[The Peninsula] A British lord is putting a mountain up for sale in a bid to pay off part of his hefty inheritance tax bill.
Hugh Lowther, the Earl of Lonsdale, has put Blencathra, a 2,850-foot high peak in the picturesque Lake District in northwest England, on the market for 1.75m ($3m).
Lowther felt forced to sell the 2,676-acre mountain, known as Saddleback due to its shape, to help pay off the reported 9 million he owes the Treasury from his father's inheritance.
Inheritance tax, set at 40 percent, is payable on the amount of an estate above a 325,000 threshold. "My family have owned Blencathra and its manor for over 400 years, so the sale of this iconic property will be a great loss," the earl said.
"However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... we need to realise capital for inheritance tax following the death of my father in 2006 and our aim is to retain the core portions of the Lonsdale estates intact as far as is possible."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Take a page out of the Al Sharpton playbook - blow it off and scream racism at the top of your lungs!
I am very interested in purchasing the said property Blencathra on condition that at least 26 serfs and knaves be procurred to help work the land. Given the present unemployment picture in the UK, I do not believe this would be a show stopper. Please contact me at your Earliest convenience. (Pun intended)
Posted by: Omusons Lover of the Hemps8496 ||
05/07/2014 9:55 Comments ||
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#4
Anybody now what you call a lady earl? I've got "baroness" and "countess," can't recall ever hearing about an "earless."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2014 13:55 Comments ||
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#5
The female equivalent of an earl is the countess as modern Britain never developed a feminine form of the earl. An earl is a nobility member who is ranked below the marquees and above a viscount.
#7
At the hunt, as we often recount,
I retrieved the dismounted Count's mount.
"Oh, I say, you're a queen!"
"Charmed, I'm sure, I'm Earline!"
And that's how I got down with the Count.
[An Nahar] The United States on Tuesday unveiled its first sanctions against the world's newest nation, South Sudan, targeting military leaders from both sides of the four-month civil conflict.
The two men, one from government forces and one from the rebels, were "responsible for perpetrating unthinkable violence against civilians," U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... told news hounds.
The move comes against Marial Chinoum, a commander of the South Sudanese presidential forces, and Peter Gadet, a leader of the anti-government forces, and only days after Kerry visited Juba.
"We will do our utmost to prevent South Sudan from plunging back towards violence and despair," Kerry said after meeting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Washington.
"We will hold accountable those who have stood in the way of a peace plan."
The sanctions move will be a bitter-sweet one for Kerry because Washington was the prime mover enabling South Sudan to split from Sudan to become independence in 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... flew into South Sudan Tuesday to demand an end to a brutal four-month-old civil war that has sparked dire warnings of genocide and famine.
The visit, which comes as rebels and government forces fight heavy battles for control of a key oil town, is the latest major push for a ceasefire in the four-month-old civil war, which has seen the world's youngest nation collapse amid a brutal cycle of war crimes.
"The Secretary-General has repeatedly called on the leaders to find a political solution, and to put an immediate end to the violence which has led to the suffering of so many innocent civilians," a UN statement read.
Both sides in the conflict have been accused of widespread ethnic massacres, rape and child soldier recruitment.
Ban's visit comes days after US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... flew into the capital, a visit in which he extracted promises from President Salva Kiir to meet face-to-face with rebel chief Riek Machar.
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05/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Lawmakers at a parliamentary body meeting said if involvement of officers of the RAB in the abduction and murder of seven people in Narayanganj is proved they would be given exemplary punishment as the "highest politicianship took it very seriously".
The 10-member parliamentary standing committee on the home ministry yesterday expressed "serious concern" over frequent incidents of disappearances and abductions and said such "ominous" incidents had put the government in embarrassment.
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan assured the watchdog that his ministry would not spare anyone no matter how powerful they are.
Lawmaker Abu Sayeed Al Mahmood Swapon from Joypurhat first raised the recent killings in Narayanganj.
Mozammel Hossain, Shamsul Hoque Tuku, Faridul Haque Khan, Abul Kalam Azad and Kamrun Nahar Chowdhury spoke and expressed their concerns over abductions.
