Despite solar radiation being towards the lower end of this cycle 2012 was one of the hottest years on record to the point that Australia was forced to add a new colour to it's temperature maps to show how hot it got. Therefore we are still thinking that it's got something to do with those pesky greenhouse gases.
However northern Europe especially is experiencing one of it's latest and most snow filled winters in recent memory. The snow is obviously the result of the Arctic ice that has melted into water combining with low solar radiation (heat) to form snow. This may be evidence that the climate is re-balancing itself in accordance with solar cycles.
Basically lots of people are currently staring at lots of numbers on lots of computer screens and screaming; "What does it all mean!!" Amid this carnage the US is hoping that through stress some of those people will stare intently at Rihanna's tour in the hope of answering once and for all the eternal question of whether Rihanna's moods and Navy actually control the weather. So I suppose I should give you an update on Rihanna's mood;
The short answer is I've got no idea. However as she's just driven from Calgary (GMT+6) to Vancouver (GMT+7) I'm guessing a bit p*ssed off. What wouldn't have helped is that she had to stop off at a Walmart in Vancouver to buy supplies. I wasn't there but I suspect that Walmart was full of people going; "Oh look it's Rihanna (and her f*ck off big tour bus)"
The Walmart stop prompted the US to put out a story about a 4 year old girl who was shot and killed by another young child in the car. Why an unsupervised child under 10 was able to handle a loaded firearm in the first place is still under investigation. For added confusion this story could also be interpreted as a reference to the broadcast of Tandem's adaptation of "Labyrinth" on the UK's Channel 4. After all that featured lots of little girls shooting looks at each other.
For her part Rihanna's travelling companion Melissa Forde re-tweeted a request for re-tweets in support of the of Endometriosis Awareness Month (March).
If I was going to start a war over the upcoming patent case in India over the practice of 'evergreening' certain drugs to prevent cheap generic copies being made I would say that Endometriosis is a condition that effects only spoilt, rich American women.
However having looked it up on Wikipedia I now know that Endometriosis is an incredibly mild condition in which cells of the uterus or womb grow outside of the uterus or womb which can lead to intense period pains and occasionally pain whilst urinating. Essentially it's a glamorous and recurring urinary tract infection.
However all this talk of wombs and period pains must have felt like an annoying woodpecker hammering on Forde's head going; "Has Rihanna got her period yet?! Has Rihanna got her period yet?! