All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

St. Petersburg marks 75 years since Nazi siege of Leningrad

Nazis still with us with hate wannabe dictators.

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More than a million people died of hunger, cold or disease or were killed during Nazi bombardments of the city. Germany’s foreign minister has pledged €12 million for the siege’s remaining survivors.

′Auschwitz did not begin in Auschwitz′ | Germany| News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 27.01.2019

Today’s world has grown sleepy, he says. “Many people these days seem to take democracy for granted. It’s like a comfort blanket that gives them a sense of peace and tranquility.” But that tranquility is deceptive, he warns: “Democracy is under attack.” Right-wing populists like the AfD politician Björn Höcke have a problem with Germany’s culture of remembrance. Höcke has described the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as a “monument of shame.” For Heubner, it’s comments like these that are the source of shame. “This is disgraceful talk; unpatriotic, stupid. The German people have just regained their dignity through remembrance.”

Source: ′Auschwitz did not begin in Auschwitz′ | Germany| News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 27.01.2019

I believe in Tory values, but the party is becoming repellent | Matthew d’Ancona

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I am proudly centre-right, but Brexit has summoned the very worst demons that lurk in the party’s psyche

I have had it up to here with the Conservative party. Not, perhaps, an unusual sentiment to find expressed in the Guardian. But, as a centre-right columnist, I do not start from the proposition that all Tories are inherently evil champions of “neoliberalism” (whatever that means), intent on maximising suffering and despair. I don’t express this contempt for the party blithely or to prove a point. This is not an exercise in rhetoric. I mean it.

By way of explanation: I used to edit the Spectator. I am proud to chair a centre-right thinktank, Bright Blue. I wrote a book about the Conservative-led coalition. And if you think that’s bad, I was one of the few people in the world who applauded aspects of Theresa May’s 2017 manifesto (that’s a really select club).

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Russia denies sending mercenaries to shore up Nicolás Maduro’s position | World news | The Guardian

The man leading the charge has been Igor Sechin, the former military translator who now heads the Russian oil firm Rosneft. A fluent Spanish speaker, Sechin has met with Maduro regularly and has increased the Rosneft’s investment in Venezuelan oil production and its state-owned producer.

Source: Russia denies sending mercenaries to shore up Nicolás Maduro’s position | World news | The Guardian

$20 billion in investments?

Trump ordered 15,000 new border and immigration officers — but got thousands of vacancies instead – Los Angeles Times

In a sign of the difficulties, Customs and Border Protection allocated $60.7 million to Accenture Federal Services, a management consulting firm, as part of a $297-million contract to recruit, vet and hire 7,500 border officers over five years, but the company has produced only 33 new hires so far.

Source: Trump ordered 15,000 new border and immigration officers — but got thousands of vacancies instead – Los Angeles Times

 

The PAC for Accenture Federal Services gave around $250,000 to 112 members of Congress in campaign donations 2015-2016. Pretty good investment return and insurance policy against not getting raked over coals for not fulfilling contract. And says a lot too for incompetence of the White House managers of the contract. $5+ billion demanded for a wall would produce a 2 or 3 miles of wall at this rate.

Two bombs explode at Philippines cathedral, killing at least 27 people

Too often, religions are used and abused by each other not as a means to advance good will but just to empower faux-religious fanatics who want to be dictators!

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First blast in or near church on island of Jolo during Sunday mass, followed by second outside compound

Two bombs have exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 27 people and wounding 77, security officials have said.

The country’s national police chief said the first bomb went off in or near Jolo cathedral during a mass on Sunday, followed by a second blast outside the compound as government forces were responding to the attack.

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