"We have made it clear that the killings in Narayanganj and the alleged involvement of the RAB members are a matter of serious concern for the government. It has put both government and the MPs in embarrassment," said Tipu Munshi, the standing committee chairman.
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05/07/2014 00:00 ||
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Dennis Rodman, the eccentric retired basketball player who has struck up a bizarre friendship with North Korean's leader Kim Jong-un, has said that Mr Kim's uncle was not executed in a purge.
"The last time I went there, when they said they killed his girlfriend, they killed his uncle, they just fed him to the dogs ... They were standing right behind me." mumbling "Brains!"
Rodman prompted outrage in January when he suggested in an interview with CNN that a Korean-American Christian tour operator was to blame for his imprisonment in North Korea. He later apologised and blamed his outburst on heavy drinking, checking into a rehab facility in New Jersey.
Of his alcoholism, Rodman has said: "I've always been a party animal (and) the reason I drink is because I'm bored." "And then I start seeing dead people things and spouting off nonsense," he added.
#2
Damn Raj, you are really on a roll this morning, I can't disagree with anything you said...likely because I can not spell a word with more than two syllables and frankly I can not comment on a single word which has come out of your keyboard without first clearing it with my lawyer. (He is asleep right now, so let me leave it at that)
Posted by: Omusons Lover of the Hemps8496 ||
05/07/2014 1:23 Comments ||
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[The Peninsula] The UN human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... chief expressed alarm yesterday over spiralling violence in Ukraine, urging rebels to lay down their arms and calling on the government to avoid excessive force in its offensive against the krazed killers.
Navi Pillay said all involved in the conflict must try to defuse tensions, as her office warned that the country's May 25 presidential election was under threat.
It's called a civil war for a reason, Navi. Civil wars are the bloodiest of all. Good luck with your hand-wringing...
"I urge all sides to make a much greater effort to find a peaceful resolution to the current crisis, especially in the various towns in eastern and southern Ukraine that have been racked by increasingly violent confrontations," Pillay said in a statement.
She called on pro-Russian gunnies who have seized towns and public buildings in southern and eastern Ukraine to "stop all illegal actions"
"These organised and well-gangs should lay down their weapons, free arbitrarily detained persons, and vacate occupied public and administrative buildings," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
A predator is not looking for a fight, its looking for a meal.
[The Peninsula] Pakistain's parliament yesterday voted unanimously to lift a ban on YouTube, in a nonbinding resolution that was nonetheless welcomed by free speech campaigners as an important symbolic move.
The video-sharing website has been blocked in Pakistain since September 2012 over its hosting of the "Innocence of Moslems" movie that sparked furious protests around the world.
A US appeals court in February ordered Google ...contributed $814,540 to the 2008 Obama campaign... , which owns YouTube, to remove the film after a lawsuit brought by an actress who says she was tricked into appearing in it, but the Pak ban remains in place.
Shazia Marri, a politician from the opposition Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP) who put forward the resolution, said students and researchers were suffering as a result of the blackout.
"We have been disconnected from the world by the ban on YouTube," she said.
The deputy speaker of the house Murtaza Javed Abbasi later read out the resolution and all the politicians voted in its favour.
"The house resolves that government may take immediate steps for opening of YouTube," he said.
Responding to the resolution, state health minister Saira Afzal Tarar said the government was in favour of lifting the ban but it was in the hands of the courts.
"YouTube has been banned on the orders of Supreme Court and there is another case regarding the ban in Lahore High Court and the matter is sub judice.
However the house can suggest names to form a committee to work on the issue," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[The Telegraph] An FBI agent has reportedly been arrested in Pakistan after trying bring 9mm bullets onto a flight from Karachi to Islamabad.
Pakistani media reported that the American was taken before a judicial magistrate in Karachi on Tuesday where a judge ordered him to be until May 10.
The incident threatens to put further strain on the already frayed ties between the US and Pakistan, where there is deep anger over American drone strikes.
The FBI agent was on temporary duty in Pakistan and is normally assigned to the bureau's office in Miami, according to the Washington Post.
