🐱 Interesting clickbait, op-eds, fluff pieces and other smaller stories
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CatParty
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- Sep 19, 2013
Little League Parent Volunteer Stole Almost $300K From Kids, Spent $50K On Fast Food
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – A parent volunteer who stole almost $300,000 from the Mansfield Youth Baseball Association (MYBA) was sentenced to 8 years in prison, and restitution payments.
Jennifer Sue Witteveen, 52, of Arlington first began volunteering for the non-profit association when her child was playing baseball with MYBA. As the association’s treasurer, between January 2012 and July 2018 she illegally used her access to make unauthorized cash withdrawals and write fraudulent checks, which eventually added up to more than $295,000.
“This defendant took advantage of her leadership position in a non-profit organization that was supposed to be all about helping kids and making the city of Mansfield a great place for children to grow up,” said White Collar unit prosecutor Johnny Newbern. “Instead, she lined her own pockets.”
Jennifer Sue Witteveen, 52, of Arlington (courtesy: Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office)
When Witteveen’s theft was discovered, she claimed she stole the money to pay for family medical bills, but a forensic accounting analysis showed that she spent only 2% of the funds on medical costs, while spending much higher amounts on non-essentials such as $22,000 on Amazon purchases and almost $50,000 on fast food and restaurants.
Witteveen pled guilty to the charge of Theft of Property, $150,000 – $300,000. Normally a 2nd degree felony, the charge was enhanced to a 1st degree because the victim organization was a non-profit. Following a hearing, Witteveen was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Judge Elizabeth Beach also accepted the prosecution’s recommendation that Witteveen’s parole be conditional on her making restitution payments to the association.
“Every dollar she took could have had a real impact on children in our community. That’s something that cannot be repaid,” said Newbern. “I am proud of our system for ensuring that justice was served.”
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – A parent volunteer who stole almost $300,000 from the Mansfield Youth Baseball Association (MYBA) was sentenced to 8 years in prison, and restitution payments.
Jennifer Sue Witteveen, 52, of Arlington first began volunteering for the non-profit association when her child was playing baseball with MYBA. As the association’s treasurer, between January 2012 and July 2018 she illegally used her access to make unauthorized cash withdrawals and write fraudulent checks, which eventually added up to more than $295,000.
“This defendant took advantage of her leadership position in a non-profit organization that was supposed to be all about helping kids and making the city of Mansfield a great place for children to grow up,” said White Collar unit prosecutor Johnny Newbern. “Instead, she lined her own pockets.”
Jennifer Sue Witteveen, 52, of Arlington (courtesy: Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office)
When Witteveen’s theft was discovered, she claimed she stole the money to pay for family medical bills, but a forensic accounting analysis showed that she spent only 2% of the funds on medical costs, while spending much higher amounts on non-essentials such as $22,000 on Amazon purchases and almost $50,000 on fast food and restaurants.
Witteveen pled guilty to the charge of Theft of Property, $150,000 – $300,000. Normally a 2nd degree felony, the charge was enhanced to a 1st degree because the victim organization was a non-profit. Following a hearing, Witteveen was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Judge Elizabeth Beach also accepted the prosecution’s recommendation that Witteveen’s parole be conditional on her making restitution payments to the association.
“Every dollar she took could have had a real impact on children in our community. That’s something that cannot be repaid,” said Newbern. “I am proud of our system for ensuring that justice was served.”
Aib Ld
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2017
Men should be allowed to donate their sperm after death, experts suggest
I have nothing witty to say about this.
I have nothing witty to say about this.
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2019
This means that the recipient of Dsp's couch can, for some reason, continue his bloodline
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2018
President Trump tells Greta Thunberg to fuck off. 
We're clean and beautiful': Trump tells Greta Thunberg to save climate advice for other countries
John Gage
President Trump touted the environmental health of the United States while blasting teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"We want to have the cleanest water on earth. We want to have the cleanest air on earth," the president said during a Wednesday news conference after he was asked about Thunberg. "Our numbers, as you saw, we had record numbers come out very recently. Our numbers are very, very good. Our environmental numbers, our water numbers, our numbers on air are tremendous."
"We're clean and beautiful," Trump added, but said things need to be done to clean up other countries. "You have another continent where the fumes are rising at levels that you can't believe. I mean, I think Greta ought to focus on those places."
© Provided by Washington Examiner
Trump also said during the press conference that he "would have loved to have seen" Thunberg speak at the conference. He additionally mentioned that "she beat me out on Time magazine" in reference to her being recognized as the 2019 "Person of the Year."
