In the news

From a couple of days ago. Just what you want to happen when you are treating a highly contagious disease:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/17/ebola-liberia-clinic-raided

But the good news is that the escaped Ebola patients have been found:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/19/missing-ebola-patients-found-liberia

Phew.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28849058

An example of what happens in Ireland if women can't travel to England: Raped asylum seeker, pregnant 8 weeks, can't travel due to funds/visa problems, abortion is totally illegal, gets suicidal, refuses food/drink, they deliver via a C-section at 25 weeks.

Well done, applause to all parties involved in get the IRE laws passed. Luckily the RCC/pro-life groups are now being shown for the arseholes they are, perhaps in 10 years things will be different. But for this women, well, human rights charters basically amount forced pregnancy through rape as torture. It doesn't matter 2 flying fucks thanks to stupid laws.

PS: Not dissing on Ireland here, most Irish people are pissed off about this, but facking hell. And Northern Ireland is not too dissimilar! The only difference is that it's easier to travel...if you can pay.

I've read a few interesting opinions on this (and a few which are, quite predictably, about as racist and derogatory as they get).

The gist is that people in Liberia don't really trust the West, and have very low levels of education, and a state that is not exactly a paragon of integrity.

The upshot is that you see your elderly and young being taken to a clinic, where they are poked with needles, only to die over the coming days and weeks.

So you break them out, unsurprisingly.

Yeah, I've been following this outbreak closely too. It seems pretty grim for the local medical staff, who sound like they don't have the right equipment to handle this sort of outbreak (at least at the beginning. Things are getting better now the WHO and CDC have woken up and are supplying money). The number of doctors and nurses who have contracted the disease is scary. You've got to be pretty brave in that sort of situation.

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I can't get on to the last page, so apologies if this was already posted, but John Oliver's bit on the militarization of the police is fantastic
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Pictures here, including the patients being taken from the clinic. If you have Ghostery installed you will need to pause it to view the photos.

http://lightbox.time.com/2014/08/19/ebola-outbreak-liberia-john-moore-photographs/#1

Anyone got a link to a uk version of the John Oliver on ferguson clip?

It would seem that paramilitary forces Police in Ferguson have found the perfect way to calm things down...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11044995/Michael-Brown-shooting-peaceful-protests-after-another-death-in-Ferguson.html

jesus fucking cunting christ. how do you even get to a point in your life where you're able to do this to another human being. abysmal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/19/islamic-state-militant-who-beheaded-james-foley-spoke-with-a-british-accent_n_5693434.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

I'd been meaning to watch that and you reminded me about it just as I was about to do the dishes last night. Was excellent. Much improved dish washing experience. Thanks.

Anyone got a link to a uk version of the John Oliver on ferguson clip?

If you install the ProxFlow add-in for Chrome you can see YouTube links which are outside your locale.

thats horrific. I am not watching the video. What kind of British accent does the killer have?

i haven't watched it either.

a british one.

Like west country?

The reply/no quote thing really can make a post seem bad in here.

Hamas it at it again. Over 100 rockets fired at Israel from Gaza since they broke the cease fire and its still early.. According to an article published in today's Al-Hayat newspaper the rocket fire was ordered by Khaled Mashaal under pressure from Qatar. Qatar demanded that he must NOT accept the cease fire unless they got a seat at the table in Cairo. Qatar, apparently, told Marhall that if he accepted any deal without Qatar at the table they would expel him. As always a life of luxury to a Arab leader means more than the state of the people they claim to represent.

So if Qatar is behind the fire and the threats against Ben Gurion Airport, it's finally time to turn the tables and make Doha a "no fly zone" and throw the Al Thanis to the wolves--- a lot of poor Arabs could live better if one would redistribute Qatari wealth.. Qatar throwing money to Boko Haram, IS(IL/IS), Taliban etc. has surely not earned them the warmest of places in people's hearts--- till now tolerated given their significant holdings of key British, German etc. companies.

@Velocio - hurry along with that ignore function, there's a good chap.

This.

So much.

Mikec's latin script works a treat for me until that function comes along.

Resolved.

I've banned EdwardZ from Misc & Meaningless. His contributions elsewhere are fine, but within this forum, within this conversation, I'm not sure he has anything positive to add.

If his views were the exact opposite, he would be banned for anti-Semitism. So why are these views acceptable just because they are pro-Israel and anti-Islamic? I'm not sure that on a cycling forum, I can really stomach either extreme of religious and political extremism over the other, so I'll treat both with some consistency, which feels fair.

I don't know, it's kind of nice to feel like a small child in a Dickens novel being benevolently chided by his father. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

It's almost as controversial as the helmet issue.
Which, ironically, is an apt epithet for EddieZed.

Such relief.