People with issues #199

Kim’s decision to express himself exclusively through the medium of modern dance cause some consternation amongst the Seoul riot police.

View from a Rhino House: oh the terror….

Yesterday an Arabic-English interpreter managed to confuse the al Qaeda magazine “Inspire” with the “gentlemen’s” (interesting definition) magazine “Esquire” during a pretrial hearing in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal.

The confusion arose in a hearing for prisoners who could face execution if convicted.

During a week-long hearing attention focused on whether military & intelligence agents at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base intercepted legal documents & privileged attorney-client conversations that are supposed to be inviolate. Defence attorneys said “extreme” restrictions on their communications had interfered with attempts to prepare their case.

The legal adviser for the unpopular detention operation, Navy Captain Thomas Welsh, told the hearing that attorney-client mail was carefully screened to prevent the introduction of “physical & informational contraband.” He said the rules were tightened after a defence lawyer tried to send a copy of “Inspire” magazine to one of the defendants.

“I’m told that their is an error in the translation,” interrupted defence attorney Cheryl Bormann.

She said the interpreter translating Welsh’s testimony for the defendants had identified the contraband publication to them as “Esquire.” That magazine describes its focus as “beautiful women, men’s fashion, best music, & cool drink recipes,” a well known favorite amongst Islamic terror cells everywhere.

Boring old “Inspire” magazine bills itself as the publication of Yemeni-based group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula & famously published an article titled, “Make a bomb in you mom’s kitchen.” The US considers the magazine it a “propaganda weapon” (it can cause a nasty bruise if rolled-tightly & used to deliver a hard slap) & recruitment vehicle for the group. Maybe that’s why they killed its editor in a drone strike last year.

After the interpreter apologized, an attorney for Pakistani defendant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, suggested that Inspire might contain relevant information, useful to the defence.

Captain Welsh said he was more concerned with Inspire’s encouragement of attacks on U.S. personnel.

The hearing then recessed for the day to examine Esquire magazine & ascertain whether or not it might be useful to the defence, the prosecution or their teenage sons.

Al Qaeda recruiting advert in next month’s Esquire magazine.

Flushed #25

In Japan the “Confused” was a big seller in clubs around the red light & gay districts….

Signage #45

A rose by any other name….

View from a Rhino House: rest assured all will be well…. whoever you are

UK insurance company Prudential has been handed a £50,000 fine for merging the accounts of two customers with the same names & dates of birth – & for not bothering to fix the situation when both the customers complained.

The firm merged two accounts with the same christian, surnames & dates of birth in early 2007, a mistake which ended-up seeing the entirety of one customer’s retirement savings transferred to the other’s investment firm. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office imposed the fine, the first served that doesn’t relate to data loss.

Both customers, it is reported, repeatedly told Prudential that there were problems with their accounts such as the wrong address or wrong documents being sent. In fact, both customers tried to change their recorded address several times, but every time they managed it, the changed address was copied over to the other person’s policies.

“This case would be considered farcical were it not for the serious sums of money involved,” said Stephen Eckersley of the ICO. “Two customer files were consistently confused & the company failed to remedy the situation despite being alerted to the problem on more than one occasion before it was finally resolved.”

As well as the fine, Prudential has a problem trying to get the money it transferred over to an investment company, which included the wrong customer’s cash, returned. The insurance firm also said that it would be “improving staff training & updating our processes.”

So nobody in the company is going to be reprimanded, fired or even identified as the completely useless asshole they undoubtedly are.

Look, I keep telling you. I am not THAT Barack Obama…….