Germany's "Bishop of Bling", formally suspended last week over the multimillion-dollar "renovation" of his official residence, looks poised to suffer yet another indignity:
Germany’s recently suspended “Bishop of Bling” faces the prospect of seeing his lavish multimillion euro residence turned into a refugee centre or a soup kitchen for the homeless, Catholic church officials in his home diocese announced today.
Pope Francis lives frugally himself, and has encouraged others to follow his lead in that regard. He's not kidding. And "lighten up, Francis" doesn't seem to be a part of his vocabulary. That 53 year-old Bishop's gotta be doing some serious praying, these days.
It seems that China's got its own little Islamoterrorist issue; the Jeep that ran over a bunch of people in Tiananmen Square before exploding in flames was, according to Chinese police, a carefully planned terrorist attack.
All three had names from the Muslim Uighur minority in the Xinjiang region.
The three ignited petrol inside the car, they added.
They've detained five additional suspects. It seems doubtful that they'll be given qurans, prayer rugs, and halal meals. Unless, of course, the Chinese would like to send them to some of the empty cells at Gitmo.
There is, however, at least one country in the world that's unapologetic about its high degree of Islamophobia: Japan. Muslims simply aren't welcome there.
The official policy of Japan is not to give citizenship to Muslims who come to Japan, and even permits for permanent residency are given sparingly to Muslims.
The official policy of the Japanese authorities is to make every effort not to allow entry to Muslims, even if they are physicians, engineers and managers sent by foreign companies that are active in the region. Japanese society expects Muslim men to pray at home.
And any Muslim who does manage to enter Japan will find it very difficult to rent an apartment. Anywhere a Muslim lives, the neighbors become uneasy.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, as the recent episode in China's Forbidden City illustrates.
Pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby is running to replace Jeff Merkley in the Senate. She's a freaking Catholic. Leftists are already spewing and slobbering. They can't use the "she's a bimbo" line, so the attack is largely focused upon her religion. 'Cause religion is like, y'know, a terrible thing. Especially Christian varieties. Freedom of religion should be abolished.
Now, this is an idea that I've entertained for years, ever since I saw a Gallagher routine where he talked about shooting "stupid" stickers onto the trunk of peoples' cars: cop sees 3 "stupid" stickers, pulls you over and writes you a ticket for being a dumbass. This just takes it to the next level: troopers in Iowa are having their rigs retrofitted with Bond-style equipment; in this case, a cannon built into the grille.
Unfortunately, it doesn't kill the offending vehicle, but it tags the thing with a GPS tracker, so the cops don't have to engage in high-speed pursuit. They just tag the sucker, then turn off the lights and sirens and just drop back. Once the perp figures he's not being chased, he drives sanely, trying to blend in with traffic. The cops just grab him when the time seems right.
And black Americans still have a median household net worth of less than half the price of a 2011 Ford Fiesta with 28,000 miles on it. The median black American household is poorer than the average household in India, which has a net worth of about $5,500, according to the Economic Times.
Black Americans today are worse off by every metric than their counterparts in South Africa were, under apartheid. And this is after the Democratics more or less abandoned the terrorist wing of their party, known as the Ku Klux Klan, in favor of a more genteel approach to the destruction of black families.
For over fifty years, they've assiduously worked to instill a culture of dependence in black America, and they've been extremely successful in doing so. Yet they're guaranteed the black vote. Somehow, Democratics have managed to twist things around to such an extent that if you disagree with their agenda, you're a raacist.
But blacks are finally beginning, albeit slowly, to catch on.
No wonder Democratics are casting about in panic, seeking a new group of dependents.
The bloom's definitely off the rose, where pResident Barry Cades is concerned: as noted here yesterday, CBS's "60 Minutes" destroyed Barry and Hillary on Benghazi last Sunday night, stating out front that the administration knew from the start that it was a planned attack - and did nothing. And:
Either way on this last one, take your pick: he's either a bald-faced liar (which I tend to believe), or he's completely incompetent (which I also believe).
In any case, his long honeymoon with the media appears to have ended, and it's long overdue. He's got to be fuming; in Chicago, at least, people stay bought.
Well, Hillary, we know you're chomping at the bit to head for the Oval Orifice come 2016, but ya know - your many lies have come back to haunt you. Don't count on becoming the first "female" pResident. Benghazi.
Leaders for Portland Streetcar Inc. have refused to hand control of nearly $500,000 from annual ticket sales and sponsorships to city officials, saying it would undermine the organization’s autonomy as the nonprofit hired to operate the city’s streetcar system.
The dispute underscores a complicated and cumbersome relationship between the city – which owns the streetcars and pays millions toward operations – and the company formed 18 years ago to champion Portland’s streetcar renaissance.
Renaissance? Really? Hundreds of millions of dollars for some tracks and wires that run through the "Pearl" district, downtown to PSU, then back over the Broadway Bridge (at 4 miles an hour in a 30 zone), then down more city streets to OMSI is a "renaissance"? You can walk from any one point to any other along the streetcar route and get there ahead of the so-called "people mover". Personally, I've never seen more than six people or so on the thing - even on rainy days.
This isn't a "revival", it's a tourist attraction - and it doesn't draw all that many tourists, either. Why not just bring it back in its original 19th-century incarnation: horse-drawn, as the first such trams were in Portland, or steam-pulled, as came later? At least those would be tourist draws. And they likely wouldn't require $8 million a year in taxpayer subsidies.
Once poised to make a small difference in state politics, the Oregon TEA Party has apparently split into competing factions: Geoff Ludt, who founded the group in 2010 before handing it over to others in order to focus upon business issues arising from the recession, seems to have returned to the scene and this week reacquired “Oregon Tea Party” as a statewide assumed business name registered to Oregon Tea Party LLC, a single-member organization of Ludt’s.
The schism between the founder and those who assumed control of the fledgling party during his absence has created an acrimonious atmosphere in which accusations and allegations have been flying from both sides, with former talk radio host Victoria Taft and her friends, such as Bruce McCain, rallying to Ludt's side in blogs and "leaks" to media criticizing the opponent, John Kuzmanich. In response, John's allies have taken to Facebook to air grievances.
All in all, it appears that another implosion is underway among advocates for limited government. I'm buying stock in Orville Reddenbacher's, 'cause Democratics are going to be buying a lot of popcorn.
