"Rihanna gives Boston fans too little too late" by James Reed | Globe Staff, May 07, 2013
She wasn’t worth the wait. And I mean that on two accounts. Rihanna was originally supposed to play the TD Garden in early March but had to cancel because of laryngitis. Fair enough.
When she returned Monday night, to another sold-out crowd of close to 14,500 people, it should have been spectacular. Instead, she took the stage around 10:30 p.m., 90 minutes after her scheduled set time. Rapper A$AP Rocky, her opening act, was a no-show because he was sick, leaving a DJ to fill three hours of silence.
Adding insult to injury? There was no announcement about the delays, or even a tweet from the artist, and certainly no apology at any point.
Related: Rihanna takes aim at critics on ‘Unapologetic’
The crowd responded the best they could: with a round of boos. Even when the house lights went down, the cheers and jeers rose up in unison. That’s not how you want to begin your rescheduled concert.
All that drama aside, Rihanna gave a listless performance that hinged more on come-hither stares, coy smiles, a self-awareness that bordered on smug....
She tried to hit hard in the last stretch with some of her biggest hits — but it was too late. By then it was simply a mad dash to the finish line, just one more twirl and hair toss before she could recede into the shadows.
She seemed oblivious to all of this, of course. After the show, she expressed her love for Boston on Twitter....
--more--"
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Slow Saturday Special: Jackson's Joint
Must have broken in half in his pocket:
"US is a segregated joint on marijuana" by Derrick Z. Jackson | Globe Columnist, June 29, 2013
What a strange and segregated drug trip America is on. On one level, the national mood toward marijuana has softened, with legalization in Washington and Colorado and the approval of medical marijuana in states including Massachusetts. Television shows regularly feature the recreational use of marijuana. The Globe recently listed more than a dozen shows where characters chill out or even work in a cannabis haze. In one scene in “Mad Men,” a character walks into the office, sniffs pot, and declares, “I smell creativity.”
See: 4/20: Zoning Out to TV
I smoke and I sit there staring.
I smell a cultural rat.
The vast majority of actors and actresses in these shows are white. The shows include “The Office,” “Parenthood,” “Workaholics,” “Hot in Cleveland,” “Shameless,” and “Californication.” For millions of white television viewers, marijuana has wafted into another form of entertainment.
But for hundreds of thousands of African-Americans, possession remains a passport to prison.
In an unprecedented state-by-state report on marijuana possession arrest rates, the American Civil Liberties Union this month found that between 2001 and 2010, African-Americans were nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white Americans. That is despite the fact that marijuana use is similar across racial lines and actually higher among whites in the 18-to-25 age group, which has higher rates of arrest. A third of white Americans in that group say they smoke marijuana, compared with about a quarter of African-Americans.
Well, I'm for LEGALIZATION so it will TAKE CARE of THAT PROBLEM!
But it is black users who are smoked by the criminal justice system. Since 1995, the number of annual arrests for marijuana possession has soared from about 525,000 to about 800,000. Meanwhile, white arrest rates have remained virtually unchanged. The disparate crackdowns occur in states with both large and small African-American populations. Vermont has a black marijuana possession arrest rate 4.4 times that of white users, the same as Alabama.
And it does not matter if a state has a conservative or liberal reputation.
I have been POINTING THAT OUT for YEARS HERE!
In supposedly progressive Massachusetts, where marijuana arrest rates are among the lowest in the nation, African-American users are still four times more likely to be arrested than white users statewide. In Barnstable and Plymouth Counties, African-Americans were more than 10 times more likely to be arrested. The result is a commonwealth where African-Americans make up 26 percent of marijuana possession arrests despite being just 8 percent of the population.
The ACLU report blames the surge in marijuana arrests on a combination of zero-tolerance policing and the increased reliance by police departments on computerized crime data technology that creates “incentives for police departments to generate high numbers of drug arrests, including high numbers of marijuana arrests, to meet or exceed internal and external performance measures.”
It seems that nothing was learned in the quarter century in which possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine, stereotypically associated with African Americans, triggered mandatory five-year prison sentences, but it took possession of 500 grams of powdered cocaine, associated with white users, to trigger the same sentence. The vast imprisoning of African-Americans finally offended Congress into reducing crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparities in 2010.
Three years later, we are in an equally offensive war, one in which the ACLU says police cast “a wide net” over black marijuana users as “middle- and upper-class white communities use marijuana without legal consequence or even fear of entanglement in the criminal justice system.” The ACLU recommends the legalization of marijuana to “allow law enforcement to focus on serious crime.”
But it is much more complicated than that. Legalization does not address why one set of Americans has the privilege to laugh off drug use and hide it behind hedges and picket fences while another set is plucked off street corners to be fingerprinted, booked, and have their employment and education opportunities tainted or ruined.
Of course, the elite have never had to worry at all.
It is a national question worth visiting by entities ranging from the Congressional Sentencing Commission and the Justice Department to the cultural myth makers in Hollywood. In one scene in “Mad Men,” a woman pulls out joints from her bikini. That is considered sexy entertainment.
Not so for a black woman pulling a joint out of her bra in the wrong place. On that score, America remains a segregated joint.
If I pass on a hit am I a racist?
--more--"
"US is a segregated joint on marijuana" by Derrick Z. Jackson | Globe Columnist, June 29, 2013
What a strange and segregated drug trip America is on. On one level, the national mood toward marijuana has softened, with legalization in Washington and Colorado and the approval of medical marijuana in states including Massachusetts. Television shows regularly feature the recreational use of marijuana. The Globe recently listed more than a dozen shows where characters chill out or even work in a cannabis haze. In one scene in “Mad Men,” a character walks into the office, sniffs pot, and declares, “I smell creativity.”
See: 4/20: Zoning Out to TV
I smoke and I sit there staring.
I smell a cultural rat.
The vast majority of actors and actresses in these shows are white. The shows include “The Office,” “Parenthood,” “Workaholics,” “Hot in Cleveland,” “Shameless,” and “Californication.” For millions of white television viewers, marijuana has wafted into another form of entertainment.
But for hundreds of thousands of African-Americans, possession remains a passport to prison.
In an unprecedented state-by-state report on marijuana possession arrest rates, the American Civil Liberties Union this month found that between 2001 and 2010, African-Americans were nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white Americans. That is despite the fact that marijuana use is similar across racial lines and actually higher among whites in the 18-to-25 age group, which has higher rates of arrest. A third of white Americans in that group say they smoke marijuana, compared with about a quarter of African-Americans.
Well, I'm for LEGALIZATION so it will TAKE CARE of THAT PROBLEM!
But it is black users who are smoked by the criminal justice system. Since 1995, the number of annual arrests for marijuana possession has soared from about 525,000 to about 800,000. Meanwhile, white arrest rates have remained virtually unchanged. The disparate crackdowns occur in states with both large and small African-American populations. Vermont has a black marijuana possession arrest rate 4.4 times that of white users, the same as Alabama.
And it does not matter if a state has a conservative or liberal reputation.
I have been POINTING THAT OUT for YEARS HERE!
In supposedly progressive Massachusetts, where marijuana arrest rates are among the lowest in the nation, African-American users are still four times more likely to be arrested than white users statewide. In Barnstable and Plymouth Counties, African-Americans were more than 10 times more likely to be arrested. The result is a commonwealth where African-Americans make up 26 percent of marijuana possession arrests despite being just 8 percent of the population.
The ACLU report blames the surge in marijuana arrests on a combination of zero-tolerance policing and the increased reliance by police departments on computerized crime data technology that creates “incentives for police departments to generate high numbers of drug arrests, including high numbers of marijuana arrests, to meet or exceed internal and external performance measures.”
It seems that nothing was learned in the quarter century in which possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine, stereotypically associated with African Americans, triggered mandatory five-year prison sentences, but it took possession of 500 grams of powdered cocaine, associated with white users, to trigger the same sentence. The vast imprisoning of African-Americans finally offended Congress into reducing crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparities in 2010.
Three years later, we are in an equally offensive war, one in which the ACLU says police cast “a wide net” over black marijuana users as “middle- and upper-class white communities use marijuana without legal consequence or even fear of entanglement in the criminal justice system.” The ACLU recommends the legalization of marijuana to “allow law enforcement to focus on serious crime.”
But it is much more complicated than that. Legalization does not address why one set of Americans has the privilege to laugh off drug use and hide it behind hedges and picket fences while another set is plucked off street corners to be fingerprinted, booked, and have their employment and education opportunities tainted or ruined.
Of course, the elite have never had to worry at all.
It is a national question worth visiting by entities ranging from the Congressional Sentencing Commission and the Justice Department to the cultural myth makers in Hollywood. In one scene in “Mad Men,” a woman pulls out joints from her bikini. That is considered sexy entertainment.
Not so for a black woman pulling a joint out of her bra in the wrong place. On that score, America remains a segregated joint.
If I pass on a hit am I a racist?
--more--"
Slow Saturday Special: Hoover's Hoaxes
"Zev Hoover has been profiled in the media and on design and photography blogs. On Monday, he will fly to New York to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America Live” webcast. One post touting his “surreal photo manipulations” has received 108,000 Facebook likes....
Great. So not only can we not believe the staged and scripted productions we see on television, we can't believe any of the photos (been that way since Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly holding a rifle in the back yard), either!
--more--"
Related: Passing Over This Post
This time it was little Jewish boy makes good.
Great. So not only can we not believe the staged and scripted productions we see on television, we can't believe any of the photos (been that way since Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly holding a rifle in the back yard), either!
--more--"
Related: Passing Over This Post
This time it was little Jewish boy makes good.
Perry to Perform Delivery of Abortion Bill
Related: Democrats Finally Use Filibuster
"Perry targets abortion issue, again; 2d session called in Texas after chaotic filibuster" by Jim Vertuno and Chris Tomlinson | Associated Press, June 27, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas — Governor Rick Perry called a second 30-day special session of the Texas Legislature on Wednesday to pass widespread abortion restrictions across the nation’s second-largest state, after the first attempt by Republicans died following a marathon one-woman filibuster.
Perry ordered lawmakers to meet July 1 to act on the abortion proposals and two other issues. The abortion rules would close nearly all the state’s abortion clinics and ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The debate about abortion restrictions led to the most chaotic day in the Texas Legislature in modern history, starting with a marathon filibuster and ending with a down-to-the wire, frenetic vote marked by questions on whether Republicans tried to break chamber rules and jam the measure through.
Senator Wendy Davis, a Democrat, made a daylong attempt to talk the bill to death. During the speech, Davis became a social media star.
But just before midnight, when the session was to end, Republicans said she strayed off topic and got help with a back brace — breaking filibuster rules — and cut her off. That cleared the way for a vote.
But when Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, a Republican, tried to call the final votes, nobody seemed to hear. Some 400 supporters in the gallery took to their feet with a roar, drowning out his voice.
Dewhurst gathered GOP lawmakers to register votes. Democrats held up cellphones, which showed it was past midnight. But Dewhurst and other Republicans insisted the first vote was cast before midnight by the Legislature’s clock and that the bill had passed.
By the time decorum was restored and the 19-10 vote in favor of the measure was recorded, the clock read 12:03 a.m. The bill had passed, but did it count? Were votes tallied in time? After protests from angry Democrats, senators met privately with Dewhurst for more than an hour. Eventually, he declared that while the bill had passed, he did not have time to sign it, so it was not approved. In return for declaring the measure dead, Democrats promised not to question the date of the vote any further.
Wow.
"Republicans insisted the vote started before the midnight deadline and passed the bill that Democrats spent the day trying to kill. But after official computer records and printouts of the voting record showed the vote took place Wednesday, and then were changed to read Tuesday, senators retreated into a private meeting to reach a conclusion."
--more--"
"Perry uses senator’s tough early life to criticize filibuster; Lawmaker helped stop restrictive Texas abortion law" by Will Weissert | Associated Press, June 28, 2013
GRAPEVINE, Texas — Governor Rick Perry hit back on Thursday at the star of a Democratic filibuster that killed tough abortion restrictions, saying state Senator Wendy Davis’s rise from a tough upbringing should have taught her the value of each human life....
Before the battle over abortion in the second-largest state turned personal, the Democrat from Fort Worth staged a marathon filibuster Tuesday that helped defeat an omnibus bill further limiting abortion in a state where it’s already difficult to undergo them. But Perry called lawmakers back for a second special session next week to try to finish the job.
‘‘Who are we to say that children born in the worst of circumstances can’t lead successful lives?’’ Perry said in a speech to nearly 1,000 delegates at the National Right to Life Conference in suburban Dallas. ‘‘Even the woman who filibustered the Senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances.’’
Davis, now 50, started working at age 14 to help support her single mother and three siblings.
By 19, she was married and divorced with a child of her own, but she eventually graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and won her Senate seat in an upset.
Perry pointed out that personal history in his speech, adding ‘‘it’s just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters.’’
In comments to reporters later, he went even further....
Davis quickly blasted Perry’s comments....
--more--"
"Perry targets abortion issue, again; 2d session called in Texas after chaotic filibuster" by Jim Vertuno and Chris Tomlinson | Associated Press, June 27, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas — Governor Rick Perry called a second 30-day special session of the Texas Legislature on Wednesday to pass widespread abortion restrictions across the nation’s second-largest state, after the first attempt by Republicans died following a marathon one-woman filibuster.
Perry ordered lawmakers to meet July 1 to act on the abortion proposals and two other issues. The abortion rules would close nearly all the state’s abortion clinics and ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The debate about abortion restrictions led to the most chaotic day in the Texas Legislature in modern history, starting with a marathon filibuster and ending with a down-to-the wire, frenetic vote marked by questions on whether Republicans tried to break chamber rules and jam the measure through.
Senator Wendy Davis, a Democrat, made a daylong attempt to talk the bill to death. During the speech, Davis became a social media star.
But just before midnight, when the session was to end, Republicans said she strayed off topic and got help with a back brace — breaking filibuster rules — and cut her off. That cleared the way for a vote.
But when Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, a Republican, tried to call the final votes, nobody seemed to hear. Some 400 supporters in the gallery took to their feet with a roar, drowning out his voice.
Dewhurst gathered GOP lawmakers to register votes. Democrats held up cellphones, which showed it was past midnight. But Dewhurst and other Republicans insisted the first vote was cast before midnight by the Legislature’s clock and that the bill had passed.
By the time decorum was restored and the 19-10 vote in favor of the measure was recorded, the clock read 12:03 a.m. The bill had passed, but did it count? Were votes tallied in time? After protests from angry Democrats, senators met privately with Dewhurst for more than an hour. Eventually, he declared that while the bill had passed, he did not have time to sign it, so it was not approved. In return for declaring the measure dead, Democrats promised not to question the date of the vote any further.
Wow.
"Republicans insisted the vote started before the midnight deadline and passed the bill that Democrats spent the day trying to kill. But after official computer records and printouts of the voting record showed the vote took place Wednesday, and then were changed to read Tuesday, senators retreated into a private meeting to reach a conclusion."
Isn't forgery a CRIME?
And the Democrats decided to keep their mouth shut for a nothing victory?
--more--"
"Perry uses senator’s tough early life to criticize filibuster; Lawmaker helped stop restrictive Texas abortion law" by Will Weissert | Associated Press, June 28, 2013
GRAPEVINE, Texas — Governor Rick Perry hit back on Thursday at the star of a Democratic filibuster that killed tough abortion restrictions, saying state Senator Wendy Davis’s rise from a tough upbringing should have taught her the value of each human life....
