Saturday, July 5, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Report: Dad talked about insurance after son's hot car death
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS July 4, 2014

MARIETTA, Ga. The Georgia father accused of murder in his son's death last month in a hot SUV told family members how to cash in on the $27,000 life insurance policies on the boy, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, citing search warrants released Friday.

Justin Ross Harris, 33, allegedly made the comments while in jail, reports the paper.

"Through the investigation Harris has made comments to family members regarding a life insurance policy that he has on Cooper and what they need to do in order to file for it," the documents state, reports the paper.

Harris and his wife Leanna also reportedly told police that their worst fear was that their 22-month-old son, Cooper, would be left inside a hot vehicle, reports the paper.

The documents reportedly reveal some new information in the death investigation, but largely echo hours of testimony from a Thursday hearing during which Harris was denied bond. During the hearing, detectives said Harris and his wife had two life insurance policies on their son, and that Harris was "sexting" a 17-year-old girl while his son died in the hot car.

According to police, Harris said that on the morning of June 18, he went to breakfast with his son at Chick-fil-A, then strapped the child into his car seat and gave him a kiss. Harris was supposed to drive the child to daycare, but he told police he instead drove to work without realizing that his son was in the backseat.

Cobb County Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified Thursday that Harris had been "sexting" with up to six women, including a 17-year-old, while he was at work the day the child died. He also said that the investigation revealed Harris had a habit of speaking with various women through computer-related messaging services and had even met up with some women and told at least one that he had cheated on his wife before.

The detective also said that in the weeks before Cooper's death, Harris did an Internet search for "how to survive in prison" and had looked at websites that advocated living a "child-free" life.

Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore argued that the evidence involving Harris' Internet and texting activities had no bearing on his client's intent and was being used simply to publicly shame him.




Justin Ross Harris was shown on the news supposedly crying loudly, but I didn't see any tears. Whenever I see a man cry in that manner I tend not to trust him, because generally a man will try very hard to hold back his tears, and I tend to think that they are being manipulative. Two more cases are John Boehner and Oscar Pistorius. In Boehner's case, I suspect it is real pain, but if so he needs to get on a good antidepressant. Most adults, even women, don't cry just because they are disappointed or frustrated.

This week's information about Harris and his wife – his sexting with a 17 year old girl, the insurance policies that both he and his wife took out on their son, and their “fear” that their son would be left inside a hot car – amount to a case for murder, I think. His wife, when the daycare center told her that her son had never arrived that day is reported to have voiced the strange opinion that her husband must have left him in the car. It was earlier reported that both he and his wife had researched “child death in a hot car,” which makes a very unlikely coincidence after what happened. The fact that he also researched “'how to survive in prison' and had looked at websites that advocated living a 'child-free' life” is nauseating. I assume he and probably his wife as well will go to trial for murder. I will watch for more information on the case.






"Opie & Anthony" host Anthony Cumia fired over racially-charged tweets
By KEN LOMBARDI CBS NEWS July 4, 2014

Sirius XM has fired "Opie and Anthony" host Anthony Cumia after he went on a Twitter tirade against the black community earlier in the week.

"The decision was made, and Cumia informed, late Thursday, July 3 after careful consideration of his racially-charged and hate-filled remarks on social media," Patrick Reilly, senior vice president, Communications, SiriusXM said in a statement to TheWrap.

"Those remarks and postings are abhorrent to SiriusXM, and his behavior is wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents," said Reilly.

On Wednesday, Cumia wrote roughly a dozen posts on his personal Twitter account, vividly describing an altercation he claims to have had with a black woman in New York's Times Square. Cumia alleged that the woman physically and verbally attacked him while he was taking pictures of the sidewalk, as she was upset over being in some of his shots.

Cumia further claimed that several black men came to her defense and also assaulted him during the incident.

During his profanity-laced description of the events, Cumia referred to the unidentified woman as a "c---" and wrote, "I hope she gets shot."

Among his comments that have been criticized by many as racist, Cumia wrote, "There's a deep seeded problem with violence in the black community" and "It's really open season on white people in this day and age. No recourse. Fight back and you're a racist. The predators know this. Good luck."

