Obituary: Johan van Hulst, the teacher who saved Jewish children – BBC News
wild
Category: Europe,
State Department spokeswoman uses D-Day as an example of long relationship with Germany
A top State Department spokesperson referenced the D-Day invasion during World War II as an example of the United States’ strong ties to Germany.
Well, stupid is as stupid does….
Trump wants to impose total ban on luxury German cars
Trump to impose total ban on luxury German cars: report | TheHill
what’s the German word for asshat?
Photographing the Abandoned Homes Above the Arctic Circle (PHOTOS)
Bye explained that rural areas in Scandinavia are facing depopulation due to the decline of farming. Many young people flock to the cities, leaving behind the rural way of life. Bye says many of the former farms have become vacation homes or are just abandoned. She said the homes give her a nostalgic, melancholic feeling, which is conveyed in her photos above.
“The feeling you get when surrounded by mountains so steep and tall and an ocean so crystal clear and turquoise blue, it makes you feel incredibly small and in awe,” she said. “It’s also very appealing to photograph abandonment in those surroundings— the weathered look of the houses are in direct correspondence with the mighty nature surrounding them.”
Photographing the Abandoned Homes Above the Arctic Circle (PHOTOS) | The Weather Channel
very cool
Scientists Have Found Cave Art That May Be From Neanderthals
The painted caves were discovered in Spain. The walls were the canvasses, and the paintings are bold and clearly not some kind of smeary accident. The paint used was red ochre, from soil mixed with water.
One geometric design looks like part of a ladder, forming rectangles. There are stencils where someone pressed a hand up against the wall and then apparently blew liquid ochre over it. Someone painted swirls of bright red dots and patches onto flowing curtains of stalactites that hang from the cave ceilings.
…New tests on the rock and calcium carbonate that formed over parts of the ochre show that they were painted 65,000 years ago. That’s about 20,000 years before the first modern humans got there.
“The only species that were around at that time were Neanderthals,” explains Alistair Pike, an archaeologist from the University of Southampton in England who was part of the team that did the work. “So, therefore, the paintings must’ve been made by them.”
Scientists Have Found Cave Art That May Be From Neanderthals : Shots – Health News : NPR
cool
John Kerry quietly seeking to salvage Iran deal he helped craft – The Boston Globe
[Kerry] sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings.
…Kerry also met last month with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and he’s been on the phone with top European Union official Federica Mogherini, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal the private meetings. Kerry has also met with French President Emmanuel Macron in both Paris and New York, conversing over the details of sanctions and regional nuclear threats in both French and English.
…Kerry is coordinating his push with a group of officials who were his top advisers at the State Department, and who helped craft and negotiate the Iran deal in the first place. The group, called Diplomacy Works, has an advisory council that includes lead Iran-deal negotiator Wendy Sherman, former State Department chief of staff Jon Finer, and former spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
…Kerry supporters see in this campaign some of his trademark traits, especially his unflagging energy even in the face of potential failure. Critics see something else, a former office holder working with foreign officials to potentially undermine the policy aims of a current administration.
…The Logan Act prohibits US citizens from having private correspondence with a foreign government “with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government . . . in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States.”
Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas, said the law is a red herring — since it’s never been used to prosecute anyone — and almost certainly would not apply to anything Kerry is doing.
“The act only applies to conduct that is designed to ‘defeat the measures of the United States’ or influence the conduct of foreign governments,” Vladeck said. “If all Kerry is doing is working to keep in place something that’s still technically a ‘measure of the United States,’ I don’t see how the statute would apply even if someone was crazy enough to try it.”
John Kerry quietly seeking to salvage Iran deal he helped craft – The Boston Globe
hmmm
Montenegro votes for new leader with pro-Western veteran tipped to win
Victory for the European future of Montenegro,” said the pro-Western economist who led Montenegro to independence from Serbia in 2016 and into NATO last year.
Djukanovic wants to develop the predominantly Orthodox Balkan nation, a part of which has strong pro-Russia sympathies, by joining the EU.
Montenegro votes for new leader with pro-Western veteran tipped to win
hmmm
Jeremy Corbyn, the U.K. Labour Leader, Was In Three Secret Anti-Semitic Facebook Groups
The left-wing leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has been condemned as “a figurehead for anti-Semitism” by Jewish leaders after a steady drip of reports over the past weeks revealed that he was a member of three secret Facebook groups where people shared anti-Jewish conspiracies and propaganda, including one post where Corbyn directly criticized the removal of anti-Semitic graffiti.
…At the beginning of March he was revealed to have been in a group where terms such as “ZioNazi” were used and conspiracy theories about Jewish involvement in 9/11 were shared among members. U.K. politics blog Guido Fawkes has since revealed Corbyn’s membership of two further groups where people shared offensive anti-Semitic content.
Jeremy Corbyn, the U.K. Labour Leader, Was In Three Secret Anti-Semitic Facebook Groups
hmmmm
Cambridge Analytica misled MPs over work for Leave.EU
Cambridge Analytica conducted data research for one of the leading Brexit campaign groups and then misled the public and MPs over the work the company had undertaken, according to a former employee who has spoken to the Guardian.
In an exclusive interview, Brittany Kaiser, Cambridge Analytica’s business development director until two weeks ago, said the work with Leave.EU involved analysis of data provided by Ukip.
