Anonymous donors pay off Kmart layaway accounts

The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children.

He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.

"She told him, 'No, I'm paying for it,'" recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis. "He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn't, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears."

At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers' layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn't afford, especially toys and children's clothes set aside by impoverished parents.

MORE

Slain border agent's family: Prosecute the feds

In a statement released through attorney Pat McGroder, the family said it was "incomprehensible that members of ATF and DOJ would embark on such an egregious operation and then try to conceal the link between this failed investigation and Brian's murder.

"We now believe that, if it can be shown that laws were broken, then all those responsible for Fast and Furious should be held criminally liable."

McGroder said that his law firm represents the Terry family as victims in criminal cases linked to the gun-trafficking saga and that it may file a lawsuit against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

MORE

The swindler, the cyanide pill and the underwater ballroom

Via Jason, Belle Grove

Britain may play second fiddle to Italy or France when it comes to producing beautiful buildings. But when it comes to playful, quirky constructions, we are world-beaters. Britain is the global home of the folly.

And the people behind these architectural eccentricities — extravagant creations built primarily for decoration and which often appear to be something that they’re not — are frequently just as fascinating as the buildings themselves.

None more so than the man who created Witley Park in Surrey. The tale behind it involves not just a staggeringly ambitious, wildly over-the-top folly, but also a tragic Victorian morality story of speculation, corruption, disgrace and suicide.

Deep in Surrey, near Godalming, lies the village of Witley. A mile and a quarter west, in a ramshackle wood, next to a walled kitchen garden, you’ll find a holly tree wrapped around a hut with a door in it.

Go down the spiral concrete steps, and there, 40ft beneath the surface, lies a teardrop-shaped tunnel that leads to Britain’s most extraordinary folly — a ballroom, built of iron and glass, beneath a lake.

Leading off it, an aquarium-cum-smoking room was added, where guests puffed on their cigars and admired the passing carp.

Above the domed, glazed ceiling of the underwater ballroom, a yellowish natural light shines through the murky lake water. A giant statue of Neptune stands at the dome’s peak, poking above the surface, apparently walking on water.

This underwater ballroom is the last, mad, magnificent fragment of a Victorian fantasy world that made Michael Jackson’s Neverland look like a dull municipal park.

MORE

Battle of Blood River: Day of the Vow

ViaThe Moneychanger©

On 16 December 1838 at Blood River occurred the battle between the Afrikaaner Vortrekker & Zulu King Digane. With 464 fighting men and 200 servants the Afrikaaners defeated 10,000-20,000 Zulu, leaving 3 wounded versus 3,000 dead. When asked afterwards how so few Afrikaaners could beat them, one Zulu warrior said, "It was not them, it was the men fighting from the clouds."

On 16 December 1838 at Blood River occurred the battle between the Afrikaaner Vortrekker & Zulu King Digane. With 464 fighting men and 200 servants the Afrikaaners defeated 10,000-20,000 Zulu, leaving 3 wounded versus 3,000 dead. When asked afterwards how so few Afrikaaners could beat them, one Zulu warrior said, "It was not them, it was the men fighting from the clouds."

Wikipedia

Voortrekkers migrated into Natal and negotiated a land treaty with the Zulu King Dingane. Upon reconsideration, Dingane doublecrossed the Voortrekkers, killing their leader Piet Retief along with half of the Voortrekker settlers who had followed them to Natal. Other Voortrekkers migrated north to the Waterberg area, where some of them settled and began ranching operations, which activities enhanced the pressure placed on indigenous wildlife by pre-existing tribesmen, whose Bantu predecessors had previously initiated such grazing in the Waterberg region. These Voortrekkers arriving in the Waterberg area had believed they were in the Nile River area of Egypt based upon their understanding of the local topography.^[2][3]

Andries Pretorius filled the leadership vacuum hoping to enter into negotiations for peace if Dingane would restore the land he had granted to Retief. When Dingane sent an impi (armed force) of around twelve thousand Zulu warriors to attack the local contingent of Voortrekkers in response, the Voortrekkers defended themselves at a battle at Nacome River (called the Battle of Blood River) on 16 December 1838 where the vastly outnumbered Voortrekker contingent defeated the Zulu warriors. This date has hence been known as the Day of the Vow as the Voortrekkers made a vow to God that they would honor the date if he were to deliver them from what they viewed as almost insurmountable odds. The victory of the besieged Voortrekkers at Nacome River was considered a turning point. The Natalia Republic was set up in 1839 but was annexed by Britain in 1843 whereupon most of the local Boers trekked further north joining other Voortrekkers who had established themselves in the region.