Before the battle over abortion in the second-largest state turned personal, the Democrat from Fort Worth staged a marathon filibuster Tuesday that helped defeat an omnibus bill further limiting abortion in a state where it’s already difficult to undergo them. But Perry called lawmakers back for a second special session next week to try to finish the job.
‘‘Who are we to say that children born in the worst of circumstances can’t lead successful lives?’’ Perry said in a speech to nearly 1,000 delegates at the National Right to Life Conference in suburban Dallas. ‘‘Even the woman who filibustered the Senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances.’’
Davis, now 50, started working at age 14 to help support her single mother and three siblings.
By 19, she was married and divorced with a child of her own, but she eventually graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and won her Senate seat in an upset.
Perry pointed out that personal history in his speech, adding ‘‘it’s just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters.’’
In comments to reporters later, he went even further....
Davis quickly blasted Perry’s comments....
--more--"
Born Prejudiced
Does nature play a role in forming prejudices?
What about the kids that seem to have an inclination to share and that make no judgments based on all those things the adult media sees fit to use as dividers?
Related: The Supreme Insult: Jewish Supremacism Is Not Racism
Yeah, I'm kind of sick of having them lecture me about equality when their agenda is something else entirely.
Also see: Globe Goes Gaga
Hey, they must have been born that way.
What about the kids that seem to have an inclination to share and that make no judgments based on all those things the adult media sees fit to use as dividers?
Related: The Supreme Insult: Jewish Supremacism Is Not Racism
Yeah, I'm kind of sick of having them lecture me about equality when their agenda is something else entirely.
Also see: Globe Goes Gaga
Hey, they must have been born that way.
Slow Saturday Special: Good Day For Zimmerman
"Testimony bolsters George Zimmerman story; Seems to confirm he was on back during the fight" by Mike Schneider and Kyle Hightower | Associated Press, June 29, 2013
SANFORD, Fla. — Two neighbors and a police officer gave accounts in George Zimmerman’s murder trial Friday that seemed to bolster his contention he was on his back and being straddled by Trayvon Martin during their fight.
Neighbor Jonathan Good said it appeared the unarmed teen was straddling Zimmerman, while another neighbor, Jonathan Manalo, said Zimmerman seemed credible when he said immediately after the fight that he had shot Martin in self-defense. Officer Tim Smith testified that Zimmerman’s backside was covered in grass and wetter than his front side. All three were called as witnesses for prosecutors who are trying to convict him of second-degree murder.
Good, who had perhaps the best view of any witness, said he did not see anyone’s head being slammed into the concrete sidewalk, as Zimmerman said Martin did to him. Good initially testified that it appeared ‘‘there were strikes being thrown, punches being thrown,’’ but during detailed questioning he said he saw only ‘‘downward’’ arm movements being made.
Zimmerman has said that he fatally shot 17-year-old Martin last year in self-defense as the Miami-area teen was banging his head into the concrete sidewalk behind the townhomes in a gated community.
Under prosecution questioning, Good said he did not see anyone being attacked that way during the fight.
‘‘I couldn’t see that,’’ Good said moments later while being cross-examined.
Cut(?) from the printed version:
Good said he heard a noise behind his townhome in February 2012, and he saw what looked like a tussle when he stepped out onto his patio to see what was happening.
He said he yelled: "What's going on? Stop it."
Good testified he saw a person in black clothing on top of another person with "white or red" clothing. He said he couldn't see faces but it looked like the person on the bottom had lighter skin. Martin was black and was wearing a dark hoodie. Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic and was wearing a red jacket. Good was back inside calling 911 when he heard a gunshot.
"It looked like there were strikes being thrown, punches being thrown," Good said.
Later, under cross-examination, he said that it looked like the person on top was straddling the person on bottom in a mixed-martial arts move known as "ground and pound." When defense attorney Mark O'Mara asked him if the person on top was Martin, Good said, "Correct, that's what it looked like." Good also said the person on the bottom yelled for help.
Gee, why wouldn't the Globe want you to know that?
--more--"
"Zimmerman defense pushes hard in cross-examination; Friend of Martin pressed on slight inconsistencies" by MIKE SCHNEIDER and KYLE HIGHTOWER | Associated Press, June 28, 2013
SANFORD, Fla. — George Zimmerman’s defense attorney insisted during several testy exchanges with a important prosecution witness Thursday that Trayvon Martin injected race into a confrontation with the neighborhood watch volunteer and insinuated the woman was not believable because of inconsistencies in her story.
However, Rachel Jeantel, 19, stood firm in her testimony about the night Zimmerman shot the unarmed black 17-year-old after a fight that Jeantel said she overheard while on the phone with Martin.
Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic.
Race has permeated nationwide discussions of the case since the February 2012 shooting, which prompted nationwide protests and claims from critics that police took too long to arrest Zimmerman....
That is why the AmeriKan media is all over this case. Keep us all divided.
Defense attorney Don West also zeroed in on slight differences among three different accounts of what happened before Martin’s killing, in an apparent effort to discredit her. Jeantel has described what she heard over the phone in a deposition; a letter to Martin’s mother; and an interview with the Martin family attorney....
What the Globe leaves out is SHE CAN'T READ CURSIVE WRITING meaning she couldn't have wrote it!
--more--"
Really, what is with the CENSORSHIP, Globe?
Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Zimmerman Trial Will Make You Want to Scream
"Judge hears Zimmerman’s previous calls to police; Will decide whether jurors should hear them" by Kyle Hightower and Mike Schneider | Associated Press, June 26, 2013
SANFORD, Fla. — Several times in six months, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman called police to report suspicious characters in the gated townhouse community where he lived. Each time, when asked, he reported that the suspects were black males....
Defense lawyer Mark O’Mara argued that the calls were irrelevant and that nothing matters but the seven or eight minutes before Zimmerman fired the deadly shot into 17-year-old Trayvon Martin’s chest.
The prosecution is ‘‘going to ask the jury to make a leap from a good, responsible, citizen behavior to seething behavior,’’ O’Mara said. The judge did not immediately rule on whether to admit the recordings....
Also, prosecutors presented graphic photos of Martin’s body, a police officer described trying to revive Martin as bubbling sounds came from his chest, and a police manager described how she helped Zimmerman set up the neighborhood watch....
Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of Martin....
Zimmerman has asserted self-defense, saying he opened fire after the teenager jumped him and slammed his head against the concrete sidewalk.
Zimmerman, whose father is white and mother is Hispanic, has denied the confrontation with the black teenager had anything to do with race, as Martin’s family and its supporters have charged.
On Tuesday, the second day of testimony, prosecutors called to the stand a former neighbor of Zimmerman, Selene Bahadoor, the first witness to say she saw part of the struggle....
O’Mara later confronted her with a post she made on Facebook in which she ‘‘liked’’ a petition that championed the arrest of Zimmerman following the shooting....
Wendy Dorival, former coordinator of the Sanford Police Department’s neighborhood watch program, testified about how she had worked with Zimmerman to set up a watch in his neighborhood. When asked by prosecutor John Guy if neighborhood watch participants should follow or engage with suspicious people, she said no.
‘‘They are the eyes and ears of law enforcement,’’ Dorival said. ‘‘They’re not supposed to take matters into their own hands.’’ Similarly, Donald O’Brien, president of Zimmerman’s homeowners association, said it was his understanding that neighborhood watch members are supposed to ‘‘stay at a safe distance’’ and ‘‘let the police handle it.’’
But Dorival said she was impressed with Zimmerman’s professionalism and dedication to his community. ‘‘He seemed like he really wanted to make changes in his community, to make it better,’’ she said.
--more--"
"Friend of Martin describes final phone call before shooting" by Mike Schneider and Kyle Hightower | Associated Press, June 27, 2013
SANFORD, Fla. — A friend who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin moments before he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman testified that she heard the Miami teen shout, ‘‘Get off! Get off!’’ before his telephone went dead.
Rachel Jeantel, 19, is considered one of the prosecution’s most important witnesses, because she was the last person to talk to Martin before his encounter with Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012.
She testified that Martin described the man following him with a racial epithet, and that he said he thought he had evaded him....
She said Martin said Zimmerman was behind him, and that she heard Martin ask, ‘‘What are you following me for?’’ She then heard what she said sounded like Martin’s phone earpiece dropping into the grass, followed by Martin yelling, ‘‘Get off! Get off!’’
Then the phone went dead, she said.
Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for killing Martin. Zimmerman had followed Martin in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teen got into a fight.
Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, saying he shot Martin after the teenager jumped him and began slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk.
Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, has denied that his confrontation with the black teenager had anything to do with race, as Martin’s family and its supporters assert.
Jeantel’s testimony came after two former residents of the neighborhood testified about hearing shouts for help in the moments before the shooting.
Jayne Surdyka told the court that immediately before the shooting, she heard an aggressive voice and a softer voice exchanging words for several minutes in an area behind her townhome at the Retreat at Twin Lakes.
‘‘It was someone being very aggressive and angry at someone,’’ she said.
During the struggle, she said, she saw a person in dark clothes on top of the other person. Martin was wearing a dark sweatshirt and Zimmerman wore red clothing. Surdyka said she saw the person who was on top get off the body after the shot was fired.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Don West tried to show there was a lapse in what Surdyka saw. Defense lawyers contend Martin was on top of Zimmerman during the struggle, but after the neighborhood watch volunteer fired a shot, Zimmerman got on top of Martin.
--more--"
SANFORD, Fla. — Two neighbors and a police officer gave accounts in George Zimmerman’s murder trial Friday that seemed to bolster his contention he was on his back and being straddled by Trayvon Martin during their fight.
Neighbor Jonathan Good said it appeared the unarmed teen was straddling Zimmerman, while another neighbor, Jonathan Manalo, said Zimmerman seemed credible when he said immediately after the fight that he had shot Martin in self-defense. Officer Tim Smith testified that Zimmerman’s backside was covered in grass and wetter than his front side. All three were called as witnesses for prosecutors who are trying to convict him of second-degree murder.
Good, who had perhaps the best view of any witness, said he did not see anyone’s head being slammed into the concrete sidewalk, as Zimmerman said Martin did to him. Good initially testified that it appeared ‘‘there were strikes being thrown, punches being thrown,’’ but during detailed questioning he said he saw only ‘‘downward’’ arm movements being made.
Zimmerman has said that he fatally shot 17-year-old Martin last year in self-defense as the Miami-area teen was banging his head into the concrete sidewalk behind the townhomes in a gated community.
Under prosecution questioning, Good said he did not see anyone being attacked that way during the fight.
‘‘I couldn’t see that,’’ Good said moments later while being cross-examined.
Cut(?) from the printed version:
Good said he heard a noise behind his townhome in February 2012, and he saw what looked like a tussle when he stepped out onto his patio to see what was happening.
He said he yelled: "What's going on? Stop it."
Good testified he saw a person in black clothing on top of another person with "white or red" clothing. He said he couldn't see faces but it looked like the person on the bottom had lighter skin. Martin was black and was wearing a dark hoodie. Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic and was wearing a red jacket. Good was back inside calling 911 when he heard a gunshot.
"It looked like there were strikes being thrown, punches being thrown," Good said.
Later, under cross-examination, he said that it looked like the person on top was straddling the person on bottom in a mixed-martial arts move known as "ground and pound." When defense attorney Mark O'Mara asked him if the person on top was Martin, Good said, "Correct, that's what it looked like." Good also said the person on the bottom yelled for help.
Gee, why wouldn't the Globe want you to know that?
--more--"
"Zimmerman defense pushes hard in cross-examination; Friend of Martin pressed on slight inconsistencies" by MIKE SCHNEIDER and KYLE HIGHTOWER | Associated Press, June 28, 2013
SANFORD, Fla. — George Zimmerman’s defense attorney insisted during several testy exchanges with a important prosecution witness Thursday that Trayvon Martin injected race into a confrontation with the neighborhood watch volunteer and insinuated the woman was not believable because of inconsistencies in her story.
However, Rachel Jeantel, 19, stood firm in her testimony about the night Zimmerman shot the unarmed black 17-year-old after a fight that Jeantel said she overheard while on the phone with Martin.
Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic.
Race has permeated nationwide discussions of the case since the February 2012 shooting, which prompted nationwide protests and claims from critics that police took too long to arrest Zimmerman....
That is why the AmeriKan media is all over this case. Keep us all divided.
Defense attorney Don West also zeroed in on slight differences among three different accounts of what happened before Martin’s killing, in an apparent effort to discredit her. Jeantel has described what she heard over the phone in a deposition; a letter to Martin’s mother; and an interview with the Martin family attorney....
What the Globe leaves out is SHE CAN'T READ CURSIVE WRITING meaning she couldn't have wrote it!
--more--"
Really, what is with the CENSORSHIP, Globe?
Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Zimmerman Trial Will Make You Want to Scream
"Judge hears Zimmerman’s previous calls to police; Will decide whether jurors should hear them" by Kyle Hightower and Mike Schneider | Associated Press, June 26, 2013
SANFORD, Fla. — Several times in six months, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman called police to report suspicious characters in the gated townhouse community where he lived. Each time, when asked, he reported that the suspects were black males....
Defense lawyer Mark O’Mara argued that the calls were irrelevant and that nothing matters but the seven or eight minutes before Zimmerman fired the deadly shot into 17-year-old Trayvon Martin’s chest.
The prosecution is ‘‘going to ask the jury to make a leap from a good, responsible, citizen behavior to seething behavior,’’ O’Mara said. The judge did not immediately rule on whether to admit the recordings....
Also, prosecutors presented graphic photos of Martin’s body, a police officer described trying to revive Martin as bubbling sounds came from his chest, and a police manager described how she helped Zimmerman set up the neighborhood watch....
Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of Martin....
Zimmerman has asserted self-defense, saying he opened fire after the teenager jumped him and slammed his head against the concrete sidewalk.
Zimmerman, whose father is white and mother is Hispanic, has denied the confrontation with the black teenager had anything to do with race, as Martin’s family and its supporters have charged.
On Tuesday, the second day of testimony, prosecutors called to the stand a former neighbor of Zimmerman, Selene Bahadoor, the first witness to say she saw part of the struggle....
O’Mara later confronted her with a post she made on Facebook in which she ‘‘liked’’ a petition that championed the arrest of Zimmerman following the shooting....
Wendy Dorival, former coordinator of the Sanford Police Department’s neighborhood watch program, testified about how she had worked with Zimmerman to set up a watch in his neighborhood. When asked by prosecutor John Guy if neighborhood watch participants should follow or engage with suspicious people, she said no.
‘‘They are the eyes and ears of law enforcement,’’ Dorival said. ‘‘They’re not supposed to take matters into their own hands.’’ Similarly, Donald O’Brien, president of Zimmerman’s homeowners association, said it was his understanding that neighborhood watch members are supposed to ‘‘stay at a safe distance’’ and ‘‘let the police handle it.’’
But Dorival said she was impressed with Zimmerman’s professionalism and dedication to his community. ‘‘He seemed like he really wanted to make changes in his community, to make it better,’’ she said.
--more--"
"Friend of Martin describes final phone call before shooting" by Mike Schneider and Kyle Hightower | Associated Press, June 27, 2013
SANFORD, Fla. — A friend who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin moments before he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman testified that she heard the Miami teen shout, ‘‘Get off! Get off!’’ before his telephone went dead.
