Saturday Post

The hills are aliiiiive with the sound of musiiiiiiic...

A merry Gwangbokjol,  Independence Day and National Acadian Day to all y'all.

Celebrations are underway in South Korea, India and for Acadians everywhere (Newfoundland time in North Korea).


Perhaps the most important story here is why this has received little outrage:

A senior US Official told the Wall Street Journal that the Islamic State likely used mustard gas in their attack on Kurdish fighters Wednesday in Northern Iraq ...

Oh, yeah. ISIS.


Stem Express has cut its ties with Planned Parenthood:

StemExpress, the biomedical firm in the news recently for its role acquiring aborted fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood and then marketing it to research labs, has formally cut ties with the abortion organization, reports Politico.

Politico cited "sources" who said that StemExpress had informed Congress as well as Planned Parenthood Friday afternoon that they were ending the relationship. 

The decision comes after the release of six videos, exposing Planned Parenthood’s practice of harvesting and selling aborted fetal tissue. In Northern California, it is technicians with StemExpress who worked inside Planned Parenthood’s clinics to obtain consent from the babies' mothers, and the desired "specimens."

Two of the six videos released prominently feature former StemExpress technician Holly O’Donnell.

In the videos O’Donnell describes in graphic detail the process of sorting through dismembered arms and legs of aborted babies. She also claims that StemExpress did not always obtain proper consent from the mothers of the aborted babies to harvest the tissue.

I'm sure it's nothing.


The shock isn't that this was done but that anyone could be shocked by it:

Band members on the Semiahmoo First Nation say they were shocked to hear their chief and a councillor were raking in massive salaries while their people live in semi-squalor on the tiny Surrey reserve.

Darren Dolan and his cousin Darlene Clark are now calling for an audit to open the books, saying they had been trying for years to find out where the band’s money was going but never got a response from their council.

The news Thursday that Chief Willard Cook was paid more than $267,309, while councillor Joanne Charles got $187,138, confirmed their worst fears, they said. Roxanne Charles — the only other council member — was paid $4,725 and had expenses of $27,473.

“We’re in shock because honestly, we’re living in third-world conditions,” said Dolan, 52.

“We have to pay for water and bring in potable water to drink. With that kind of money you could run water down here, provide high-speed Internet, natural gas … Without an audit, or somebody pushing to open the books, it’ll just go on and on.”

Clark, who doesn’t live on the reserve, said she was outraged to hear the chief and councillor were paid enough that they could buy million-dollar properties, while band members were struggling month-to-month in mouldy homes with poor drinking water and lack of sewer pipes, while nothing had been done to provide social programs or other amenities.

For this kitteh, this kind of thing is old news.

The death toll in Tianjin now stands at one hundred and four people:

Residents have been evacuated from a 1.5-mile zone after deadly sodium cyanide was found at the site of explosions that killed more than 100 people in the Chinese port city of Tianjin.

Chinese authorities now fear chemical contamination after the series of blasts at a warehouse of hazardous chemicals on Wednesday, despite earlier assurances that the air quality remained safe.

Sodium cyanide, which can be fatal when ingested or inhaled, was found "roughly east of the blast site", according to police.

It was not immediately clear how much had been found or how great a risk it posed.

Thousands of residents had already been moved to nearby schools after homes and apartment buildings were damaged, mostly by the shockwaves from the explosions.

One of those schools is among the areas evacuated and residents have been advised to wear long trousers and face masks.

On Saturday, Chinese state media said the number of dead had risen to 104.

About 6,300 people have been displaced and around 721 injured, with 33 of those in a serious condition, Xinhua news agency said.

Theirs is a friendship that transcends all boundaries and inter-species rivalry:

Photographer captures rare friendship between male bear and female wolf

(source)

 
Oh my God:

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