April 2014

30 March 2014 — The newly-created Japanese anime icon who is wanted by the Ukrainian national security service, Crimea's acting chief prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya, says her attractive looks have never hampered her judicial practice and are, well, deceitful.

Poklonskaya took the job, which many of her male colleagues feared to accept, just days before Crimea’s referendum on independence from Ukraine, stunning the world not only with her courage, but her beauty as well.

“In the 12 years I’ve spent working in the Prosecutor General’s office, I’ve been dealing with organized crime and put many criminals in prison,” Poklonskaya said. “My looks have never been an obstacle — I hope they deceive my enemies.”

During her first press conference on the new position, the 34-year-old blonde didn’t hesitate to denounce the coup-imposed government in Kiev.

“The constitution says that the only power in Ukraine — and I repeat — the only power in Ukraine is its people,” she said at the time.

Ukrainian national security service has put Crimea’s acting chief prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya on its wanted list. With bizarre irony she is charged with taking actions aimed at the violent overthrow of constitutional order and takeover of government power.

Poklonskaya took the office just while Crimea defied the coup-imposed government in Kiev and sought independence from Ukraine. After the peninsula joined the Russian Federation, she was appointed as Crimea's acting chief prosecutor by Russia’s General Prosecutor Yury Chaika.

The Ukrainian National Service for Security and Defense accuse her of violating article 109 of the Criminal Code, which deals with overthrow of the government. (More)

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27 March 2014 — Anyone who thinks the crisis now unsettling Ukraine is purely about a people's quest for democracy and "the madness" of Vladimir Putin would be mistaken.

Ukraine, a semi-failed state due to energy debt and corruption, merely illustrates the new energy politics now unsettling governments from the United States to Crimea. It represents our collective global future, should governments and citizens continue to ignore energy flows and budgets.

The story should be familiar to most North Americans. In U.S. political lingo, Ukraine is a blue state dependent on energy imports from Russia, the powerful red state next door. They share a tense master-slave relationship. (More)

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The Intercept via Reader Supported News

29 March 2014 — Selecting the year’s single most brazen example of political self-delusion is never easy, but if forced to choose for 2013, I’d pick British Prime Minister David Cameron’s public condemnation of George Galloway. The Scottish MP had stood to question Cameron about the UK’s military support for Syrian rebels. As is typical for Western discourse, criticizing western government militarism was immediately equated with support for whatever tyrants those governments happened to be opposing at the time: “Some things come and go,” proclaimed the Prime Minister, “but there is one thing that is certain: wherever there is a brutal Arab dictator in the world, he will have the support of [Galloway].”

What made Cameron’s statement so notable wasn’t the trite tactic of depicting opposition to western intervention as tantamount to support for dictators. That’s far too common to be noteworthy (if you oppose the war in Iraq, you are pro-Saddam; if you oppose intervention in Libya, you love Ghaddafi, if you oppose US involvement in Ukraine, you’re a shill for Putin, etc. etc.). What was so remarkable is that David Cameron – the person accusing Galloway of supporting every “brutal Arab dictator” he can find – is easily one of the world’s most loyal, constant, and generous supporters of the most brutal Arab despots. Cameron has continuously lavished money, diplomatic support, arms and all sorts of obsequious praise on intensely repressive regimes in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Egypt. That this steadfast supporter of the worst Arab dictators could parade around accusing others of supporting bad Arab regimes was about as stunning a display of western self-delusion as I could have imagined . . . (More)
 

 

 

 

There was a media dust up recently when on Wednesday 05 March 2014 RT journalist Liz Wahl announced her resignation because she alleged that RT was bogus in delivering news and analysis. As you will see below in Media Watch her resignation was a neo-con set up and we have her in a video, giggling with the members of the plot. Her former colleagues at RT said Liz showed no interest in politics outside of her studio responsibilities and said the only time they heard her complain was when she said she wasn't getting enough help to write her on-camera presentations.

 

Meanwhile, the one and only Larry King is a happy camper on RT.

 

 

YOU'LL FIND ALL THIS AND MORE BY CLICKING HERE FOR

 

 

Editor's Notes

Are they stupid or insane?

It's stunning to listen to Barrack Obama and John Kerry make pronouncements on or about developments in the Ukraine.

Kerry says no country has the right to impose its will on another. His says this with a straight face. He must be counting on public ignorance or memory loss. Just remember Viet Nam and poor little Grenada, and more recently Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and now Ukraine, just to name a few of a long list of American violent military interventions since World War ll.

Fewer and fewer are listening to Obama as he and court jester Kerry invent  history and current "facts" as they go along. Now it seems that Obama isn't even listening to himself. See below his story about a referendum in Kosovo that never took place.

