which he described as “threatening to kill someone with a knife.” When he failed to come up with the bribe money for the corrupt officials who he says fabricated the charges, Mozhaev was put on a national wanted list in Russia and went on the run, according to his account, which could not be verified.
Coincidentally (or not), he was active in Crimea during the takeover:
By coincidence, he says, he was forced to flee arrest on March 7, in the middle of Russia’s invasion of Crimea. He chose Crimea as his destination. As TIME reported last month, thousands of state-sponsored Russian Cossacks were then streaming into Crimea to aid the Russian troops with that invasion. For most of March, Mozhaev says, he was there along with some of the men from his Cossack battalion, the Wolves’ Hundred, helping in the siege of a Ukrainian military base near the city of Bakhchysarai and guarding a local TV tower. In late March, after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, “we were sitting around down there and wondering what to do next,” he says. “So we decided to go conquer some more historically Russian lands.” Eventually he wound up in Slavyansk...
Whether it is Babay's personal charm or his inherent leadership qualities of a natural alpha-male, he has become quite popular as the face of pro-Russian insurgency in the Eastern Ukraine. We many never know whether Babay is a simple mercenary or a GRU agent or something else, altogether more sinister. One thing is for sure: this "typical" public face of the pro-Russian forces in East Ukraine is a well-rounded ultra-nationalist, fascist and (but of course) equal opportunity xenophobic hater.

"Kill the kike, save Russia" is the old and much honored Russian battle cry, used primarily in any situation when Russian people feel oppressed, slighted or simply hungover and look for a suitable scapegoat. Babay is a perfect embodiment of this tradition.

Here is his recent plea to Vladimir Putin:
Babay asked Putin for weapons weapon "which will suppress the enemy from a distance." In particular, he said, "we need cannons." "Thank God, we are in God's hands" said the terrorist - "this is why the war is quick and easy for us. But it would be better not to lose any of our people, and to burn them [Ukrainian law enforcers - Ed.] from a distance. In this case", Babay said, "we could even do with the forces that we have now, no need for any reinforcements or anything."

At the same time the terrorist called that Putin "open a corridor", so "all the people who want to fight for Holy Russia and destroy the evil West" could join the militants.

Babay said that the "evil West" does not imply the entire West, only the "Judeomasons", because "they are just creating a mess everywhere in the world - such as they need" and "because of this we, simple Orthodox people, suffer."
Well, nothing unclear in that last paragraph, I hope, translation woes notwithstanding.

In the clip shown below, Babay announces capture of an American "negro". (There are no corroboration reports from other sources so far):



The approximate translation:
We have a negro! Obama! We took one negro, of the same color as you. We'll probably send him to you with greetings. With a hole in his forehead, as Vanga predicted. We will show you what you should expect. Get your troops out of here! When we come to Kiev, God willing, if you still haven't got out the troops, we will gather the Cossack army and come to visit you. In America, you know? And we'll trounce your Jewish-Masonic lodge. So there...
Yeah... now, I hope, everything is illuminated...

Update. And, as it just arrived by e-mail: the ministers of self-proclaimed "state" of Donetsk People's Republic:


What can I say: I am not a great believer in Lombroso's branch of physiognomy, but sometimes I wonder... just click on the picture.

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22 May 2014

The news about Che Guevara's demise are reaching Sand Diego. Finally.

Well, I have to correct the headline a bit: maybe not all citizens of San Diego are already wise to it, but the students of UCSD are already being aware of this, painful for them, fact.

