Category Archives: Fail!

No tattoos please, we’re Buddhists — New Internationalist

(The Bodu Bala Sena would make the Buddha cry for their extreme inhumane actions in the name of religion – especially since they are about ultra-nationalism and not about spiritual matters.)

Members of an extremist Buddhist nationalist group called the Bodu Bala Sena (‘Buddhist army’, BBS) publicly abused and intimidated a monk whom they accused of being pro-Muslim, disrupting a press conference held by him at a hotel. The police did not intervene to restore order. The organization’s saffron-robed members also stormed a government ministry building, alleging that the monk was hiding there. The insulting language and gestures used by the BBS – directed mostly at Muslim and Christian minorities – have been recorded on camera and broadcast on public television. Yet it would appear that none of this qualifies as ‘deliberately and maliciously outraging religious feelings’ of others.  

via No tattoos please, we’re Buddhists — New Internationalist.

Congress being contemptible! Recommending that the House of Representatives find Lois G. Lerner, former Director, Exempt Organizations, Internal Revenue Service, in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (H.Res. 574) – GovTrack.us

(Darrell Issa is the one filled with contempt for the truth that he has already been told but wants to shame someone other than himself for false reasons!)

H.Res. 574: Recommending that the House of Representatives find Lois G. Lerner, former Director, Exempt Organizations, Internal …

… Revenue Service, in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Introduced:

May 07, 2014 (113th Congress, 2013–2015)

Status:

Agreed To (Simple Resolution)

Prognosis

99% chance of being agreed to

OVERVIEWExplore

SPONSOR

Darrell Issa

Representative for California’s 49th congressional district

PARTY

Republican

via Recommending that the House of Representatives find Lois G. Lerner, former Director, Exempt Organizations, Internal Revenue Service, in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (H.Res. 574) – GovTrack.us.

TV journalist accused of attacking police in Guatemala – Reporters Without Borders

But Cabrera rejected this option, resulting in a postponement until 24 June, when she will be required to demonstrate her innocence and the prosecution will not be required to prove her guilt.

“This procedure poses a very disturbing risk of a large fine or even detention for Cabrera, who is accused of carrying out the very attack of which she was the victim,” said Camille Soulier, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Americas desk.

“The case is all the more worrying because the burden of proof has been reversed and she does not benefit from the presumption of innocence. The policemen involved in this case should be thoroughly investigated without delay, in order to shed light on this apparent abuse of authority.”

The attack on Cabrera is symptomatic of the violence that journalists face in Guatemala. The creation of a proper mechanism for protecting journalists is one of the main recommendations of the April 2014 report on Guatemala by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

via TV journalist accused of attacking police in Guatemala – Reporters Without Borders.

Researchers determine MERS virus transmission from animals to humans | Vaccine News Daily

{Stop nose to nose contact with camels and no more kissing your camel’s nose?

Could well be that both camels and people are being infected by bats who infect the camels and people – similar to the influenza connection between poultry, pigs, and people in live markets?}

The virologists found that virus levels were very high in the camel’s nasal mucosa and conjunctiva, which they said points to transmission pathways from to humans from those sites.

via Researchers determine MERS virus transmission from animals to humans | Vaccine News Daily.

Conservative Women Argue Sexual Assault Numbers Are Overblown – The Wire

Now, some female conservative pundits are questioning the facts that the White House based its recommendations on — namely, that one in five women will be sexually assaulted by the time they leave college.

via Conservative Women Argue Sexual Assault Numbers Are Overblown – The Wire.

Now can anyone explain why this would be a liberal v. conservative or GOP v. Democrat issue? Are conservatives and GOP so hyper-anti-female rights that they will try and discount seriousness of problem of rape?

Migrant workers should avoid live bird markets: WHO official – ANTARA News

Jakarta (ANTARA News) – An Official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said Indonesian migrant workers should avoid live bird markets in foreign countries, particularly in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“I think it is important for tourists or migrant workers to avoid live bird markets. I think it is particularly important currently in China, but also in live bird markets in general that have avian influenza scattered around,” the chief of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Professor Anne Kelso, told ANTARA here on Tuesday.

Anne said it is better for people who are in foreign countries to avoid live bird markets, especially when a dangerous virus arises. Anne added that the location can be the source of the greatest risk for a virus infection.

The latest virus of avian influenza that had infected several birds and people in the area are of the H7N9 type, Anne said.

via Migrant workers should avoid live bird markets: WHO official – ANTARA News.

Saudi hospital head sacked as MERS death toll hits 117 | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Saudi Arabia’s acting health minister has announced the sacking of the head of a Jeddah hospital where a spike in MERS infections among medical staff sparked panic among the public.

The move, which Adel Fakieh published on Twitter late Tuesday, came after he inspected King Fahd Hospital’s emergency department in the Red Sea city.

Hours after the news, health officials announced two more deaths from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, bringing the toll to 117.

The victims were a 68-year-old woman in Jeddah, the kingdom’s commercial capital, and a 60-year-old man died in Medina.

The Jeddah hospital was temporarily shut last month after several medics were infected by MERS.

And panic at the Red Sea city’s main hospital prompted at least four doctors to resign in mid-April after they refused to treat MERS patients for fear of infection.

via Saudi hospital head sacked as MERS death toll hits 117 | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Israel spying on US at ‘alarming level’ | Maan News Agency

“No other country close to the United States continues to cross the line on espionage like the Israelis do,” said a former congressional staffer who attended another classified briefing in late 2013, according to Newsweek.

It said that briefing was one of several in recent months given by the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the FBI and the National Counterintelligence Directorate.

The former congressional staffer said the intelligence agencies did not give specifics, but cited “industrial espionage—folks coming over here on trade missions or with Israeli companies working in collaboration with American companies, (or) intelligence operatives being run directly by the government, which I assume meant out of the (Israeli) Embassy.”

Israel’s espionage activities in America are unrivaled and go far beyond activities by other close allies, such as Germany, France, Britain and Japan, counter-intelligence agents told members of the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees, Newsweek said.

via Israel spying on US at ‘alarming level’ | Maan News Agency.

Avian Flu Diary: WHO Statement On MERS-CoV Mission To Saudi Arabia

The majority of human-to-human infections occurred in health care facilities. One quarter of all cases have been health care workers.  There is a clear need to improve health care workers’ knowledge and attitudes about the disease and systematically apply WHO’s recommended infection prevention and control measures in health care facilities.

 

The reasons for the increase in the number of primary community cases, as well as the infection route, remain unknown. Three quarters of all primary community cases have been male, the majority of whom have been over 50 years old. Secondary transmission in the community and households is much lower than in health care settings.

via Avian Flu Diary: WHO Statement On MERS-CoV Mission To Saudi Arabia.

The Open-and-Shut Assault Case Against Occupy Activist, Cecily McMillan: Just Look at the Pictures — BagNews

Officer Bovell (surely unjustly accused in an assault charge by another Occupier) certainly not continuing to mete out justice for the elbow, his right hand still nowhere in the vicinity of McMillan’s chest, in this shot from the Lanyon photos published at Gawker.

via The Open-and-Shut Assault Case Against Occupy Activist, Cecily McMillan: Just Look at the Pictures — BagNews.