On Tuesday, the president said at the conference that he did not know "anything about" the climate activist but called her a "very angry person." He has previously ripped her on social media, saying last month that she "must work on her anger management problem."
We're clean and beautiful': Trump tells Greta Thunberg to save climate advice for other countries
John Gage
President Trump touted the environmental health of the United States while blasting teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"We want to have the cleanest water on earth. We want to have the cleanest air on earth," the president said during a Wednesday news conference after he was asked about Thunberg. "Our numbers, as you saw, we had record numbers come out very recently. Our numbers are very, very good. Our environmental numbers, our water numbers, our numbers on air are tremendous."
"We're clean and beautiful," Trump added, but said things need to be done to clean up other countries. "You have another continent where the fumes are rising at levels that you can't believe. I mean, I think Greta ought to focus on those places."
Trump also said during the press conference that he "would have loved to have seen" Thunberg speak at the conference. He additionally mentioned that "she beat me out on Time magazine" in reference to her being recognized as the 2019 "Person of the Year."
On Tuesday, the president said at the conference that he did not know "anything about" the climate activist but called her a "very angry person." He has previously ripped her on social media, saying last month that she "must work on her anger management problem."
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2018
President Trump tells Greta Thunberg to fuck off.
We're clean and beautiful': Trump tells Greta Thunberg to save climate advice for other countries
John Gage
President Trump touted the environmental health of the United States while blasting teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"We want to have the cleanest water on earth. We want to have the cleanest air on earth," the president said during a Wednesday news conference after he was asked about Thunberg. "Our numbers, as you saw, we had record numbers come out very recently. Our numbers are very, very good. Our environmental numbers, our water numbers, our numbers on air are tremendous."
"We're clean and beautiful," Trump added, but said things need to be done to clean up other countries. "You have another continent where the fumes are rising at levels that you can't believe. I mean, I think Greta ought to focus on those places."
© Provided by Washington Examiner
Trump also said during the press conference that he "would have loved to have seen" Thunberg speak at the conference. He additionally mentioned that "she beat me out on Time magazine" in reference to her being recognized as the 2019 "Person of the Year."
On Tuesday, the president said at the conference that he did not know "anything about" the climate activist but called her a "very angry person." He has previously ripped her on social media, saying last month that she "must work on her anger management problem."
At least ideology drives the socialist, a hatred of greed. The environmentalist hates humanity itself and all of its labors and feels that this nihilism is somehow enlightened.
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2019
Little League Parent Volunteer Stole Almost $300K From Kids, Spent $50K On Fast Food
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – A parent volunteer who stole almost $300,000 from the Mansfield Youth Baseball Association (MYBA) was sentenced to 8 years in prison, and restitution payments.
Jennifer Sue Witteveen, 52, of Arlington first began volunteering for the non-profit association when her child was playing baseball with MYBA. As the association’s treasurer, between January 2012 and July 2018 she illegally used her access to make unauthorized cash withdrawals and write fraudulent checks, which eventually added up to more than $295,000.
“This defendant took advantage of her leadership position in a non-profit organization that was supposed to be all about helping kids and making the city of Mansfield a great place for children to grow up,” said White Collar unit prosecutor Johnny Newbern. “Instead, she lined her own pockets.”
Jennifer Sue Witteveen, 52, of Arlington (courtesy: Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office)
When Witteveen’s theft was discovered, she claimed she stole the money to pay for family medical bills, but a forensic accounting analysis showed that she spent only 2% of the funds on medical costs, while spending much higher amounts on non-essentials such as $22,000 on Amazon purchases and almost $50,000 on fast food and restaurants.
Witteveen pled guilty to the charge of Theft of Property, $150,000 – $300,000. Normally a 2nd degree felony, the charge was enhanced to a 1st degree because the victim organization was a non-profit. Following a hearing, Witteveen was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Judge Elizabeth Beach also accepted the prosecution’s recommendation that Witteveen’s parole be conditional on her making restitution payments to the association.
“Every dollar she took could have had a real impact on children in our community. That’s something that cannot be repaid,” said Newbern. “I am proud of our system for ensuring that justice was served.”
Gratuitous "That's a MAN, baby!"
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2016
Changed vote from Islamic to Like because of the Læstadian reference, that's a deep cut.
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
Sask. RCMP releases annual list of worst 'emergency' calls
One person reported fiance for not helping with wedding planning
CBC News · Posted: Jan 23, 2020 4:10 PM CT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago
Sask. RCMP have released the last list of calls that should not have gone to 911. (Dan Taekema/CBC)
6
comments
Saskatchewan RCMP's annual #ReasonsToNotCall911 campaign rolled out this week.