The Sound of Silence

Gate of Vienna
Verbatim Post

Our Dutch correspondent H. Numan has some thoughts on this week’s massacre in Liège, and its aftermath.

The Sound of Silence
by H. Numan

A few days ago Nordine Amrani decided he wanted to have an eternal sex party with 72 virgins (or a virgin of 72, remember the Muslims read from right to left). So he bombed and shot himself into paradise, taking as many infidels with him as possible. According to the ‘religion of peace’, all infidels killed during a jihad are forever the slaves of their killer in paradise. Just don’t say it out loud, that is not politically correct.

Have you ever heard of a Christian, Shintoist or Buddhist going on a killing spree to earn himself a place in paradise? I haven’t. Mohammedans are always very keen to point out extremist Christians attacking an abortion clinic. It shows Christianity has blood on its hands. True enough, this happens. Fortunately, rarely. For each Christian attack there are at least a couple of hundred Mohammedan attacks. Two wrongs doesn’t make something right, however it seems that having a tiny drop of blood on your finger is far worse than having blood dripping of your entire body. Or so Mohammedans seem to believe.

We are all very much aware of the many attacks by politically correct people. So many that newspapers all over the Western world stop describing who actually committed a serious crime. They normally leave out any detail giving you a clue to the ethnicity or the religion. A “citizen of Liège” or a “Belgian national” would normally suffice. People might get the wrong idea, otherwise.

Suppose all you read in the newspapers was: ‘Muslim assaulted Belgian’; ‘Muslim rapist’; ‘Muslims gang-bangers’; ‘Muslims offended’. People would likely, and rightly, vote for parties who would do something about that. Such as the PVV in The Netherlands or N-VA or Vlaams Belang in Belgium.

By not referring to the ethnicity or religion you can only guess. Something you’d rather not, due to lack of evidence. Of course you know for 99.9% certain the article is talking about Mohammedans. If only because the newspapers do occasionally slip up: if a non-politically correct person commits a crime, all details are given. As if the newspapers are proud to say: See? Not all rapes, assaults, muggings, killings or other crimes are committed by Muslims only!

I’m not writing anything new here; this has been going on for years already. But there is something new in this case. Mr. Nordine Amrani wasn’t Mr. Nice Guy. He had a criminal record thicker than a Koran. There are already three hyenas’ lairs lawyers at work to tell you this scumbag was in real life a pillar of society or someone with a disturbed childhood. There must be a lot of money to be made here, or so it seems. Mr. Nordine lived his life on the dole but could afford to have no less than three lawyers working for him after his death. How could he afford them? Perhaps something worthy of a thorough investigation?

No, that is not new either. This is: the sound of silence. Less than a week ago this massacre happened. Today just about nothing in the news. The only part of the massacre you hear about are the parents of the toddler who was killed. They can’t afford a funeral. That is the big news of the day. Not the massacre. And no, this has nothing to do with his religion. The fact that he shouted Allahu Akhbar is purely coincidental.

I really wonder what the mainstream media are going to do when the proverbial dung really hits the ventilator. Oh, we may find out soon enough: according to some sources the Al Quackies are planning not a white but a Koran-green Christmas in Amsterdam this year…

Three from Tareece: Drones, Tebow & Newt

High Tensions Over Drones

The US military uses 7000 airborne unmanned aircraft. These craft range in size from an insect, to a hobby RC plane which is launched like one might throw a football, to ones that are launched via runways and carry combat loads like the Predator. Most are of the spy variety, looking for intelligence, identifying targets.

