Monday Night Footballs

The title is in reference to the Super Bowl. Care or don't.


Thirty-five killed in a suicide attack in a Moscow airport:

A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded over 130 in the packed arrivals hall of Moscow's largest airport in an attack slammed by the Kremlin and the world as an act of terror.

There were scenes of carnage at Domodedovo airport in southern Moscow Monday as corpses were stretchered out of the smoke-filled arrivals area after the blast, the latest deadly attack in the capital after the March metro bombings....

"Today at 4:32 pm (1332 GMT) an explosion went off in the international arrivals hall of Domodedovo airport," the Russian investigative committee said in a statement.

Airport spokeswoman Elena Galanova said that the bombing took place in a freely accessible public area of the airport where passengers meet relatives after passing through customs.

At least 35 people were killed, she said, a figure confirmed by the investigative committee. At least 130 were wounded, the health ministry said in a statement. It said that of the wounded, 20 were in a serious condition....

The Russian capital has been repeatedly rocked by attacks over the last years blamed on militants from the Northern Caucasus region, where Russia has for years been battling an Islamist insurgency.

Double bombings carried out by two female suicide bombers on the Moscow metro on March 29, 2010, killed 40 and wounded more than 100.

The Kremlin fought two wars against separatist rebels in Chechnya in the 1990s but the insurgency has now become more Islamist in tone and has spread to neighbouring Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Do note the casual use of the words "militant" and "insurgency". They sound cool and can be used when someone doesn't want to make reference to terrorism. What happened in Moscow is not an act against an organised government nor was the suicide bomber engaging in warfare.


If the Chechens are responsible, let us remember that they are among the "poor, oppressed masses" who raped, maimed and killed innocent civilians in Beslan. However rotten Russia may be to its fellow man, these lunatics take the cake when it comes to cruelty. There is no reasoning with them, nor appealing to their better natures because it is clear they have none.


The real kicker is a comment like this (just one out of many, unfortunately):

I hope I'm not going to hear the "Oh, I bet it was the Russians who staged this... the FSB". When something bad happens in the USA, the Muslims did it... when something bad happens in Russia it was the Russians who did it as a pretext to start another conflict.

The truth is people, we're all affected by radicals, whether Muslims, Christians, Jews or other...Good thing is that the majority of people are good people, regardless of faith... We all need to fight terrorism regardless of where it comes from. One thing I like about the Russians is that they play hardball. It may not be the most ethical way, but it does get things done.

It's comments like these, dripping with moral equivalence, that muddy the waters. How many Christians fly airplanes into buildings? How many Jews kill their daughters over matters of dress? Do Hindus and Buddhists accept that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and that is why they threaten people with death over cartoons they have never seen? I'm stumped by the reaction to terrorism. Is it fear, stupidity, or political correctness that prevent people from speaking plainly? What has to happen before the West finally accepts who is to blame and what should be done about it?

 

Some people are just scum:

 

Former call girl and dominatrix Darquise Johnson told an Ottawa court Monday she’s now “trying to do right” by telling the truth about how a disabled client was bilked of more than $800,000.

Johnson — she also goes by the name L’Ecuyer — has told court that she only participated in the elaborate scheme because she was afraid of her husband, Nolan Johnson, whom she has described as a violent, Jamaican-born drug dealer.

The Crown contends Johnson was a willing and active participant in the defrauding of Ottawa computer systems analyst Douglas Macklem.

Johnson, 31, has pleaded not guilty to fraud, conspiracy, extortion, money laundering and possession of proceeds obtained by crime.

She has said she was beaten, kicked, choked or threatened whenever she raised objections to her husband’s plan to take Macklem’s money.

Testifying in her own defence Monday, Johnson admitted to lying in a 2008 civil court examination, in which she took responsibility for selling Macklem on the idea of buying resort villas in the Dominican Republic.

In that examination, Johnson also said she had “betrayed” her husband by acting as an escort and expressed regret for doing so.

Johnson told court that she had lied to cover for her husband “out of fear” since she knew he would read the transcripts of her evidence.

“He had told me to be careful with what I say and don’t slip up,” Johnson testified.

Nolan Johnson was, by then, living in Jamaica, but Johnson said she continued to be afraid of him and his associates in Ottawa.

Johnson’s lawyer, Bruce Engel, asked her what had changed during the past two years that prompted her to tell a different story at her criminal trial.

“The fear is still there,” Johnson said. “But the difference now is that I’ve had enough of covering up for him. I am fed up with him having control of my life for so long.”

She told court that she’s now trying to “do right” even though she’s still scared. “People are telling me that the more I let the fear control me, the more I am letting him control me.”

Related: 

 

Five people, including four former employees, have been charged with defrauding a school for children with special needs through the misappropriation of approximately $700,000.

Fugitive monkey in Japan finally caught.  Thank God! I was really worried.