It's really open season on white people in this day and age. No recourse. Fight back and you're a racist. The predators know this. Good luck
— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 2, 2014

There's a deep seeded problem with violence in the black community. Try to address it and you'll be exiled to racistville. But it's real.
— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 2, 2014

My posts on twitter after I was assaulted were profanity laced indeed but racist? Nope. Why should I afford my attacker any courtesy? Insane
— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 3, 2014

Following his termination, Cumia took to his Twitter page again to write, "Sirius decided to cave and fire me. Welcome to bizarro world. Fired for s--- that wasn't even on the air & wasn't illegal. So, who's next?"

This isn't the first time the shock-jock has faced controversy. In 1998, Opie and Anthony were fired from a Boston radio station after reporting that then-mayor Thomas Menino had died, causing a near-panic throughout the city.

In 2002, the duo was fired again, this time by New York station WWFS (then known as WNEW) after they encouraged a couple to have sex in Manhattan's St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Sirius XM has yet to comment on what type of future Cumia's partner Opie Hughes will have at the satellite radio station.


Shock jock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A shock jock is a type of radio broadcaster or disc jockey who entertains listeners or attracts attention using humor and/or melodramatic exaggeration that a notable portion of the listening audience may find offensive. The term is usually used pejoratively to describe provocative or irreverent broadcasters whose mannerisms, statements and actions are typically offensive to many members of the community. It is a popular term, generally not used within the radio industry. A shock jock is considered to be the radio equivalent of the tabloid newspaper, for which entertaining readers is as important as, or more important than, providing factual information. Within the radio industry, a radio station that relies primarily on shock jocks for its programming is said to have a hot talk format.

Confusingly, the term has been used in two broad (but sometimes overlapping) contexts:

1. The radio announcer who deliberately does something outrageous and shocking (e.g., to improve ratings).
2.
2. The political radio announcer who has an emotional outburst in response to a controversial government policy decision.

The idea of an entertainer who breaks taboos or adopts a career role in the realm of the frequently offensive is not a new one. Despite the claims of decency activists, there are few eras of history in which there have not existed blue comedians; notoriously offensive performers (Petronius, Benny Bell, Le Pétomane, Redd Foxx and Lenny Bruce for example). African-American Ralph Waldo Petey Greene (1931–1984), who started broadcasting in 1966, is considered to be the original radio shock jock in the modern era.[1] Petey gave a start to, and influenced, the alleged king of shock jocks such as Howard Stern.

Shock jocks also tend to push the envelope of decency in their market, and may appear to show a lack of regard for communications regulations (e.g., FCC rules in the U.S.) regarding content. But nearly all American broadcasters have strict policies against content that is likely to draw indecency forfeitures, and air personalities are often contractually obligated to avoid broadcasting such content. Indecency fines are, in fact, rarely issued by U.S. regulators—no broadcaster has been issued a forfeiture for indecent content since 2003, although several earlier cases are in appeals court.

Popular envelope-pushing areas for shock jocks include sexual (especially kinky) and/or scatological (toilet humour) topics, or just unabashed innuendo.

Many shock jocks have been fired as a result of such punishments as regulatory fines, loss of advertisers, or simply social and political outrage. On the other hand, it is also not uncommon for such broadcasters to be quickly rehired by another station or network.

Shock jocks in the United States have been censored under additional pressure from the United States government since the introduction of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005, which increased the fines on radio stations for violating decency guidelines by nearly 20 times.[2]

Rush Limbaugh is listed as being a “shock jock,” as well. Wikipedia says the following about him:

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (/ˈlɪmbɔː/, lim-baw; born January 12, 1951) is a conservative American radio talk show host and political commentator. Since he was 16, Limbaugh has worked a series of disc jockey jobs. His talk show began in 1984 at Sacramento radio station KFBK, featuring his ongoing format of political commentary and listener calls. In 1988, Limbaugh began broadcasting his show nationally from radio station WABC in New York City. He currently lives in Palm Beach, Florida, where he broadcasts The Rush Limbaugh Show, the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United States.[1][2]Talkers Magazine in 2012 lists Limbaugh as the most-listened-to talk show host with a weekly audience of 15 million.[3]

