June is a heavy travel month for me and today I’m again heading stateside for 8 days of dog shows. Unless the weather turns for the worse, I’ll be camping on the grounds for at least some of the circuit and internet access will be sketchy.
I’ve written a number of general interest posts that are scheduled to appear automatically, so keep that in mind when they appear. Note: for some reason, these automated posts sometimes refuse to take comments. If one of the guest bloggers notice, they may fix it, otherwise, my apologies – it’s just a glitch you’ll have to live with.
Also – remember that legitimate comments caught in the filter are less likely to be noticed and released. If you receive a message that your comment has been held, go back and rewrite to eliminate excessive linkage or words that may have tripped the spam filter (online, insurance, porn, etc.) Ignore the trolls and faux-conservative provocateurs. I’ll deal with those when I check in.
The usual crew of guest bloggers are invited to pop by. These folks do a great job, and help me manage these needed breaks. SDA is a high-frequency site by nearly anyone’s standard – getting away is my secret to avoiding burnout. So, if you’re inclined, consider sending a “case of beer” their way via the paypal button at their own sites, or the donation link at the left. (Be sure to let me know who it’s for.)
I’ll be back in about 10 days – wish us luck!
Open thread for your tips.
Little Mosque: Special Victims Unit
The [Crown Prosecution Service] will this month pilot its new approach in four “hotspot” areas. A team of 20 prosecutors are to be based in London, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Lancashire. Each one will be trained by a number of different agencies including the police, the government’s forced marriage unit and the independent victims group, the Southall Black Sisters.
The complex investigation and three-month trial for Ms Mahmod’s murder relied on initiatives more often used to tackle organised crime, such as the use of covert investigative techniques and special measures for key witnesses, two of whom needed police protection. Such techniques are increasingly used to deal with honour crimes.
The CPS will also introduce a “flag” for any forced marriage or honour crime cases, so they can be logged and monitored.
Nazir Afzal, the CPS lead on honour-based violence, said that such crimes are often elaborate, pre-planned and can involve many suspects.
One in nine honour killings in the UK is carried out by hit men, he said. It is also common for the youngest member of the family to carry out the murder, with the others playing a lesser role.
A Sunday Telegraph investigation has established that honour killings are increasing rapidly in Britain.
Home Office statistics suggest that there are 12 such murders each year. However, according to research, the true figure is much higher. At a conference in Southampton last week, police chiefs revealed that they are re-examining 2,000 deaths and-murders between 1996 and 2006 to establish whether they involve honour killings. So far, 19 have now been found to be honour killings. A further 20 involved some element of “honour violence”.
The string of deaths is likely to include some that were previously deemed suicides but have been found to be forced suicides and murder disguised as suicide.
[…]
A special unit has been created by the Foreign Office to travel around the world seeking British-born Asian women who have been forced into marriage. It operates mainly in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Yemen. Officials from the local British embassy or consulate co-operate with police to identify these women and, if they are clearly being held against their will, bring them home to Britain.
h/t to Tim Blair.
QOTD
“With the benefit of hindsight, it should have been obvious that the first female imam would be an Episcopalian…“
Tony Blair’s Britain
Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch and used diapers have eyes;
Householders in a seaside town have been told to put their bins out at the front of their homes and not in an alleyway to the rear.
They must also leave their rubbish out between set times to ensure it does not attract pests or miss the dust cart.
To enforce the new rules, a camera will be placed in a rubbish bag and left in an alleyway to blend in with the surroundings to catch offenders. Those filmed breaking the rules will be given a ticking off.
[,,,]
More than 30 councils have already secretly fitted microchips to wheelie bins as the Government comes under increasing pressure to increase recycling rates.
The Arab-Israeli War of 2014
We asked a group of Post contributors to write the history of the world’s next great conflict.
It starts here.
Michael Yon
Emails Glenn Reynolds;
“This is a very serious offensive kicking off in Iraq. The NYT realizes it’s serious, but nobody that I am seeing realizes just how big this is. Relatively massive.”
Silicone
For the disadvantaged.
Related: “Did you know the world’s tallest tower is in Canada?”
The Heat Must Have Gotten To Him
A UN Secretary General who doesn’t blame the Joos?
What’s the world ending to?
Pucker Up, America
And kiss your ass goodbye. Politicians have found a way to bring lawyers into the carbon offset pyramid;
Specifically, the House government Reform Committee under “Hollywood” Henry Waxman (D-CA) agreed to create a new litigation pathway where plaintiffs can sue to make the government buy these indulgences in a mandatory drive to be “carbon neutral”. (The amendment also exposes the taxpayer to liability for paying plaintiffs — “aggrieved parties” in the bills’ parlance, and their lawyers, of course — who the federal government has “harmed” by causing global warming. Investment advice: Go long on environmental ambulance chasers in the 9th circuit, whose judges love such claims.)