One wonders if they have been rendered stupid or insane by shock of responsibility . . . or both?

Evidence of a diminishing audience to their ravings may be found in a 2012 Pew Research report that found RT to be the most popular news channel on YouTube, with Fox News coming in second. Meanwhile, at that Washington propaganda mouthpiece, CNN, viewers have gone down to 421,000 as of January 2014. By comparison, RT has reached more than 1 billion views on YouTube.

True North Perspective and True North Humanist Perspective don't have one billion readers (yet) but we remain steadfastly dedicated to bringing you the truth to the best of our ability.

Meanwhile, take it easy but take it

Looking forward

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24 March 2014 — The notion of "big ideas" periodically raises its head in Canadian politics and I recently criticized the NDP for taking a good idea — a national day of action — and wasting it in on, well, small ideas. Specifically I suggested that the party's focus on excessive interest rates and other charges effectively redefined citizens as consumers, something that Stephen Harper's Conservatives have been doing for eight years.

In response to the criticism, the party's deputy leader Megan Leslie wrote claiming that the NDP had big ideas "in spades" and that she was proud of them. It is unusual for the NDP to engage its critics on the left outside the party, and it is a positive sign — just as the days of action and national town halls are. Engaging people outside the four week period of elections is critical to the NDP's future success.

But, as my philosophy prof would have said, engagement itself is necessary but not sufficient for a party claiming a progressive mantle. If you want to get people engaged as citizens you have to challenge them as citizens to engage with you about their future. And people know, even if they are often in denial, that the future looks bleak. In the context of rapid climate change (and the social upheaval it will cause), increasing inequality, international conflicts, the coming conflicts over water, the dangerous growth of the security state, the threat of another global economic meltdown and the limits to growth, the need to commit to big ideas is even greater. (More)
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True North Perspective

01 April 2014 — The Harper government has announced a 10-year, $53 billion renewal of the Building Canada program in the 2014 budget but it appears the program is long on illusion for the next few years.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities wanted something solid enough that cities and towns could embark on badly needed road, sewer and other upgrades by April 1.

 

At a recent meeting of the Commons transport committee, Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel couldn’t even put a figure on how much additional money would be available for the 2014-15 fiscal year.

 

Most of the funds promised by the government won’t be available until the final years of the program, says Liberal critic David McGunity. “The new program is just a Conservative shell game. (More)

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31 March 2014 — An heir to the Du Pont fortune, convicted of raping his three-year-old daughter six years ago, only faces probation and will likely never see prison time.

 

A Delaware Superior Court judge said that Robert H. Richards IV, the great grandson of Du Pont patriarch Irene Du Pont, would benefit more from treatment than prison.

Richards is also the scion of another prominent Delaware family, the Richards (of the corporate law firm Richards Layton & Finger). His father, Robert Richards III, was a partner in the prestigious firm until 2008.

 

Court records list the younger Richards as currently unemployed, but he owns a0 $1.8 million estate in the opulent North Shores area near Rehoboth Beach. (More)

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CUPW says new postage hikes benefit big business

hurt single users, charities, and smaller businesses

31 March 2014 OTTAWA — Denis Lemelin, President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says that Canada Post’s new higher postage rates, which come into effect today, are structured to give big business a break while individuals and smaller organizations will pay more.

Speaking at a press conference today with New Democrat MP Alexandre Boulerice, Mr. Lemelin said stamp booklets, usually purchased by individuals and smaller companies, are shooting up from 63 cents per stamp to 85 cents while single stamps will cost a dollar.  Large-volume mailers, however, will pay only 69 or 70 cents per stamp.

Postage metre users will get a discount of 10 cents per stamp. The metres are manufactured and sold by the multinational corporation Pitney Bowes. Deepak Chopra was President and CEO of Pitney Bowes' Canadian division before taking the reins at Canada Post. 

“That’s the Conservative way," said Mr. Lemelin, "one standard for their corporate friends and another for the rest of us.” (More)

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31 March 2014 HAVANA Cuba (acn) — Cuba has considerably advanced in the issue of women emancipation and is now the third country in the world with the largest presence of women in its national parliament, Cuban Deputy Mariela Castro said in Spain.

Women stand for 48.36 percent of Cuban parliamentarians, while they are increasing their presence in leading posts, Mariela Castro told PL news agency.

 

She said that the struggle for women's emancipation, waged by the Cuban Women's Federation, has never minimized the role of men, which is crucial so that all together manage to transform patriarchal culture inherited from colonial and neo-colonial systems. (More)

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Bits and Bites of Everyday Life

On Intergenerational Storytelling

Dostoyevsky: 'The soul is healed by being with children.'