It is not clear what the agent was doing in Pakistan although the FBI has dozens of offices based out of US embassies and consulates around the world.
#1
Forget the US Embassy Dip Pouch, arms vault, and ammo locker, only an F.B.I. agent would attempt to sneak 9mm ammo into the largest small arms bazaar in the world.
#4
Most of them are really fish out of water overseas. They end up causing more problems than they fix. I'd hate to be riding herd over the ones going to Nigeria.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
05/07/2014 17:47 Comments ||
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#5
The few LEGAT's I've seen were No-Loads. An overseas assignment out of the Federal main stream is an EXCILE !
#6
Most LEGATs are ok (but some aren't). The ones that cause problems are rocket surgeons like this guy. Usually field office agents surged overseas based on an incident or to support an investigation or "protect" the director. They somehow think the laws of gravity don't apply to them.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
05/07/2014 18:33 Comments ||
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[Wash Times] The top Republican of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee said Tuesday that the Obama administration's Department of Veterans Affairs is so dysfunctional that it's time to fire Secretary Eric K. Shinseki.
"How many things can go wrong before you have to look at leadership?" Sen. Richard Burr, North Carolina Republican, told The Washington Times. "I think Secretary Shinseki has been given a tremendous amount of latitude, not because of his performance at the VA, but because of his military record, and nobody disputes that. But at some point, you have to ask, 'Shouldn't somebody be fired?'" The "latitude" comes from him being a regime loyalist. Nothing more.
#2
You must be referring to the distinctive black berets which were initially purchases on a contract with the Chinese. Hat tip to the feckless Army Uniform Board for that brilliant piece of waste and work.
#3
The beret boondoggle was being pushed well back in the 70s. With a third of the Army in Europe, there was designer envy with all the quaint NATO types running around in the thing. Back then, the push was for the thing to be in branch colors, but the idea of a support unit marching in parade as one big rainbow was just too much for the oldsters.
Sez Rantburg regular JFM: Note: I thought it was only gun toting, bible thumping, knuckle dragging red necks, republicans and rantburgers who were raaaaaaaccccccccccist. How could there be racism in city whose vote for Obama was of Kim Jong Ilian proportions? I am shocked, so shocked. Sarcasm off.
#1
Place Bookmark Here - I will comment on this later when the glow of Irish Whiskey settles into the sunrise, otherwise you heathen bastards need to be thrown outa Boston for your own protection, lest we wire you anti-American scum to the trees in Boston Commons.
Posted by: Omusons Lover of the Hemps8496 ||
05/07/2014 1:14 Comments ||
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#4
I am told the origins of Boston's racism can be traced to a localized tax revolt against a tyrannical monarchist gov't, and a Tea Party in Boston Harbor.
#6
Remove Bookmark - My advise to the people who claim Boston is Racist - "Don't Look Back" - look forward, build a better future for yourself in America, and when you receive a racist remark or slight say, "I love you and God may love you too, but you won't know it until you are dead, then it will be too late."
- Believe me it works, leaves them stunned, and apoplectic -
Now on to Boston, with a musical interlude.
Posted by: Omusons Lover of the Hemps8496 ||
05/07/2014 10:39 Comments ||
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#7
The Micks hate the blacks and the wogs.
The Brahmins hate Irish and dogs.
BU hates BC;
Both hate MIT,
And the swans do not speak to the frogs.
[Daily Beest] A California school district asked its eighth-grade language arts students to consider if the Holocaust was a "propaganda tool that was used for political and monetary gain." The Rial to Unified School District assignment requested an argumentative essay about whether or not the Holocaust "was an actual event in history" or "merely a political scheme." Of the three sources provided for use, one called gas chambers a "hoax" and the entire genocide a "profitable myth." The school district says it will revise the assignment, but that no parents or teachers had complained about it. Jooos, propaganda tool, political scheme, profitable myth....? Do I sense a theme ?
I note in passing this paragraph from the local news report the story links to, while remarking that the interim superintendent may have had no control over individual assignments:
Interim Superintendent Mohammad Z. Islam was set to talk with administrators to assure that any references to the holocaust not occurring will be stricken on any current or future Argumentative Research assignments, a statement from district spokeswoman Syeda Jafri read.