Its goal of the annual list is to highlight situations where calling 911 is not appropriate.
One 2019 caller wanted to know whether a potato would be considered a weapon in a fight.
Another person called 911 to report that their fiance was not helping with wedding planning.
Other highlights included:
- Someone reporting that their "personal intimate device" had been taken, but that the thief had left the container behind.
- A person inquiring whether throwing a pickle at someone would get them arrested.
- Someone asking 911 to pick up their medication because they could not reach their pharmacy over the telephone.
- A woman who called 911 and asked them to come help her reach something from the top shelf in her home.
- One person found a "quite large insect" in their toilet. They called 911 to have RCMP help them remove it.
"I just think the proper use of 911 when there's an actual emergency, all of the things that we include in our list were not actual emergencies. In fact most of aren't even police matters," King said.
"Every phone call that comes in, it takes time. Even if you determine right away that it's not something important, you may be on the phone with someone for three, four, or five, or 10 minutes. So that's taking time away."
RCMP wants remind everyone thatl 911 is only for life-threatening emergencies.
You can also call 311 to report to your local RCMP detachment centre if you have a complaint or emergency.
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2013
BC RCMP should release their calls. I'm sure the top 9/10 are Yaniv. The other one is Miriam screeching in heavily accented english about brown people harassing her beautiful transgender son.
Sask. RCMP releases annual list of worst 'emergency' calls
One person reported fiance for not helping with wedding planning
CBC News · Posted: Jan 23, 2020 4:10 PM CT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago
Sask. RCMP have released the last list of calls that should not have gone to 911. (Dan Taekema/CBC)
6
comments
Saskatchewan RCMP's annual #ReasonsToNotCall911 campaign rolled out this week.
Its goal of the annual list is to highlight situations where calling 911 is not appropriate.
One 2019 caller wanted to know whether a potato would be considered a weapon in a fight.
Another person called 911 to report that their fiance was not helping with wedding planning.
Other highlights included:
RCMP spokesperson Rob King said that while some of these calls may be funny, they clog up the lines, something that could be trouble when actual life threatening situations happen.
- Someone reporting that their "personal intimate device" had been taken, but that the thief had left the container behind.
- A person inquiring whether throwing a pickle at someone would get them arrested.
- Someone asking 911 to pick up their medication because they could not reach their pharmacy over the telephone.
- A woman who called 911 and asked them to come help her reach something from the top shelf in her home.
- One person found a "quite large insect" in their toilet. They called 911 to have RCMP help them remove it.
"I just think the proper use of 911 when there's an actual emergency, all of the things that we include in our list were not actual emergencies. In fact most of aren't even police matters," King said.
"Every phone call that comes in, it takes time. Even if you determine right away that it's not something important, you may be on the phone with someone for three, four, or five, or 10 minutes. So that's taking time away."
RCMP wants remind everyone thatl 911 is only for life-threatening emergencies.
You can also call 311 to report to your local RCMP detachment centre if you have a complaint or emergency.
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2018
The married couple who created a wacky sex button went on 'Shark Tank' and the investors didn't understand why it even exists
LoveSync, a device that lets you silently indicate to your partner you're in the mood for sex, went viral in 2019 and was heavily mocked online.
web.archive.org
This seems like a complete waste of money. The only thing I can think it’s good for is as a joke present.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2019
I remember seeing this when it aired and wondering why a therapist would encourage couples to not communicate (which is an important part of relationships especially when it comes to sex) and instead use a passive aggressive fuck button. It's so stupid and the guy clearly gets angrier and angrier the more the sharks point out how stupid it is.
The married couple who created a wacky sex button went on 'Shark Tank' and the investors didn't understand why it even exists
LoveSync, a device that lets you silently indicate to your partner you're in the mood for sex, went viral in 2019 and was heavily mocked online.
This seems like a complete waste of money. The only thing I can think it’s good for is as a joke present.
- Joined
- May 2, 2017
Massachusetts serial pooper arrested after police catch her defecating in parking lot: reports
A Massachusetts woman accused of defecating in the parking lot of local Natick store for several months was arrested Wednesday after she was caught in the act by a police officer, reports say.
Massachusetts serial pooper arrested after police catch her defecating in parking lot: reports
A Massachusetts woman accused of defecating in the parking lot of a local Natick store for months was arrested Wednesday after she was caught in the act, reports say.