By Alberte Villeneuve-Sinclair
True North Perspective

Alberte Villeneuve-Sinclair is the author of The Neglected Garden and two French novels. Visit her website to learn more www.albertevilleneuve.ca.

 

 

01 April 2014 — I love bookstores and of course their contents. Bookstores are for me more than places of business. Their shelf-lined walls contain collections of ideas, thoughts, and fantasies. They are in fact places rich in culture. Is it any wonder then that upon hearing of the possible demise of Books On Beechwood  in Ottawa’s New Edinburgh neighbourhood a year ago, I along with many others were crestfallen - and equally elated when three Samaritans emerged to take over the store, and by the look of things made it successful.

My home in Czechoslovakia prior to World War II contained many books. My parents were avid readers. All this treasure was lost when we became refugees. Later in Canada we were settled in a remote area of the country where books were not considered a necessity. Better a cord of wood than a box of literature. My wonderful public school teacher, Verna Brown, took the time after lunch hour to read to the class. It was a time cherished by all and we sat in wrapped attention as she related to us the tale of Black Beauty and other fiction. (More)

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Anger, disbelief as Obama defends US invasion of Iraq

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30 March 2014 (RT) — Barack Obama’s speech on the Ukrainian crisis seems to have left the public confused as he claimed that Kosovo broke away from Serbia “after a referendum.” But attentive listeners quickly pointed to Obama’s gaps in history — there was no referendum in Kosovo.

President Obama was speaking Wednesday 26 March at The Center for Fine Arts in the heart of Brussels, Belgium, and was telling the youth crowd mostly about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict over the strategic Crimean Peninsula.

He lashed out at Russia for “violation of international law, its assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Obama recalled the conflict around Kosovo and NATO’s involvement, making a counter-argument to Russia officials’ statements, in which they cited Kosovo independence from Serbia in 2008 as the precedent.

He said: “And Kosovo only left Serbia after a referendum was organized not outside the boundaries of international law, but in careful cooperation with the United Nations and with Kosovo’s neighbors. None of that even came close to happening in Crimea.”

In fact, “none of that even came close to happening” in Kosovo either. (More)

Staunch friend to liberty and the West,

Saudi Arabia decrees all atheists are terrorists

in new law to crack down on political dissidents

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CBC falls for myth of news censorship in Venezuela

More than 90% of Venezuelian media is privately owned

CNN's Amanpour, State Dept.

and good old double standards

Christiane Amanpour is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. When George W.Bush launched the pointless and fruitless trillion dollar and more than one million dead attack on Iraq, CNN sent Amanapour to the battle zone. The party line was to present the assault as being as pristine as possible. She stood with microphone in hand talking to the CNN camera and said no oil wells had been set on fire. Meanwhile in the background were smokestacks from burning oil wells. On her third repeat the dimbulbs at CNN central woke up and said, "Uh . . . Christiane . . . thank you. We'll talk with you soon." Now she's at  it, not again, but just some more. Please read below. — Editor Carl Dow.

21 March 2014 — Christiane Amanpour called out RT’s Nastya Churkina on CNN, claiming she’d reported on her own father, as if that was some kind of journalistic sacrilege.

"And one more note: we continue to reach out to the Russian government for their comment, including officials such as UN Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin. We haven't had much luck, but perhaps people like Churkin feel they don't really have to leave their comfort zone,” Amanpour said Thursday in her show.

“Churkin’s own daughter is the US-based reporter for ‘Russia Today’ in New York. She's shown here, quizzing US State Department spokesman, Jen Psaki, over this whole Ukraine crisis. And in the past, she's even reported on her own father.”

Oh, these beautiful double standards! When you don’t know what to say, fall back on those standards at the double, as it were. But it is getting tedious and hard to stomach anymore. (More)

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About Abby Martin, Liz Wahl and media wars

Read to learn of a competitive media and click on the videos

06 March 2014 — I can see very clearly why I continue to work for a channel that stands alone (!) face-to-face with thousands and tens of thousands of Western news outlets, showing everybody the other side of the story, under daily attacks from the media against which it can hardly fight back. It’s my country. There is no other choice for me.

But the foreign journalists who work for RT across the globe do have a choice. Some of them might be asking themselves, “Why would I have to defend Russia at the expense of my career, my future, my reputation, why would I tolerate humiliation by my fellow journalists?” Few can say “Because I’m telling the truth, and there’s no one else to tell it.” Some will fail to find the answer and quietly resign. Others will perform their resignation on air in a self-promotional stunt, perhaps securing fantastic career prospects they wouldn’t have dreamt of before.