University of California-San Diego students have run the “Che Café Collective” for 34 years, a vegan co-op and concert venue boasting “exorbitantly low” prices and volunteer staffing. But it’s consistently in the red, costing the student body nearly $1 million over the years, and isn’t kept up to fire or safety codes. School officials are threatening to cut off funding, which would shut down the campus fixture, but a band of students is fighting back.
Of course, the members of that "collective" are blaming the capitalist university management for the failure of their enterprise:
The attorney for Che Café claims that university management has deferred maintenance of the facilities for decades since repairs were recommended in a 2009 audit, failing to set aside the necessary revenues for repairs.
Sure, comrades, sure. Still, there are other opinions to consider - even if they come from a Republican, you know how it goes:
"I do not believe Che Cafe closing will be a severe blow to the campus' overall aesthetic," soon-to-be graduate Marco Vasquez, a political science major and vice chair of the university's College Republicans, told FoxNews.com in an e-mail. "The majority of students that I have spoken to do not know what or where the Che Cafe is, given that it is on the edge of campus. Those who do know either visit it regularly or describe it as creepy."
Yep. Dear wannabe commies from San Diego - I have some bad (or, rather, good) news for you:

A house made of urine and bacteria? Why not, and then more...

"If you will, it is no fairytale", as a wise man said once. And here is another example of will creating something new - from sand and urine this time:

The student tested it with one of the world's most abundant resources - sand. Pumping bacterial solution into a sand-filled mould, he added nutrients, urea as fertilizer and calcium. After a year, and hundreds of failed experiments, this process manufactured a stool* around 70% the compression strength of concrete.
So, we might learn that the expression "laying a brick" had changed its meaning too and that everyone, with some moderate effort, will be able soon to build a house of own bricks.



(*) Just to make sure: "stool" in the context of the above means "A simple seat without a back or arms" and not "Solid excretory product evacuated from the bowels".

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21 May 2014

Boko Haram and its enemies: the way it goes in our world

Although the northern populace mostly abhors the violence, there is considerable local sympathy and support for Sharia law, seen by many as the only way to end what is widely regarded as a corrupt and inept government.
And more blah blah blah... of the usual brain-melting variety.

The Obama administration, on the other hand, is less mealymouthed on the subject:
Mounting U.S. frustration with the case spilled into the open Thursday at a Senate hearing.
“It is impossible to fathom that we might have actionable intelligence and we would not have the wherewithal — whether by the Nigerians themselves or by other entities helping the Nigerians — to be able to conduct a rescue mission,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Yes, dear Senator, the Nigerian army is not exactly up to scratch. And here comes one of the possible reasons, from about a year ago:
The United States Government has withdrawn military assistance to Nigeria citing various human rights violations by Nigerian security forces, particularly the military which is currently engulfed in a controversy over the killing of dozens and destruction of hundreds of residences in Baga, a town in Borno State during a clash with members of the Boko Haram.
There is little doubt that poorly equipped and poorly trained armies tend to fight dirty. However, the people who provide support to outfits of the Boko Haram kind, are usually more than happy to overlook any possible human rights violations (like, for example, kidnapping hundreds of girls or murdering dozens of sleeping students). More on the subject here.

And, while Hillary Clinton is indeed unjustly tied to the kidnapping of the girls, as David Francis laments in The Fiscal Times, the rest of his defense kinda stinks. At least on three points out of four. Lame support for a lame State Department is all it is.

But as lame as that was, you can make a step or two to the left and find an even more interesting interpretation of events:
CNN: Following Group's Designation As An FTO, Boko Haram Ended Peace Talks With Nigerian Government. According to CNN, Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau abandoned talks with the Nigerian government after the U.S. designated it as a foreign terrorist group.
Yep. Now, did anyone in US government - after Hillary Clinton left it - give a thought to the Boko Haram leader's sensitivity? His wounded pride? Nope - they just went and brazenly defined him and his gang of kind and smiley murderers a terrorist organization. That after thousands of dead. Speak about hypocrisy...

And, speaking about hypocrisy, here comes another brilliant example:
When congressional leaders asked the State Department to tailor American assistance to Nigeria in a way that would protect Christians from religious persecution at the hands of Boko Haram, an extremist group that kidnapped hundreds of Christian girls last month, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's team dismissed the idea on the theory that the organization was not motivated by religion.