Cambridge Analytica misled MPs over work for Leave.EU, says ex-director | News | The Guardian
hmmm
Former Brexit volunteer alleges campaign ‘cheated’
Shahmir Sanni told Channel 4 that the organization “Vote Leave” coordinated spending over the legal limit, using a Canadian data firm called Aggregate IQ, otherwise known as AIQ. British election law enforces a spending cap on donations, which includes when groups coordinate donations.
…Sanni claims a donation of £625,000 by Vote Leave to another Brexit group, “BeLeave,” was funneled to AIQ.
…Channel 4 says it has seen documents that it claims show multiple ties between AIQ and Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL.
Former Brexit volunteer alleges campaign ‘cheated’ – CNNPolitics
hmmmm
Investigators raid Cambridge Analytica’s London offices
Elizabeth Denham, head of the ICO, sought the warrant after a whistleblower said Cambridge Analytica had gathered private information of 50 million Facebook users to support Donald Trump’s 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
Britain is investigating whether Facebook, the world’s largest social media network, did enough to protect data.
…U.S. and European lawmakers have demanded an explanation of how the British consulting firm gained access to the data in 2014 and why Facebook failed to inform its users, raising broader industry questions about consumer privacy.
Investigators raid Cambridge Analytica’s London offices | VentureBeat
hmmmmm
Martina Navratilova gets paid a tenth of John McEnroe’s salary for tennis commentating
Tennis star Martina Navratilova has claimed she gets paid a mere tenth of John McEnroe’s salary for her work as a commentator at Wimbledon.
Speaking on BBC Panorama, the Czech tennis champion—who’s considered among the best female tennis players of all time— revealed that she gets paid about £15K ($21K) for her role as a Wimbledon commentator, while John McEnroe earns £150K ($209K) for the same work.
…”Gender isn’t a factor,” the BBC concluded.
Martina Navratilova gets paid a tenth of John McEnroe’s salary for tennis commentating
Of course it’s a factor.
…And fuck you BBC for being such dinosaurs.
Man Says He’s Not Dead. Court Doesn’t Buy It
The Turkish government deported him in January for having expired documents, sending him back to a Romania he says he hadn’t seen since the late 1990s.
And you can imagine his surprise when, upon his return, he found out he died back in 2003. There was an official death certificate registered by his wife and everything.
…On Thursday, a court in the city of Vaslui rejected his bid to get the death certificate overturned, despite the fact that he appeared in person to plead his case. Reliu had no case to stand on, the court ruled, because his appeal was filed too late.
Man Says He’s Not Dead. Court Doesn’t Buy It : The Two-Way : NPR
Huh, whaaaaaa?
UK, US, Germany and France unite to condemn spy attack
The leaders of Britain, the US, Germany and France have released a joint statement strongly condemning the Salisbury nerve agent attack as “an assault on UK sovereignty” and saying it is highly likely Russia was behind it.
The rare united comment from Theresa May, Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, released by Downing Street, follows extensive UK efforts to drum up international support for its response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
UK, US, Germany and France unite to condemn spy attack | UK news | The Guardian
hmmmm
UK to expel 23 Russian diplomats
Theresa May said the diplomats, who have a week to leave, were identified as “undeclared intelligence officers”.
The UK later told the UN Security Council that Russia had used “a weapon so horrific that it is banned in war” in a “peaceful” British city.
…Moscow refused to meet Mrs May’s midnight deadline to co-operate in the case, prompting Mrs May to announce a series of measures intended to send a “clear message” to Russia.
These include:
– Expelling 23 diplomats
– Increasing checks on private flights, customs and freight
– Freezing Russian state assets where there is evidence they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents
– Ministers and the Royal Family boycotting the Fifa World Cup in Russia later this year
– Suspending all planned high-level bilateral contacts between the UK and Russia
– Plans to consider new laws to increase defences against “hostile state activity”
Mrs May told MPs that Russia had provided “no explanation” as to how the nerve agent came to be used in the UK, describing Moscow’s response as one of “sarcasm, contempt and defiance.”
Russian spy: UK to expel 23 Russian diplomats – BBC News
hmmm
Prosecutors Reviewing Request to Issue Arrest Warrant for Trump’s New CIA Director
Federal prosecutors in Munich are currently reviewing a request to issue an arrest warrant for Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump‘s recently named director of the Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”).
…On June 6, 2017, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (“ECCHR”) initiated a request for legal action against Haspel by filing an intervention with the German Federal Public Prosecutor, the foremost law enforcement authority in the Federal Republic of Germany.
…ECCHR’s legal intervention was made by way of a 6-page document titled, “CIA Torture: Submission on Gina Haspel to German Federal Prosecutor.”
Prosecutors Reviewing Request to Issue Arrest Warrant for Trump’s New CIA Director
hmmm
‘Let them call you racists,’ Bannon tells far-right French party
National Front leader Marine Le Pen is working to unite her divided party and bolster her ability to lead it as the party meets for the first time since she lost resoundingly to Emmanuel Macron in the final round of the French presidential election last May.
Macron won with 66% of the vote vs. 34% for Le Pen, who had threatened to curb immigration and pull France out of the European Union, among other measures.
Macron’s victory followed defeats for right-wing populist candidates in Austria and the Netherlands and was largely seen as a counter to the anti-establishment fervor sweeping Europe.
[in light of those realities Bannon’s advice to the crowd seems simply delusional]
Bannon told the crowd, “Let them call you racists. Let them call you xenophobes. Let them call you nativists,” The Post reported. “Wear it as a badge of honor. Because every day, we get stronger and they get weaker.”
Steve Bannon addresses French far-right party
Good lord!
Comments From The Peanut Gallery 