Homeless Man Is Grateful for Officer’s Gift of Boots.
But He Again Is Barefoot.
A police
officer in NYC gave a homeless man a pair of boots on a cold night. A photo was
anonymously taken and has become an icon of hope. The officer has gotten his 15
minutes of fame on various talk shows, etc. But what happened to the shoeless
man? His name is Jeffrey Hillman, and days later was spotted walking around
shoeless again. The $100 pair of boots he received were nowhere to be seen. He claims
to have hidden them because it would be dangerous to wear them. He dislikes the
attention. He thanks the officer and hopes for more people like him in the
world. He is a veteran and has been on the streets in NY for nearly 10 years.
I think it is a shame that more people don’t contribute
to help the homeless. It is also a shame that the man is not wearing the boots
and may have even sold them. I commend the officer for his charity.
The Big Budget Mumble
There has
been a lot of talk from the G.O.P. about reducing the deficit with spending
cuts, not tax increases, but no leading figures on the Republican side have
been able or willing to specify what, exactly, they want to cut. Republican posing
on the deficit has been a con game, now Obama has demanded that the G.O.P. put
up or shut up — and the response is an aggrieved mumble. Obama has proposed raising
about $1.6 trillion in additional revenue over the next decade. He would also cut spending by about $400 billion. Republicans
are outraged. What are Republicans offering as an alternative? They say they
want to rely mainly on spending cuts instead. But what will be cut?
This is just another article about political issues that are a
bickering match. It is so annoying that politics have become a “he said, she
said”, the truth is that we need to cut budgets, and no matter what gets cut,
someone will get the shaft.
Hanukkah’s
New Tastes, Still Rooted in Tradition
Israeli’s
eat jelly doughnuts, but Ashkenazi Jews in the diaspora eat potatoes, or
latkes. Latkes are potato pancakes, traditionally eaten with apple sauce and
sour cream (though this author says no sour cream, I disagree, they need BOTH).
To break tradition, there are new cookbooks to break the routine greasy foods
of this holiday:
“The Mile End Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter, 2012), which the Bernamoffs co-wrote,
and “Jerusalem”(Ten Speed, 2012), by Yotam
Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. The books cross Brooklyn hipster with veggie-based
Israeli food. They include deli classics and twists on the latke (celery root
and parsnip replace the potatoes and topped with horseradish cream).
Both books sound delicious
to me, it is important to mix up traditions so we can keep moving forward, even
in the culinary sense.
Rebels
Pull Out of Strategic City in Congo
“We saw combat, and the enemy ran away,” the
rebels cheered. Another verse: “We’re leaving, but we’ll be back soon.” The
rebels, called the M23, were under international pressure to leave Goma after
inflicting a humiliating defeat on Congolese forces and setting off a national
crisis with antigovernment protests erupting across Congo. Still, many of
Goma’s residents are scared about what lies ahead with home invasions,
carjackings and killings on the rise. Some people are worried that the army
might be even worse than the M23 and that when the army returns they will start
stealing. Goma’s residents have been trapped for years between rebel groups
that rape, pillage and kill and a dysfunctional government army that often does
the same. Under a peace plan, the M23 rebels are supposed to withdraw all their
troops from Goma except for one company that will be allowed to stay at the
airport along with government troops. A “neutral force” composed of soldiers
from other African countries will also help keep the peace in Goma,
I
cant imagine how scary these people’s lives are, and how trapped they must feel
in their everyday lives. It is extraordinary how they can persevere. It really
puts my life into perspective.
Arrest
Warrant Issued for Wife of Ivory Coast’s Ex-President
Ms. Gbagbo is accused of crimes
against humanity, she took part in the planned murders that took place after
her husband’s defeat in a presidential election in November 2010. For months
afterward, security forces who were trying to keep him in power attacked
opposition neighborhoods, killing and beating people known to be hostile to the
president. The troops routinely fired on unarmed civilians and created an
atmosphere of terror for months. The court said that Ms. Gbagbo, had an
important role in planning the attacks on political rivals. She “exercised
joint control over the crimes by having the power to control and give
instructions directly to the youth militia who were systematically recruited,
armed, trained,” the arrest warrant said. Ms. Gbagbo and her husband were seized by opposition forces in April 2011, she has been under
house arrest of a sort ever since, and is now detained in Odienné, where state
prosecutors have begun interrogating her about her role.
It
is so awful that people in power and even their family can have this much
control over the people, in such a terrible way. Once again, events like these
put my life into perspective.
