Friday, August 15th, 2014 – CBC News Headlines –
Friday, August 15th, 2014{ & again, these are not links. If you want to read these stories, listen to sound clips, or see any video -if there is any video- go to CBC dot CA/news. —Thanks. ———djo——— }
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“Lead Stories”
How a police tactical shift can calm tensions after Missouri protests { There’s a photo of an African-American police officer in a uniform with captain’s bars on his shoulder hugging an African-American woman and a caption that says experts in police and race relations are outlining ways new police tactics can calm tensions- }
Iraq’s al-Maliki goves up PM post to Halder al-Abadi { }
Ebola outbreak ‘vastly underestimated’ in West Africa: WHO { I’m beginning to smell something weird in the way we keep getting battered with Ebola stories and then stuff that sounds like it was made up by a propaganda team to try to scare you all to death here. }
Missouri state troopers taking over security in Ferguson { One of my favourite personalities on Coast to Coast am, who has moved on to try to make it on his own, -John B Wells- brought up this point quite often: Remember when the police were there to ‘preserve and protect’? What happened? Now they show up looking very much lie storm troopers, or an invading army- in black or camouflaged uniforms, wearing armor and carrying very large guns, }
Robin Williams in early stages of Parkinson’s Disease when he died { Up until I heard this announcement, I thought there was a movement afoot, with people all around the country -and probably both countries here- U.S. & Canada- being sensitized to the point where they were wondering what could be done to make life less stressful and less horrifying to people we might never suspect are having a hard time of it. I mean Robin Williams, in our younger days, I would have thought of him as a best friend, somebody I would hope would show up at a party I couldn’t get out of attending- Seeing him age and not noticing the same in myself, I thought he would have been a really cool neighbor to have while growing up- An awful lot of people lately are finding their lives unbearable and ‘doing themselves in’ -We all lose when anybody does that- it’s a knife in all of our hearts at once. Especially this guy- So now they come out and say he had a degenerative, incurable disease, and I get the feeling that too many people will dismiss this as, an occasion to go, ‘okay, we don’t heave to be sensitive to the needs of our war Veterans and other people whose depressions might be exasperated by the insane pressures we live under in this country- This is a case of his number was up anyway and he didn’t want to stick around and suffer through the worst that he knew was coming’- No! Do not turn your backs on people you know are vulnerable. We need to ‘upgrade’ our culture with a whole lot of compassion and empathy here- you can quote me on that- -djo- }
Amazon’s aggressive tactics put off authors, publishers { Last week the first volley in this battle was heard. Stephen King and 900 other authors signed a letter saying ‘shame on Amazon!’ Time for a boycott? Support your local mom and pop bookstores, if there are any left. }
Canada’s military expected to anticipate war in post-9/11 world, retiring general says { Lieutenant General Stuart Beare said, “The world could use some diplomacy-” and “No one wants to get into an unnecessary and avoidable fight.” -with so many regional conflicts looking like they’re heading toward armed conflict and the pace shows no sign of slowing- I hope we’re not losing a voice of sanity within the military. Do we have any U.S. officers saying things like that? -Probably not in public. }
Pilot’s prosthetic arm detaches during rocky landing in U.K. { }
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“Offbeat”
Alaskan mom, son find wooly mammoth tusks 22 years apart { -Talking to one of the Jims who covered for me the last couple days, he told me he heard the news this morning and because he has relatives in Alaska, he paid attention to this one. The son found his tusk in almost the same spot his mother found hers 22 years earlier. He also mentioned that a doctor he had the occasion to talk with while he was visiting his relatives up there told him that every once in a while lately something that’s been frozen for 3,000 year would thaw out and release bacteria that cause diseases that we have no record of and might not be able to cure or contain very easily. “That’s where our frontiers of medicine lie-” }
Historic church moved for highway { – Jim again, lived in a town where a road went up through a more sparsely populated part of town and circled around a small church- after several slightly inebriated drivers tried to make that the area’s first drive through church, they moved the church and straightened the road there. }
Skunk with head stuck in jar rescued by B.C. woman { Now this has to be one brave lady. Last week’s cat with a bird feeder on its head was bad enough. Somebody should award her some kind of accolade. }
Humpback whale’s hour-long visit with B.C. boat caught on Camera { -it’s totally irrelevant, but I always did like dolphins and whales. }
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“Most Viewed”
Community gardens ripped up up along Arbutus corridor { A Canadian Pacific Rail police officer is shown in a series of photos ‘directing’ local residents to get off Railroad property near Vancouver, B.C. where the locals had nurtured community gardens for years along a ‘disused’ section of railroad tracks there. “No Trespassing” signs went up Wednesday and Railroad workers showed up yesterday and began tearing down buildings and digging up the gardens and had railroad cops on hands to chase away the people who came rushing in to try to save their crops. }
Kahnawake seeks to remove non-Mohawks from territory { A similar story, maybe the same one with a different link, says: “Reserve removes those who marry non-Mohawks” -eep- “Why can’t we just all get along?”}
