In tonight’s instalment of our 2011 Christmas Music Series, Leipzig’s Thomanerchor (which next year celebrates it’s 800th anniversary) performs a lovely, tranquil, refreshingly unadorned version of the beautiful 19th century Austrian carol Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht (“Silent Night“).
The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
The Tolerant Left
It’s Probably Nothing
At our request, William Bernstein, an investment manager at Efficient Portfolio Advisors in Eastford, Conn., reviewed Rep. Paul’s portfolio as set out in the annual disclosure statement. Mr. Bernstein says he has never seen such an extreme bet on economic catastrophe. ”This portfolio is a half-step away from a cellar-full of canned goods and nine-millimeter rounds,” he says.
More Pavilions At Folkfest
An Islamic Sharia law court has been established in Antwerp, the second-largest city in Belgium.
The Sharia court is the initiative of a radical Muslim group called Sharia4Belgium. Leaders of the group say the purpose of the court is to create a parallel Islamic legal system in Belgium in order to challenge the state’s authority as enforcer of the civil law protections guaranteed by the Belgian constitution.
The Sharia court, which is located in Antwerp’s Borgerhout district, is “mediating” family law disputes for Muslim immigrants in Belgium.
[…]
Sharia4Belgium says the court in Antwerp will eventually expand its remit and handle criminal cases as well.
Related: “Bosnia moving toward Sharia law”
Plus – “Muslims are said to be no more than 10% of the French population, though no one knows for sure, because French law prohibits population counts by religion.”
They Took All The Rights, Put ‘Em In A Rights Museum
Jonathan Kay: Three [other] reasons why Winnipeg’s Human Rights Museum is doomed to failure
(Or you could just go to the Black Rod: “Remember, THEY HAVE NO MONEY.”)
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors
It’s the physics, stupid – BP quits solar power industry
Update! Sometimes they quits the industry, and sometimes the industry quits them.
Hey, Who’s Up For Another $2.1 Billion In Stimulus Money Lost on Yet Another Bankrupt Solar Company?
And it’s a German company.
Climategate 2.0: The Green Police
In recent days I’ve been receiving calls and emails asking what the U.S. Justice Department wants with me. In fact, there has been a misunderstanding. I write a blog about climate-change dogma that has a similar Web address to a blogger in the United States. It is that person — who publishes under the pen name Jeff Id at NOconsensus.wordpress.com — who is being targeted.
Earlier this month, a trial attorney employed by the Justice Department’s criminal division sent a formal request to WordPress (the blogging software company) to freeze for 90 days “all stored communications, records, and other evidence in your possession” regarding three climate-skeptic blogs. ClimateAudit.org — written by Canadian Steve McIntyre and hosted on WordPress’ U.S.-based servers — was one of that trio. So was Tallbloke’s Talkshop, written by a U.K. resident and published at tallbloke.wordpress.com.
The Justice Department is interested in WordPress records spanning three days — Nov. 21 to 23 inclusive. At 4:09 a.m. on Nov. 22, someone calling themselves FOIA made a comment on McIntyre’s blog. It consisted solely of a link to a zip file posted online at a Russian Web address. The zip file contained 5,000 emails written by some of the most prominent names in climate science.
Dubbed Climategate 2, these documents are still being examined and sifted. But emails have already come to light in which scientists employed by publicly funded universities in the U.K. and elsewhere discuss the deliberate deletion and removal of records from university computers. (In the U.K., altering or deleting documents in an attempt to circumvent freedom of information legislation is a criminal offense.)
Normally, an international investigation into information breaches that seek to undermine multi-trillion dollar planet-saving wealth transfer schemes would be “news”. But reporting on the crackdown might result in public attention, which might necessitate reporting on the contents of the emails, which might lead to revealing the corruption within – and that’s a problem for a consensus media deeply invested in denying any exists.
But it must make their audiences wonder when the editorial/opinion people report on international scandals that the “hard news” department apparently know nothing about.
Michael O’Leary at the Innovation Convention 2011 – Brussels
So I urge you as quickly as you possibly can: Get the hell out of Brussels.
Go back to your countries, and stay away from here as much as is humanly possible. Because Brussels, those of you who know the Star Wars Trilogy, this is the evil empire. The Berlaymont is the Death Star, where any hint of innovation is left at the door as you walk in to meet with bureaucrats and politicians, who you can always tell when they’re telling lies because their lips are moving.
h/t LC Bennett
This Is Awkward
TehranJobShop.ir
New openings every day for chemical process engineers! Revolutionary Guards! Apply now!
(Previous).
Some Slaves Are More Inequal Than Others
h/t Atlantic Jim
The World According To Kate
Experts agree: The root cause of the London riots was not shooting looters.
h/t EBD
This Is Awkward
In the spirit of the season, I thought I’d try to find out who’s been naughty, who’s been nice, and who’s been torrenting at work.
Reader Tips
In tonight’s Tips music three different groups of ethnic Ukrainian choristers, from Trenton and Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and Baltimore, Maryland, perform at the 2009 Festival of Ukrainian Christmas Carols held at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia, PA.
The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
So Wronwrey
Some recession medicine for you.
Real Power
Prime Minister v. President:
…
Harper appeared to marvel at just how tied an American president’s hands are, not just by constitutional checks and balances, but with bureaucrats, cabinet secretaries and senior advisors all weighing in to counter or contradict actions a president may wish to take. A Canadian prime minister with a majority and cabinet government has much more room to act, he said…”
The Sound Of Restored Science
Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Barack Obama, January 2009:
“We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.”
“Editors at the journal Science are taking very seriously a request by the NSABB to publish only an abbreviated version of a research report related to a strain of H5N1 avian influenza virus,” Science editor-in-chief Bruce Alberts said in a statement.
“At the same time, however, Science has concerns about withholding potentially important public health information from responsible influenza researchers.”
The World Needs More Canada
Iceland’s fear of the euro collapsing has caused one of Iceland’s political parties to openly suggest the idea of going Canadian and dropping the idea of EU membership and currency.
h/t Adrian
“Booming” Housing Recovery
An excellent reminder why we always put economic statistics into “Charty-Goodness” form.
And Merry Christmas to my Canadian friends.
Why Is There Always A Big Screen TV?
Attawapiskat and Atikokan: A tale of two northern towns