Andrea Grocer, 51, was charged with eight counts of wanton destruction property after a Natick police officer said he saw her defecating outside the Natick Outdoor Store around 7 a.m., WYCN reported.
Police were first alerted to the serial pooper in December when Henry Kanner, the store’s owner, reported human feces there on eight separate occasions since October.
Police began investigating, initially believing it might be an animal, but then found “toilet paper and other wipes," Natick Police Department spokeswoman Lt. Cara Rossi told The Metrowest Daily News.
An officer was patrolling the parking lot Wednesday when he spotted Grocer waiting for the lot to clear, opening the driver’s side door of her Lincoln MKX and defecating out the door, WYCN reported.
Grocer was pulled over after driving off and told police that she was on her way to a home up the street where she worked as a nanny, but stopped because she has irritable bowel syndrome, according to the arrest report.
Her employer told police, however, that Grocer had access to their restroom. This, coupled with the length of time that passed with Grocer in the lot, led to her arrest.
“I’m so happy they arrested her,” Kanner told Metrowest. “I have no idea who she is. This has been ongoing. She has defecated quite often over here. There’s nothing more disgusting coming into your parking lot in the morning and seeing a pile of human excrement.”
Grocer was released without bail and is due back in court on March 2.
Andrea Grocer, 51, was charged with eight counts of wanton destruction property after a Natick police officer said he saw her defecating outside the Natick Outdoor Store around 7 a.m., WYCN reported.
Police were first alerted to the serial pooper in December when Henry Kanner, the store’s owner, reported human feces there on eight separate occasions since October.
Police began investigating, initially believing it might be an animal, but then found “toilet paper and other wipes," Natick Police Department spokeswoman Lt. Cara Rossi told The Metrowest Daily News.
An officer was patrolling the parking lot Wednesday when he spotted Grocer waiting for the lot to clear, opening the driver’s side door of her Lincoln MKX and defecating out the door, WYCN reported.
Grocer was pulled over after driving off and told police that she was on her way to a home up the street where she worked as a nanny, but stopped because she has irritable bowel syndrome, according to the arrest report.
Her employer told police, however, that Grocer had access to their restroom. This, coupled with the length of time that passed with Grocer in the lot, led to her arrest.
“I’m so happy they arrested her,” Kanner told Metrowest. “I have no idea who she is. This has been ongoing. She has defecated quite often over here. There’s nothing more disgusting coming into your parking lot in the morning and seeing a pile of human excrement.”
Grocer was released without bail and is due back in court on March 2.
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2019
This story suggests that there could be an athletic connection..Massachusetts serial pooper arrested after police catch her defecating in parking lot: reports
A Massachusetts woman accused of defecating in the parking lot of local Natick store for several months was arrested Wednesday after she was caught in the act by a police officer, reports say.www.foxnews.com
Massachusetts serial pooper arrested after police catch her defecating in parking lot: reports
A Massachusetts woman accused of defecating in the parking lot of a local Natick store for months was arrested Wednesday after she was caught in the act, reports say.
Andrea Grocer, 51, was charged with eight counts of wanton destruction property after a Natick police officer said he saw her defecating outside the Natick Outdoor Store around 7 a.m., WYCN reported.
Police were first alerted to the serial pooper in December when Henry Kanner, the store’s owner, reported human feces there on eight separate occasions since October.
Police began investigating, initially believing it might be an animal, but then found “toilet paper and other wipes," Natick Police Department spokeswoman Lt. Cara Rossi told The Metrowest Daily News.
An officer was patrolling the parking lot Wednesday when he spotted Grocer waiting for the lot to clear, opening the driver’s side door of her Lincoln MKX and defecating out the door, WYCN reported.
Grocer was pulled over after driving off and told police that she was on her way to a home up the street where she worked as a nanny, but stopped because she has irritable bowel syndrome, according to the arrest report.
Her employer told police, however, that Grocer had access to their restroom. This, coupled with the length of time that passed with Grocer in the lot, led to her arrest.
“I’m so happy they arrested her,” Kanner told Metrowest. “I have no idea who she is. This has been ongoing. She has defecated quite often over here. There’s nothing more disgusting coming into your parking lot in the morning and seeing a pile of human excrement.”
Grocer was released without bail and is due back in court on March 2.
View attachment 1113158
https://archive.is/ghSta
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2018
Good op-ed re Western Europe becoming increasingly Harry-ized.