Rachel Jeantel, 19, is considered one of the prosecution’s most important witnesses, because she was the last person to talk to Martin before his encounter with Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012.
She testified that Martin described the man following him with a racial epithet, and that he said he thought he had evaded him....
Called him a cracker.
She said Martin said Zimmerman was behind him, and that she heard Martin ask, ‘‘What are you following me for?’’ She then heard what she said sounded like Martin’s phone earpiece dropping into the grass, followed by Martin yelling, ‘‘Get off! Get off!’’
Then the phone went dead, she said.
Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for killing Martin. Zimmerman had followed Martin in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teen got into a fight.
Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, saying he shot Martin after the teenager jumped him and began slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk.
Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, has denied that his confrontation with the black teenager had anything to do with race, as Martin’s family and its supporters assert.
Jeantel’s testimony came after two former residents of the neighborhood testified about hearing shouts for help in the moments before the shooting.
Jayne Surdyka told the court that immediately before the shooting, she heard an aggressive voice and a softer voice exchanging words for several minutes in an area behind her townhome at the Retreat at Twin Lakes.
‘‘It was someone being very aggressive and angry at someone,’’ she said.
During the struggle, she said, she saw a person in dark clothes on top of the other person. Martin was wearing a dark sweatshirt and Zimmerman wore red clothing. Surdyka said she saw the person who was on top get off the body after the shot was fired.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Don West tried to show there was a lapse in what Surdyka saw. Defense lawyers contend Martin was on top of Zimmerman during the struggle, but after the neighborhood watch volunteer fired a shot, Zimmerman got on top of Martin.
--more--"
Slow Saturday Special: Medway's Money Pit
They are still searching....
"Medway hunts for time capsule buried in ’63; Town digs for container put in ground 50 years ago, hoping to display contents as part of 300th anniversary celebration" by Brian MacQuarrie | Globe Staff, June 29, 2013
The philosopher George Santayana famously said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
And we invaded Afghanistan anyway.
In Medway, such forgetfulness can turn the front lawn of Town Hall into a dug-up mess.
A time capsule buried in 1963 has gone missing, and town officials celebrating Medway’s 300th birthday this year have not been able to find it. There have been ground-penetrating radar, search grids, hand-dug holes, even backhoes.
Related: Treblinka was No Extermination Camp - Just Transit Station
They used ground-penetrating radar and came up with nothing, too.
Still, the hunt over the last two weeks has come up empty, despite the town’s efforts to plumb the admittedly hazy memories of residents who saw the capsule placed in the ground 50 years ago.
“We didn’t find anything. No bodies, nothing,” said a chuckling John Foresto, a selectman and cochairman of the Medway tricentennial committee.
The dead end has puzzled town officials, whose search has focused on a small patch of lawn to the left of a concrete walkway into Town Hall.
That’s where Mickey Rojee, a captain in the volunteer Fire Department a half-century ago, recalled the capsule had been interred. “I helped them dig in the spot where I thought it was,” said Rojee, a 76-year-old lifelong resident of Medway.
No luck.
The elusive capsule is believed to hold a potpourri of snippets from a simpler time when this quiet town of 12,700 people was even quieter: newspaper clippings, commemorative buttons, some offerings from the ladies.
No offense, but who gives a s***?
The specific contents are anyone’s guess. “God only knows what’s in there,” Rojee said.
Eyewitnesses such as Rojee were thought to be the best hope of finding the buried treasure. No photos from the 1963 ceremony could be found that showed the site. No one appears to have documented the spot.
So far, these first-person recollections have resulted only in a lot of digging, a lot of sweat, and nothing to show except a few piles of dirt that now need landscaping.
When asked why the site was never recorded or photographed, Foresto laughed. “It was 50 years ago in Medway, come on,” the selectman said....
The 250th celebration was wonderfully memorable, Joanne Beksha said, in this town about 30 miles west of Boston.
Well, apparently not.
She was a 16-year-old junior in high school, where the girls wore special dresses for the anniversary. And her father was one of many men in town who grew beards to mark the year, a group called the Brothers of the Brush.
Townspeople who flouted the trend and continued to shave, she recalled, were subject to the whims of a “kangaroo court” whose punishments included time in mock stockades in front of Town Hall.
“It was a great celebration,” Beksha said. “It’s the way the town is. They’re very good about all the different anniversaries.”
Beksha’s memory of the capsule site closely tracks Rojee’s, which makes the search that much more perplexing for town officials. “You almost become obsessed with this,” said Tom Holder, director of public services. “You’re thinking the next shovel will turn up something, but you’re disappointed time and time again.”
I can empathize with the feeling since I keep expecting to see the truth in my newspaper.
To avoid extensive digging, Holder initially hired a firm to locate the capsule through ground-penetrating radar. After the company found “anomalies” under the surface, digging by hand ensued. Still, nothing.
Frustrated, Holder summoned the backhoe from his department, which handles the town’s public works, to dig 3 feet down in a 10-by-10-foot plot. “We kind of destroyed the front yard, so I thought, what’s the harm now?” Holder said. “It looks pretty poor out there.”
Holder has nearly run out of options. “If I had any other solid information, I’m more than happy to pursue this,” Holder said. “But at this point, I don’t.”
Perhaps, he speculated, the capsule was destroyed inadvertently during work at Town Hall since 1963. A new sidewalk has been built, Holder said, and a monument has been placed on the lawn.
Maybe, he said, the time capsule ended up in the back of a dump truck....
Then they are never going to find it.
If the capsule is not found this year, the odds are good that its snatches of 1960s memory will remain buried.
“If we don’t find it,” Holder said, “I don’t think anybody else will look for it.”
I've already stopped caring.
But if they discover the capsule, Foresto said, town officials could display its contents Aug. 10 during a band concert and fireworks.
If not, Medway will forge ahead and bury another capsule to mark the town’s 300th birthday for future generations.
In 2063, however, town officials will not be forced to dig randomly on the Town Hall lawn again. The new location, Foresto said, “won’t be a secret.”
--more--"
Nothing else going on in Medway, 'eh?
"Medway hunts for time capsule buried in ’63; Town digs for container put in ground 50 years ago, hoping to display contents as part of 300th anniversary celebration" by Brian MacQuarrie | Globe Staff, June 29, 2013
The philosopher George Santayana famously said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
And we invaded Afghanistan anyway.
In Medway, such forgetfulness can turn the front lawn of Town Hall into a dug-up mess.
A time capsule buried in 1963 has gone missing, and town officials celebrating Medway’s 300th birthday this year have not been able to find it. There have been ground-penetrating radar, search grids, hand-dug holes, even backhoes.
Related: Treblinka was No Extermination Camp - Just Transit Station
They used ground-penetrating radar and came up with nothing, too.
Still, the hunt over the last two weeks has come up empty, despite the town’s efforts to plumb the admittedly hazy memories of residents who saw the capsule placed in the ground 50 years ago.
“We didn’t find anything. No bodies, nothing,” said a chuckling John Foresto, a selectman and cochairman of the Medway tricentennial committee.
The dead end has puzzled town officials, whose search has focused on a small patch of lawn to the left of a concrete walkway into Town Hall.
That’s where Mickey Rojee, a captain in the volunteer Fire Department a half-century ago, recalled the capsule had been interred. “I helped them dig in the spot where I thought it was,” said Rojee, a 76-year-old lifelong resident of Medway.
No luck.
The elusive capsule is believed to hold a potpourri of snippets from a simpler time when this quiet town of 12,700 people was even quieter: newspaper clippings, commemorative buttons, some offerings from the ladies.
No offense, but who gives a s***?
The specific contents are anyone’s guess. “God only knows what’s in there,” Rojee said.
Eyewitnesses such as Rojee were thought to be the best hope of finding the buried treasure. No photos from the 1963 ceremony could be found that showed the site. No one appears to have documented the spot.
So far, these first-person recollections have resulted only in a lot of digging, a lot of sweat, and nothing to show except a few piles of dirt that now need landscaping.
When asked why the site was never recorded or photographed, Foresto laughed. “It was 50 years ago in Medway, come on,” the selectman said....
The 250th celebration was wonderfully memorable, Joanne Beksha said, in this town about 30 miles west of Boston.
Well, apparently not.
She was a 16-year-old junior in high school, where the girls wore special dresses for the anniversary. And her father was one of many men in town who grew beards to mark the year, a group called the Brothers of the Brush.
Townspeople who flouted the trend and continued to shave, she recalled, were subject to the whims of a “kangaroo court” whose punishments included time in mock stockades in front of Town Hall.
“It was a great celebration,” Beksha said. “It’s the way the town is. They’re very good about all the different anniversaries.”
Beksha’s memory of the capsule site closely tracks Rojee’s, which makes the search that much more perplexing for town officials. “You almost become obsessed with this,” said Tom Holder, director of public services. “You’re thinking the next shovel will turn up something, but you’re disappointed time and time again.”
I can empathize with the feeling since I keep expecting to see the truth in my newspaper.
To avoid extensive digging, Holder initially hired a firm to locate the capsule through ground-penetrating radar. After the company found “anomalies” under the surface, digging by hand ensued. Still, nothing.
Frustrated, Holder summoned the backhoe from his department, which handles the town’s public works, to dig 3 feet down in a 10-by-10-foot plot. “We kind of destroyed the front yard, so I thought, what’s the harm now?” Holder said. “It looks pretty poor out there.”
Holder has nearly run out of options. “If I had any other solid information, I’m more than happy to pursue this,” Holder said. “But at this point, I don’t.”
Perhaps, he speculated, the capsule was destroyed inadvertently during work at Town Hall since 1963. A new sidewalk has been built, Holder said, and a monument has been placed on the lawn.
Maybe, he said, the time capsule ended up in the back of a dump truck....
Then they are never going to find it.
If the capsule is not found this year, the odds are good that its snatches of 1960s memory will remain buried.
“If we don’t find it,” Holder said, “I don’t think anybody else will look for it.”
I've already stopped caring.
But if they discover the capsule, Foresto said, town officials could display its contents Aug. 10 during a band concert and fireworks.
If not, Medway will forge ahead and bury another capsule to mark the town’s 300th birthday for future generations.
In 2063, however, town officials will not be forced to dig randomly on the Town Hall lawn again. The new location, Foresto said, “won’t be a secret.”
--more--"
Nothing else going on in Medway, 'eh?
Slow Saturday Special: Maine to Monitor Medications
"Maine OKs international prescription drug imports" ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 29, 2013
AUGUSTA, Maine — Mainers will soon be able to once again buy less expensive, mail-order prescription drugs from other countries, despite concerns from some pharmacists that the practice is unsafe.
Under a new state law, residents will be able to buy drugs through firms like CanaRx. The Canadian business distributes prescription medications by mail and from licensed pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
Some pharmacists fear the law will open up the state’s borders to counterfeit drugs, posing health risks to Maine residents. But supporters say it will provide significant cost savings to consumers and the state.
‘‘People need to be able to access life-saving drugs at a reasonable price, and this law gives Mainers more options while still allowing Maine pharmacies to negotiate with CanaRx,’’ Assistant Democratic leader Troy Jackson, who sponsored the legislation, said in a statement.
Related: On the Same LePage
CanaRx acts as a middleman, taking prescriptions written by doctors in the United States and filling them in out-of-country pharmacies. The prescriptions are approved by doctors in the foreign country, said Chris Collins, the group’s insurance program director. The company said patients can save up to 80 percent off US retail prices.
Until last year, the state of Maine contracted with CanaRx to offer state employees low-cost prescription medications for diabetes, arthritis, and other medical conditions in a program called MaineMeds. But in August, then-Attorney General William Schneider said the program violated state law because CanaRx could not be licensed in Maine.
The new law exempts pharmacies in certain countries from licensing requirements, allowing the state, cities, and businesses to legally contract with CanaRx or similar firms. The law also affirms that individuals are allowed to get prescription drugs from those countries. It goes into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session, expected by early July.
Collins said CanaRx has not yet discussed with the state if and when they will restart the program.
‘‘I am very disappointed partly because this bill in my opinion significantly jeopardizes patients’ safety,’’ said Kenneth McCall, president of the Maine Pharmacy Association. ‘‘This bill opens up the secure drug supply chain and allows these types of counterfeit medications into the community.’’
And it hurts pharmaceutical profits.
McCall said that if a patient has a problem with a medication, the state will have no way of holding the international pharmacies accountable. He said Maine residents can get generic brands in the United States often for just as cheap as from another country.
Really? Where, after the Supreme Court said the doping up generics was fine?
Also see: Court ruling favors makers of generic drugs
Critics say allowing international prescription drugs into Maine may violate US law. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, it’s illegal to import drugs from other nation that have not been approved by the FDA for use and sale in the United States.
Collins said CanaRx operates only in countries that have just-as-strict regulations and oversight as in the United States.
You mean, like at the compounding facilities?
--more--"
Related:
"Report cites need for drug tracker" by Lauran Neergaard | Associated Press, February 14, 2013
WASHINGTON — Fighting the problem of fake drugs will require putting medications through a chain of custody like US courts require for evidence in a trial, the Institute of Medicine reported Wednesday.
The call for a national drug tracking system comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration warned doctors, for the third time in about a year, that it discovered a counterfeit batch of the cancer drug Avastin that lacked the real tumor-killing ingredient.
They want to track everything.
Fake and substandard drugs have become an increasing concern as US pharmaceutical companies move more of their manufacturing overseas. The risk made headlines in 2008 when US patients died from a contaminated blood thinner imported from China.
Well, STOP MOVING OVERSEAS!
Related: “India.... the pharmacy capital of the world.’’
The Institute of Medicine report made clear that this is a global problem that requires an international response....
Lawrence O. Gostin, a professor of health law at Georgetown University, said a mandatory drug-tracking system could use some form of barcodes or electronic tags to verify that a medication and the ingredients used to make it are authentic at every step, from the manufacturing of the active ingredient all the way to the pharmacy. His committee examined fakes so sophisticated that health experts couldn’t tell the difference between the packaging of the FDA-approved product and the look-alike.
--more--"
Also see: Around New England: Cleaning Up in Connecticut
They couldn't solve that even with all the NSA spying?
AUGUSTA, Maine — Mainers will soon be able to once again buy less expensive, mail-order prescription drugs from other countries, despite concerns from some pharmacists that the practice is unsafe.
Under a new state law, residents will be able to buy drugs through firms like CanaRx. The Canadian business distributes prescription medications by mail and from licensed pharmacies in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
Some pharmacists fear the law will open up the state’s borders to counterfeit drugs, posing health risks to Maine residents. But supporters say it will provide significant cost savings to consumers and the state.
‘‘People need to be able to access life-saving drugs at a reasonable price, and this law gives Mainers more options while still allowing Maine pharmacies to negotiate with CanaRx,’’ Assistant Democratic leader Troy Jackson, who sponsored the legislation, said in a statement.
Related: On the Same LePage
CanaRx acts as a middleman, taking prescriptions written by doctors in the United States and filling them in out-of-country pharmacies. The prescriptions are approved by doctors in the foreign country, said Chris Collins, the group’s insurance program director. The company said patients can save up to 80 percent off US retail prices.
Until last year, the state of Maine contracted with CanaRx to offer state employees low-cost prescription medications for diabetes, arthritis, and other medical conditions in a program called MaineMeds. But in August, then-Attorney General William Schneider said the program violated state law because CanaRx could not be licensed in Maine.