"This religious tension, while real, should not be mistaken as the primary source of violence in Nigeria," David Adams, assistant secretary of legislative affairs, wrote to Congress in an Oct. 4, 2012 letter. "Similar to the United States, Nigeria's religious diversity is a source of strength, with communities working across religious lines to protect one another."
Yeah, Boko Haram, they are just like.... er... Amish, to take one example of kindly and non-violent folks.

No, indeed, I can't blame Ms Clinton for every foul-up that happened on her watch, although there is such thing as ministerial responsibility, but too much is too much. There were other departments, like intelligence, military etc. that should have been more proactive, but it's easy to assign blame with hindsight...

However, this:

coupled with statements like this one:
Clinton said that as Secretary of State she had numerous meetings with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and had urged the Nigerian government to do more on counterterrorism.
are just the thing to raise some food back up at my throat. Just like that publicity stunt, in fact.

All in all, I can't agree more with Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, who penned an opinion article Media turns Boko Haram into 'superstar monsters' on CNN. Saying, among other things:
My friend's eight-year-old daughter burst into tears while watching a Boko Haram video release on TV the other evening. The terrorist group has been receiving the kind of local and international media coverage that could make even a Hollywood megastar explode with envy. At the current rate, the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, might as well be given his own reality show.
Read it in its entirety, it's all good.

What Boko Haram needs is killing. Possibly with discretion and some compassion, but killing nevertheless. And less glamorous shots of superstars brandishing placards, politicians lying like there is no tomorrow and seeking electoral gains out of suffering, and media seeking as many bloody scoops as possible - and the farther the scoops are from their countries the better.

20 May 2014

Salma Hayek and a fashionable tag - uncensored photo

Here it goes:

I don't know about you, my dear reader(s), but when I see a scene like that, my only question is of a purely mercantile nature, that is "Cui bono?" - Who benefits?

Who benefits, indeed, of this show of solidarity, fairly useless in itself, like the endless on-line petitions and feel-good letters to the editor?

In this specific case I can see only two beneficiaries: first of all the delectable Ms Hayek herself and then the ogres of Boko Haram - from some additional publicity they crave as much as any Hollywood superstar.

WTF?

This Coke Plus Mentos Fail Will Never Get Old

Indeed. Enjoy, and do get to your neighborhood grocery for Menthos asap, they are running out of supplies.



P.S. Why do they call it a fail? Probably a woman was editing that clip on Youtube.

19 May 2014

Hungary joins the chorus on Ukraine: when it rains, it pours

Hungarian Prime Minister
It definitely doesn't look like a golden age for that country. Its fledgling government, beset by corruption, lack of funds, ruined economy and non-functioning military, seems to be an easy target for international pirates of all kinds. Recently Hungary joined the club:
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the first speech of his third term stated the need for autonomy and dual citizenship for Hungarians living in neighboring countries, in particular in Ukraine, informs "Ukrinform".

Speaking in parliament after taking oath the Prime Minister, Viktor Orban said : "We consider the Hungarian question as a European question. Hungarians living in the Carpathian region, have the right to dual citizenship, the rights of national communities and autonomy."

At the same time, according to the Ukrainian media, he has devoted special attention to the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. "The position of 200,000 ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine, attaches to this issue particular acuteness. Hungarian community there has to get dual citizenship, all rights of the national community, and it must be able to self-government. This is our clear expectations from the new Ukraine," - said Orban. At the same time the Hungarian prime minister also said that Hungary supports "the Ukrainian government in its development of a democratic state."
When the presence of this or that ethnic minority becomes a pretext for such absurd demands, the picture of peaceful and prosperous European Union (not to mention the rest of the world, particularly US of A, being infested by all kinds from day one) may easily change overnight. Just let that idea to settle in enough diseased brains.

And, speaking of diseased brains, I, as a full fledged representative of the Elders, got a few ideas too out of this case. But not now, not now...

Putin's rating: grab Crimea, get elected...