Standing out from the crowd is hard, sometimes unbearable. I wish the best of luck to those who can’t take it. To those who continue to do their best for RT, who know they are right even if the whole world says otherwise, I have to say I’m proud of you. Immensely Proud. (More)

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RT chief editor has 5 very serious answers

to 5 very serious questions from BuzzFeed

20 March 2014 — Remember the mainstream’s frothing over Liz Wahl’s resignation from RT? How she was feted by the networks, supported by the Beast, and embraced heartily by neo-con Russia-haters?

Turns out things might not be as spontaneous as they seem – in fact, in the paranoid world of neo-con American journalism things are very rarely spontaneous. They’re usually nasty, angry, ugly exchanges full of trolly self-righteous butthurt.

Rania Khalek & Max Blumenthal revealed that tweets, likely by mouthpiece Jamie Kirchick at the neo-con think-tank FPI, pre-empted Wahl’s RT stage exit. (More)

 

TruthDig.org

19 March 2014 — Six current employees of RT were interviewed for this investigation. All are Americans who made no secret of their qualms with the network’s coverage of Russia-related issues. Some said they bristled at an increasingly suffocating atmosphere rife with heavy-handed editorial imposition, while others in different positions at the network said they still enjoyed a modicum of independence. All insisted on speaking anonymously for fear of repercussions. Four of the sources were personally acquainted with Wahl and worked or interacted with her on a regular basis.

Each of those who knew her described her as apolitical.

“She’s never had a political bone in her body,” said one RT employee.

“Liz has always been apolitical and without any clear principles,” said another. “She didn’t talk about any politics outside of work.”

An RT employee who worked closely with Wahl added that Wahl rarely voiced objections about the network’s news coverage. “We do have editorial meetings in the morning to bring up questions comments or concerns, an opportunity Liz rarely took,” said the employee. (More)

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20 March 2014 — Images forge reality, granting a power to television and video and even still photographs that can burrow deep into people’s consciousness without them even knowing it. I thought that I, too, was immune to the repetitious portrayals of Venezuela as a failed state in the throes of a popular rebellion. But I wasn’t prepared for what I saw in Caracas this month: how little of daily life appeared to be affected by the protests, the normality that prevailed in the vast majority of the city. I, too, had been taken in by media imagery.

Major media outlets have already reported that Venezuela’s poor have not joined the right-wing opposition protests, but that is an understatement: it’s not just the poor who are abstaining – in Caracas, it’s almost everyone outside of a few rich areas like Altamira, where small groups of protesters engage in nightly battles with security forces, throwing rocks and firebombs and running from tear gas. (More)

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The Moscow Times

12 November 2013 — Neo-Nazi Maxim Martsinkevich, known to be the leader of a radical right-wing movement "Occupy Pedophilia" that targets and harasses gay men in Russia, announced Sunday he had left the country due to possible prosecution over a recent video.

 

Martsinkevich, also known as Tesak, or Machete, wrote on his VKontakte page Sunday he had left the country "on an urgent vacation" to Thailand to avoid being charged with extremism and face a possible two-year prison sentence. According to Martsinkevich, the authorities may charge him for a video he made in Ukraine last month, in which he humiliated and beat a gay Iraqi man that he found using his "honey trap" tactic.

 

The video was part of Martsinkevich's "Occupy Pedophilia" campaign, which lures young gay men to meetings with potential sexual partners, where they are abducted, abused and beaten by Martsinkevich's teenage followers before the incidents are posted to the Internet. (More)

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Science

Near miss: Enormous solar blast

could have devastated Earth in 2012

rt.com

20 March 2014 — Citizens of Earth had no idea how close the planet was to getting slammed with a devastating solar flare back in July 2012, but scientists claim we only missed the damaging event by nine days.

As noted by Reuters, scientists found that a series of coronal mass ejections – powerful eruptions on the sun’s surface that send waves of magnetized plasma through the solar system – occurred last year sometime between July 22 and 23. The blasts traveled through earth’ orbit, but narrowly missed colliding with the planet.

According to a new report published in the Nature Communications journal on Tuesday, if the solar eruptions occurred just nine days earlier, they would have likely hit earth and caused a great deal of damage to the planet’s magnetic field. Fortunately for us, the earth was on the other side of the sun by that point. (More)

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Health Watch
 
Crazy conspiracy theories about light bulbs

and then we see there are some real dangers

Top ten real estate deals in the United States

Hot Home News: Dean Martin, Elvis Presley & Pete Rose

In this week's Top 10 homes spotlight at TopTenRealEstateDeals.com, we take a look at the Los Angeles home over Sunset Strip where Dean Martin and John Lucas composed Martin’s Las Vegas shows - priced at $7.29 million.