The new law exempts pharmacies in certain countries from licensing requirements, allowing the state, cities, and businesses to legally contract with CanaRx or similar firms. The law also affirms that individuals are allowed to get prescription drugs from those countries. It goes into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session, expected by early July.
Collins said CanaRx has not yet discussed with the state if and when they will restart the program.
‘‘I am very disappointed partly because this bill in my opinion significantly jeopardizes patients’ safety,’’ said Kenneth McCall, president of the Maine Pharmacy Association. ‘‘This bill opens up the secure drug supply chain and allows these types of counterfeit medications into the community.’’
And it hurts pharmaceutical profits.
McCall said that if a patient has a problem with a medication, the state will have no way of holding the international pharmacies accountable. He said Maine residents can get generic brands in the United States often for just as cheap as from another country.
Really? Where, after the Supreme Court said the doping up generics was fine?
Also see: Court ruling favors makers of generic drugs
Critics say allowing international prescription drugs into Maine may violate US law. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, it’s illegal to import drugs from other nation that have not been approved by the FDA for use and sale in the United States.
Collins said CanaRx operates only in countries that have just-as-strict regulations and oversight as in the United States.
You mean, like at the compounding facilities?
--more--"
Related:
"Report cites need for drug tracker" by Lauran Neergaard | Associated Press, February 14, 2013
WASHINGTON — Fighting the problem of fake drugs will require putting medications through a chain of custody like US courts require for evidence in a trial, the Institute of Medicine reported Wednesday.
The call for a national drug tracking system comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration warned doctors, for the third time in about a year, that it discovered a counterfeit batch of the cancer drug Avastin that lacked the real tumor-killing ingredient.
They want to track everything.
Fake and substandard drugs have become an increasing concern as US pharmaceutical companies move more of their manufacturing overseas. The risk made headlines in 2008 when US patients died from a contaminated blood thinner imported from China.
Well, STOP MOVING OVERSEAS!
Related: “India.... the pharmacy capital of the world.’’
The Institute of Medicine report made clear that this is a global problem that requires an international response....
Lawrence O. Gostin, a professor of health law at Georgetown University, said a mandatory drug-tracking system could use some form of barcodes or electronic tags to verify that a medication and the ingredients used to make it are authentic at every step, from the manufacturing of the active ingredient all the way to the pharmacy. His committee examined fakes so sophisticated that health experts couldn’t tell the difference between the packaging of the FDA-approved product and the look-alike.
--more--"
Also see: Around New England: Cleaning Up in Connecticut
They couldn't solve that even with all the NSA spying?
Slow Saturday Special: Shipyard Buzz
It's not colony collapse.
"Swarm of 25,000 bees takes over Gloucester shipyard; Swarm corraled by local beekeeper" by Todd Feathers | Globe Correspondent, June 28, 2013
The swarm came buzzing out of a sheet of rain....
The 50-foot long, 25-foot wide swarm covered a corner of the yard before coagulating on a piece of scaffolding into a single, basketball-sized mass....
a summer swarm....
Viking Gustafson called the fire department and was soon joined at the shipyard by Deputy Fire Chief Miles Schlichte. The pair discussed their options: Could they freeze the bees, burn them away with a cutting torch, or drown them in a jet of water from a fire engine?
Why is the first thought always to kill it?
Related: More Than Massachusetts Can Bear
Also see: Bear sightings in 3 Massachusetts communities
“All of these options were deemed not to be in the best interest of all involved, especially the bees,” Schlichte wrote in his report.
Gloucester’s animal control officer arrived, and after a conference with Gustafson and Schlichte, he advised that the bees be left alone until they flew away.
The shipyard workers went about their business, cutting a wide swath around the patch of territory the bees had annexed. But as the rain kept coming down, the swarm seemed to settle in and concern grew that they might make a new home in a nearby electrical box.
Schlichte and his crew began making calls to city officials, looking for somebody who knew what to do with 5 pounds of stubborn bees. Try Greg Morrow, the beekeeper who lives on Briarwood Street, suggested somebody at the Department of Public Works.
Morrow, a technical manager for multimedia projects at Harvard University, got the call....
Swarming “is a very natural phenomenon; it’s how the bees reproduce,” Morrow said. “Once the impulse is in the hive, it’s pretty hard to get it out.”
Most hives swarm around the summer solstice, when the pollen is heavy and the nectar is flowing, he said.
Gustafson knew the situation was under control when Morrow pulled into the shipyard in his shiny white truck, with a beautifully painted bee emblazoned on each door.
The bees had moved onto the electrical box by the time Morrow arrived and were plastered across a piece of plywood, using their wings to shelter their bodies while they waited in a lethargic state for the rain to stop.
Morrow set up a box loaded with honeycomb below the swarm and used a piece of cardboard to shovel the bees into it.
“They fell sort of like one mass, or a tumble of wet clothes,” he said.
The hive probably escaped from a beekeeper and got caught in the rain, said Morrow, who has since taken the bees in and provided a home....
--more--"
Related:
"The honeybees had been making the enclosed cavity their home since 1996, hardly bothering the homeowners"
I was always told you don't bother them and they won't bother you.
Related: Bees Are Buzzing in My Boston Globe
Also see:
Boston Latin student the 1st girl to win city’s spelling bee
At this year’s spelling bee, make way for meaning
Spelling bee kids will have to know definitions
This time, National Spelling Bee has more meaning
New York teen wins spelling bee
Some Globe bees buzz louder than others.
"Swarm of 25,000 bees takes over Gloucester shipyard; Swarm corraled by local beekeeper" by Todd Feathers | Globe Correspondent, June 28, 2013
The swarm came buzzing out of a sheet of rain....
The 50-foot long, 25-foot wide swarm covered a corner of the yard before coagulating on a piece of scaffolding into a single, basketball-sized mass....
a summer swarm....
Viking Gustafson called the fire department and was soon joined at the shipyard by Deputy Fire Chief Miles Schlichte. The pair discussed their options: Could they freeze the bees, burn them away with a cutting torch, or drown them in a jet of water from a fire engine?
Why is the first thought always to kill it?
Related: More Than Massachusetts Can Bear
Also see: Bear sightings in 3 Massachusetts communities
“All of these options were deemed not to be in the best interest of all involved, especially the bees,” Schlichte wrote in his report.
Gloucester’s animal control officer arrived, and after a conference with Gustafson and Schlichte, he advised that the bees be left alone until they flew away.
The shipyard workers went about their business, cutting a wide swath around the patch of territory the bees had annexed. But as the rain kept coming down, the swarm seemed to settle in and concern grew that they might make a new home in a nearby electrical box.
Schlichte and his crew began making calls to city officials, looking for somebody who knew what to do with 5 pounds of stubborn bees. Try Greg Morrow, the beekeeper who lives on Briarwood Street, suggested somebody at the Department of Public Works.
Morrow, a technical manager for multimedia projects at Harvard University, got the call....
Swarming “is a very natural phenomenon; it’s how the bees reproduce,” Morrow said. “Once the impulse is in the hive, it’s pretty hard to get it out.”
Most hives swarm around the summer solstice, when the pollen is heavy and the nectar is flowing, he said.
Gustafson knew the situation was under control when Morrow pulled into the shipyard in his shiny white truck, with a beautifully painted bee emblazoned on each door.
The bees had moved onto the electrical box by the time Morrow arrived and were plastered across a piece of plywood, using their wings to shelter their bodies while they waited in a lethargic state for the rain to stop.
Morrow set up a box loaded with honeycomb below the swarm and used a piece of cardboard to shovel the bees into it.
“They fell sort of like one mass, or a tumble of wet clothes,” he said.
The hive probably escaped from a beekeeper and got caught in the rain, said Morrow, who has since taken the bees in and provided a home....
--more--"
Related:
"The honeybees had been making the enclosed cavity their home since 1996, hardly bothering the homeowners"
I was always told you don't bother them and they won't bother you.
Related: Bees Are Buzzing in My Boston Globe
Also see:
Boston Latin student the 1st girl to win city’s spelling bee
At this year’s spelling bee, make way for meaning
Spelling bee kids will have to know definitions
This time, National Spelling Bee has more meaning
New York teen wins spelling bee
Some Globe bees buzz louder than others.
Slow Saturday Special: Cambridge Hails Healy
"Longtime Cambridge manager’s tenure ends; Healy retiring after 32 years on the job" by Brock Parker | Globe Correspondent, June 29, 2013
He’s been honored by hundreds of city employees, Harvard University, and numerous local organizations, but Cambridge’s retiring city manager, Robert W. Healy, insists that he has a quiet City Hall exit in mind.
On his final day of work Sunday, Healy plans to come into the office, collect the last of his things, and walk down the front steps of City Hall alone.
“It’s been a pretty good end,” said Healy, 69, who is leaving after 32 years on the job.
The highest paid municipal manager in the state, Healy has taken heat from taxpayers for his retirement package and his $347,000 salary. But his colleagues in Cambridge say he was worth it, lauding his successes as longtime deputy city manager Richard Rossi takes over the top spot.
Related: Rossi's Reward
As Healy leaves, the biotech industry is booming in the city of about 106,000 people, Cambridge’s finances have earned AAA bond ratings each year since 1999, the city has opened a new police station and public library in recent years, and it has begun the demolition work for a new $86 million school without state assistance.
Mayor Henrietta Davis said a significant part of Healy’s legacy will be his work leading the city to create affordable housing after the end of rent control in the 1990s. Davis said Healy has frequently stepped in to provide resources for human services and schools, even when his initial reaction as a fiscal steward may be to say no.
“He doesn’t like to look like he’s got a lot of heart,” Davis said. “But the needs of the citizenry have been met very well.”
But controversies still circle his tenure, starting with the salary, which is almost twice that of Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston.
Healy has also drawn fire because of multiple workplace discrimination lawsuits that began in the 1990s and have cost the city more than $10 million in damages, attorney fees, settlements, and interest....
--more--"
He’s been honored by hundreds of city employees, Harvard University, and numerous local organizations, but Cambridge’s retiring city manager, Robert W. Healy, insists that he has a quiet City Hall exit in mind.
On his final day of work Sunday, Healy plans to come into the office, collect the last of his things, and walk down the front steps of City Hall alone.
“It’s been a pretty good end,” said Healy, 69, who is leaving after 32 years on the job.
The highest paid municipal manager in the state, Healy has taken heat from taxpayers for his retirement package and his $347,000 salary. But his colleagues in Cambridge say he was worth it, lauding his successes as longtime deputy city manager Richard Rossi takes over the top spot.
Related: Rossi's Reward
As Healy leaves, the biotech industry is booming in the city of about 106,000 people, Cambridge’s finances have earned AAA bond ratings each year since 1999, the city has opened a new police station and public library in recent years, and it has begun the demolition work for a new $86 million school without state assistance.
Mayor Henrietta Davis said a significant part of Healy’s legacy will be his work leading the city to create affordable housing after the end of rent control in the 1990s. Davis said Healy has frequently stepped in to provide resources for human services and schools, even when his initial reaction as a fiscal steward may be to say no.
“He doesn’t like to look like he’s got a lot of heart,” Davis said. “But the needs of the citizenry have been met very well.”
But controversies still circle his tenure, starting with the salary, which is almost twice that of Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston.
Healy has also drawn fire because of multiple workplace discrimination lawsuits that began in the 1990s and have cost the city more than $10 million in damages, attorney fees, settlements, and interest....
--more--"
Globe Loves Labor
"illegal immigrants,
who mow the lawns, trim the hedges, clean the swimming pools, park the
cars, serve the hors d'oeuvres, tidy up the mansions, and do many of the other things that make life so enjoyable for the rich"
"Marchers back janitors seeking full-time jobs" by Evan Allen | Globe Correspondent, September 03, 2012
Hundreds of union workers marched from Boston Common to Copley Square Monday afternoon in a Labor Day rally supporting efforts to win 14,000 New England janitors full-time jobs — and benefits such as health insurance — when their contract expires at the end of the month....
About 750 people turned out for the march.
Chanting “Sí se puede” — a rallying cry that means “Yes we can” in Spanish — and carrying purple flags and homemade banners, they were joined by Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, congressional candidate Joseph Kennedy III, and other politicians who threw their support to the workers’ fight. “Here we are on Labor Day,” said Murray, standing on the bandstand on Boston Common. “You epitomize the labor movement. You are the strength of the labor movement. We are your partners.”
For the janitors, full-time employment would mean stability, a chance to achieve a middle-class existence.
“My dream is to buy a home one day,” part-time janitor Filipa Ramos, 61, of Roxbury, said through a translator. “With full time, I would maybe be able to accomplish that. That’s a dream that almost all cleaning workers have.”
--more--"
Related:
Janitors’ union OK’s strike unless new deal is reached
Janitors’ strike threat looms as contract expires
N.E. janitors sign four-year contract
Deal on janitors’ contract is a win for all sides
"100 years later, Bread and Roses tribute unveiled" by Jeremy C. Fox | Globe Correspondent, September 04, 2012
LAWRENCE — A century ago, thousands of mostly immigrant workers in Lawrence textile mills came together despite barriers of language and custom for a nine-week strike that became a landmark in the history of labor, now known as the Bread and Roses Strike....
The smell of french fries and funnel cakes filled the air as the monument was unveiled at Lawrence’s 28th annual Bread and Roses Festival, a Labor Day celebration focused on organized labor....
Jonas Smolkas, a Lithuanian mill worker killed in October 1912 for wearing an Industrial Workers of the World button, was one of three whose deaths were strike-related. Others were beaten by members of the state militia or by Harvard College students, who received course credit for helping intimidate workers, said Jonas Stundzia, cochair of the monument committee....
--more--"
Also see: Food service workers sue Progressive Gourmet
"Marchers back janitors seeking full-time jobs" by Evan Allen | Globe Correspondent, September 03, 2012
Hundreds of union workers marched from Boston Common to Copley Square Monday afternoon in a Labor Day rally supporting efforts to win 14,000 New England janitors full-time jobs — and benefits such as health insurance — when their contract expires at the end of the month....
About 750 people turned out for the march.
Chanting “Sí se puede” — a rallying cry that means “Yes we can” in Spanish — and carrying purple flags and homemade banners, they were joined by Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, congressional candidate Joseph Kennedy III, and other politicians who threw their support to the workers’ fight. “Here we are on Labor Day,” said Murray, standing on the bandstand on Boston Common. “You epitomize the labor movement. You are the strength of the labor movement. We are your partners.”
For the janitors, full-time employment would mean stability, a chance to achieve a middle-class existence.
“My dream is to buy a home one day,” part-time janitor Filipa Ramos, 61, of Roxbury, said through a translator. “With full time, I would maybe be able to accomplish that. That’s a dream that almost all cleaning workers have.”
--more--"
Related:
Janitors’ union OK’s strike unless new deal is reached
Janitors’ strike threat looms as contract expires
N.E. janitors sign four-year contract
Deal on janitors’ contract is a win for all sides
"100 years later, Bread and Roses tribute unveiled" by Jeremy C. Fox | Globe Correspondent, September 04, 2012
LAWRENCE — A century ago, thousands of mostly immigrant workers in Lawrence textile mills came together despite barriers of language and custom for a nine-week strike that became a landmark in the history of labor, now known as the Bread and Roses Strike....
The smell of french fries and funnel cakes filled the air as the monument was unveiled at Lawrence’s 28th annual Bread and Roses Festival, a Labor Day celebration focused on organized labor....
