Posts about things that happen in the news. Sometimes light, sometimes cynical. Often critical.

Writey McWordish

Parents did Nazi that coming: Dutch coloring book featured Hitler

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A Dutch drugstore stopped sales on a coloring book for children after it was found out that one of the pictures was none other than Adolf Hitler, the former Nazi dictator who led Germany into the second World War and is responsible for the holocaust.

Customers pointed the drugstore to the inclusion of the mass murderer in the coloring book. It was released last monday and serveral dozen coloring books had been sold. The questionable picture featured Hitler doing a Nazi salute while wearing his Nazi uniform.

The publisher, a Belgian company, said in a response that the inclusion is an unfortunate mistake. The colouring book was made in India based on a book containing photos of famous people. According to the company, it’s possible the artist did not know who Hitler was. The publisher indicated the company doesn’t check each coloring page before publication.

Writey McWordish

Breaking Bad: Down Under – Australia police finds 903kg

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Ever since the release of Breaking Bad, science teachers all over the world have had more success with keeping their pupils interested in chemistry by explaining episodes than following their actual course material. And it looks like some Asians have been paying attention.

The Australian police found 903kg of Crystal Methamphetamine, the largest bust in Australian history. The drugs were hidden in boxes of floorboards in Melbourne, BBC reports. The drugs likely originate from somewhere in Asia. Two men have been charged with drug trafficking. The bust is part of a larger investigation into an international organisation.

Writey McWordish

Update: At least 100 killed by chemical attack in Syrian Idlib

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The chemical attack that struck Idlib, Syria yesterday is reported to have now killed at least 100 people. Reports of the use of sarin gas have now come from multiple sources. Medical responders have seen the effects of Assad attacks using the toxic chlorine gas. Sarin is one of the most dangerous nerve agents.

There are also reports of 400 injured by the sarin gas-attack. Sarin gas attacks the communication between nerves and permanently damages nerve functions. This may lead survivors to become permanently paralyzed. Victims die of asphyxia as they lose bodily control of their muscles, including the ones allowing them to breathe. Because of the air-bound and destructive nature of sarin, it is considered a WMD and outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.

The UN Security Council will now hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the dire situation and no doubt the source of this brutal attack.

Writey McWordish

Shocking: Irish anti-abortion clinic tells women sex kills

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An undercover investigation of the Times revealed that anti-abortion clinics have been advising women on contraception. They told women, who came to them seeking advice, they could die from having sex. The Times also recorded northern Irish Ask Majella telling women that abortion causes breast cancer.

Gianna Care, a Dublin crisis pregnancy service, says all women who have an abortion regret their decision. Both organisations have connections with Irish ‘pro-life’ groups. The advice given to women with unwanted pregnancies is misleading and meant to scare women into continuing a pregnancy at all costs.

It’s not the first time Irish clinics get exposed by undercover Times journalists, but it is worrying that women coming for help and medical advice get mislead by scare tactics rooted in ideological motivations. The Times reported women being told that having an abortion was “the same as a mother pushing her child in front of a moving car”.

Writey McWordish

UK Prime Minister completely wrong about Easter Eggs

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Theresa May got it all wrong. The christian Prime Minister of the UK was completely outraged over the idea that the National Trust dropped the word “Easter” from their annual Easter Egg hunt.

This story apparently came from from the Archbishop of York, who accused the National Trust of “airbrushing faith” from Easter. Theresa May, without fact checking any of this, lashed out in a fit of outrage.

Easter’s very important. It’s important to me. It’s a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world. So I think what the National Trust is doing is frankly just ridiculous.

The story, however, is not true. Neither Cadbury nor the National Trust have removed the word easter from their advertisment or website. Which begs the question. Of course we can laugh at the silliness of this hypersensitivity of right-wing conservatives when it comes to cultural change, but shouldn’t the real concern be about the gullibillity of the UK’s leader in a time when she’ll be responsible for negotiating one of the biggest economical transitions in history?

Writey McWordish

Gas attack. Syriasly?

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Syria. Not quite at the top of our list of places to visit on a holiday. On the contrary. And somehow, people managed to just make it worse. And by people, we mean inhuman pieces of excrement that can go straight to whatever crappy version of a possible afterlife they believe in, for all we care.

It´s 58 dead and counting, according to Human Rights monitoring in the region. 11 of them are children. And there have been several reports of chemical attacks last week. How is this still possible? War sucks and is in general senseless violence, but we get the cognitive disconnect that allows one human to kill another because they believe each other to be enemies. Well, sort of. But what monster simply starts random release of poisonous gas that will indiscriminately target people and let them suffer a slow and painful death?

That has nothing to do with believing in right or wrong. It’s downright monstrous. Humanity, you are a disappointment.

Writey McWordish

UK Brexit-committee fears “no deal”

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If the U.K. government is intent on a no-deal Brexit, this might actually be worse than a bad deal, an MP cross-party committee fears. The UK government has suggested that it might walk away from a deal with the EU if the terms aren’t to its satisfaction.

Theresa May now claims that she wants to get the best deal possible for the UK, but in other instances, the U.K. government has threatened to walk away if the best possible deal isn’t good enough. The committee now fears that the idea of that being better than the alternative – a ‘bad’ deal – isn’t substantiated with fact and therefore might be taking a blind leap into a situation that is a good deal worse.

The government has talked about walking away from a bad deal, but has not yet explained what terms would be demonstrably worse for the UK than ‘no deal’.

The committee agrees on that there should be an assesment of different scenarios, BBC reports. However, since the Government isn’t identifying terms that could lead to walking away from a deal, that’s really not an option. So either the government knows more than it’s telling MPs, or the U.K. is about to negotiate with 27 countries with their economy in the balance, and doing it blindly.