According to the latest poll, conducted by Levada Center:
President Vladimir Putin's rating reached its historical maximum, according to "Levada Center", If the elections were conducted next Sunday, 81% of voters would have voted for him. Sociologists do not see any competitors for Vladimir Putin and believe that nothing will prevent his re-election for another term.

...

Senior Researcher from Institute of Sociology Leonti Byzov believes that, in the context of events in the Crimea and Ukraine, Russians felt a strong nation and they share "a sense of pride for the country, the government and the president". At the same time, in his opinion, the citizens' attention will switch soon to the internal problems of Russia, which will accumulate and irritate them. In this case, the expert says, "Putin's rating will return to more realistic values​​, falling to 60 %..."
The future, though, doesn't represent a big problem for Vladimir Vladimirovich: there are a lot of bits and pieces besides Crimea to pick up to get the sense of pride back and up, to the new heights.

Especially when no one cares enough to say enough...

Update: One person only participated in a protest against war with Ukraine that was planned in Moscow on May 18.

Neymar on a condom? Yes, we are getting close to Mondial! Yeeha!

Eric Franco, a Brazilian guy from São Paulo, published the following picture on his Facebook page:

(For those unfortunate enough not to know who Neymar Jr is, here it goes).

And to Mr Franco, who, probably, grudges Neymar his career outside of São Paulo's Santos strongly enough to add to the picture a caption: "Would not recommend. Should fall all the time."* - what can I say, man? That thing that falls all the time couldn't be helped much by this specific accessory, and don't blame Neymar for your problems, please.

So there.

Yes, Mondial is coming. I feel the fever spreading in the blood.

Go, Brazil!

(*) Translated by Google. Don't blame me,  in short.

18 May 2014

Now, pilgerize my other foot a bit, please...

What Francis says:


To make sure that you don't get swamped in all the links above, here is the gist:

In the infamous cesspit, called Guardians CiF (Comment is Free), there appears a longish piece with a longish title: In Ukraine, the US is dragging us towards war with Russia by John Pilger (yes, this John Pilger). In which article Mr Pilger touchingly describes a case of verbal antisemitism:
A doctor described trying to rescue people, "but I was stopped by pro-Ukrainian Nazi radicals. One of them pushed me away rudely, promising that soon me and other Jews of Odessa are going to meet the same fate. What occurred yesterday didn't even take place during the fascist occupation in my town in world war two. I wonder, why the whole world is keeping silent."
When Pilger starts to display his concern about antisemitism and the Jews of Odessa, my hand starts searching a panic button. And the second link helpfully provides this button, explaining the Jewish doctor in question:
Bloggers, who investigated the good doctor’s Facebook story, discovered something odd. Dr. Rozovskiy’s smiling face turns out to be that–the same face, the same room, windows and background–of a North Caucasus dentist — in the advertising brochure of the Ust Dzhegmiska Dental Clinic. The dental clinic identifies the man on Igor Rosovskiy’s Facebook page as Ruslan Semenov, graduate of Stavropol Medical College, 1997 graduate, 17 years of experience, phone 7-19-68. I decided not to call Semenov in Ust Dzhegmiska. He has probably been bothered enough.
More details in the article... and you better read it all, it's good.

Now, a person that disregards the fascist elements in Western Ukraine should have his/her head examined, that doesn't need argumentation. On the other hand, a person that ascribes the goings-on in Ukraine, especially after the anschluss of Crimea, to the fascist elements in Western Ukraine, should explain his motives - that is, the motives beyond and above him/her being an anti-Western fellow traveler and a low life - which parameters describe John Pilger to a T.

The march of Putin's propaganda machine is unprecedented in its volume, its use of all possible channels and its unscrupulous manipulation of fake and true information. Any person who gives a hand to this abomination is no better than the Kremlin propaganda trolls. And in some respects even worse.

But I am not aiming to cure Pilger of his maladies. So, not to try to be original, I shall quote myself.