Jonas Smolkas, a Lithuanian mill worker killed in October 1912 for wearing an Industrial Workers of the World button, was one of three whose deaths were strike-related. Others were beaten by members of the state militia or by Harvard College students, who received course credit for helping intimidate workers, said Jonas Stundzia, cochair of the monument committee....
--more--"
Also see: Food service workers sue Progressive Gourmet
Slow Saturday Special: Mass. Lawmakers Looking Into Tip Jar
They want their cut....
"Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees seek to change state tip law; Lawmakers consider who can put their hands in the jar" by Gail Waterhouse | Globe Correspondent, June 29, 2013
For thousands of customers who stop at a Dunkin’ Donuts during the course of the day, dropping a little extra change into a jar next to the cash register is a gesture barely worth noting.
But the money that accumulates in those jars has been a point of confusion and heated debate reverberating through courts and the Massachusetts State House. Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees testified before a legislative committee this week, trying for the second time in three years to change a state law that limits who can put their hands in the tip jar.
Currently, the Massachusetts tip pooling law forbids anyone with “managerial responsibility” to share in pooling of tips by counter staff. Dunkin’ franchisees say their stores and other “quick-service restaurants,” employ some people who may open or close the store, or handle cash when the register becomes full, but spend most of their workdays serving customers from behind the counter. Franchisees want to change the law so those employees are explicitly allowed to share in tip pools.
“Don’t have this law stand between customers and the low-level supervisors for whom tips are often intended,” said Dan Field, a lawyer at Boston law firm Morgan, Brown & Joy who represents employers in labor and employment lawsuits. Field was also a former chief of the fair labor division in the attorney general’s office.
Advocates for employees complain that the addition of supervisors to the list of workers eligible to share tips would dilute the total compensation for crew members, allowing restaurant owners to pay supervisors less by offsetting lower salaries with tips.
“It seems like every couple of years they try to challenge this law, but it hasn’t succeeded yet,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, a labor lawyer who also spoke this week before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development. She has also represented Dunkin’ Donuts employees in lawsuits against the chain claiming violations of the tip pooling law.
Some Dunkin’ Donuts locations can rake in between $50 and $100 an hour in the tip jars, according to Ed Shanahan, executive director of the DD Independent Franchise Owners Inc., a Bellingham-based trade group that represents owners of Dunkin’ Donuts locations. Using Shanahan’s calculations, workers could perhaps take home an extra $100 per shift....
I gue$$ tips really do add up!
--more--"
At least they are going to raise the minimum wage.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Dunkin' Deen
Boston Globe Bowl of Cheerios
Better for you than that sandwich.
"Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees seek to change state tip law; Lawmakers consider who can put their hands in the jar" by Gail Waterhouse | Globe Correspondent, June 29, 2013
For thousands of customers who stop at a Dunkin’ Donuts during the course of the day, dropping a little extra change into a jar next to the cash register is a gesture barely worth noting.
But the money that accumulates in those jars has been a point of confusion and heated debate reverberating through courts and the Massachusetts State House. Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees testified before a legislative committee this week, trying for the second time in three years to change a state law that limits who can put their hands in the tip jar.
Currently, the Massachusetts tip pooling law forbids anyone with “managerial responsibility” to share in pooling of tips by counter staff. Dunkin’ franchisees say their stores and other “quick-service restaurants,” employ some people who may open or close the store, or handle cash when the register becomes full, but spend most of their workdays serving customers from behind the counter. Franchisees want to change the law so those employees are explicitly allowed to share in tip pools.
“Don’t have this law stand between customers and the low-level supervisors for whom tips are often intended,” said Dan Field, a lawyer at Boston law firm Morgan, Brown & Joy who represents employers in labor and employment lawsuits. Field was also a former chief of the fair labor division in the attorney general’s office.
Advocates for employees complain that the addition of supervisors to the list of workers eligible to share tips would dilute the total compensation for crew members, allowing restaurant owners to pay supervisors less by offsetting lower salaries with tips.
“It seems like every couple of years they try to challenge this law, but it hasn’t succeeded yet,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, a labor lawyer who also spoke this week before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development. She has also represented Dunkin’ Donuts employees in lawsuits against the chain claiming violations of the tip pooling law.
Some Dunkin’ Donuts locations can rake in between $50 and $100 an hour in the tip jars, according to Ed Shanahan, executive director of the DD Independent Franchise Owners Inc., a Bellingham-based trade group that represents owners of Dunkin’ Donuts locations. Using Shanahan’s calculations, workers could perhaps take home an extra $100 per shift....
I gue$$ tips really do add up!
--more--"
At least they are going to raise the minimum wage.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Dunkin' Deen
Boston Globe Bowl of Cheerios
Better for you than that sandwich.
Deen is Done
"Sears, J.C. Penney, and Walgreen said Friday that they’re cutting ties with Paula Deen, adding to the growing list of companies severing their relationship following revelations that the Southern celebrity chef used racial slurs in the past. Meanwhile, Deen’s publisher has canceled a deal with her for multiple books, including an upcoming cookbook that was the top seller on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com."
Related: Target, others, cuts ties with Deen
Who Lost Africa?
Well, it happened on Obama's watch....
"The US ignores Africa at its own peril" by Jason Warner | June 25, 2013
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S first major trip to sub-Saharan Africa on Wednesday is expected to cost from $60 million to $100 million, prompting many calls for the president to cancel his trip. Yet, such opposition is shortsighted: Now, more than ever, the United States cannot afford to ignore Africa.
I call on it to be cancelled because of the global-warming ramifications.
Geopolitically, Africa is an emerging force to be reckoned with.
Translation: it is rich in underdeveloped and untapped resources.
Economically, it hosts several of the world’s fastest growing economies — including Rwanda, Zambia, and Mozambique — while the continent as a whole is expected to outstrip global growth for at least the next three years.
Related: Zambia’s former president arrested
Must come with the fast-growing economy.
Also see: Zambian Bush Crash
Must come with the casinos.
Simultaneously, the rise of fundamentalist actors hostile to US interests — especially in Somalia and Nigeria — means that the continent presents unprecedented exigencies in the security realm as well.
Related:
Kerry Nags Nigeria
Hungering For This Post About Somalia
And it just so happens Nigeria is loaded with oil and a major U.S. supplier while Somalia is strategically located near vital shipping lanes.
Nevertheless, global power shifts since 9/11 have led to a deterioration in US-African relations. The United States’ hyper-hegemonic, unipolar global presence from 1991 to 2001 led to a nominal “democratization-for-aid” strategy that — “Black Hawk Down” and Rwanda notwithstanding — engendered mostly positive relations.
Did it, or is this agenda-pushing opinion in delusion or denial?
However, thanks to the political, economic, and military ascendance of both African and non-African states, as well as a tarnished US image on the continent, Washington’s sway has been lessened in potentially harmful ways.
What could ever tarnish our image of emancipators and liberators?
One reason the United States can no longer afford to take Africa for granted is the growing interest and arrival of new global players. Topping the list of alternative partners for Africa is China, whose meteoric rise on the continent since the mid-2000s has been highlighted by such grandiose gestures as the financing of the new African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Uh-oh!
See: Africa Chooses China
Yeah, amazing how nations and their people prefer those that build things rather than those that destroy them.
Other lesser powers also interpret potential Western neglect of Africa as a boon. Turkey has leveraged its Islamic credibility by focusing attention on post-conflict reconstruction in Somalia, and in so doing has managed to win over a population that has long been a strategic worry for the United States.
Turkey is doing great, yeah. It's the most dangerous place in the world for a child (that's saying a lot), and famine is epidemic. But let's not spoil the s***-shoveling narrative.
Iran, too, has made inroads: while African leaders are cognizant of Tehran’s desperate (and often duplicitous) search for both uranium and geopolitical allies, some of the continent’s pariah states — Eritrea, Sudan, and Zimbabwe among them — have shown a willingness to engage Iran.
I'm kinda tired of pot-hollering-kettle media, sorry.
Not to be overlooked is Japan, which recently unveiled a new, more aggressive Africa strategy based on mutual energy concerns, and Brazil, which recently cancelled a whopping $900 million in African debt.
I'm all for that, but Brazilians are in the street because of looting, wealth inequality, and austerity.
As for Japan, with their nuclear program basically still grounded they need resources.
Apart from new players, Obama must contend with historical legacies. While the Bush administration left a battered US image elsewhere, it tripled health aid to the continent, and Bush left office widely popular in sub-Saharan Africa. (Some in Darfur, Sudan, reportedly named newborns after him.)
And Kanye West called Bush a racist!
This pro-American sentiment, coupled with Obama’s Kenyan lineage as “a son of Africa,” meant that the continent was more or less enamored of both him and the United States during his brief July 2009 visit to Ghana.
We ALL were!
Today, attitudes are less enthusiastic. Bush-era fervor is all but dead, and African “Obamania” is in decline thanks to the administration’s security-focused, anti-terrorist continental agenda, which has been accompanied by a deepening US military footprint.
Translation: Bush got out while the getting out was good. Left the Africans wanting more!
Opposition to the five-year-old US Africa Command remains prevalent, and civil societies are raising new concerns about Washington’s array of clandestine operations — including the deeply unpopular unmanned drone operations — that are purported to exist from the Seychelles to Kenya, and from Uganda to Niger.
In short, US relations with Africa are increasingly strained at a moment when the rest of the world is determined to court the ever-important continent. Historically a “last-on-the-list” foreign policy consideration for most global states, Africa is now proving itself to be a must-have partner.
Trim the Obama travel budget. But recognize that the costs of skipping the trip will ultimately far outweigh the alternative.
--more--"
Related: Western Sahara: Why Africa’s last colony can’t break free
Interesting map when you consider the national intelligence interests active in those states today. Colonialists always leave something behind.
"Infant deaths at birth are highest in Africa" by Jason Straziuso | Associated Press, May 08, 2013
NAIROBI — More than 1 million babies die the day they are born every year, and the 14 countries with the highest rates of first-day deaths are all in Africa, according to a new report released Tuesday.
I had to take a second look, but THAT is a REAL HOLOCAUST!!
Somalia, Congo, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Central African Republic are the five countries with the highest rates of such deaths, according to the report ‘‘Surviving the First Day’’ from the group Save the Children.
Related: Do You Care About the Coup in the CAR?
Not as much as I care about the kids!
‘‘Health care for mothers in sub-Saharan Africa is woefully insufficient. On average, only half the women in the region receive skilled care during birth,’’ the report said. ‘‘The region as a whole has only 11 doctors, nurses, and midwives per 10,000 people, less than half the critical threshold of 23 generally considered necessary to deliver essential health services.’’
Are they blaming the women, is that what I see there?
The numbers in Somalia — a country racked by 20 years of violence with little established government and few health services — are particularly grim. Eighteen out of 1,000 babies in Somalia die the day they are born, the report said. Five percent of newborns die within the first month of life and one in six will not live to age 5, it said.
:-(
‘‘What’s worse, Somalia has seen absolutely no improvement in newborn or child survival in at least two decades,’’ it said. Somali women have on average more than six children.
You know, it's time for the globalist and elite class to step aside and let someone else run the show because they have failed miserably -- if they ever meant to succeed and not serve their own $elfi$h intere$t$ as their monied pre$$ tells us how good-hearted are our masters.
Prebirth care to expectant mothers is largely not available in Somalia, said Dr. Omar Saleh, a World Health Organization official.
Well, at least the rapes are down.
--more--"
I didn't see Obama say anything about that.
Related: Obama arrives in S. Africa with gratitude for Mandela
The US president’s visit was not the biggest story of the day.
I guess that's why it the article had to be totally rewritten from what was in my paper, but why?
"After an eight-hour flight, Air Force One landed at Waterkloof Air Base, just a few miles from the Pretoria hospital where Mr. Mandela has been under intensive care with a serious lung infection for nearly three weeks, as concerns about his health have intensified in recent days despite government assurances that Mr. Mandela’s condition had stabilized.
Mr. Obama’s plane left from Dakar, Senegal, the first stop on his Africa trip, where Mr. Obama met with farmers and entrepreneurs seeking enhanced food security through new agricultural practices and technology....
And that's all my printed Globe had of it, as well as the complete NYT piece that is otherwise verbatim up to that point.
Yeah, Globe lost something, all right. Obama's sales pitch for Monsanto.
Then THIS find:
Meanwhile, two national groups, including the Muslim Lawyers Association of South Africa, have urged the South African government to arrest Mr. Obama when he lands, accusing him of “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide” for the American drone attacks in Pakistan and elsewhere and for keeping the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba running.
(Your blog editor is nearly in tears; just the joy of reading such a thing, and then the realization of where it is from. Can't divide and holler racism here, mouthpiece media)
“When President Obama was ushered into the world, there was a promise for change of policy, like the closure of Guantánamo Bay, and how he is going to respond to the dispute between Israel and Palestine,” Phutas Tseki, the regional chairman of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, said in announcing his group’s participation in Friday’s protests. “Now he is on his second term, and he continues to be arrogant, and his policies continue to entrench American power to the whole globe without any change.”
Asked to comment on the planned protests, Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, said only that South Africa “is a vibrant democracy.”
The scope of the protests indicates that the country’s longstanding skittishness about American foreign and trade policies has overridden its brief elation over the election of the first black president in the United States.
The South Africans are no different than us Americans.
“The excitement that accompanied his historic 2008 election has given way to widespread cynicism on the continent,” Mwangi S. Kimenyi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in a blog post at ForeignPolicy.com.
As he walked across campus on way to yet another meeting, Masete Levy, president of the University of Johannesburg’s student council, echoed that sentiment, saying that the students he represents are deeply disappointed by the gap between Mr. Obama’s promises as a presidential candidate and his actual policies in office.
“There is now among the students a feeling that Obama has done nothing to the advantage of South Africa, and has only continued the American policies around the world that we thought he was going to end,” Mr. Levy said. “He is a visitor of our government, and we do not object to that, but we do object to his being honored by our university and we want to make sure he hears our calls that he follow through on the promises he made.”
The South African government says it is welcoming the protests but will not allow them to derail the president’s visit. The protests “might have a positive effect,” said Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the Ministry of International Relations. “It is a tangible demonstration of the healthy democracy we enjoy.”
Then why is my free pre$$ censoring it?
Related (looks like I was right):
Obama is there now and look at what he is talking about, as "many Africans have expressed disappointment over Obama’s lack of direct engagement with affairs on their continent — yet he was still enthusiastically welcomed. Thousands of people gathered on the roadways near the presidential palace as Obama’s motorcade sped through the coastal city, many in the crowds wearing white to symbolize peace."
Given his track record on the continent (Libyan overthrow, more drone strikes) that doesn't look like that enthusiastic an endorsement.
Oh, yeah, I'm I'm just a little offended that he put out the agenda-pu$hing, guilt-tripping, global-warming power plant dictate just before he jetted off to Africa, and is now barreling around in the "beast." I'm sure that gas-guzzling thing is doing great for greenhouse gases and African air while creating more desert for them (or so I am told).
Also see: Obama yet to have African legacy like predecessors
In fact, he's done worse. He's cut back on Bush's signature aids program and introduced more drones to the continent as well as laying the groundwork for AfriKom.
Obama hopes Chicago Bulls draft Senegalese player
Also see: Mandela is Dying
So is the empire.
