Sunday, July 1, 2012

Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., June 30 & July 1, 2012


I realize I've been posting mostly "stand alones" over the last few days, but between work and social commitments and my focus on "Roberts v. U.S. Constitution" I've been lax with newsbiting.

(*WINK*)

So... let me try and get a few newsbites posted before heading out to a friend's BBQ later today.

3 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/06/29/ministers-urge-people-to-turn-in-gunman-who-killed-girl-7/

* AND YOU DON'T THINK AMERICA IS IN DEEP, DEEP, DEEP DECLINE?

CHICAGO (CBS) — One day after a 7-year-old girl was gunned down as her mother watched while she sold lemonade in front of her West Side home, a ministers’ group is trying to persuade people to turn over the killer.

* CHICAGO. AS I KEEP SAYING, FOLKS... WE'VE LOST CHICAGO.

* "TRYING TO PERSUADE PEOPLE..." GOOD LUCK. WHAT DO THEY "PREACH" IN SUCH NEIGHBORHOODS? "SNITCHES LAY DEAD IN DITCHES." SOME CRAP LIKE THAT, RIGHT?

“It’s a sad day in Chicago,” said the Rev. Ira Acree of the Leaders Network ministry, which put up the $3,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman who killed Heaven Sutton, 7, while she was with her mother and other family members outside of their home in the 1700 block of North Luna Avenue in the North Austin neighborhood.

* UNFORTUNATELY... IT'S ALSO "JUST ANOTHER DAY" IN CHICAGO.

Acree was no less indignant than Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who said to the unknown killer Thursday, “How dare you?”

* WOW... HE'S "INDIGNANT," HUH? WATCH OUT CRIMINALS! RAHM EMANUEL IS "INDIGNANT!"

The shooting also wounded a 19-year-old man in the ankle. That victim is recovering.

The fatal gunshot was fired by a gangbanger who was aiming at a rival who apparently had stopped to buy lemonade.

* UMM... IS THE AFOREMENTIONED "VICTIM" THE GANGBANGER THAT THE "RIVAL" GANGBANGER WAS TRYING TO KILL...?

Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said detectives know which gangs were involved in the shooting, and said he expects them to wrap up the investigation quickly.

* TOO BAD IT WASN'T MCCARTHY WHO WAS KILLED INSTEAD OF THAT LITTLE GIRL. AT LEAST THEN THERE MIGHT BE LESS "INDIGNATION" FROM OBAMA'S FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF (NOW MAYOR) RAHM EMANUEL AND MORE ACTION.

William R. Barker said...

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/27/world/meast/egypt-journalist-assaulted/index.html

Amid the celebrations that greeted the declaration of a winner in Egypt's first freely elected presidential vote, a British student journalist was being sexually assaulted by a mob in Tahrir Square.

Natasha Smith recounted the experience on her blog and in an interview with CNN. Smith, who has since left Egypt, wrote that the moving demonstrations of freedom turned to horror "in a split second" when dozens of frenzied men dragged her away from two male companions and began to grope her "with increasing force and aggression."

"Men started ripping off all my clothes," she told CNN. "First of all, it was my skirt, and that just went straight away, and I didn't even feel my underwear being removed. Then my shoes went and clothes on my upper half were just being ripped off me, and that was quite painful."

During the assault, "I was just in this weird, detached state of mind, and I just kept saying, 'Please God, please make it stop. Please, God, make it stop.' "

* HMM... I SUPPOSE NO SENSE IN ASKING THE YOUNG LADY "HOW'S THE ARAB SPRING TREATING YOU?"

* NO... THAT'S SARCASM, NOT "MAKING LIGHT" OF WHAT HAPPENED. THE POINT IS THAT WHILE "CRIME" CAN AND DOES HAPPEN EVERYWHERE, THERE SEEMS TO BE A PATTERN HERE.

Her experience echoes the assaults faced by two prominent female reporters, CBS News correspondent Lara Logan and Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy, who has said her attackers were officers at a police station.

(*SIGH*)

One of Smith's friends, Callum Paton, told CNN the mob dragged Smith naked across the ground before another group of men stepped in to protect her.

* YEP! AGAIN... NOT SAYING ALL EGYPTIANS ARE ANIMALS! NOT SAYING THAT AT ALL! BUT AGAIN... WE'RE TALKING SIMILAR "INCIDENTS"... AGAIN AND AGAIN...

Smith said her case will get attention "because I'm British and I'm young and I'm a girl," but she said other Egyptian women "will often suffer these attacks and worse attacks and there'll be no justice done."

* LIKE I SAID... A PATTERN... INDEED - BASED UPON THIS LAST STATEMENT IT SEEMS TO BE A SOCIETAL "NORM" IN A CERTAIN SENSE. CERTAINLY IF IT WEREN'T... (*PAUSE*)... WOULDN'T JUSTICE BE EXPECTED AS OPPOSED TO NOT EXPECTED?

(*SHRUG*)

William R. Barker said...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/30/us-imf-egypt-idUSBRE85S1JC20120630

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde called Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Mursi to discuss the economic challenges facing Egypt and how the international lender can best help, a spokesperson for the IMF said on Friday.

"The MD reiterated that the IMF stands ready to support Egypt and looks forward to working closely with the authorities," the spokesperson said.

* HEY...! CHRISTINE...! WHY DON'T YOU GO MINGLE WITH THE CROWDS IN TAHRIR SQUARE?!

* AGAIN... "BLACK HUMOR." NOT AN ATTEMPT TO "MAKE LIGHT OF THE DISCONNECT BETWEEN ELITE POLICY AND EVENTS ON THE GROUND, BUT RATHER A SARCASTIC COMMENTARY ON THE DISCONNECT.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Mursi is due to be sworn into office on Saturday, making him Egypt's first Islamist president. He and Lagarde spoke on Thursday.

Brotherhood officials have said they plan to resume the previous government's stop-and-start negotiations for a $3.2 billion IMF loan.

* AND... JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY... HOW DOES EGYPT EXPECT TO PAY BACK THIS "LOAN?" (REMEMBER FOLKS... AMERICAN TAXPAYERS STAND BEHIND THE IMF - LIKE IT OR NOT. IS THIS HOW YOU WANT YOUR MONEY SPENT? OR SHOULD I SAY... IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO BORROW MONEY FROM CHINA FOR?)

(*SMIRK*)