So, John, pilgerize me back a bit more, OK? No no, a bit lower... now a bit to the right... yes, that's the spot... oh boy...

Oh Debka, Debka... Obama plans “Operation Neptune Spear 2”? Nah...

Seeing as how the "Oh Debka, Debka..." category was absent for so long from this blog, here is a brief return to the subject, caused by the headline Obama plans “Operation Neptune Spear 2” for targeting a notorious Islamist terrorist. First of all, the headline itself is wrong. Due to the absolute veto of the current administration on repeating the code names of super-secret operations, the new one will be called:

"Operation Neptune's Pear 1"

So there. And there is no need, really, to disclose "the identity of its elusive target". Here it comes:

17 May 2014

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's hands-on way of treating his subjects. Oh, and some Israeli semen...

It started with Erdogan's adviser kicking a protester being restrained on the ground during anti-government demonstrations following an explosion in a coal mine that left 282 dead and scores injured.


The bravery of the adviser should be noticed especially, since it's only two cops that held the man being kicked on the ground.

And, according to this report (Hurriyet, who else?) hizzoner himself took care of another protester (who, apparently, wasn't a protester at all):
Taner Kuruca told Kanal D television later on May 15 that he was the person who was heckled by the entourage of Erdoğan in the supermarket. Claiming that he was a regular customer of the supermarket and found himself in an awkward situation after Prime Minister was escorted there by his bodyguards who seeked a safe place amid the protest, Kuruca said:

"I was not one of the protesters. I came face to face with Prime Minister. As his bodyguards started to push, Prime Minister unfortunately did something involuntarily and slapped me while I was walking backwards, because he was angry at the crowd and he couldn't control himself."
I would like to see what happens when the brave PM does something voluntary then...

And, not to let people to forget that he has a golden tongue, Erdogan used it (again):
Video footage posted on the Internet show Erdogan slapping one protester and yelling, "Why are you running away? You Israeli semen," a curse word in Turkish.
Oh well...

The cat that figured out the meaning of life

And I would like to see a canine that did... nah, no way.

The Council Has Spoken!

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

16 May 2014

The new wave of secessionism tears Ukraine apart

The two news items I have received recently from Ukraine point to the destructive process of separation revving up in Ukraine. To start with Odessa:

The famous Odessa market "Privoz" on Sunday, May 11 held its own referendum on independence. Politician and public figure Alexey Goncharenko wrote about it on his Facebook page.

"a referendum was held on the territory of the market "Privoz" on Sunday under the motto "We are tired of feeding Odessa!". "Do you support the act of state sovereignty of Privoz"? Over 94% of fish sellers were in favor, 92% in the meat row, 99% - dairy products. Vegetable sellers were not allowed to participate, because of their union - the "Vegetable sector" - rules.

Given these results, the organizers announced the creation of the new state - the Republic of Privoz. The republic already has its own flag.


As explained by the leader of the new state, Denis Toshnilin, white stripe on it symbolizes the milk row, blue stands for fish and red for meat. "Privoz should finally be heard" - the self-proclaimed president Toshnilin declared.

Now organizers are waiting for a response from the Kremlin and recognition from the international community.
And in two days, another entity declared its independence - in Kharkiv.


On May 13 in Kharkov three clowns held a referendum for joining the Canadian "Cirque du Soleil". A flash mob was created at the Irina Bugrimova square in front of Kharkov circus. Three young men in clown makeup and wigs came to the square with placards "The referendum only for clowns", "More makeup for clowns", "Through the referendum - to Cirque du Soleil", UNIAN reports.

Young people offered passers-by and journalists to vote for the inclusion of Kharkov clowns in the world's largest Canadian circus. Clowns handed out blank sheets of paper, calling these ballot forms and offered to comment in free format on the question, which was put up for the referendum.

