Jay Weidner was on Red Ice to talk about his film, Kubrick's Odyssey. Jay presents compelling evidence of how Stanley Kubrick directed the Apollo moon landings. He reveals that the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey was not only a retelling of Arthur C. Clarke and Kubrick's novel, but also a research and development project that assisted Kubrick in the creation of the Apollo moon footage. Weidner also tells how Kubrick's film, The Shining is the story of Kubrick's personal travails as he secretly worked on the Apollo footage for NASA.
8 May 2012
New French President Hollande Confirms Afghanistan Exit In 2012
After his election to the French presidency on Sunday, Francois Hollande wasted no time in following through on one of his highest-profile campaign pledges.
Hollande's communications director, Manuel Valls, confirmed to the Telegraph on Monday that France will "announce the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan between now and the end of the year." The announcement will take place at the NATO summit being held in Chicago on May 20 and 21.
7 May 2012
Hundreds detained at anti-Putin rally in Moscow
Vladimir Putin is to be inaugurated as president of Russia in a ceremony in the capital, Moscow. Mr Putin will return to the presidency after an absence of four years in which he served as prime minister. The outgoing President, Dmitry Medvedev, was widely seen as an ally of Mr Putin. He won a third term as president in controversial elections in March.
On Sunday, thousands of protesters opposed to the inauguration clashed with police in Moscow. (BBC)
EU plot to scrap Britain
Senior Eurocrats are secretly plotting to create a super-powerful EU president to realise their dream of abolishing Britain, we can reveal. A covert group of EU foreign ministers has drawn up plans for merging the jobs currently done by Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.
The new bureaucrat, who would not be directly elected by voters, is set to get sweeping control over the entire EU and force member countries into ever-greater political and economic union. Opponents fear the plan could create a modern-day equivalent of the European emperor envisaged by Napoleon Bonaparte or a return to the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne that dominated Europe in the Dark Ages.
6 May 2012
Japan shuts down last working nuclear reactor
Japan is shutting down its last working nuclear reactor as part of the safety drive imposed after the March 2011 tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima plant. The closure of the third reactor at the Tomari plant in Hokkaido prefecture, northern Japan, means all of the country's 50 nuclear reactors have been taken offline, leaving the country with no nuclear-derived electricity for the first time since 1970.
Hokkaido Electric said it started lowering output from the reactor at 5pm (8am GMT). The unit should be shut down completely by the early hours of Sunday.
Hundreds of people marched through Tokyo waving banners to celebrate what they hope will be the end of nuclear power in Japan. Until last year's earthquake and tsunami triggered radiation leaks at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japan was the world's third-biggest user of atomic energy.
5 May 2012
Coldplay pay tribute to Beastie Boy Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch
Coldplay and the Beastie Boys could hardly be more different, but they came together in a moving and timely tribute to Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch.
The British pop-rockers performed the classic and quintessential Beastie Boys track, ‘Fight for Your Right’ at the Hollywood Bowl, transforming the hip-hop classic into a beautiful, soft, silly and self aware piano ballad. Frontman Chris Martin could barely keep a straight face at times — not because the occasion wasn’t a somber one, but because of the inherent goofiness of his crooning lines like, “Now your mom threw away your best porno mag.”
Fahrenheit 2012: Suppressing Dissent in the 21st Century
The ease with which political and governmental bodies have been able to block the publication of books that are uncomfortable to the Washington elite, and even to destroy entire print runs of tell-all whistleblower stories, has greatly increased. Simultaneously, books that fulfil a social function of rallying the populace around the flag and supporting the dominant narratives of our time, from the war on terror to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, are given copious attention by a fawning lapdog press.
Flash mob playing Peer Gynt
Copenhagen Phil surprised the passengers in the Copenhagen Metro by playing Griegs Peer Gynt
4 May 2012
Adam 'MCA' Yauch of the Beastie Boys dies at 47
Adam "MCA" Yauch, a founding member of the pioneering rap band Beastie Boys, died Friday after a nearly three-year battle with cancer, the band's publicist said.Yauch, 47, revealed in 2009 that he had a cancerous tumor in a salivary gland. As a result, the band canceled its scheduled concerts and delayed the release of an album.