#2
Interim Superintendent Mohammad Z. Islam was set to talk with administrators to "assure that any references to the holocaust 'not occurring' will be stricken on any current or future Argumentative Research assignments
In fact, there'll not be any discussion or acknowledgement of the Holocaust at all! There, that fixes it.
#4
I'm not sure I see the problem. At least not unless the essays were to be graded on the basis that the Holocaust WAS a hoax. It is not clear to me the significance of the 'three sources provided for use' - those clearly bias the assignment, especially if they are the only sources allowed, but even just as the only suggested options.
Still, I do like the concept of asking students to question generally-accepted truth - how about global warming?
#6
I substitute teach in middle school. This assignment is totally inappropriate for 8th grade. The kids that age are not mature enough to consider this kind of monstrosity in anything like an intelligent, thoughtful, moral manner.
This is pure propaganda from the get go. This is set up so the "teacher" can paint it as Juice are evil and go on from there.
ProTip: Hide a tire-iron in your umbrella. Or if that won't get past the metal detectors a Pappy 2-iron of discipline. There are some that will take an edge.
#8
To Whom It May Concern at the Rial School District:
My son Johann Josef Mengele will not be able to turn in his paper on "Was the Holocaust a Hoax" because his two adorable German Shepards, Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler,(die dumme Hunde)took exception to the actual paper, tore it to shreds and ate it. (Sie sind jetzt Papier scheissen.)
Please be assured that Johann can recite the contents of the paper by heart.(ausvendig) Please have Johann recite it to you, if it will help him pass his class. He is a very smart boy. (Kein Zweifel, er ist klüger als du)
Please be aware that Johann will be leaving school early this year as we will be traveling to Argentina, to visit his grandmother Marta Mengela, widow of our dear departed Joseph.
Sincerely Jules Mengela
Posted by: Omusons Lover of the Hemps8496 ||
05/07/2014 9:33 Comments ||
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#9
You think they could have assigned the topic - Man Made Global Warming a Hoax? Nah.
Ship, I've found that a cattle-prod works better. ;^)
In reality speaking German loudly tends to work pretty well too. A forceful "Setzen Sie sich, bitte" or "Ruhe bitte" works wonders.
Seriously though, I like it. Now I'm not teaching in an urban environment, rather, an upper/upper- middle class system (two middle & high) schools.
I like 6th & 7th grade best. You can deal with them on mostly an adult level AND they actually listen. The young uns can't handle that and when they get to high school you have all the impact of a piece of furniture. 8th graders start developing their high school attitudes by December and it's down hill from there.
Posted by: Omusons Lover of the Hemps8496 ||
05/07/2014 11:42 Comments ||
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#13
The really stupid thing about this assignment is NO crime in history has been as well documented as the Holocaust BY THE MURDERERS THEMSELVES.
The Nazis kept 13 files in different locations on EVERY PERSON who entered the concentration camp system. Literally 100s of tons of incriminating documents were recovered from the 3rd reich. It took scholars more than 60 years to work their way through the data.
If you are going to argue the holocaust is a hoax, you have to argue someone forged these tens of millions of documents and tons of artifacts. You also have to ask how they did this (and more important why???)
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/07/2014 12:30 Comments ||
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#14
I read elsewhere that this was part of a Common Core assignment.
#15
The first step in removing something from history is to discredit that it ever happened. Sow the seed of doubt. Then eliminate it from view, nothing to see here. This is so typical. So lets do one that Pearl harbor was faked, did it ever happen? Same with MLK killing, he faked it and is now in hiding or some secret jail. But to call into question one of the greatest genocides in the history of modern man is absurd and takes the contempt for Jews to a new level. Let look at slavery. Write a paper that says they were better off being slave in the US. Same deal, some things are not open for this type of crap.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/07/2014 15:48 Comments ||
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#16
Don't forget 9/11. You know, that was all Bush's fault.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Dennis Rodman, the eccentric retired basketball player who has struck up a bizarre friendship with North Korean's leader Kim Jong-un, has said that Mr Kim's uncle was not executed in a purge.
