IRA firebomb damages Northern Ireland hotel

No….not this again….

Global News

DUBLIN, Ireland – A firebomb detonated Friday in a hotel lobby in the Northern Ireland city of Londonderry, but police said a swift midnight evacuation ensured that nobody was injured.

The incendiary device detonated inside the Everglades Hotel in Northern Ireland’s second-largest city. Witnesses said a masked man tossed a bag beside the hotel’s reception desk, said he was from the Irish Republican Army, and warned that a bomb inside the bag would explode in 30 minutes.

“Someone set off the fire alarm and I called the police,” said Gary Rutherford, who had just dropped off relatives at the hotel. “It was quite confusing at the time for most of the guests because they were in bed. It was mayhem.”

As British Army experts were deploying a remote-controlled robot to examine the bomb, it exploded and sent flames cascading throughout the evacuated lobby. Nobody was injured.

Politicians and Northern Ireland’s…

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Oilsands critic Desmond Tutu heads to Alberta

Bishop Tutu “gets” it–God is not separated from all that is here.

Global News

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu is expected to open a two-day conference on aboriginal treaties and the oilsands Friday by answering questions from reporters and taking an aerial tour of the massive industrial development.

He is scheduled to appear with industry, aboriginal and political leaders in Fort McMurray.

Tutu is to deliver the keynote address on Saturday.

Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the fight against apartheid, has taken strong stands on climate change and against projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline.

In an opinion column earlier this month in the British newspaper the Guardian, the 82-year-old called the Keystone pipeline proposal to move oilsands bitumen from Alberta to the U.S. appalling.

His article spoke about a religious responsibility to fight against climate change.

“It is a responsibility that begins with God commanding the first human inhabitants of the…

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Indigenous Protesters Clash with Brazil Police

Warrior Publications

Hundreds protest outside World Cup stadium in capital over plans to shrink size of some reserves for indigenous groups.

from Al Jazeera via Earth First! Newswire, May 28, 2014

Indigenous protesters in traditional dress squared against Brazilian police mounted on horses in the country’s capital, just outside a new football stadium that will host World Cup matches this year.

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Good Night, Woman.

Attenti al Lupo

Ciao, Maya.

(Maya Angelou, 1928-2014)

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Flame retardant in old couches, carpets poses risk to kids’ IQs

Global News

VANCOUVER – Debates over the toxicity of chemicals like lead and mercury have long been extinguished, but mounting research into flame retardant has ignited a deeper probe of man-made chemicals.

Learning deficits and decreased IQ in children has been linked to synthetic chemicals once commonly used in household items to prevent fire, according to a new study out of British Columbia’s Simon Fraser University.

The study, published online Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found a 4.5 drop in IQ and greater hyperactivity in five-year-olds was associated with their mother’s exposure to flame retardants during early pregnancy and after the babies were born.

READ MORE: SFU professor co-authors study linking banned chemicals to autistic behaviour

The research joins five other international studies highlighting the potential dangers of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, known as PDBEs, which were once widely used in products like couches, carpets and car seats.

“Now we’ve…

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Kerry challenges NSA leaker Edward Snowden to ‘man up’

I think the American people have already accepted what Snowden did as a heroic act. He knew what he was getting into, and still went through with it. He doesn’t have to make his case to us…especially since Congress is not willing to listen to us and stop this violation of the Fourth Amendment. Why would they listen to Snowden?

Global News

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry says National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden “should man up and come back to the United States.”

Kerry was asked about Snowden in a nationally broadcast interview Wednesday in the wake of Snowden’s interview earlier with NBC News. In that session, Snowden said he never intended to end up Russia, but was forced to go there because Washington decided to “revoke my passport.”

Asked about this on NBC “Today” show Wednesday, Kerry replied, “Well, for a supposedly smart guy, that’s a pretty dumb answer.”

Kerry said, quote, “If Mr. Snowden wants to come back to the United States, we’ll have him on a flight today.”

He said Snowden should “stand up in the United States and make his case to the American people.”

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Thankful for John Ewing

Diane Ravitch's blog

John Ewing wrote a brilliant article called “Mathematical Intimidation.” If you haven’t read it, please do. It demolishes VAM. He calls on mathematicians to speak out. And at Brown, we read here, he spoke out:

“John Ewing, Executive Director of the American Mathematical Society and President of Math for America, was the speaker at a Brown commencement forum today. He spoke to a packed audience on the question, “Is There an Education Crisis?” Since it’s unlikely that the media was there for this one, here’s a synopsis for those following the public education debate:

“Ewing briefly described the various reports going back to 1958 that proclaimed the so-called crisis, and listed the forces that benefit from keeping it “in the forefront of the news”: politicians; the education/industrial complex; and that aspect of the American character that likes a crisis because a crisis “demands action and demands it now.”

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