TeamBuy customer raises warning after spa coupon not honoured { This is from Halifax, N.S. “TeamBuy” is a ‘group buying’ website. A customer/group buying member bought a coupon for $199.00 that was advertized would save her over $2,200.00 for a year’s membership in a laser hair removal spa – “$2,480 Value” – and when she tried to use it at the spa she was told the website owed the spa money and they were not going to honour that coupon. Then the ‘group buying website’ refused to refund her money. “They were rude, and they hung up on me, I had to chase them for my money,” she says. It’s not over- instead of getting her money back, after several calls and email messages, they gave her ‘team bucks’ coupons. The woman wants her money back and wants an apology for the way she was treated. A person at the spa told the CBC reporter that they have tried to contact the website buying club dozens of times through email and made several calls. They honoured several coupons they were supposed to be reimbursed for and had to stop because they couldn’t afford to go on doing that. }
NDP’s summer slump deepened by House spending woes { Pardon me, but I don’t like the way this headline is worded. It sounds like an attempt to make a political party look bad. Like printing something along the lines of, “Loser political party jerks looking worse all the time.” The NDP is the party that Tommy Douglas (The ‘father of the Canadian Health Care System’- and a Baptist Minister) was the first leader of when two earlier parties merged. He was the Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 under one of the parties that merged. -anyway- that headline just rubbed me the wrong way. It sounded like it was written by a bully affiliated with a rival party going “ha-ha- lookit those stupid losers over there-” I hope I would feel just as bad if somebody posted a nasty bullying headline aimed at making a party I don’t like look worse than they’re already making themselves look- }
ISIS child recruitment push hints at long-term ambitions { Another headline calls this story the ‘Family-friendly jihad’. This story has me worried. We’ve learned that al-Qaeda means “The List” and refers to the list of anti Russian partisans the C.I.A. recruited and gave weapons to in Afghanistan. We’ve heard that agent-provacateurs were probably stirring up hatred between tribes in the middle east to manipulate chaos so western governments could be seen as coming to the rescue when they sent in their armies to take over and install western-friendly governments- Who benefits the most from having a lot of evangelical jihadists terrorizing a whole wide area, threatening to behead not just the western devils, but members of a rival sect within their own religion? }
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“Other”
Ukraine inspects aid convoy as Russian military vehicles spotted near border { Here’s a scenario for you: a neo fascist movement springs up in the next state or the next county from you. Television reporters announce that clever neo fascist propagandists have been spreading rumours that you and your neighbours are torturing and raping the children of the friends of nice people who moved from that county into yours seeking better jobs. You hear that the neo fascists have recruited the wildest and most violent biker gangs in several states to come to their aid and ‘clean your clocks’. A natural disaster (flooding? earthquake?) or an un-natural disaster, ( a jet falls out of the sky, kills hundreds of passengers, sets acres of corn and wheat fields on fire, stampedes beef cattle who run all over your county-) First you hear that the neo fascists are sending you aid- food relief and veterinarians, and doctors and nurses who specialize in grief counseling- then you hear that the grief counselors are being escorted by bikers who are armed to the teeth and wearing uniforms with the logo of the neo fascists blazing across their jackets. Would you want to have your state’s national guard there, just in case? Now suppose both sides in the Russian-Ukrainian tensions believe the other side is spreading the kinds of lies about them that caused World War I to explode and involve just about everyone in Europe in the bloodiest conflict that continent had ever seen? Do you hear something going “Tick- tick- tick-“? }
Charitable donations spike following death of Robin Williams { }
Rallies to honour teen killed by Missouri police held across U.S. { }
Window-smashing tool a lifesaver, says mom who drove into pond { }
Veteran mediator Vince Ready agrees to help end B.C. teachers’ dispute { }
Ice Bucket Challenge: Charity success story of damaging fad? { An accompanying photo looks like athletic guys get a bucket of cold water dumped over their heads while they kneel in a farm field. Mark Zuckerberg -of facebook fame- took part in this challenge. “Once Challenged, you either dump a bucket of ice water over your head or donate $100.00 to the ALS association (ALS = “Lew Gehrig’s disease”) And then the bucket dumpee has to nominate 3 other people to take the challenge & meet the conditions within 24 hours. }
Pterosaur fossil graveyard reveals striking new species { They look really strange. Fashion Dinosaurs? The news story calls them flying reptiles. I hope they had really strong necks. Think maybe our racial memory wanted to have captains and admirals in the olde navies look like these guys? I wonder if they insisted that their children respond to their orders with “Aye Aye! Admiral, Sir!” }
Tim Hortons introduces dark roast coffee { Tim Hortons is to Canada what Dunkin Donuts is around here- and then some- it’s almost a religion up there. I met one gentleman who was born in Africa and moved to England before falling in love with a Canadian woman -lot of that going around these days- who stood near me and gazed at the long lines of cars going through a Tim Hortons drive through and said, “They must put something in that coffee, some kind of addictive drug- I don’t understand it-” & I didn’t either, not at first. I’m also a big fan of iced coffee- on my first few visits up there there was no such thing as iced coffee anywhere for sale. They had an oversweetened ‘ice-cap’ iced cappuccino- but a hot extra large cup of Tim Hortons coffee left in a refrigerator over night really floats my boat. }