In the 1990s, Limbaugh's books The Way Things Ought to Be (1992) and See, I Told You So (1993) made The New York Times Best Seller list. Limbaugh frequently criticizes, in his books and on his show, what he regards as liberalpolicies and politicians, as well as what he perceives as a pervasive liberal biasin major U.S. media. Limbaugh is among the highest paid people in U.S. media, signing a contract in 2008 for $400 million through 2016.[4]

Limbaugh has German ancestry.[6] His family has many lawyers, including his grandfather, father and brother David. His uncle, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Sr. is a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. His cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., is currently a judge in the same court, appointed by George W. Bush. Rush Limbaugh, Sr., Limbaugh's grandfather was a Missouri prosecutor, judge, special commissioner, member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1930 until 1932, and longtime president of the Missouri Historical Society.[7] The Federal Courthouse in Cape Girardeau is named for Limbaugh's grandfather, Rush Limbaugh, Sr.

Views

In his first New York Times best seller, Limbaugh describes himself as conservative, and is critical of broadcasters in many media outlets for claiming to be objective. He has criticized political centrists, independents, and moderate conservatives, claiming they are responsible for Democrat Barack Obama's victory over Republican John McCain in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election and inviting them to leave the Republican party. He calls for the adoption of core conservative philosophies in order to ensure the survival of the Republican party.[60][61][62]

James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times quoted Limbaugh as saying after the 2008 election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States that the Democrats will "take your 401(k), put it in the Social Security Trust Fund."[63]

African-Americans

Limbaugh has been noted for making controversial race-related statements with regard to African-Americans. He once opined that all newspaper composite pictures of wanted criminals resembled Jesse Jackson, and another time that "the NFLall too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons."[64][65] While employed as what he describes as an "insult-radio" DJ, he used a derogatory racial stereotype to characterize a black caller he could not understand, telling the caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back."[65] In March 2010, Limbaugh used the similarity of recently resigned Rep. Eric Massa's surname to the slavery-era African-American pronunciation of "master" to make a pun on the possibility that Gov. David Paterson, New York's first African-American governor, would pick Massa's replacement: "Let's assume you're right [caller]. So, David Paterson will become the massa who gets to appoint whoever gets to take Massa's place. So, for the first time in his life, Paterson's gonna be a massa. Interesting, interesting."[66]

Limbaugh has asserted that African-Americans, in contrast with other minority groups, are "left behind" socially because they have been systematically trained from a young age to hate America because of the welfare state.[67]

Capital punishment

Limbaugh supports capital punishment, saying "the only thing cruel about the death penalty is last-minute stays."[68]

Drug abuse

Limbaugh has been an outspoken critic of what he sees as leniency towards criminal drug use in America. On his television show in October 5, 1995, Limbaugh stated, "too many whites are getting away with drug use" and illegal drug trafficking. Limbaugh proposed that the racial disparity in drug enforcement could be fixed if authorities increased detection efforts, conviction rates, and jail time for whites involved in illegal drugs.[69]

Environmental issues

Limbaugh is critical of environmentalism and climate science.[70] He has disputed claims of anthropogenic global warming, and the relationship between CFCs and depletion of the ozone layer, saying the scientific evidence does not support them.[68] Limbaugh has argued against the scientific consensus on climate change saying it is "just a bunch of scientists organized around a political proposition."[71] Limbaugh has used the term "environmentalist wacko" when referring to left-leaning environmental advocates.[72] As a rhetorical device, he has also used the term to refer to more mainstream climate scientists and other environmental scientists and advocates with whom he disagrees.[73]

Limbaugh has written that "there are more acres of forestland in America today than when Columbus discovered the continent in 1492," a claim that is disputed by the United States Forest Service and the American Forestry Association, which state that the precolonial forests have been reduced by about 24 percent or nearly 300 million acres.[74][75]