Toxic
Cough Syrup Kills 16 Pakistanis
Eight victims were seriously ill in
the hospital, after drinking the syrup, which was sold under the brand name
Tyno. Doctors said the dead were between the ages of 20 and 45 years old. Government
officials sealed off the factory where
the syrup had been manufactured and ordered the seizure of all stocks from
shops. Cough syrup has been at the center of several mass poisonings around the
world in recent years, often involving industrial solvents used as cheap
sweetener for the liquid.
Its very
scary, but hopefully with our FDA requirements, we can prevent awful instances
like these in the US.
Journalist
in Pakistan Eludes Bomb
There was no claim of responsibility
for the bombing attempt, apparently targeting Hamid Mir, a journalist who hosts
one of the most-watched political talk shows. Suspicions pointed to the Taliban,
which had recently singled out Mr. Mir for criticism over his coverage of the
teenage activist wounded by militants in October. Journalists refused to rule
out involvement by the country’s intelligence agencies. The agencies have been
accused of using intimidation and violence against journalists. The bomb was
spotted by a neighbor when Mr. Mir returned home with his driver after a
shopping trip in central Islamabad. The device was a black box fixed to the
underside of his vehicle with magnets, containing half a kilogram of plastic
explosives as well as a land mine detonator. It was an assassination attempt
that failed. Hours later, Mr. Mir hosted his evening talk show as usual,
appearing composed but declining to speculate about his attacker’s identity.
We in the
states are so fortunate to have the right to free speech and aren’t penalized
for what we say. I commend him for carrying on in the way he normally would.
China:
North Korea Leader Is ‘Sexiest Man’ No Longer
People’s Daily Online deleted a
story and slide show that named Kim
Jong-un, the young, chubby ruler of North
Korea, the “Sexiest Man Alive of
2012.” The Communist Party
mouthpiece, misinterpreted a parody in
The Onion about Mr. Kim being ranked the “sexiest man,” treating it as serious
news.
This is just
funny. I appreciated the language gap and mistranslation. I also liked that it
was reprinted by several sources that misinterpreted it as well.
Russian
Court Ruling Seeks to Ban Pussy Riot’s Videos
A Moscow court ruled that videos of
performances by the punk group Pussy Riot were extremist, falling under a law
intended to end hate speech. The court
called for limiting public access to internet sources with the videos. It
applies only to servers in Russia.
Last summer, three of the performers were sentenced to two years in a penal
colony. The court released one of them on bail in October. The ruling cited
“psycho-linguistic research” proving that the videos “humiliate various social
groups based on their religious beliefs” and contain “hidden calls to rebellion
and nonsubmission to authority.”
People make
angry, hateful music everyday, I think that there are more important issues to
be addressed. It seems a little silly to me that this is an international
story.
Ireland’s
Abortion Policy to Be Clarified This Year
The government said it
would clarify its abortion policy by the end of the year after publishing a
long-overdue report on an issue that has divided the country. The document from
an expert group, intended to clarify when abortion should be allowed in cases
where a woman’s life is deemed to be at risk, is due for debate in Parliament
this week.
I wonder
what will happen in the meantime. This sounds like the debate in the US.
Teenagers
and the Morning-After Pill
The
nation’s leading pediatrics organization is encouraging doctors to also talk to
teenagers about the morning-after
pill — and to send girls home with prescriptions for emergency contraception,
just in case. Several medical societies favor
making emergency contraceptives available over the counter, since the drugs are
supposed to be taken within five days. In 2006, levonorgestrel was made
available over-the-counter for women age 18 and older. In 2009, after a legal
fight, the age was lowered to 17. A recent study of college students, for
example, found that only 16 percent knew that emergency contraception was
available at college health centers. Plan B One Step and Next Choice are
effective in at least half of the instances they are used, according to the
review.
I think that teenagers should be encouraged to use condoms and
oral contreceptives. Plan B should not be used unless there is an emergency,
these teenagers are having unprotected sex and using the pill as their birth
control which is unhealthy and expensive. Condoms, use them.
60-Million-Year
Debate on Grand Canyon’s Age
Controversy
among geologists over this question. A report published in the journal Science
offered new support for the old-canyon hypothesis. Used an improved dating
technique based on the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium atoms into
helium atoms in a mineral known as apatite. Where surface erosion had gouged
out canyons and how much time had passed since there was significant natural
excavation in the Grand Canyon region. The western segment of the canyon was
carved to within a few hundred yards of modern depths by about 70 million years
ago. The more ancient origin would put much of the canyon in place in the
dinosaurs. If the interpretation of the findings proves to be correct, it
contradicts the prevailing hypothesis that the entire canyon was formed as
recently as five million to six million years ago. These dates were drawn from
an examination of pebbles and other sediments from upstream reaches of the
Colorado River.
Either way, the grand canyon is an incredibly
fascinating place and it always amazes and overwhelms me when I visit. This was
a cool article and I am excited to visit again.
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