"I started feeling this little lump in my throat, like you would feel if you have swollen glands or something like that, like you'd feel if you have a cold, so I didn't really think it was anything," he said then in a video to fans. Yauch, a self-taught bassist and vocalist, underwent surgery to treat the tumor that year.
A People Uncounted
People Uncounted tells the story of the Roma, commonly referred to as Gypsies—a people who have been both romanticized and vilified in popular culture. The Roma have endured centuries of intolerance and persecution in Europe, most notably the Holocaust genocide where an estimated 500,000 were murdered. A People Uncounted documents their culturally rich yet often difficult lives, and demonstrates how their present state has been deeply shaped by the tragedies of the past. - Film Website
Gay Activist Fined in Russia for Propaganda
A prominent Russian gay rights activist was convicted on Friday of spreading "gay propaganda" among minors in the first such ruling in Russia's modern history.
Nikolai Alexeyev told the Associated Press that a city court in St. Petersburg fined him 5,000 rubles ($170) for breaching the law, which was controversially introduced by lawmakers in Russia's second-largest city in February. He pledged to appeal the decision.
Gay rights activists say the legislation could be used to ban public demonstrations. Alexeyev was briefly detained last month after he picketed the city hall in St. Petersburg with a poster which said that "homosexuality is not a perversion."
Israel high court hears hunger striker appeals
Two Palestinians who have been on hunger strike for 65 days appeared before Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday to appeal their detention without charge, their lawyer told AFP.
Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla are both staging hunger strikes to protest Israel’s use of administrative detention orders, under which military courts can order individuals to be held without charge for periods of up to six months, which can be renewed indefinitely.
Jamil Khatib, who is representing both men, said his address to the court focused on what he called the “illegality” of administrative detention. “The appeal focused on two sides, the illegality of administrative detention in general, in terms of why they are being held, and secondly why Thaer and Bilal took this step to shed light on administrative detention,” Khatib said.
He said Halahla addressed the session, speaking “about his arrest and the violations that were committed against him and why he decided to go through with his hunger strike.”
“He spoke about his right to a good life and his right to see his daughter, who was born while he was in administrative detention,” Khatib added.
It was unclear when the court would issue a ruling on the appeal.
3 May 2012
Press Freedom Index 2011-2012
(Click image for big version)
“This year’s index sees many changes in the rankings, changes that reflect a year that was incredibly rich in developments, especially in the Arab world,” Reporters Without Borders said today as it released its 10th annual press freedom index. “Many media paid dearly for their coverage of democratic aspirations or opposition movements. Control of news and information continued to tempt governments and to be a question of survival for totalitarian and repressive regimes. The past year also highlighted the leading role played by netizens in producing and disseminating news.
Epic Police Surveillance of Men Drinking Beer
Filmed hours before the big game before Manchester City and Manchester United. April 30th 2012 - Love Police
Metropolitan police stockpile up to 10,000 plastic bullets
The London Metropolitan police has increased its stocks of baton rounds, also known as plastic bullets, to more than 10,000 as a result of the August 2011 riots, the force has confirmed.
Figures released by Scotland Yard show the Met now has the largest stockpile of plastic bullets it has held for many years. Three years ago its stockpile was 6,424 but figures from last December show the Met now keeps 10,024 baton rounds. The Yard said it had increased the number of officers trained to deploy baton rounds to 300. It said baton rounds are bought once a year and stocks were obviously at their highest at the time of ordering.
In a statement the force indicated it was now in a position to be able to deploy baton rounds should a security situation require it in the run-up to the Olympic Games.