Also, the Elvis & Priscilla Presley house they purchased in 1967 for $400,000 was recently flipped to an unnamed corporation for $14.5 million.

And, once again, Pete Rose won't be in the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, but Charlie Hustle is still hoping to score with his California home for sale at $2.15 million.

Dean Martin Sang Here

For 30 years, Dean Martin was among the most popular acts in Las Vegas. From his partnership with Jerry Lewis, when he was part of the Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Joey Bishop, in films, television and recordings, he was always the smooth, crooner with a drink in his hand, ad libbing with the audience and the band. Always giving the impression of a womanizer and a heavy boozer, the truth was that he was neither in his private life. Martin was a family man who, when not performing, was usually home with his wife and children. He was an attentive father and close to his kids, many of whom worked with him in various capacities in later years.

When preparing his Las Vegas shows, Martin worked with composer John Lucas at the piano in the living room of this house with its stunning views of Hollywood and Sunset Strip below. Built in 1957 and now for sale, this 5,376-square-foot home with the staggering view is at the end of a private cul de sac. It features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a master suite with private terrace and spa, chef’s kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances, granite, 148-bottle wine cooler, indoor BBQ and a large island with prep station. The main living area has 14-foot glass walls with 270-degree views from downtown to the Pacific Ocean. There are two fireplaces, a step-down living area with custom built-ins, flat screen TV and bar, the lower level has a swimming pool with waterfall overlooking the view, a fitness center, 6-person steam room and 8-person sauna. There is a high-tech audio-video system, electric blinds and automated Lutron light system and a one-bedroom, one-bath guest apartment with kitchen and separate entry.

The home where Dean Martin and John Lucas composed Martin’s Las Vegas shows, high above and overlooking Sunset Boulevard to the ocean. Priced at $7.29 million.

Elvis Presley 1960's Beverly Hills Home

The days of Elvis slouched on a well-worn overstuffed sofa with a plate stacked high with banana sandwiches on his lap are long over for this house that he and Priscilla bought for $400,000 when they were first married in 1967. Located in Trousdale Estates with spectacular views over Los Angeles, fans have been coming for years to write messages to Elvis on the garden gate door set into the front wall. But when Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton bought it in early 2013, the rumor was that he would tear it down and build a Beverly Hills super mansion. By November, Burger King made him an offer of $3.69 million. Fitting that at the time, Burger King was about to launch their Big King burger and in the offer to Morton, said they would preserve the house as was. Since Morton paid $9.8 million, it was no surprise that he didn’t accept.

During this time the idea that the house might be torn down brought the preservationists and Elvis fans out of the woodwork to launch steady protests. Finally giving up under pressure, Morton held back and just “gave the place a cosmetic makeover both inside and out,” according to The Real Estalker, with the intention of renting it for $45,000 a month. Morton just sold the property for $14.5 million, realizing a profit of $4.7 million in just one year. No word on what the new corporate buyer will do with the house.

Morton purchased home for $9.8 million, paying $3.2 million under the asking price. Elvis & Priscilla bought the Trousdale Estates house in 1967 for $400,000. Just flipped to an unnamed corporation for $14.5 million.

Play Ball - Pete Rose Home

With the opening day of the baseball season starting this year in Australia, it will also be a big year in Cooperstown with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre entering the Baseball Hall of Fame. One person who won’t be inducted this year is Pete Rose. It’s now been a 24-year, ongoing brouhaha over Pete Rose’s gambling on the Cincinnati Reds games while he was the team’s manager. Despite considerable support from current baseball hall of famers, players and fans, Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader, 17-time all star, MVP and one of its most exciting players ever is still banned from the Hall of Fame.

Now a resident of Las Vegas, the home that Pete Rose bought in 1999 in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles is on the market. Sited on a quarter acre lot, the home consists of 4,719 square feet with six bedrooms and five baths. Also included are family room, formal dining, study-office, 3-car garage and gourmet kosher eat-in kitchen. The master bedroom has a large balcony overlooking the backyard pool and spa and the covered rear patio has an outdoor kitchen and bar for entertaining.

Sherman Oaks home of baseball star Pete Rose is for sale, listed at $2.15 million.

Real estate is never boring at TopTenRealEstateDeals. Check out today's most entertaining and unusual real estate news stories of the week. News such as Donald Trump's Fort Lauderdale lawsuit victory, the Magnum P.I. Hawaii house, and McMansions are getting even bigger.   

Contact:
Terry Walsh
Marketing Coordinator
terry@toptenrealestatedeals.com

 

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