That’s right – giving Americans the right to sue the government for failing to change the weather.
I Found It!
A news organization worse than the CBC !
A Lebanese TV news presenter has been sacked over comments in which she gloated over the assassination of anti-Syrian politician Walid Eido.
The presenter, who has not been named, then went on to name a Lebanese MP who would be assassinated next.
She was unaware that her microphone was on and that the comments were being broadcast live.
[…]
The open microphone captured the presenter saying: “Why did it take them so long to kill him?”
She and a male colleague, who was also sacked, can then be heard laughing.
“Ahmed Fatfat [another anti-Syrian MP] will be next. I’m counting them off,” she went on.
I’m big enough to admit when I’ve misjudged our public broadcaster. In view of this evidence, I hereby retract any statements made in the past suggesting they are “the worst”. That was unfair. I can think of no news announcer at the CBC with professional standards this low.
They know when to switch off a mike.
Also Missing: Tiger Mask And Equestrian Gear
A Nobel Peace Prize gets the respect it deserves.
(h/t Maz2)
*
Update: Found!
Y2Kyoto: An Ungrateful Gaia
“I think the evidence is quite clear that carbon offsets cause whirlwinds.”
Reader Tips
Saturday reader tips open.
Ahem
“I returned from Iraq grateful for the progress I saw”
I recently returned from Iraq and four other countries in the Middle East, my first trip to the region since December. In the intervening five months, almost everything about the American war effort in Baghdad has changed, with a new coalition military commander, Gen. David Petraeus; a new U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker; the introduction, at last, of new troops; and most important of all, a bold, new counterinsurgency strategy.
The question of course is–is it working? Here in Washington, advocates of retreat insist with absolute certainty that it is not, seizing upon every suicide bombing and American casualty as proof positive that the U.S. has failed in Iraq, and that it is time to get out.
In Baghdad, however, discussions with the talented Americans responsible for leading this fight are more balanced, more hopeful and, above all, more strategic in their focus–fixated not just on the headline or loss of the day, but on the larger stakes in this struggle, beginning with who our enemies are in Iraq. The officials I met in Baghdad said that 90% of suicide bombings in Iraq today are the work of non-Iraqi, al Qaeda terrorists. In fact, al Qaeda’s leaders have repeatedly said that Iraq is the central front of their global war against us. That is why it is nonsensical for anyone to claim that the war in Iraq can be separated from the war against al Qaeda–and why a U.S. pullout, under fire, would represent an epic victory for al Qaeda, as significant as their attacks on 9/11.
And If This Doesn’t Work
They’ll make it illegal to shoot people.
This Looks Like An Improvement
Liberals stealing from Liberals? If it keeps them from stealing from us, then I say – leave them be!
Fingers are being pointed and aspersions cast among Liberals in advance of the June 28 annual meeting of the Elgin-Middlesex-London federal riding association.
The missing [$16,000] and actions of the association’s board of directors have prompted complaints from rank-and-file Liberals upset at being kept in the dark. They’re demanding answers.
“I’ve never encountered anything like this and I’ve been in politics since I was 13,” said Lois Jackson, a St. Thomas party member. Jackson is upset the riding executive has said nothing about the matter publicly, despite conducting a nomination meeting in April for which nearly 800 party memberships were sold.
[…]
The Free Press has learned a high-ranking party official tried to solve the problem by offering to cut cheques for the missing money provided local officials agreed to take no further action and considered the matter closed.
A letter from David J. Pretlove, then interim executive director of the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario), offered to cover the missing funds. That letter was given to the board in January by Suzanne van Bommel, then a member of the board and now also the party’s candidate in the riding for the next federal election.
Van Bommel said she presented the offer “on behalf of Mr. Pretlove.”
Pretlove is now director of finance and administration for the party’s Ontario wing.
What are we waiting for? Get these people a basketball court!
The Best Things In Life Are Free
Like health care, eh?;
Last week, the Oscar winning director announced that he’d decided to stash a copy of “Sicko” in Canada, in case the federal government decided to impound it over an apparently unauthorized trip to Cuba made during its filming. As it turns out, the hard part won’t be getting the film released, but getting audiences to pay to see it now that its available for free.
And we know that’s exactly how Michael “I don’t agree with the copyright laws” Moore would want it.
h/t
Chickendoves
“These morally stunted individuals call themselves a “Coalition of Peace.” Nice name, but they haven’t really got the chops to back it up – I mean, what concrete and personal actions have they taken to bring peace to Afghanistan? Carrying a placard with a profane slogan down the centre-line of a downtown street in rush hour while chanting “NO BLOOD FOR OIL!” doesn’t count in my book. How many guns does that little exercise in moral masturbation take out of the hands of the misogynistic thugs who kill little girls for the crime of becoming literate?”
Y2Kyoto: June is Snöskoter Month
Via Climate Audit.