"You can vote as you wish, where you wish, and your vote will count. Want to do it in a kindergarten - vote, prefer to do it at home - vote. It doesn't matter, the referendum will be considered legitimate in any case - said the clown Matryoshka. - We're tired of working for pennies. We watched some TV and saw what was happening in the Donetsk and Lugansk, and realized that our masterminds, our spiritual leaders are there. We realized that we also have the right to hold a referendum. No matter that there are only three of us. Did the number of people ever play a role anyway?"

Without wasting time on "vote counting", the clowns decided that above 90% of the votes on their quest to join the Cirque du Soleil were positive. Thereafter clowns, using a children's ditty, elected among themselves a "people's governor".

A real cat lover

Walking his wife's dog:


15 May 2014

Dear Canucks - please explain Doug Saunders. Please?

?
The first time I encountered this name was this January, when Terry Glavin described some shameless manipulation of basic demographic data and other information by this gentleman.

But then, I got to read another article by the same author. The article in question is titled In Ukraine, beware the Cold War zombie apocalypse (normally any text that mentions zombies will be automatically expunged from my reading list, but I had to read that one). The article immediately shoves a totally wrong sentence in the reader's snout:
The most threatening thing Vladimir Putin has done in eastern Ukraine, worse than his massing of troops and trumping-up of separatist movements, is the way the Russian President has unleashed, on our shores, a zombie apocalypse.
OK, I says to meself: the man juggles facts to suit his thesis, like in that (above linked) story with Afghanistan. But how do you juggle out of the picture the heavy and immovable fact that Putin is way past threatening, that he has already appropriated a sizable chunk of someone else's territory? Does Crimea ring a bell in that head at all? I went to the extreme of checking the date on the article - who knows, it may have been written way before... nah.

The next passage has to do with political leanings:
These zombies, raising their crumbling limbs from the dank soil of think tanks, university departments and military alliances, are the Cold War hawks. Shaking off the loam of a quarter-century’s irrelevance... etc.
OK, the man is a stopper* and, as such, he has to express his distaste for all these right wing warmongering running lackey dogs of imperialism, surely you understand that.

The next passage, the one that starts with "They’re wrong about military power." is hardly of interest to me because of its contents, but it carries two mentions worth noticing: one of Paul Pillar, the ex-CIA man who sees little Mossad men crawling his air-conditioning ducts. And a mention of "writer" (?) Peter Beinart - not because he is a writer, which by itself is an intriguing statement. No, it is because Mr Beinart is quoted as a man who quoted another man: "In support of this, writer Peter Beinart cites political scientist Daryl Press..." I don't know, is it some new trend in modern journalism - to quote people who quote other people? Whatever...

But then (if you are able to continue reading) you strike gold. The gold starts with "They’re wrong about Russia." This treasure of expertize on Russia (and on history as well) is a must for some easy fisking, so I'll have to quote and respond to it almost sentence by sentence, hoping for your indulgence. Here we go:
Mr. Putin stands to gain absolutely nothing from eastern Ukraine.
What kind of gain does Mr Saunders have in mind? Klondike kind? Does "Russian empire" mean something to Mr Saunders and what is the gain in being an empire?
Even the most “Russian” of the eastern districts has no more than one-third Russians in its population, and they are by no means united behind Moscow.
Yeah, indeed, the "referendum" that just ended in these eastern districts has shown 98%** for secession from Ukraine and for the next anschluss, how about that?
Adding such regions to Russia would give him economically useless territory that would likely be plunged into perpetual civil war.
I can easily imagine one of Mr Saunders' ancestors preaching the same to Hitler and his generals before September 1939 push into Poland... as true as it was then, but what does it have to do with anything? Should Putin aim for some richer pastures, like... er... Japan, for instance? And - civil war under Russian control? Somebody is being real stu... oh well, let's leave it for the summary.
This is not empire-building; his territorial thrust puts him in a position of weakness, not strength.
Empire-building as a financial enterprise - imagine that. Russian tzars should have learned that hundreds years ago, maybe today the world would have looked different. Oh boy...
The Russian military is weak: While it claims a million soldiers, almost all of them are make-work conscripts who are unable to fight; Mr. Putin’s viable fighting force is estimated in the tens of thousands.
It looks like something copy/pasted from Western popular media of the eighties (the last century, I mean). Mr Saunders should really beef up his knowledge on the Russian military, and I mean it. That before he gets to write on the subject in mass media, of course.
Europe has hundreds of thousands of soldiers who can be deployed instantly.
Should I say "tee hee" here or would you, the kind reader, do it for me?