"The US ignores Africa at its own peril" by Jason Warner | June 25, 2013
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S first major trip to sub-Saharan Africa on Wednesday is expected to cost from $60 million to $100 million, prompting many calls for the president to cancel his trip. Yet, such opposition is shortsighted: Now, more than ever, the United States cannot afford to ignore Africa.
I call on it to be cancelled because of the global-warming ramifications.
Geopolitically, Africa is an emerging force to be reckoned with.
Translation: it is rich in underdeveloped and untapped resources.
Economically, it hosts several of the world’s fastest growing economies — including Rwanda, Zambia, and Mozambique — while the continent as a whole is expected to outstrip global growth for at least the next three years.
Related: Zambia’s former president arrested
Must come with the fast-growing economy.
Also see: Zambian Bush Crash
Must come with the casinos.
Simultaneously, the rise of fundamentalist actors hostile to US interests — especially in Somalia and Nigeria — means that the continent presents unprecedented exigencies in the security realm as well.
Related:
Kerry Nags Nigeria
Hungering For This Post About Somalia
And it just so happens Nigeria is loaded with oil and a major U.S. supplier while Somalia is strategically located near vital shipping lanes.
Nevertheless, global power shifts since 9/11 have led to a deterioration in US-African relations. The United States’ hyper-hegemonic, unipolar global presence from 1991 to 2001 led to a nominal “democratization-for-aid” strategy that — “Black Hawk Down” and Rwanda notwithstanding — engendered mostly positive relations.
Did it, or is this agenda-pushing opinion in delusion or denial?
However, thanks to the political, economic, and military ascendance of both African and non-African states, as well as a tarnished US image on the continent, Washington’s sway has been lessened in potentially harmful ways.
What could ever tarnish our image of emancipators and liberators?
One reason the United States can no longer afford to take Africa for granted is the growing interest and arrival of new global players. Topping the list of alternative partners for Africa is China, whose meteoric rise on the continent since the mid-2000s has been highlighted by such grandiose gestures as the financing of the new African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Uh-oh!
See: Africa Chooses China
Yeah, amazing how nations and their people prefer those that build things rather than those that destroy them.
Other lesser powers also interpret potential Western neglect of Africa as a boon. Turkey has leveraged its Islamic credibility by focusing attention on post-conflict reconstruction in Somalia, and in so doing has managed to win over a population that has long been a strategic worry for the United States.
Turkey is doing great, yeah. It's the most dangerous place in the world for a child (that's saying a lot), and famine is epidemic. But let's not spoil the s***-shoveling narrative.
Iran, too, has made inroads: while African leaders are cognizant of Tehran’s desperate (and often duplicitous) search for both uranium and geopolitical allies, some of the continent’s pariah states — Eritrea, Sudan, and Zimbabwe among them — have shown a willingness to engage Iran.
I'm kinda tired of pot-hollering-kettle media, sorry.
Not to be overlooked is Japan, which recently unveiled a new, more aggressive Africa strategy based on mutual energy concerns, and Brazil, which recently cancelled a whopping $900 million in African debt.
I'm all for that, but Brazilians are in the street because of looting, wealth inequality, and austerity.
As for Japan, with their nuclear program basically still grounded they need resources.
Apart from new players, Obama must contend with historical legacies. While the Bush administration left a battered US image elsewhere, it tripled health aid to the continent, and Bush left office widely popular in sub-Saharan Africa. (Some in Darfur, Sudan, reportedly named newborns after him.)
And Kanye West called Bush a racist!
This pro-American sentiment, coupled with Obama’s Kenyan lineage as “a son of Africa,” meant that the continent was more or less enamored of both him and the United States during his brief July 2009 visit to Ghana.
We ALL were!
Today, attitudes are less enthusiastic. Bush-era fervor is all but dead, and African “Obamania” is in decline thanks to the administration’s security-focused, anti-terrorist continental agenda, which has been accompanied by a deepening US military footprint.
Translation: Bush got out while the getting out was good. Left the Africans wanting more!
Opposition to the five-year-old US Africa Command remains prevalent, and civil societies are raising new concerns about Washington’s array of clandestine operations — including the deeply unpopular unmanned drone operations — that are purported to exist from the Seychelles to Kenya, and from Uganda to Niger.
In short, US relations with Africa are increasingly strained at a moment when the rest of the world is determined to court the ever-important continent. Historically a “last-on-the-list” foreign policy consideration for most global states, Africa is now proving itself to be a must-have partner.
Trim the Obama travel budget. But recognize that the costs of skipping the trip will ultimately far outweigh the alternative.
--more--"
Related: Western Sahara: Why Africa’s last colony can’t break free
Interesting map when you consider the national intelligence interests active in those states today. Colonialists always leave something behind.
"Infant deaths at birth are highest in Africa" by Jason Straziuso | Associated Press, May 08, 2013
NAIROBI — More than 1 million babies die the day they are born every year, and the 14 countries with the highest rates of first-day deaths are all in Africa, according to a new report released Tuesday.
I had to take a second look, but THAT is a REAL HOLOCAUST!!
Somalia, Congo, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Central African Republic are the five countries with the highest rates of such deaths, according to the report ‘‘Surviving the First Day’’ from the group Save the Children.
Related: Do You Care About the Coup in the CAR?
Not as much as I care about the kids!
‘‘Health care for mothers in sub-Saharan Africa is woefully insufficient. On average, only half the women in the region receive skilled care during birth,’’ the report said. ‘‘The region as a whole has only 11 doctors, nurses, and midwives per 10,000 people, less than half the critical threshold of 23 generally considered necessary to deliver essential health services.’’
Are they blaming the women, is that what I see there?
The numbers in Somalia — a country racked by 20 years of violence with little established government and few health services — are particularly grim. Eighteen out of 1,000 babies in Somalia die the day they are born, the report said. Five percent of newborns die within the first month of life and one in six will not live to age 5, it said.
:-(
‘‘What’s worse, Somalia has seen absolutely no improvement in newborn or child survival in at least two decades,’’ it said. Somali women have on average more than six children.
You know, it's time for the globalist and elite class to step aside and let someone else run the show because they have failed miserably -- if they ever meant to succeed and not serve their own $elfi$h intere$t$ as their monied pre$$ tells us how good-hearted are our masters.
Prebirth care to expectant mothers is largely not available in Somalia, said Dr. Omar Saleh, a World Health Organization official.
Well, at least the rapes are down.
--more--"
I didn't see Obama say anything about that.
Related: Obama arrives in S. Africa with gratitude for Mandela
The US president’s visit was not the biggest story of the day.
I guess that's why it the article had to be totally rewritten from what was in my paper, but why?
"After an eight-hour flight, Air Force One landed at Waterkloof Air Base, just a few miles from the Pretoria hospital where Mr. Mandela has been under intensive care with a serious lung infection for nearly three weeks, as concerns about his health have intensified in recent days despite government assurances that Mr. Mandela’s condition had stabilized.
Mr. Obama’s plane left from Dakar, Senegal, the first stop on his Africa trip, where Mr. Obama met with farmers and entrepreneurs seeking enhanced food security through new agricultural practices and technology....
And that's all my printed Globe had of it, as well as the complete NYT piece that is otherwise verbatim up to that point.
Yeah, Globe lost something, all right. Obama's sales pitch for Monsanto.
Then THIS find:
Obama’s stay in South Africa is likely to be overshadowed by expressions of disappointment and even anger over his conduct in office.
While South African government officials promise an appropriately warm welcome, a coalition of trade union groups and left-wing political organizations is planning a “national day of action” on the first day of his visit, including a march on the American Embassy in Pretoria. The next day, student groups intend to protest outside the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg, where Mr. Obama is to receive an honorary degree.
(What is there to say?)
Meanwhile, two national groups, including the Muslim Lawyers Association of South Africa, have urged the South African government to arrest Mr. Obama when he lands, accusing him of “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide” for the American drone attacks in Pakistan and elsewhere and for keeping the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba running.
(Your blog editor is nearly in tears; just the joy of reading such a thing, and then the realization of where it is from. Can't divide and holler racism here, mouthpiece media)
“When President Obama was ushered into the world, there was a promise for change of policy, like the closure of Guantánamo Bay, and how he is going to respond to the dispute between Israel and Palestine,” Phutas Tseki, the regional chairman of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, said in announcing his group’s participation in Friday’s protests. “Now he is on his second term, and he continues to be arrogant, and his policies continue to entrench American power to the whole globe without any change.”
Asked to comment on the planned protests, Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, said only that South Africa “is a vibrant democracy.”
The scope of the protests indicates that the country’s longstanding skittishness about American foreign and trade policies has overridden its brief elation over the election of the first black president in the United States.
The South Africans are no different than us Americans.
“The excitement that accompanied his historic 2008 election has given way to widespread cynicism on the continent,” Mwangi S. Kimenyi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in a blog post at ForeignPolicy.com.
As he walked across campus on way to yet another meeting, Masete Levy, president of the University of Johannesburg’s student council, echoed that sentiment, saying that the students he represents are deeply disappointed by the gap between Mr. Obama’s promises as a presidential candidate and his actual policies in office.
“There is now among the students a feeling that Obama has done nothing to the advantage of South Africa, and has only continued the American policies around the world that we thought he was going to end,” Mr. Levy said. “He is a visitor of our government, and we do not object to that, but we do object to his being honored by our university and we want to make sure he hears our calls that he follow through on the promises he made.”
The South African government says it is welcoming the protests but will not allow them to derail the president’s visit. The protests “might have a positive effect,” said Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the Ministry of International Relations. “It is a tangible demonstration of the healthy democracy we enjoy.”
Then why is my free pre$$ censoring it?
Related (looks like I was right):
Obama is there now and look at what he is talking about, as "many Africans have expressed disappointment over Obama’s lack of direct engagement with affairs on their continent — yet he was still enthusiastically welcomed. Thousands of people gathered on the roadways near the presidential palace as Obama’s motorcade sped through the coastal city, many in the crowds wearing white to symbolize peace."
Given his track record on the continent (Libyan overthrow, more drone strikes) that doesn't look like that enthusiastic an endorsement.
Oh, yeah, I'm I'm just a little offended that he put out the agenda-pu$hing, guilt-tripping, global-warming power plant dictate just before he jetted off to Africa, and is now barreling around in the "beast." I'm sure that gas-guzzling thing is doing great for greenhouse gases and African air while creating more desert for them (or so I am told).
Also see: Obama yet to have African legacy like predecessors
In fact, he's done worse. He's cut back on Bush's signature aids program and introduced more drones to the continent as well as laying the groundwork for AfriKom.
Obama hopes Chicago Bulls draft Senegalese player
Also see: Mandela is Dying
So is the empire.
Hungering For This Post About Somalia
And the Globe isn't satisfying my appetite:
"Somali famine far worse than thought, report says" Associated Press, April 30, 2013
NAIROBI — The 2011 Somali famine killed an estimated 260,000 people, half of them age 5 and under, according to a new report to be published this week that more than doubles previous death toll estimates.
The aid community believes that tens of thousands of people died needlessly because the international community was slow to respond to early signs of approaching hunger in East Africa in late 2010 and early 2011.
And now we have a lot less useless eaters, 'eh?
The toll was also exacerbated by extremist militants from al-Shabab who banned food aid deliveries to the areas of south-central Somalia that they controlled. Those militants have also made an accurate death toll difficult.
A previous estimate set the toll at 50,000 to 100,000. A Western official said the new report found that 260,000 people died, and that half were age 5 and under; two other international officials confirmed that the toll was in the quarter-million range. All insisted they not be identified because they were not authorized to share the report’s contents before it is released.
The report is being made public Thursday by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit — Somalia.
--more--"
"133,000 Somali children died in famine as Islamists cut off access; Study also cites world donors in unfolding crisis" by Jason Straziuso | Associated Press, May 03, 2013
NAIROBI — A decision by extremist Islamic militants to ban delivery of food aid and a ‘‘normalization of crisis’’ that numbed international donors to unfolding disaster made south-central Somalia the most dangerous place in the world to be a child in 2011.
Btw, Islamic extremists is mouthpiece code for intelligence agency operation. Thus children must suffer and starve for the Empire's geopolitical and propaganda goals.
The first in-depth study of famine deaths in Somalia in 2011 was released Thursday, and it estimates that 133,000 children younger than age 5 died, with child death rates approaching 20 percent in some communities.
That’s 133,000 under-5 child deaths out of an estimated 6.5 million people in south-central Somalia. That compares with 65,000 under-5 deaths that occurred in all other industrial countries in the world combined during the same period, a population of 990 million, said Chris Hillbruner, a senior food security adviser at FEWS NET, a US-sponsored famine warning agency.
‘‘The scale of the child mortality is really off the charts,’’ Hillbruner said in a phone interview from Washington.
FEWS NET was one of two food security agencies that sponsored the study. The other was the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit — Somalia. The two agencies had warned the world as early as fall 2010 that failed rains in Somalia meant a hunger crisis was approaching.
‘‘The world was too slow to respond to stark warnings of drought, exacerbated by conflict in Somalia, and people paid with their lives. These deaths could and should have been prevented,’’ said Senait Gebregziabher, the Somalia director for the aid group Oxfam.
The new study put the total number of famine deaths at nearly 260,000.
In March 2011 some 13,000 people died in the famine, the study found. In May and June 30,000 people died each month — at least half of them children. The UN’s formal declaration of famine did not occur until July.
‘‘I think that one of the key issues is that there was this normalization of crisis in south-central Somalia, and that I think the international community has become used to levels of malnutrition and food insecurity in southern Somalia that in other parts of the world would be considered unacceptable,’’ Hillbruner said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the hardest-hit famine regions were controlled by the extremist Islamist group al-Shabab.
‘‘Al-Shabab’s inhumane blockage of humanitarian assistance prior to and during the famine, including banning dozens of humanitarian organizations from providing lifesaving assistance, thwarted a more rapid international rapid humanitarian response that could have saved even more lives,’’ Ventrell said. ‘‘And equally, al-Shabab’s refusal to allow affected populations to leave al-Shabab-controlled areas prevented them from seeking assistance elsewhere.’’
Would that be the Al-CIA-Duh-linked al-Shabab?
The study was conducted by Francesco Checchi, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Courtland Robinson, a demographer at Johns Hopkins University. It drew on 200 mortality surveys by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit, including 61 from the famine period, and data on food prices, wages, and humanitarian access.
Philippe Lazzarini, the chief UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said in a news conference from Mogadishu Thursday that the death toll was shocking and sobering. He said the report confirms that aid groups should have done more before famine was declared.
Lazzarini also noted that more than a dozen aid groups were banned from operating in south-central Somalia by al-Shabab, a hardline anti-West political decision that made saving lives ‘‘extraordinarily difficult.’’ He said that before famine was declared the crisis did not get the attention it should have, in part because of a lack of access because of al-Shabab.
You know who I'm blaming for that!
‘‘The famine was almost a silent drama of tragedy,’’ he said. ‘‘It was not on the news. Media did not have access. Agencies did not have access. The extraordinary challenge of access explains why the early response, despite the early warning, did not really take place.’’
--more--"
Related(?): Somali Starvation Was a Sales Pitch
To get troops in there?
"International donors pledge more than $300m for Somalia" by Cassandra Vinograd / Associated Press / May 7, 2013
LONDON (AP) — International donors heeded warnings about the need for increased support for Somalia by pledging more than $300 million Tuesday toward bolstering security, justice, and financial institutions in the conflict-scarred east African nation.
No food?