Feminism

Limbaugh is critical of feminism, saying that "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."[76] He also popularized the term "feminazi", referring to about two dozen feminists "to whom the most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur."[77] He credited his friend Tom Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, with coining the term.[78]

Iraq prisoner abuse

On the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, Limbaugh said, "This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation ... And we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time."[79][80]

Obama's policies

On January 16, 2009, Limbaugh commented on the (then-upcoming) Obama presidency, "I hope he fails."[81] Limbaugh later said that he wants to see Obama's policies fail, not the man himself.[82] Speaking of Obama, Limbaugh said, "He's my president, he's a human being, and his ideas and policies are what count for me."[81]

Claims of inaccuracy

Some groups and individuals have criticized Limbaugh's accuracy. The July–August 1994 issue of Extra!, a publication of the progressive group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), alleges 50 different inaccuracies and distortions in Limbaugh's commentary.[92][93] Others have since joined FAIR in questioning Limbaugh's facts. Comedian Al Franken, who later became a Senator, wrote a satirical book (Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations) in which he accused Limbaugh of distorting facts to serve his own political biases.[94]

Professor Ray Perkins has written a book titled Logic and Mr. Limbaugh: A Dittohead's Guide To Fallacious Reading, which takes "50 examples of logical reasoning from Rush's statements, identifies the logical arguments, and points out fallacies."[95]

Limbaugh has been criticized for inaccuracies by the Environmental Defense Fund. A defense fund report authored byPrinceton University endowed geoscience professor Michael Oppenheimer and professor of biology David Wilcove lists 14 significant scientific facts that, the authors allege, Limbaugh misrepresented in his book The Way Things Ought to Be.[96]The authors conclude that "Rush Limbaugh ... allows his political bias to distort the truth about a whole range of important scientific issues."

On October 14, 2011, Limbaugh questioned the U.S. military initiative against Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army(LRA), based on the assumption that they were Christians. "They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them." Upon learning about the accusations leveled against Kony, which included kidnapping whole schools of young children for use as child soldiers, Limbaugh stated that he would research the group.[97][98] The show's written transcript on his website was not changed.[98][99]




The appetite that exists in this country for “shocking” political, racial, religious or sexual bias statements is frightening to me. The fact that Limbaugh's show is “the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United States” is shameful. It shows the intellectual level and moral leanings of a goodly proportion of our citizens. No wonder so many of them are against Common Core being taught in the public schools. Students would be taught to learn a wide range of things so that they can read and think on their own, thus making them less subject to demagoguery and ultra-conservative economic views.

This quotation from the following article on party affiliation statistics is interesting. http://www.people-press.org/2012/08/23/a-closer-look-at-the-parties-in-2012/ “In more than 13,000 interviews conducted so far in 2012, 35% of registered voters identify with the Democratic Party, 28% with the Republican Party and 33% as independents. The share of Democrats has fallen three points since 2008, while the proportion of Republicans has remained steady. Currently, independents lean slightly more toward the Republican Party than the Democratic Party (15% vs. 13%). Four years ago, the reverse was true (13% leaned Democratic, 11% Republican).
Overall, the Democrats now have a five-point lead in party affiliation among registered voters when independents who lean to either party are included (48% to 43%). That is down from a 12-point advantage in 2008 (51% to 39%).” 

Liberals are with the Democratic party, but some who had been middle of the road Democrats are moving toward the right. I blame deep-seated societal racism, increasing poverty among whites and therefore increased fear, the low number of college graduates among the whole population especially in the South, the drumbeat of uber-patriotism, the genuinely frightening rise in illegal immigration into Texas, embarrassing international events such as spying on Angela Merkel, and the constant onslaught on the public mind by the far right. We are capable of becoming the next Nazi nation if we aren't careful. I pray that doesn't happen. How could we forget the Holocaust? Yet, some people are even denying that it even existed.








Google reinstates some links removed after controversial ruling, BBC reports
CBS NEWS July 4, 2014

Google has begun reinstating some links it had removed from European searches after its implementation of a "right to be forgotten" ruling drew accusations of censorship, the BBC reports.

The BBC said that articles by the Guardian newspaper that earlier had disappeared from some searches had been fully restored.