Nordstrom, Marshalls prepare to battle for lucrative Calgary market { Big U.S. chains of department stores might not have it as easy as they think they will up there. Canadians might not be as gullible as the cynical CEOs of monster discount chains believe they are. Target Stores lost money after their much hyped foray into the Canadian Great (not-so-White) North. Tell ya what- call yourself, “the great american discount store” and I bet you’ll be bankrupt in a year. }
Coffee pod prices set to jump 9%: Kuerig { Uht-oh A certain K-cup addicted friend of mine will not be happy about this one- }
With soda sales fizzing out, Coca Cola makes huge bet on energy drinks { And what will they do when people revolt against the sugary ‘energy drinks’? }
Canadian finds first space dust from outside solar system { I can’t resist: Was that Canadian looking for space dust outside the solar system? And how did he get there? In truth, he spent thousands of hours ‘poring through images of samples brought back by NASA spacecraft as part of the Stardust citizen science project. He found two dust particles that tested as probably being formed around other stars, not our sun. }
Glacier melt worldwide now caused mainly by humans { This one would be hard to prove. Convincing me might even be harder. }
Online shopping a game changer for business in India { }
Former Conservative Party staffer guilty in robocalls trial { See, straight forward, no loaded words, just a relatively low key headline. No ‘Summer Slump’ or even “Scandal Woes”- }
Confusing sanctions regime irks industry, prompting plan for single list { -Yeah, this one had me confused. But,- Banks and other financial institutions, (You know? Banksters, the guys who front for institutions that Thomas Jefferson said were”More dangerous than standing armies”? We know they’re not all that bright, but here’s their dilemma: “Businesses currently use 19 different lists from five domestic and international websites to ensure the freezing or seizure of assets linked to certain individuals and entities in countries including Iran, North Korea and, most recently, Russia and Ukraine.” and would like to have one official website where they can go and read up on what they’re not supposed to sell or buy from who and where?- }
Ottawa moving to close price gap with U.S. this fall – somehow: Chris Hall { }
Andy Warhol films to be digitized by museums { If Andy was a twenty-something year old today, would he take a five minute iPhone video and turn that into a 24-hour ‘happening’? I’m trying to remember the exact details, didn’t he film a naked guy sleeping on a sofa in a Greenwich Village loft- for something like six hours and show that in a trendy movie theatre? }
Michael Cera drops new surprise album { Oh, this is cool: Reincarnation researchers at IISIS -Not the Jihadist group, the ‘Institute for the integration of Science, Intuition and Spirit‘ <— Link – believe that Michael Cera is Harpo Marx Reincarnated. }
7 tips to prevent amputations during DIY home renos { Apparently there are a lot of do it yourself-ers cutting themselves with power tools, losing fingers and hands and other important parts of their bodies, especially after they remove safety guards. And too many of these people have been around tools all their lives. So- the evil manipulating son of a guns who want everybody to be terrified that there might be terrorists under their beds would also like us to be afraid of any tools we might use to try to improve our surroundings and save a couple evil pieces of paper in the process. }
Ferguson reporters live-tweet their arrest { Police may have targeted a TV news crew from Al-Jazeera with tear gas and then removed their TV News equipment after the journalists fled the tear gas attack in Ferguson, Missouri. I’m not sure they were Al-Jazeera America– but that group is one of the most diligent, un-biased group of reporters we have trying to find the truth and share it with us. }
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And:
There’s an ad in my browser: ” Find love on line / the shelter pet project adopt ” 🙂
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“Local” / “New Brunswick”
Deer management plan for Kennebecasis Valley unveiled { I think I am beginning to have a problem with people who believe that deer need to be managed by human beings- who obviously can’t manage themselves very well- }
Car dependence hurting New Brunswick economy { If they can prove this one, I’d like to see them prove that cars are hurting the economy of Los Angeles, California. They might be killing people and making us sick since the ice holes who control the ‘fossil fuel’ industry insisted for so long that we needed vehicles that ran on fuel that made them rich, and their dishonest ways are now trying to make us poor- oh, tell me to shut up and finish this- }
Dog owners could be fined, jailed for overnight dog tethering { Jim told me that a woman around where he lives was facing legal troubles for digging out a dog whose dog house had been buried in one of the blizzards they lived through last winter and cutting the dog’s chain and bringing the dog home with her- The dog’s owner was out of the province and had somebody who was supposedly checking up on the animal daily. }
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{ Ack, first day back with the internet and this took me almost five hours? -Too much stuff I couldn’t just let go- & Typing on a laptop is a whole different ball game— okay if I split metaphors? 11:21 am Ithaca time – I did have to get up and let our puppy dog out a couple times etc. ———djo——— }