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and British Prime Minister David Cameron cohosted a one-day conference in London to bolster the beleaguered government in Mogadishu, the capital.
Mohamud called the level of support at the conference ‘‘very, very encouraging,’’ after stressing that there is a ‘‘huge amount’’ at stake in Somalia and asking for broader regional security.
‘‘We have been given a chance and we will prove in the eyes of the world that we will deliver,’’ he said. ‘‘We cannot afford to miss this golden opportunity and we hope the world’s support and commitment will be materialized soon.’’
--nomore--
Cameron welcomed pledges made at the conference, saying attendees had taken "major steps" to back Somalia's president and his plans for long-term security and transparent and accountable government.
Somalia has endured years of civil war and governing chaos since its dictator was overthrown in 1991.
Except for the brief period in 2006 after Islamists expelled the CIA-supported warlords (who now seem to have all disappeared?) and before U.S.-encouraged Ethiopian troops invaded and occupied.
Mohamud was inaugurated in September at the end of an eight-year U.N.-backed transitional government. But from roughly 2006 to 2011, Mogadishu was controlled by Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida affiliate that seeks to overthrow the Mogadishu-based government and install an Islamic one. African Union troops forced al-Shabab out of the capital in 2011 but the group still controls wide swaths of south-central Somalia.
I wonder why the affiliation was left out of the above article on famine.
Those attending Tuesday - including African heads of state, representatives from the IMF and the World Bank - heard how Somalia plans to develop its security forces, its justice sector and its financial management systems.
Where the print ended.
The U.S. said it would provide an additional $40 million in aid to Somalia, while Britain said it would give 35 million pounds ($54.2 million) to help with security....
In this age of austerity? Not like I'm opposed to helping Somalis; however, as in Syria, this is a self-created problem, Americans!
Cameron earlier praised the gains made in Somalia over the past year, saying that extremism is in retreat, piracy attacks are down and the government is moving ahead.
Yeah, haven't seen an article about pirates in months.
"After two decades of bloodshed and some of the worst poverty on earth, hope is alive in Somalia," Cameron said. "Now it is time to fulfill the hope for the people of Somalia. That is what they have been living and waiting for, and we must not let them down."
Unless you are a child.
Cameron acknowledged that Somalia still faces huge challenges from poverty, malnourishment and extremism.
"These challenges are not just issues for Somalia," Cameron told the conference. "When young minds are poisoned by radicalism, and they go on to export terrorism and extremism, the security of the whole world, including people here in Britain, is at stake."
Or by war propaganda from governments or newspapers.
The meeting came under harsh criticism from Al-Shabab, whose leader Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr released an audiotape over the weekend calling the conference a plot to "plunder" Somalia's mineral wealth "under the guise of international trade relations and fighting corruption."
Well, he's probably right about that, and that is a great piece of propaganda. The truth is discredited because it is from a "terrorist."
Zubeyr also urged his followers to increase suicide attacks to "permanently cripple" Mohamud's government....
Related: Car bomber kills 7 in Somali capital
Also see: Bomb kills 2 in Somali compound
Does killing innocent people help their popularity?
--more-- "
"Car bomb explodes near bus in Mogadishu; 7 dead" Associated Press, March 19, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — An explosives-laden car that apparently was targeting a truck full of Somali government officials instead hit a civilian car and exploded, setting a minibus on fire and killing at least seven people Monday, police and witnesses said.
Flames and smoke rose over the explosion, which occurred close to the government’s headquarters.
Mohamed Abdi, a police officer injured in the blast, said it appeared that its target was a truck of Somali intelligence officials....
The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab has carried out terror attacks in Somalia’s capital since being pushed out of Mogadishu in late 2011. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack....
Shocked bystanders stared at the pools of blood on the ground at the blast site.
One woman cried. ‘‘They [al-Shabab] are the enemies of Somalia and Muslims,’’ she said. ‘‘They kill our children, elderly and everyone. They are brutal and inhumane and feed blood and terror with their minds.’’
There is your answer.
Al-Shabab controlled much of south-central Somalia, including Mogadishu, from 2006 to mid-2011, when African Union troops ousted the fighters from the capital.
There was the goal.
--more--"
"Brazen attack on Somali court complex leaves at least 7 civilians dead" Associated Press, April 15, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A barrage of bullets and two car bombings rattled Mogadishu on Sunday when nine Al Shabab Islamic extremists stormed Somalia’s main court complex, officials said, in a two-hour attack that shows the country’s most dangerous militant group may be down but not defeated.
A preliminary death toll stood at 16, including all nine attackers. The government didn’t immediately publicize the number of security forces, government employees, and civilians who died in the attack.
The assault was the most serious in Mogadishu since Al Shabab was forced out of the capital in August 2011. The group controls far less territory now than in recent years, and its influence appears to be on the decline, but Sunday’s attack proved the extremists are still capable of pulling off well-planned, audacious assaults.
Yes, government intelligence agencies are always capable of doing this type of false flag work.
The top UN official for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga, said he was shocked and outraged by the attack. Mahiga said the total number of dead wasn’t clear, but that reports indicated that ‘‘many innocent civilians were killed including women and at least one child.’’
The attack on the Supreme Court complex began around 12:30 p.m., sparking running battles with police and army forces. One car bomb detonated outside the court, and gunmen were seen on the roof of a court building firing shots....
The militants took an unknown number of hostages during the siege. Many other government workers and civilians in the court complex — a confusing labyrinth of buildings and rooms — hid while fearing for their lives.
Western officials knew militants had been planning a major violent incident. The British Foreign Office released a travel warning for Somalia on Friday that warned of a high threat of terrorism.
False flag confirmed. Must have been MI6 assets.
The complex and sustained nature of the assault on the court suggested the extremists hoped to inflict severe casualties. Later, a suicide car bomber rammed a vehicle carrying Turkish citizens, killing two.
On a Twitter feed believed to belong to the militants, Al Shabab appeared to take credit. A posting said five militants from the ‘‘Martyrdom Brigade’’ took part in the “attack....
Oh, the "terrorists" have a Twitter account? Pffft!
--more--"
"$10m offered for arrest of 2 Americans in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia — The Somali government has charged a woman who has said she was raped by security forces, according to an international human rights group, which says the case is politically motivated.
Are you sure they weren't Islamists?
The group said a journalist who interviewed her was also charged.
Human Rights Watch said three other people including the woman’s husband were charged with assisting the alleged rape victim to evade investigators. The rights group said in a statement Wednesday that Somali government should drop the politically motivated charges.
The woman was charged in Mogadishu court Tuesday of insulting a government body, inducing false evidence, simulating a criminal offense, and making a false accusation while journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur has been charged with insulting a government body and inducing the woman to give false evidence.
This is the government backed by the West, right?
Rights groups say the arrests are linked to an increase in media attention due to reports of the high prevalence of rape and other sexual violence in Somalia, including attacks allegedly committed by security forces.
‘‘Bringing charges against a woman who alleges rape makes a mockery of the new Somali government’s priorities,’’ said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
Rape is rampant in Mogadishu, where tens of thousands of people who fled last year’s famine live in poorly protected camps. Government troops are often blamed.
Yes, the refugee camps rarely receive a mention.
Attempts to contact officials from the Somali government for comment were unsuccessful. Most government officials evaded calls and questions.
--more--"
Related: Aborting This Somalia Post
Other pieces of tissue:
"Somali court gives jail sentences to rape victim, reporter" by Abdi Guled | Associated Press, February 06, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Mogadishu court on Tuesday handed down one-year prison sentences to a woman who said she was raped by security forces and a reporter who interviewed her. The judges decided the woman falsely claimed she was raped and had insulted the government.
The judges based their decision on medical evidence that the woman was not raped, said the court’s top official, Ahmed Aden Farah. Farah said the woman’s prison term would be delayed so she could care for her young child.
I'm sure these guys would feel right at home in the Republican Party over here.
Rights groups have decried the case as politically motivated because the woman had accused security forces of the assault. Rape is reported to be rampant in Mogadishu, where thousands of people who fled last year’s famine live in poorly protected camps. Government troops are often blamed.
The charges and resulting sentences may result in even fewer victims of sexual assault coming forward to report attacks in conservative Somalia, rights groups fear.
Three others charged in the case, including the woman’s husband, were acquitted.
--more--"
"Somalia admits soldiers’ roles in rapes" by Abdi Guled | Associated Press, April 10, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — After months of denial, Somalia’s government has for the first time acknowledged that its security forces were involved in rape cases that drew an international outcry by human rights groups.
Once again, we see that GOVERNMENTS INITIAL INCLINATION is to LIE!
Army commanders often denied accusations that soldiers were involved in a spate of rapes, blaming the crimes on the Islamic extremist rebels of al-Shabab who wore army uniforms to smear the reputation of the military.
‘‘Those few among the security forces who rape and rob our citizens must be fought and be defeated just like Shabab,’’ said President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, while speaking to military cadets at a training camp in Mogadishu on Monday.
‘‘Criminals who commit rape ought to be opposed just like [the Islamic extremist rebels of] Shabab,’’ said the president, in a statement.
He also affirmed that his government would ‘‘fight those who rape as he’d fight al-Shabab,’’ the Al-Qaeda-linked rebel group fighting his government and the African Union forces in Somalia.
I'm sure you ladies have heard it all before.
In March, Human Rights Watch, which is based in New Yor, accused Somalia’s security forces and armed groups of raping and beating Somalis who came to the capital fleeing famine and armed conflict. But Somalia has begun tribunals in which soldiers have been punished, and the number of rapes has declined since then, say residents.
‘‘The president’s commitment to tackle abuses, including rape, by security forces, is an important first step but needs to be followed by concrete action, including proper vetting of police and military,’’ said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
--more--"
Also see: Female genital mutilation down in Somalia
UPDATE:
"Militants attack UN compound in Somalia" by Mohammed Ibrahim and Nicholas Kulish | New York Times, June 20, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Militants staged a deadly assault on a UN compound here Wednesday, the latest in a series of attacks that have chipped away at the security gains the Somali capital has experienced in recent years.
Al Shabab, an Islamist militant group that once controlled much of the capital, claimed responsibility for the attack, which government officials said left at least 15 people dead, including seven attackers.
The attack began when Al Shabab militants blew up a pickup truck rigged with explosives outside the compound, witnesses said. Militants armed with rifles and wearing explosive vests then stormed the facility on foot. Somali and African Union troops responded to the scene. The ensuing firefight lasted more than an hour, punctuated by a series of blasts.
Somalia’s minister of interior and national security, Abdikarim Hussein Guled, told reporters that the dead included four foreigners, four Somalis working for the United Nations as security personnel, as well as the attackers. In a statement, Somalia’s prime minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid, condemned “the senseless and despicable attack on innocent UN civilians.”
Mogadishu has experienced a period of relative calm since African Union forces and the Somali Army pushed back Al Shabab, leading it to announce a hasty retreat from the city in 2011. The militant group vowed to shift tactics more toward guerrilla assaults, assassinations, and suicide bombings.
Militants “are now in complete control of the entire compound and the battle is still ongoing,” Al Shabab said on its Twitter feed during the attack. “Inside the compound are several clueless foreigners who were lulled into a false sense of security by a strong disinformation campaign!” Al Shabab, which has sworn allegiance to Al Qaeda, said that the group’s Martyrdom Brigade had carried out the attack....
Translation: Al Shabab is nothing more than a covert intelligence operation.
The attack came six months after the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, made a surprise visit to Mogadishu in December, promising to relocate the UN political office for Somalia from Nairobi, Kenya, where it was based for security reasons. The United Nations had been increasing the number of staff members before the attack....
The tactics used by the group were similar to those in a deadly attack on the Mogadishu court complex in April, which killed at least 30 people. In that attack, as in the one Wednesday, a suicide bombing was followed by an armed assault.
In February, a popular seafood restaurant at the city’s Lido Beach was bombed. A sports bar and the National Theater were attacked last year.
Related: Skipping the Somali Show
Security had improved in Mogadishu since Al Shabab was driven out that growing numbers of Somalis living abroad had returned to the capital to aid in reconstruction. Businesspeople have arrived in greater numbers, and Turkey and Britain reopened embassies.
The attack Wednesday raised the question of whether security gains were fleeting, given Al Shabab’s capacity for staging large-scale, complex strikes at well-defended targets....
Clan warlords overthrew the government in 1991, breaking the country into militia-controlled fiefs and sending it into decades of chaos....
Except for the 6-month period at the end of 2006 after the Somali people routed CIA-sponsored Somali warlords and before the U.S. ordered Ethiopia to occupy the place.
--more--"
"Somali famine far worse than thought, report says" Associated Press, April 30, 2013
NAIROBI — The 2011 Somali famine killed an estimated 260,000 people, half of them age 5 and under, according to a new report to be published this week that more than doubles previous death toll estimates.
The aid community believes that tens of thousands of people died needlessly because the international community was slow to respond to early signs of approaching hunger in East Africa in late 2010 and early 2011.
And now we have a lot less useless eaters, 'eh?
The toll was also exacerbated by extremist militants from al-Shabab who banned food aid deliveries to the areas of south-central Somalia that they controlled. Those militants have also made an accurate death toll difficult.
A previous estimate set the toll at 50,000 to 100,000. A Western official said the new report found that 260,000 people died, and that half were age 5 and under; two other international officials confirmed that the toll was in the quarter-million range. All insisted they not be identified because they were not authorized to share the report’s contents before it is released.
The report is being made public Thursday by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit — Somalia.
--more--"
"133,000 Somali children died in famine as Islamists cut off access; Study also cites world donors in unfolding crisis" by Jason Straziuso | Associated Press, May 03, 2013
NAIROBI — A decision by extremist Islamic militants to ban delivery of food aid and a ‘‘normalization of crisis’’ that numbed international donors to unfolding disaster made south-central Somalia the most dangerous place in the world to be a child in 2011.
Btw, Islamic extremists is mouthpiece code for intelligence agency operation. Thus children must suffer and starve for the Empire's geopolitical and propaganda goals.
The first in-depth study of famine deaths in Somalia in 2011 was released Thursday, and it estimates that 133,000 children younger than age 5 died, with child death rates approaching 20 percent in some communities.
That’s 133,000 under-5 child deaths out of an estimated 6.5 million people in south-central Somalia. That compares with 65,000 under-5 deaths that occurred in all other industrial countries in the world combined during the same period, a population of 990 million, said Chris Hillbruner, a senior food security adviser at FEWS NET, a US-sponsored famine warning agency.
‘‘The scale of the child mortality is really off the charts,’’ Hillbruner said in a phone interview from Washington.
FEWS NET was one of two food security agencies that sponsored the study. The other was the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit — Somalia. The two agencies had warned the world as early as fall 2010 that failed rains in Somalia meant a hunger crisis was approaching.
‘‘The world was too slow to respond to stark warnings of drought, exacerbated by conflict in Somalia, and people paid with their lives. These deaths could and should have been prevented,’’ said Senait Gebregziabher, the Somalia director for the aid group Oxfam.
The new study put the total number of famine deaths at nearly 260,000.
In March 2011 some 13,000 people died in the famine, the study found. In May and June 30,000 people died each month — at least half of them children. The UN’s formal declaration of famine did not occur until July.
‘‘I think that one of the key issues is that there was this normalization of crisis in south-central Somalia, and that I think the international community has become used to levels of malnutrition and food insecurity in southern Somalia that in other parts of the world would be considered unacceptable,’’ Hillbruner said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the hardest-hit famine regions were controlled by the extremist Islamist group al-Shabab.