"We are learning as we go," Peter Barron, the head of communications for Google in Europe, told the BBC.

Google must comply with a May ruling from the European Union's top court that enables citizens to ask for the removal of embarrassing personal information that pops up on a search of their names. The ruling specified information that was "outdated, irrelevant or no longer relevant."

Google said Thursday that it was getting 1,000 requests a day to scrub search results. So far only a handful of articles have been affected.

One was a 2007 blog entry by BBC Economics Editor Robert Peston, which was critical of Merrill Lynch's then-CEO Stan O'Neal. Peston was notified that the posting would no longer appear through a specific Google search.

"Google is confirming the fears of many in the industry that the 'right to be forgotten' will be abused to curb freedom of expression and to suppress legitimate journalism that is in the public interest," Peston wrote in a BBC post.

Google has not said who made the request but did confirm it was not O'Neal. The removal was instead related to the reader comments.

Barron said on the BBC program that Google should provide publishers with more information about the deletions.

"The European Court of Justice ruling was not something that we welcomed, that we wanted - but it is now the law in Europe and we are obliged to comply with that law," Barron said.




“Peter Barron, the head of communications for Google in Europe, told the BBC, 'Google is confirming the fears of many in the industry that the 'right to be forgotten' will be abused to curb freedom of expression and to suppress legitimate journalism that is in the public interest.' Google said Thursday that it was getting 1,000 requests a day to scrub search results. So far only a handful of articles have been affected.”

I sympathize with both sides in this situation. A family which has been touched by scandal, or especially is the subject of an Internet attack of some kind – like kids who are being bullied on the Net – should have the right to have the many websites that may pop up about it “scrubbed.” Freedom of speech is one of our most basic rights, however, and the simple workload on the shoulders of the Google staff to remove every disputed item is a problem. A thousand requests a day is a huge number. My humble blog will probably never become the source of a complaint, but I will try to research everything I say that I am even slightly doubtful about, which I do anyway just so that I don't look like a complete fool. If any lawsuits or other court actions come up about this subject, I will try to include it in these posts.





German intel worker allegedly spied for U.S., newspapers report – CBS
AP July 4, 2014

BERLIN -- Germany summoned the U.S. ambassador in Berlin on Friday following the arrest of a man reported to have spied for the United States, heightening friction between the two countries over alleged U.S. eavesdropping in Germany.

U.S. Ambassador John B. Emerson was called in "in connection with an investigation by the federal prosecutor," the German Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The U.S. envoy "was asked to help in the swift clarification" of the case, it added.

Federal prosecutors say a 31-year-old German man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of spying for foreign intelligence services. They did not identify the suspect or the intelligence services.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters that Chancellor Angela Merkel been personally informed of the arrest.

He declined to comment on reports by Der Spiegel magazine and the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the man worked for Germany's foreign intelligence service, known by its German acronym BND.

The newspapers, which didn't identify their sources, said the man was suspected of passing on information about a German parliamentary committee investigating the activities of U.S. and other intelligence agencies in Germany. He claimed to have worked with U.S. intelligence since 2012, they reported.

Seibert said members of the parliamentary panel had also been informed of the arrest.

Reports that the National Security Agency spied on German citizens, including on Merkel's cellphone, have caused friction between Berlin and Washington since they were first published last year, based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Martina Renner, a member of the opposition Left Party on the parliamentary panel, said the case indicated that anyone who examined Snowden's revelations in detail was subject to scrutiny by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Her panel heard testimony Thursday from two former NSA employees, Thomas Drake and William Binney.

"If the media reports (about the case) are confirmed then there can't just be a legal response, there also has to be a political response," she said.

In his testimony, Drake claimed that cooperation between the NSA and Germany's BND greatly increased after the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States. He described the German spy agency as an "appendage" of the NSA.

Seibert said Merkel discussed "foreign policy matters" in a telephone conversation with President Barack Obama late Thursday. He said the conversation focused on Ukraine but wouldn't say whether the arrest was also discussed.

The U.S. National Security Council declined to comment Friday and BND didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.