This element of the ever evolving battlefield is controlled by the USA. And it is a big, important, vital piece of the American War Machine. But, the very benefit of the unmanned aircraft is becoming its Achilles Heel. While the pilot is safe, 7000 miles away from the combat lines, the system’s functional integrity and the final thought processes required in pressing that trigger mechanism have come under assault.

While we’re currently facing the news that Iran has it’s talons on a “highly secret” RQ-109, the American UAV’s have been under electronic siege for years, including a recent hack job where a ‘logging’ virus infiltrated the supposedly segregated and clean habitat at a USAF base in Nevada just in September of this year. Simple thumbdrives are again the ‘carriers’ of this virus and the seemingly inoculated USAF system has become infested with it.

“We keep wiping it off,” said a Danger Room source in an article I read. “And it keeps coming back.” That’s not what you want to hear when you speak of a virus.

MORE

Are You a Tebow-hatin’ American?

Tim Tebow—- More Hated than the Taliban???

I don’t deal with sports items too much on this blog but in this case it’s different. Tim Tebow and his very public love and appreciation of Christ is apparently the big event every Sunday.
Tebow is a gifted athlete. He graduated from the University of Florida. He is just the latest and the easiest target for the Hate Christ Brigade.

I don’t know Tebow. I never followed Florida or Denver really. There is more to worry about than a kids game played by spoiled multi-millionaire idiots who burn through their money like dried mesquite.

But this is cuts to the root of what America faces. Tebow-mania and Anti-Tebow-ism are symptomatic of the divide in our nation right now. America is in such a decline that an individual is ridiculed for his public display of appreciation for God’s gift.

MORE

Love Affair with Newt

The love affair with Newt

I have to admit, I am a kool-aid drinker. I thought Newt Gingrich was an awesome guy and knew the lessons of history. I was kinda even glad he had supplanted Romney as the frontrunner in the race for the GOP nomination.

Then I saw his past flip flops and his different takes on the same subject sometimes only separated by mere months. His Libya stance comes to mind there.

Newt Gingrich was a hero of mine. Led the GOP back to House rule for the first time in 40 years in 1996. To put it in perspective, the Republicans were the minority in the house for almost 20% of the republics existence. 40 years in a row. Let that just fester in your head for a while. Think there is no comparison between those Elephants and today’s??? Look at the players. Look at what was being debated. Look them up. Seriously.

MORE

Week in Blogs: Obama's Head Grows Bigger on 60 Minutes

RIP J Blackfoot: Just One Lifetime

Via Cousin John

Whopper

The Night 2 Lions Attacked Harry Wolhuter in the Sabi Game Reserve 1903

Via The Dorkfish Express

In August 1903, Wolhuter, new to his game ranging duties, was returning from a patrol along the Olifants River. He was near the Lebombo Mountains on the eastern boundary of the Sabi Game Reserve when this encounter - the most terrifying in all African big - game narratives - took place.

To see an aerial map of exactly where this Wolhuter incident took place in 1903 inside the modern-day Kruger National park please click the link.

Although it became dusk very soon I continued to ride along the path - as I had often travelled that route by night during the Boer War to avoid the heat of the summer sun. I gave no thought to lions, as I had never before encountered these animals in those parts. Most of the herbage had been recently burnt off, but here and there a patch of long grass remained. While riding through one of these isolated patches I heard two animals jump up in the grass in front of me.

It was by now too dark to see, but I imagined that the animals in question were a pair of reedbuck, as this had always been a favourite locality for these antelope. I expected them to run across the path and disappear; but instead, and to my surprise, I heard a running rustle in the grass approaching me. I was still riding quietly along when two forms loomed up within three or four yards, and these I now recognised as two lions, and their behaviour was such that I had little doubt but that their intentions were to attack my horse. Although, of course, I had my rifle ( without which I never moved in the veld) there was no time to shoot, and as I hastily pulled my horse around I dug the spurs into his flanks in a frantic effort to urge him to his best speed to get away in time; but the approaching lion was already too close, and before the horse could get into its stride I felt a terrific impact behind me as the lion alighted on the horse's hindquarters.

MORE