2 May 2012
Chen Guangcheng now wants to leave China after 'death threats'
Chen Guangchen, the blind activist said Wednesday that U.S. officials told him that Chinese authorities would have beaten his wife to death had he not left the American Embassy, where he sought sanctuary after fleeing persecution by local officials in his rural town.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied that the administration had passed on to Chen Guangcheng any threat of violence to his family, but did say that Chen was told that if he stayed in the embassy indefinitely, his family would be returned to their home province.
A shaken Chen, speaking from the hospital room where he was taken after leaving the embassy Wednesday, also said that U.S. officials told him Chinese authorities would send his family back home if he stayed inside. But he added that, at one point, the U.S. officials told him his wife would be beaten to death.
"They said if I don't leave they would take my children and family back to Shandong," Chen told The Associated Press. He said he heard the death threat from an American official whom he could not identify.
Fox News Says Dan Savage is 'Bullying' Christians
Dan Savage is an American author, media pundit, journalist and newspaper editor. Savage writes the internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column Savage Love. Its tone is frank in its discussion of sexuality, often humorous, and hostile to social conservatives and Rick Santorum's views on homosexuality. As a gay man, Savage has often been the subject of controversy regarding some of his opinions that pointedly clash with cultural conservatives and those put forth by what Savage has been known to call the "gay establishment". In 2010, Savage and his husband Terry Miller began the It Gets Better Project to help prevent suicide among LGBT youth.
Wikipedia - Video from The Young Turks
Canadian witness to RFK assassination claims there was 2nd shooter
Nearly 44 years after the June 1968 assassination of U.S. presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy, a Canadian woman who was at the Los Angeles scene of the crime has emerged as the key witness in a bid by convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan to gain release from prison or be granted a new trial based on previously unheard evidence.
A U.S. federal appeals court is currently examining submissions from Sirhan’s legal team that argue suppressed ballistic evidence and eyewitness accounts — including one from the Canadian woman — suggest there was a second shooter at the Los Angeles hotel where Kennedy was murdered.
Vancouver resident Nina Rhodes-Hughes — a 78-year-old American-born television actress and a local theatre enthusiast in the city’s Bowen Island community — was serving as a volunteer fundraiser for Kennedy’s campaign when he was fatally shot in a kitchen pantry at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968. He died from his wounds about 24 hours later, on June 6. Five others injured in the attack survived.
Rhodes-Hughes, after a Saturday interview with CNN sparked a worldwide resurgence of interest in the assassination, told Postmedia News on Monday that she heard at least 12 shots that day — not eight as argued by the California prosecutors who convicted Sirhan as the lone gunman. The gun Sirhan had when he was arrested held only eight bullets.
Life not sweet for Philippines' sugar cane child workers
Barefoot and covered in dirt and sweat, 14-year-old Dante Campilan pulls weeds from orderly rows of sugar cane. Wearing an oversized red cap to protect him from the scorching Philippine sun, Dante is doing work that should be reserved for men, not children. Earning 150 pesos ($3.50) for a seven-hour day, Dante has been a child laborer in the Philippine region of Mindanao since he was seven years old. He says he does it to help his parents, but he is just one of many children who are part of an illegal economic system of child labor.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates 2.4 million child workers are in the Philippines. Many of them, according to the ILO, are in rural areas working in fields and mines. The organization estimates 60% work in hazardous conditions.
IKEA 'used East German political prisoners to make its furniture
Furniture giant IKEA used political prisoners arrested by the dreaded Stasi secret police of former East Germany to make its products in the 1970s and 80s, it has been alleged. Initially the company denied the reports but then said it had requested documents from the Stasi archive.
During the 1970s, Ikea developed a strong manufacturing base in East Germany with 65 factories producing parts and furniture. A 2011 doumentary in Germany cited documents claiming that IKEA had a 'thorough co-operation' with East German authorities.
Ikea's popular Klippan sofa was produced in East Germany at a plant situated next to a prison in Waldheim. A former prison chief said that prison labour was an 'expected part of furniture production'.
Read more at Daily Mail - We knew this last year… – We also knew that the founder of the Ikea furniture chain, Ingvar Kamprad is a not so nice guy…
1 May 2012
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