“Germany summoned the U.S. ambassador in Berlin on Friday following the arrest of a man reported to have spied for the United States, heightening friction between the two countries over alleged U.S. eavesdropping in Germany.... German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters that Chancellor Angela Merkel been personally informed of the arrest. He declined to comment on reports by Der Spiegel magazine and the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the man worked for Germany's foreign intelligence service, known by its German acronym BND.”

Years ago when I heard that Israel was spying on the US, I was startled. I hadn't imagined that allies spied on each other. It does seem so disloyal. It is, however, probably the only way to know as much as possible of what is going on in the world. I understand the US trying to peek into the German investigation on the case that directly involved them, however, it would behoove them to see that they don't get caught and not to do it very often, either. We do need Germany as an ally. I hope this will blow over and not cause serious problems between the nations.






Ukraine Claims Victory in Rebel Stronghold – ABC
By Yuras Karmanau and Balint Szlanko
Associated Press
July 5, 2014

Government troops have taken a rebel stronghold in east Ukraine, the country's president and a spokesman for the rebels said Saturday.

President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement that government troops took Slovyansk, a city of about 100,000 that has been a center of the fighting between Kiev's troops and the pro-Russian insurgents, after a night of fighting. It was a rare significant success for Kiev's forces in their struggle to quell the rebellion.

Poroshenko commanded the armed forces to raise the Ukrainian flag over Slovyansk, which has been under control of the rebels since early April when they seized the city's administrative and police buildings.

Andrei Purgin of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic told The Associated Press that rebels were evacuating, but claimed the army's campaign had left the city "in ruins."

However, Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council, said mopping-up operations were continuing.

"Slovyansk is under siege. Now an operation is going on to neutralize small groups hiding in buildings where peaceful citizens are living," Lysenko told journalists.

Alexei, a driver and local Slovyansk resident who would not give his last name for fear of reprisal, told the AP by phone that he heard bombing throughout the night. When the bombing stopped in the early morning, he left his house and saw that all the rebel checkpoints were abandoned. He said there was some damage to buildings in the center of the city, but said much of the rest of the city had been left untouched.

A rebel commander who would only give his nom de guerre as Pinochet told the AP that rebels had relocated to the nearby town of Kramatorsk, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Slovyansk. But outside Kramatorsk, an AP reporter saw an abandoned checkpoint and several hundred rebels, armed and in uniform, driving in minibuses in the direction of Donetsk.

The capture of Slovyansk would be a major victory for the Ukrainian army, which has often appeared feckless in the months-long campaign against the rebels. On Thursday Poroshenko shook up his defense team, appointing Ukraine's third defense minister since the downfall of the former president in February.

Some rebels played down the significance of Ukraine's advances. Pavel Gubarev, the self-described governor of the Donetsk People's Republic, wrote online that the rebels had staged a tactical retreat.

"Kutuzov also retreated, as that was the plan," he wrote, referring to the 19th century general Mikhail Kutuzov who is credited with defeating Napoleon's forces in Russia. "In general, Russians only retreat before a decisively victorious battle."

Others in the rebels' ranks pleaded publicly with Russia to assist the rebels in their cause. In a video posted online late on Friday, Igor Girkin, the self-described "commander in chief of the Donetsk People's Republic," said his men had "lost the will to fight."

"They want to live in Russia," said Girkin, also known by his nom de guerre, Igor Strelkov. "But when they tried to assert this right, Russia doesn't want to help." He said he believed the troops had only "two or three weeks" before they were defeated if Russia did not step in.

Rebel leaders have pleaded with the Kremlin for military assistance in the past, and some prominent Russian nationalists have publicly taunted Putin, accusing him of cowardice. Such criticism could resonate with the broader Russian public, which has been heavily influenced by Russian state television's characterization of the Kiev government as a "fascist junta" that is killing Russian-speakers.

Poroshenko had said Friday he was ready to conduct another round of talks between representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the rebels.