‘‘Al-Shabab’s inhumane blockage of humanitarian assistance prior to and during the famine, including banning dozens of humanitarian organizations from providing lifesaving assistance, thwarted a more rapid international rapid humanitarian response that could have saved even more lives,’’ Ventrell said. ‘‘And equally, al-Shabab’s refusal to allow affected populations to leave al-Shabab-controlled areas prevented them from seeking assistance elsewhere.’’
Would that be the Al-CIA-Duh-linked al-Shabab?
The study was conducted by Francesco Checchi, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Courtland Robinson, a demographer at Johns Hopkins University. It drew on 200 mortality surveys by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit, including 61 from the famine period, and data on food prices, wages, and humanitarian access.
Philippe Lazzarini, the chief UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said in a news conference from Mogadishu Thursday that the death toll was shocking and sobering. He said the report confirms that aid groups should have done more before famine was declared.
Lazzarini also noted that more than a dozen aid groups were banned from operating in south-central Somalia by al-Shabab, a hardline anti-West political decision that made saving lives ‘‘extraordinarily difficult.’’ He said that before famine was declared the crisis did not get the attention it should have, in part because of a lack of access because of al-Shabab.
You know who I'm blaming for that!
‘‘The famine was almost a silent drama of tragedy,’’ he said. ‘‘It was not on the news. Media did not have access. Agencies did not have access. The extraordinary challenge of access explains why the early response, despite the early warning, did not really take place.’’
--more--"
Related(?): Somali Starvation Was a Sales Pitch
To get troops in there?
"International donors pledge more than $300m for Somalia" by Cassandra Vinograd / Associated Press / May 7, 2013
LONDON (AP) — International donors heeded warnings about the need for increased support for Somalia by pledging more than $300 million Tuesday toward bolstering security, justice, and financial institutions in the conflict-scarred east African nation.
No food?
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and British Prime Minister David Cameron cohosted a one-day conference in London to bolster the beleaguered government in Mogadishu, the capital.
Mohamud called the level of support at the conference ‘‘very, very encouraging,’’ after stressing that there is a ‘‘huge amount’’ at stake in Somalia and asking for broader regional security.
‘‘We have been given a chance and we will prove in the eyes of the world that we will deliver,’’ he said. ‘‘We cannot afford to miss this golden opportunity and we hope the world’s support and commitment will be materialized soon.’’
--nomore--
Cameron welcomed pledges made at the conference, saying attendees had taken "major steps" to back Somalia's president and his plans for long-term security and transparent and accountable government.
Somalia has endured years of civil war and governing chaos since its dictator was overthrown in 1991.
Except for the brief period in 2006 after Islamists expelled the CIA-supported warlords (who now seem to have all disappeared?) and before U.S.-encouraged Ethiopian troops invaded and occupied.
Mohamud was inaugurated in September at the end of an eight-year U.N.-backed transitional government. But from roughly 2006 to 2011, Mogadishu was controlled by Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida affiliate that seeks to overthrow the Mogadishu-based government and install an Islamic one. African Union troops forced al-Shabab out of the capital in 2011 but the group still controls wide swaths of south-central Somalia.
I wonder why the affiliation was left out of the above article on famine.
Those attending Tuesday - including African heads of state, representatives from the IMF and the World Bank - heard how Somalia plans to develop its security forces, its justice sector and its financial management systems.
Where the print ended.
The U.S. said it would provide an additional $40 million in aid to Somalia, while Britain said it would give 35 million pounds ($54.2 million) to help with security....
In this age of austerity? Not like I'm opposed to helping Somalis; however, as in Syria, this is a self-created problem, Americans!
Cameron earlier praised the gains made in Somalia over the past year, saying that extremism is in retreat, piracy attacks are down and the government is moving ahead.
Yeah, haven't seen an article about pirates in months.
"After two decades of bloodshed and some of the worst poverty on earth, hope is alive in Somalia," Cameron said. "Now it is time to fulfill the hope for the people of Somalia. That is what they have been living and waiting for, and we must not let them down."
Unless you are a child.
Cameron acknowledged that Somalia still faces huge challenges from poverty, malnourishment and extremism.
"These challenges are not just issues for Somalia," Cameron told the conference. "When young minds are poisoned by radicalism, and they go on to export terrorism and extremism, the security of the whole world, including people here in Britain, is at stake."
Or by war propaganda from governments or newspapers.
The meeting came under harsh criticism from Al-Shabab, whose leader Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr released an audiotape over the weekend calling the conference a plot to "plunder" Somalia's mineral wealth "under the guise of international trade relations and fighting corruption."
Well, he's probably right about that, and that is a great piece of propaganda. The truth is discredited because it is from a "terrorist."
Zubeyr also urged his followers to increase suicide attacks to "permanently cripple" Mohamud's government....
Related: Car bomber kills 7 in Somali capital
Also see: Bomb kills 2 in Somali compound
Does killing innocent people help their popularity?
--more-- "
"Car bomb explodes near bus in Mogadishu; 7 dead" Associated Press, March 19, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — An explosives-laden car that apparently was targeting a truck full of Somali government officials instead hit a civilian car and exploded, setting a minibus on fire and killing at least seven people Monday, police and witnesses said.
Flames and smoke rose over the explosion, which occurred close to the government’s headquarters.
Mohamed Abdi, a police officer injured in the blast, said it appeared that its target was a truck of Somali intelligence officials....
The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab has carried out terror attacks in Somalia’s capital since being pushed out of Mogadishu in late 2011. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack....
Shocked bystanders stared at the pools of blood on the ground at the blast site.
One woman cried. ‘‘They [al-Shabab] are the enemies of Somalia and Muslims,’’ she said. ‘‘They kill our children, elderly and everyone. They are brutal and inhumane and feed blood and terror with their minds.’’
There is your answer.
Al-Shabab controlled much of south-central Somalia, including Mogadishu, from 2006 to mid-2011, when African Union troops ousted the fighters from the capital.
There was the goal.
--more--"
"Brazen attack on Somali court complex leaves at least 7 civilians dead" Associated Press, April 15, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A barrage of bullets and two car bombings rattled Mogadishu on Sunday when nine Al Shabab Islamic extremists stormed Somalia’s main court complex, officials said, in a two-hour attack that shows the country’s most dangerous militant group may be down but not defeated.
A preliminary death toll stood at 16, including all nine attackers. The government didn’t immediately publicize the number of security forces, government employees, and civilians who died in the attack.
The assault was the most serious in Mogadishu since Al Shabab was forced out of the capital in August 2011. The group controls far less territory now than in recent years, and its influence appears to be on the decline, but Sunday’s attack proved the extremists are still capable of pulling off well-planned, audacious assaults.
Yes, government intelligence agencies are always capable of doing this type of false flag work.
The top UN official for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga, said he was shocked and outraged by the attack. Mahiga said the total number of dead wasn’t clear, but that reports indicated that ‘‘many innocent civilians were killed including women and at least one child.’’
The attack on the Supreme Court complex began around 12:30 p.m., sparking running battles with police and army forces. One car bomb detonated outside the court, and gunmen were seen on the roof of a court building firing shots....
The militants took an unknown number of hostages during the siege. Many other government workers and civilians in the court complex — a confusing labyrinth of buildings and rooms — hid while fearing for their lives.
Western officials knew militants had been planning a major violent incident. The British Foreign Office released a travel warning for Somalia on Friday that warned of a high threat of terrorism.
False flag confirmed. Must have been MI6 assets.
The complex and sustained nature of the assault on the court suggested the extremists hoped to inflict severe casualties. Later, a suicide car bomber rammed a vehicle carrying Turkish citizens, killing two.
On a Twitter feed believed to belong to the militants, Al Shabab appeared to take credit. A posting said five militants from the ‘‘Martyrdom Brigade’’ took part in the “attack....
Oh, the "terrorists" have a Twitter account? Pffft!
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"$10m offered for arrest of 2 Americans in Somalia
WASHINGTON — The United States is offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest of two Americans in Somalia who are on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List.
The State Department said the rewards are $5 million each for Al Shabab members Omar Shafik Hammami and Jehad Mostafa. It said Hammami, 28, lived in Daphne, Ala., before moving to Somalia in 2006. He has served as a propagandist for the Qaeda-affiliated organization, attracting English-speaking youth with rap songs and video statements, and as a military commander.
Another Adam Gadahn, 'er, Pearlman!
The department said Mostafa lived in San Diego before he moved to Somalia in 2005. He commands foreign fighters for Al Shabab, which has fought for control over Somalia.
Translation: He's a CIA agent.
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Related: US puts bounty on terror suspect
And how do we know he's an AmeriKan agent (other than the skin color)? He's a "mini-star on Twitter." Just another bad actor in my book.
Related: Mali Post a Mile Long
So they killed the spy, huh?
"Somali government charges woman who says she was raped" by ABDI GULED | Associated Press, February 01, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — The Somali government has charged a woman who has said she was raped by security forces, according to an international human rights group, which says the case is politically motivated.
Are you sure they weren't Islamists?
The group said a journalist who interviewed her was also charged.
Human Rights Watch said three other people including the woman’s husband were charged with assisting the alleged rape victim to evade investigators. The rights group said in a statement Wednesday that Somali government should drop the politically motivated charges.
The woman was charged in Mogadishu court Tuesday of insulting a government body, inducing false evidence, simulating a criminal offense, and making a false accusation while journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur has been charged with insulting a government body and inducing the woman to give false evidence.
This is the government backed by the West, right?
Rights groups say the arrests are linked to an increase in media attention due to reports of the high prevalence of rape and other sexual violence in Somalia, including attacks allegedly committed by security forces.
‘‘Bringing charges against a woman who alleges rape makes a mockery of the new Somali government’s priorities,’’ said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
Rape is rampant in Mogadishu, where tens of thousands of people who fled last year’s famine live in poorly protected camps. Government troops are often blamed.
Yes, the refugee camps rarely receive a mention.
Attempts to contact officials from the Somali government for comment were unsuccessful. Most government officials evaded calls and questions.
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Related: Aborting This Somalia Post
Other pieces of tissue:
"Somali court gives jail sentences to rape victim, reporter" by Abdi Guled | Associated Press, February 06, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Mogadishu court on Tuesday handed down one-year prison sentences to a woman who said she was raped by security forces and a reporter who interviewed her. The judges decided the woman falsely claimed she was raped and had insulted the government.
The judges based their decision on medical evidence that the woman was not raped, said the court’s top official, Ahmed Aden Farah. Farah said the woman’s prison term would be delayed so she could care for her young child.
I'm sure these guys would feel right at home in the Republican Party over here.
Rights groups have decried the case as politically motivated because the woman had accused security forces of the assault. Rape is reported to be rampant in Mogadishu, where thousands of people who fled last year’s famine live in poorly protected camps. Government troops are often blamed.
The charges and resulting sentences may result in even fewer victims of sexual assault coming forward to report attacks in conservative Somalia, rights groups fear.
Three others charged in the case, including the woman’s husband, were acquitted.
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"Somalia admits soldiers’ roles in rapes" by Abdi Guled | Associated Press, April 10, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — After months of denial, Somalia’s government has for the first time acknowledged that its security forces were involved in rape cases that drew an international outcry by human rights groups.
Once again, we see that GOVERNMENTS INITIAL INCLINATION is to LIE!
Army commanders often denied accusations that soldiers were involved in a spate of rapes, blaming the crimes on the Islamic extremist rebels of al-Shabab who wore army uniforms to smear the reputation of the military.
‘‘Those few among the security forces who rape and rob our citizens must be fought and be defeated just like Shabab,’’ said President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, while speaking to military cadets at a training camp in Mogadishu on Monday.
‘‘Criminals who commit rape ought to be opposed just like [the Islamic extremist rebels of] Shabab,’’ said the president, in a statement.
He also affirmed that his government would ‘‘fight those who rape as he’d fight al-Shabab,’’ the Al-Qaeda-linked rebel group fighting his government and the African Union forces in Somalia.
I'm sure you ladies have heard it all before.
In March, Human Rights Watch, which is based in New Yor, accused Somalia’s security forces and armed groups of raping and beating Somalis who came to the capital fleeing famine and armed conflict. But Somalia has begun tribunals in which soldiers have been punished, and the number of rapes has declined since then, say residents.
‘‘The president’s commitment to tackle abuses, including rape, by security forces, is an important first step but needs to be followed by concrete action, including proper vetting of police and military,’’ said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
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Also see: Female genital mutilation down in Somalia
UPDATE:
"Militants attack UN compound in Somalia" by Mohammed Ibrahim and Nicholas Kulish | New York Times, June 20, 2013
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Militants staged a deadly assault on a UN compound here Wednesday, the latest in a series of attacks that have chipped away at the security gains the Somali capital has experienced in recent years.
Al Shabab, an Islamist militant group that once controlled much of the capital, claimed responsibility for the attack, which government officials said left at least 15 people dead, including seven attackers.
The attack began when Al Shabab militants blew up a pickup truck rigged with explosives outside the compound, witnesses said. Militants armed with rifles and wearing explosive vests then stormed the facility on foot. Somali and African Union troops responded to the scene. The ensuing firefight lasted more than an hour, punctuated by a series of blasts.
Somalia’s minister of interior and national security, Abdikarim Hussein Guled, told reporters that the dead included four foreigners, four Somalis working for the United Nations as security personnel, as well as the attackers. In a statement, Somalia’s prime minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid, condemned “the senseless and despicable attack on innocent UN civilians.”
Mogadishu has experienced a period of relative calm since African Union forces and the Somali Army pushed back Al Shabab, leading it to announce a hasty retreat from the city in 2011. The militant group vowed to shift tactics more toward guerrilla assaults, assassinations, and suicide bombings.
Militants “are now in complete control of the entire compound and the battle is still ongoing,” Al Shabab said on its Twitter feed during the attack. “Inside the compound are several clueless foreigners who were lulled into a false sense of security by a strong disinformation campaign!” Al Shabab, which has sworn allegiance to Al Qaeda, said that the group’s Martyrdom Brigade had carried out the attack....
Translation: Al Shabab is nothing more than a covert intelligence operation.
The attack came six months after the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, made a surprise visit to Mogadishu in December, promising to relocate the UN political office for Somalia from Nairobi, Kenya, where it was based for security reasons. The United Nations had been increasing the number of staff members before the attack....
The tactics used by the group were similar to those in a deadly attack on the Mogadishu court complex in April, which killed at least 30 people. In that attack, as in the one Wednesday, a suicide bombing was followed by an armed assault.
In February, a popular seafood restaurant at the city’s Lido Beach was bombed. A sports bar and the National Theater were attacked last year.
Related: Skipping the Somali Show
Security had improved in Mogadishu since Al Shabab was driven out that growing numbers of Somalis living abroad had returned to the capital to aid in reconstruction. Businesspeople have arrived in greater numbers, and Turkey and Britain reopened embassies.
The attack Wednesday raised the question of whether security gains were fleeting, given Al Shabab’s capacity for staging large-scale, complex strikes at well-defended targets....
Clan warlords overthrew the government in 1991, breaking the country into militia-controlled fiefs and sending it into decades of chaos....
Except for the 6-month period at the end of 2006 after the Somali people routed CIA-sponsored Somali warlords and before the U.S. ordered Ethiopia to occupy the place.
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