Well, enough is almost enough, but not before I briefly mention another passage:
They were wrong the last time around. The Cold War Hawks have been interred in cold earth for decades because they were wrong about the Cold War itself.
Yeah... the only thing is that these hawks, whether our stopper likes it or not, have won the Cold War - for people like I, who will be eternally grateful to them. Stoppers' opinion notwithstanding. The myth about Soviet Union folding down by itself, without the relentless pressure applied to it by the "Cold War Hawks" Mr Saunders so despises, is gaining popularity, it's true, but only in Mr Saunders' crowd, fortunately.

But now it's really enough. All of the above points surely and unequivocally to one main trait of our protagonist: boundless dumbness. Whatever else comprises Mr Saunders' personality, like his predilection to manipulation of raw data and to ignoring good advice, must be a secondary feature. The dumbness is simply overwhelming.

So I just had to look closer at the person behind this outpouring of stupidity. According to his place of employment, he is an "International-Affairs Columnist". I am not sure I know how "International-Affairs Columnist" differs from a simple "International Affairs Columnist", but there must be something professional there I am not tooled to gauge. So, of course, my next step was to turn to Wiki. And I struck the proverbial gold fairly soon:
Saunders ... educated in and around Toronto including a seven-year stint at York University, though he did not earn a degree.
I don't even want to know what "educated in and around Toronto" means (I was young myself too and can imagine), but the bit about the seven-year stint with no degree to show for it is kinda telling. Then there is another gold vein, in a different plane altogether:
In 2012, Saunders wrote a research-based book titled "The Myth of the Muslim Tide," .... The book is a factual counterargument to works by such figures as Thilo Sarrazin, Mark Steyn, Bruce Bawer, and to the political movements of Geert Wilders and Anders Behring Breivik, which argue that Muslim immigrants cannot be assimilated, have high population-growth rates and are poised to conquer or dominate Western civilization. Using a team of researchers, Saunders presents data which make the case that these assertions cannot be true.
Yeah... anyway... "these assertions cannot be true" just about covers it, right?

But all that gold came to naught when I have seen that:
His journalism has won the National Newspaper Award, the Canadian counterpart to the Pulitzer Prize, on five occasions...
So now I don't have an alternative to turning from that very brief study of Doug Saunders, surely one of the dumbest men in the Galaxy, to his fellow Canadians. Why, people, why? I know a few of you, and all of you that I know are nicest and most reasonable people one would wish to share a dinner table or just a bottle of some restorative beverage with.

But why have you handed this character your equivalent of Pulitzer Prize, and 5 (five) times, no less? Is there some unwritten Canadian tradition to award prizes to mentally challenged? Or is it that the mere name Douglas "Doug" Richard Alan Saunders strikes some cord in your heart that it doesn't strike in the hearts of all them forinners?

Please, dear Canucks - explain this away.

Many thanks in advance.

Yours sincerely.


(*) Stopper - a cool British term for the curious and somewhat pitiful Stop The War (Code Pink in US etc.)  sort of people, in case you didn't know.

(**) Of course, have the referendum been conducted for real, the number would have been lower, but still overwhelmingly in support of secession. What Doug Saunders doesn't understand (between a lot of other things) is that many an ethnic Ukrainian voted for secession as well, hoping for a better life in undeniably richer Russia (whether it will be better indeed is questionable, though).