“Andrei Purgin of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic told The Associated Press that rebels were evacuating, but claimed the army's campaign had left the city 'in ruins.'...
'Slovyansk is under siege. Now an operation is going on to neutralize small groups hiding in buildings where peaceful citizens are living,' Andriy Lysenko of the National Security And Defense Council told journalists.” Unethical and violent elements using peaceful citizens as hostages has occurred in the Middle East. It seems so unfair to me. It makes me hold very bad opinions of them and great anger. Hopefully Kiev can thoroughly root all of them out and arrest them.

A rebel commander called Pinochet said that the insurgents had moved on to Kramatorsk, but an AP reporter said that he had seen them driving on toward Donetsk. “Pavel Gubarev, the self-described governor of the Donetsk People's Republic, wrote online that the rebels had staged a tactical retreat. He stated, "In general, Russians only retreat before a decisively victorious battle."

“Others in the rebels' ranks pleaded publicly with Russia to assist the rebels in their cause. In a video posted online late on Friday, Igor Girkin, the self-described 'commander in chief of the Donetsk People's Republic,' said his men had 'lost the will to fight.' They want to live in Russia,' said Girkin, also known by his nom de guerre, Igor Strelkov. 'But when they tried to assert this right, Russia doesn't want to help.'”

It sounds as though the rebels are trying with some difficulty to keep their spirits up. Still, the war is not over, and Kiev hasn't always been victorious. I hope that they will administer a sounding defeat of the pro-Russian groups and then go to peace talks from a position of strength. Next, I hope they proceed in good will to revising the Ukrainian laws to include the Russian-speaking elements in a fair and more representative way, and if there is any truth to the statement that they have been killing their political enemies, that absolutely should stop. Likewise, if there are active and dangerous “fascist” elements in the Ukrainian government as Putin has claimed, they should be squelched firmly, or there will be abuses of their Jewish population again. I will watch the news with great interest to see what happens.





http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/04/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/joan-rivers-michelle-obama-gay-transgender/index.html

Joan Rivers jokes Obama is gay, first lady is transgender
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
July 4, 2014

CNN) -- Who needs Fourth of July fireworks when you have Joan Rivers around?

The comedian known for her lack of self-censoring recently officiated a same-sex wedding and was asked by a photographer if she believed the United States would ever see the first gay or female president. Her response was typical Rivers.

"We already have it with Obama, so let's just calm down," she said. "You know Michelle (Obama) is a trans."

When asked to further explain Rivers said, "A transgender. We all know it."

A representative for Rivers released the following statement to CNN from the comic about her remarks to the photographer:

"I think it's a compliment. She's so attractive, tall, with a beautiful body, great face, does great makeup. Take a look and go back to La Cage Au Follies (sic). The most gorgeous women are transgender. Stop it already ... and if you want to talk about 'politically correct,' I think this is a 'politically incorrect' attack on me because I'm old, Jewish, a woman and a 'hetty' -- a heteosexual ... and I plan to sue the reporter who, when he turned off his camera, tried to touch me inappropriately on the a** - luckily he hit my ankle. Read the book ... if you think that's silly, wait to (sic) you see what I say about FDR and Eleanor!"

Rivers is no stranger to controversy. In March 2013 she refused to apologize for a joke she made about the dress "Project Runway" host Heidi Klum wore to the Academy Awards.

"The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens," Rivers said while appearing on the E! channel's "Fashion Police" show.

The Anti-Defamation League slammed Rivers, calling the remark "vulgar and hideous," but she said it was her way of getting people to talk.

"It's a joke, No. 1. No. 2 it is about the Holocaust," she told HLN's "Showbiz Tonight. "This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor."

Of course, this latest dust-up coincides with Rivers' book, "Diary of a Mad Diva," which was released on July 1. Rivers' representative told CNN, "These are all funny jokes. The book is hysterical. The prologue says if anyone takes anything in the book seriously (he or she) is an idiot. And (Rivers) says if anyone has a problem with that, they can feel free to call her lawyer Clarence Darrow."


http://hollowverse.com/joan-rivers/

The Hollowverse
The religions and political views of the influentials.

Joan Rivers, whose last name at birth was Molinsky, was born in New York City and raised in Larchmont, New York.