The only European countries that seem to have the will to do something are the UK, Poland, and the other former Warsaw Pact nations. The Warsaw Pact nations vividly remember what it was like under the Russians. Even Albania sent troops to the Middle East in support of the mission. The Western Europeans seem to act like Harry the Eunuch, someone has their balls, taken in the name of political correctness. They need to remember their history. Situations never last forever. Things can change quickly.
https://amgreatness.com/2020/01/23/europe-fusses-and-fidgets-while-trump-defends-america/
Europe Fusses and Fidgets While Trump Defends America
The United States will pursue its interests and will reciprocate allied support, but not write a blank check for every country that asks.
Conrad Black January 23, 2020
The response to America’s killing of Iranian terrorist chief General Qassem Soleimani illustrates again how useless the Western alliance has become, and how correct this administration is to have defined U.S. national security interests and deployed forces adequate to maintain those interests itself.
The reaction of Europe to the Soleimani incident has been one of urgent and uniform official calls for “de-escalation.” British foreign secretary Domenic Raab at least managed the assertion that the U.K. was “on the same page” as the United States, confirming that the fundamental interests of the British and Americans remain closely aligned, as they have been for 80 years, since the elevation of Winston Churchill as prime minister in the midst of the greatest crisis in British history. The only noteworthy interruption of that alignment was the Suez episode in 1956, which was an outburst of insanity by Britain and France. Britain changed prime ministers (from Anthony Eden to Harold MacMillan) and Anglo-American relations swiftly returned to cordiality, where they have remained, cresting with the close cooperation between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the satisfactory conclusion of the Cold War.
But the rest of the Western alliance wrung its hands over Soleimani.
The French, who at least retain the mentality of a great power, possess a nuclear military capability and periodically intervene in their former colonies in Africa to reduce uncontrolled bloodletting, have called for “restraint.”
Germany possesses the economy and talent to be the third-most powerful country in the world, but lacks the will. Horrified still by the enormities it committed in plunging the world into two world wars and the unspeakable wickedness of Nazi genocide and military barbarity, it recoils from the role that beckons it. The Germans oscillate between the coziness of the Western alliance and the European Union, and unease with American leadership. After the death of Soleimani, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said he would speak to Iran, urged de-escalation, and said he would “redeploy” Germany’s 120 instructors in Iraq to keep them out of harm’s way. He also had the effrontery to urge the United States to accept the nonbinding vote of the scantily attended Iraqi parliament and withdraw from that country.
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, who is normally fairly robust, also chirped away from the Euro-song sheet about de-escalation. It was abject relativism: two morally equivalent disputants. Apart from hints from the British, there was not an audible word from the many countries in NATO in outright support of the American action, though the Western alliance supposedly is held together by NATO’s Article 5, which states that an attack upon one is an attack upon all (though the subsequent article holds that each country will determine for itself how to respond to such an attack).
The day following that outrage, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, advised his fellow worshipers that “There isn’t a damn thing [Trump] can do about it.” All the European governments knew that Soleimani was one of the world’s foremost terrorists, morally indistinguishable from Osama bin Laden and ISIS “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi apart from the practically irrelevant fact that he wore an Iranian military uniform.
It was somewhat like the desperate complaints in 1986 at the U.S. airstrike on Libya after the Libyans had blown up a bar in West Berlin, killing a number of American soldiers. Margaret Thatcher had to suppress in her cabinet opposition to allowing use of American airbases in England for the mission by pointing out that an alliance based on the proposition that the United States could have the great honor of guaranteeing Western Europe’s security but couldn’t use its own airbases in Europe to respond to terrorist outrages would not have much life as an alliance. The Americans had to fly around France and Spain to get to their target in any case.
We are back to the same point, an “alliance of the willing,” as it became after the end of the Cold War.
Joffe is critical of Europe for its weakness, despite its considerable military forces (substantially increased under pressure from the Trump Administration) and its economic strength. He imputes to Europe’s leaders a pervasive irresolution and a paralyzing fear of Iran’s ability to incite terrorist incidents on the continent. But even Joffe proclaimed: “America, thy name is capriciousness,” and accused President Trump of unpredictable and arbitrary lurches of policy, and cites Trump’s passivity after the Iranian attack on Saudi oil installations in 2019.
In fact, Trump has been perfectly consistent: the United States will respond to attacks upon it, not attacks upon allies who can defend themselves, other than in cooperation with the offended parties. Saudi Arabia, in any case, is not the sort of regime that the United States can easily go to the mat for, other than to prevent the House of Saud from being replaced by something radically worse.
The Europeans fussed and fidgeted when Trump withdrew 400 Americans from an impossible position between the Turkish army and the uninhibited PKK Kurdish semi-terrorist militia, but declined to furnish any forces for such a challenging mission themselves. Even the relatively sensible Spectator in London denounced the Soleimani killing as unjust because Soleimani was trying to negotiate arrangements with Saudi Arabia, and a diplomatic disaster because of pan-Sunni hostility and the unifying impact of Soleimani’s killing on Iran. We saw how “unified” Iran was with the immense demonstrations against its corrupt theocracy after it admitted to having shot down a Ukrainian airliner three days later.
The Trump Administration is perfectly consistent: it confronts and contains countries that threaten it, as America did with Nazi Germany, upon which Franklin Roosevelt effectively waged war without declaring it, and as it did with the Soviet Union. America will remain in alliances where the other powers pull their weight, but will not be treated like a great St. Bernard which does the heavy work and takes the risks and pays the costs while useless allies try to hold the leash and give instructions. Europe is not under any threat from Russia, and France and Britain alone could deter Russia in nuclear terms. The Europeans are making only the feeblest gestures against the criminal regime in Tehran.
Europe has completely forgotten Bismarck’s aphorism that disputes between countries are ultimately settled by “blood and iron.” When Iran shouted of revenge after the death of Soleimani, Trump said any reprisal would be responded to “immediately and disproportionately.” This the Iranians understood. Their revenge was a fireworks display designed to avoid American casualties.
The United States needs to give Russia an incentive not to deliver itself like a new bride to China, and needs to exploit rivalries between Turkey and Iran, not unite them. It is happy to promote an understanding between Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Israel, now that the incursions of the ancient Arab enemies, Turkey and Persia, make those states natural allies, and the Palestinian red herring has been all but abandoned. It was never much more than a distraction of the Arab masses from the misgovernment they were receiving.
Europe can dream on. Presumably, it will awaken from its torpor eventually, and its relations with the United States need not be abrasive. The alliance should continue, but can’t be counted on for much unless Europe is threatened. Clearly, Trump and Boris Johnson get on well and their countries will effect a commercial rapprochement post-Brexit. This will be, as it has been these 80 years, a good thing for the world. Trump told Theresa May when they first met that “A strong and independent Britain is a blessing to the world,” but she didn’t listen.
The United States will pursue its interests and will reciprocate allied support, but not write a blank check for every country that asks for it.
The only European countries that seem to have the will to do something are the UK, Poland, and the other former Warsaw Pact nations. The Warsaw Pact nations vividly remember what it was like under the Russians. Even Albania sent troops to the Middle East in support of the mission. The Western Europeans seem to act like Harry the Eunuch, someone has their balls, taken in the name of political correctness. They need to remember their history. Situations never last forever. Things can change quickly.
https://amgreatness.com/2020/01/23/europe-fusses-and-fidgets-while-trump-defends-america/
Europe Fusses and Fidgets While Trump Defends America
The United States will pursue its interests and will reciprocate allied support, but not write a blank check for every country that asks.
Conrad Black January 23, 2020
The response to America’s killing of Iranian terrorist chief General Qassem Soleimani illustrates again how useless the Western alliance has become, and how correct this administration is to have defined U.S. national security interests and deployed forces adequate to maintain those interests itself.
The reaction of Europe to the Soleimani incident has been one of urgent and uniform official calls for “de-escalation.” British foreign secretary Domenic Raab at least managed the assertion that the U.K. was “on the same page” as the United States, confirming that the fundamental interests of the British and Americans remain closely aligned, as they have been for 80 years, since the elevation of Winston Churchill as prime minister in the midst of the greatest crisis in British history. The only noteworthy interruption of that alignment was the Suez episode in 1956, which was an outburst of insanity by Britain and France. Britain changed prime ministers (from Anthony Eden to Harold MacMillan) and Anglo-American relations swiftly returned to cordiality, where they have remained, cresting with the close cooperation between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the satisfactory conclusion of the Cold War.
But the rest of the Western alliance wrung its hands over Soleimani.
The French, who at least retain the mentality of a great power, possess a nuclear military capability and periodically intervene in their former colonies in Africa to reduce uncontrolled bloodletting, have called for “restraint.”
Germany possesses the economy and talent to be the third-most powerful country in the world, but lacks the will. Horrified still by the enormities it committed in plunging the world into two world wars and the unspeakable wickedness of Nazi genocide and military barbarity, it recoils from the role that beckons it. The Germans oscillate between the coziness of the Western alliance and the European Union, and unease with American leadership. After the death of Soleimani, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said he would speak to Iran, urged de-escalation, and said he would “redeploy” Germany’s 120 instructors in Iraq to keep them out of harm’s way. He also had the effrontery to urge the United States to accept the nonbinding vote of the scantily attended Iraqi parliament and withdraw from that country.
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, who is normally fairly robust, also chirped away from the Euro-song sheet about de-escalation. It was abject relativism: two morally equivalent disputants. Apart from hints from the British, there was not an audible word from the many countries in NATO in outright support of the American action, though the Western alliance supposedly is held together by NATO’s Article 5, which states that an attack upon one is an attack upon all (though the subsequent article holds that each country will determine for itself how to respond to such an attack).
The eminent German commentator Josef Joffe, of Die Zeit, the Hoover Institution, and the American Interest, and one of Western Europe’s leading Americophiles, reprimanded Europe because it “wags its finger only softly.” There was the implicit view from the foreign ministries of Europe and from the alliance itself that the killing of Soleimani was an aggressive act, as if Iran had not been sponsoring terrorism all around the Western world and showering the United States and its allies with provocations, most recently inspiring the assault on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad which caused serious damage and which U.S. Marines had to repel with heavy inundations of tear gas.
The day following that outrage, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, advised his fellow worshipers that “There isn’t a damn thing [Trump] can do about it.” All the European governments knew that Soleimani was one of the world’s foremost terrorists, morally indistinguishable from Osama bin Laden and ISIS “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi apart from the practically irrelevant fact that he wore an Iranian military uniform.
It was somewhat like the desperate complaints in 1986 at the U.S. airstrike on Libya after the Libyans had blown up a bar in West Berlin, killing a number of American soldiers. Margaret Thatcher had to suppress in her cabinet opposition to allowing use of American airbases in England for the mission by pointing out that an alliance based on the proposition that the United States could have the great honor of guaranteeing Western Europe’s security but couldn’t use its own airbases in Europe to respond to terrorist outrages would not have much life as an alliance. The Americans had to fly around France and Spain to get to their target in any case.
We are back to the same point, an “alliance of the willing,” as it became after the end of the Cold War.
Joffe is critical of Europe for its weakness, despite its considerable military forces (substantially increased under pressure from the Trump Administration) and its economic strength. He imputes to Europe’s leaders a pervasive irresolution and a paralyzing fear of Iran’s ability to incite terrorist incidents on the continent. But even Joffe proclaimed: “America, thy name is capriciousness,” and accused President Trump of unpredictable and arbitrary lurches of policy, and cites Trump’s passivity after the Iranian attack on Saudi oil installations in 2019.
In fact, Trump has been perfectly consistent: the United States will respond to attacks upon it, not attacks upon allies who can defend themselves, other than in cooperation with the offended parties. Saudi Arabia, in any case, is not the sort of regime that the United States can easily go to the mat for, other than to prevent the House of Saud from being replaced by something radically worse.
The Europeans fussed and fidgeted when Trump withdrew 400 Americans from an impossible position between the Turkish army and the uninhibited PKK Kurdish semi-terrorist militia, but declined to furnish any forces for such a challenging mission themselves. Even the relatively sensible Spectator in London denounced the Soleimani killing as unjust because Soleimani was trying to negotiate arrangements with Saudi Arabia, and a diplomatic disaster because of pan-Sunni hostility and the unifying impact of Soleimani’s killing on Iran. We saw how “unified” Iran was with the immense demonstrations against its corrupt theocracy after it admitted to having shot down a Ukrainian airliner three days later.
The Trump Administration is perfectly consistent: it confronts and contains countries that threaten it, as America did with Nazi Germany, upon which Franklin Roosevelt effectively waged war without declaring it, and as it did with the Soviet Union. America will remain in alliances where the other powers pull their weight, but will not be treated like a great St. Bernard which does the heavy work and takes the risks and pays the costs while useless allies try to hold the leash and give instructions. Europe is not under any threat from Russia, and France and Britain alone could deter Russia in nuclear terms. The Europeans are making only the feeblest gestures against the criminal regime in Tehran.
Europe has completely forgotten Bismarck’s aphorism that disputes between countries are ultimately settled by “blood and iron.” When Iran shouted of revenge after the death of Soleimani, Trump said any reprisal would be responded to “immediately and disproportionately.” This the Iranians understood. Their revenge was a fireworks display designed to avoid American casualties.
The United States needs to give Russia an incentive not to deliver itself like a new bride to China, and needs to exploit rivalries between Turkey and Iran, not unite them. It is happy to promote an understanding between Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Israel, now that the incursions of the ancient Arab enemies, Turkey and Persia, make those states natural allies, and the Palestinian red herring has been all but abandoned. It was never much more than a distraction of the Arab masses from the misgovernment they were receiving.
Europe can dream on. Presumably, it will awaken from its torpor eventually, and its relations with the United States need not be abrasive. The alliance should continue, but can’t be counted on for much unless Europe is threatened. Clearly, Trump and Boris Johnson get on well and their countries will effect a commercial rapprochement post-Brexit. This will be, as it has been these 80 years, a good thing for the world. Trump told Theresa May when they first met that “A strong and independent Britain is a blessing to the world,” but she didn’t listen.
The United States will pursue its interests and will reciprocate allied support, but not write a blank check for every country that asks for it.
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2019
The mission to set up ISIS? Please, elaborate on this mission, because I have no earthly idea what you're talking about. Was it the mission to occupy and suppress Iraq, that millions, or, according to controlled Western media, 'tens of thousands' of Iraqis turned out against the other day?
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2014
- Joined
- May 24, 2019
She made a rookie mistake by getting caught with her pants down.Massachusetts serial pooper arrested after police catch her defecating in parking lot: reports
A Massachusetts woman accused of defecating in the parking lot of local Natick store for several months was arrested Wednesday after she was caught in the act by a police officer, reports say.
Massachusetts serial pooper arrested after police catch her defecating in parking lot: reports
A Massachusetts woman accused of defecating in the parking lot of a local Natick store for months was arrested Wednesday after she was caught in the act, reports say.
Andrea Grocer, 51, was charged with eight counts of wanton destruction property after a Natick police officer said he saw her defecating outside the Natick Outdoor Store around 7 a.m., WYCN reported.
Police were first alerted to the serial pooper in December when Henry Kanner, the store’s owner, reported human feces there on eight separate occasions since October.
Police began investigating, initially believing it might be an animal, but then found “toilet paper and other wipes," Natick Police Department spokeswoman Lt. Cara Rossi told The Metrowest Daily News.
An officer was patrolling the parking lot Wednesday when he spotted Grocer waiting for the lot to clear, opening the driver’s side door of her Lincoln MKX and defecating out the door, WYCN reported.
Grocer was pulled over after driving off and told police that she was on her way to a home up the street where she worked as a nanny, but stopped because she has irritable bowel syndrome, according to the arrest report.
Her employer told police, however, that Grocer had access to their restroom. This, coupled with the length of time that passed with Grocer in the lot, led to her arrest.
“I’m so happy they arrested her,” Kanner told Metrowest. “I have no idea who she is. This has been ongoing. She has defecated quite often over here. There’s nothing more disgusting coming into your parking lot in the morning and seeing a pile of human excrement.”
Grocer was released without bail and is due back in court on March 2.
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- Joined
- Sep 9, 2016
Wikipedia is currently commemorating the holocaust.
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
They are a couple days late. I think the big international commemoration at Yad Vashem was earlier this week.
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
Man's severed thumb replaced with big toe
Cobbler David Lee accidentally cut through his own digit while mending a shoe in his shop.
www.bbc.com
Sutton-in-Ashfield man's severed thumb replaced with big toe
- 7 hours ago
Image caption David Lee's reconstruction has meant he can return to the job he loves as a cobbler
A cobbler who severed one of his thumbs in an industrial accident has had the digit replaced with his big toe.
David Lee cut through his right thumb while trimming the heel of a shoe at his shop in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
The set of operations to amputate Mr Lee's toe and attach it to his hand took about 10 hours in total.
He said the reconstruction enabled him to return to work and do "what I love again".
Mr Lee, 40, was admitted to hospital in Mansfield after the accident on 9 January last year and was referred to the Pulvertaft Hand Centre at the Royal Derby Hospital.
He said: "As soon as it was put to me that attaching my toe gave me a chance to carry on my job, I instantly said let's do it."
Image caption A series of operations on the foot and hand took about 10 hours
Jill Arrowsmith, one of the surgeons involved, said: "Not having any of the thumb can be very disabling, especially for those who do a manual job.
"There are lots of different ways to reconstruct thumbs but using the big toe gives the best functional and cosmetic benefits, as it is the thing most like a thumb on the body."
Mr Lee said he was "overwhelmed with admiration" for the staff who helped him during his operation and recovery.
"I'm doing what I love again and the team have given me the opportunity to do that," he added.
"I really appreciate them because, if not for them, I wouldn't have been able to get to where I am today."