Rivers comes from a Russian Jewish family–both her maternal and paternal grandparents fled their home for the U.S. during the Russian revolution. And apparently her family were fairly prominent members of their Jewish community because her father established the first synagogue in her family’s home town.1

After Rivers had a falling out with her parents and didn’t speak with them for a year, she tells a story of driving around on Yom Kippur to find a temple which would let her in.2 So despite any differences she may have had with her family, she never let go of her Jewish roots.

She makes fun of Jews all the time in her stand-up routines with jokes like:

I’m Jewish. I don’t work out. If God had wanted us to bend over, He would have put diamonds on the floor.3

But not all her jokes are quite so innocuous. She got in some trouble for making fun of actress Heidi Klum’s revealing dress at the Oscar’s one year by saying, “The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens.” Responding to the criticism in an interview with a much younger TV host, she said,

It’s a joke. . . . That’s the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor. . . . My husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust, so let’s just start with that. Your generation doesn’t even know what I’m talking about.4

She says the real problem is not jokes, it’s genuinely antisemitic people, namely Rivers’ nemesis Mel Gibson. After seeing the negative portrayal of Jews in his movie Passion of the Christ and reading about the antisemitic remarks he made to police officers upon being arrested for drunk driving, she said,

He is an antisemitic son of a bitch. He should fucking die.5

That doesn’t sound like a joke.

Politics Police: the whole thing is disgusting

Rivers says she doesn’t like to talk about politics, but she couldn’t hide her contempt for the presidential race in 2012. She called Obama and Romney both “idiots,” and said she thought the money and time spent campaigning was horrific:

How dare you spend two years campaigning. They should do what England does. Six weeks to find out what everyone thinks before they vote for them for Parliament. That makes sense. . . . I find the whole thing disgusting, both sides disgusting.6

But nonetheless, she went out and did her civic duty on election day.7 And even though she has stated she is a Republican, she said she voted for Obama because she thought the president would lower her taxes.8 She also retweeted the Human Rights Campaign’s celebratory post-election tweet in 2012.9

Rivers’ campaign finance contributions, while leaning right, weren’t exclusively dedicated to Republicans. Of her $6,750 in donations, $500 was to a Democrat, $3,000 to Republicans, and $3,250 to a pro-Israeli political action committee.10 Like many Jews, she’s an outspoken supporter of the Israeli state and doesn’t approve of the president’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She said,

I think the Obama administration’s treatment of Israel is outrageous. Outrageous. When we are the only sane nation in that part of the world.11

But one issue Obama has pushed in his presidency, gay rights, is one Rivers is proud to support. She even used her TV show Fashion Police as a platform to support a campaign to change an Israeli law banning surrogate pregnancies for gay couples.12

For someone who makes jokes about anything, including her recently deceased husband’s suicide, Rivers seems to treat politics with complete sincerity and seriousness. I guess sometimes the stakes are just too high.




I have never thought Joan Rivers was funny, but when she caustically said that Princess Diana's clothing was plain and ordinary – that was after she went to inspect them at an auction that was held after she was killed, and the public grief over the terrible accident was fresh – I completely turned off toward her as a person. She lacks any form of human sensitivity. Likewise I have turned off toward the young minor actress Lindsay Lohan who was caught getting out of a car wearing a very short skirt “with no panties on.” Lohan has been in court for her party antics and drunken driving exploits more than she has been in any recent movie scenes.

There are people in Hollywood and other parts of the entertainment industry, including some sports figures and rock and hip hop musicians, who depart from all basic morality and yet some members of the American public lionize them. I refuse to praise such people. In this case, it is no surprise that Rivers primarily supports the Republican Party. She is not the first Republican to call Obama gay and his wife a transsexual. A photograph of his wife getting out of a car with a caption to that effect turned up on my Facebook site from a Tea Party high school acquaintance of mine. The Internet abounds with rumors of all kinds, and being president makes anyone a target. Its like some of the things that Rush Limbaugh has been in the press apologizing for. What's the point in apologizing? It shouldn't have been said in the first place. The damage is done.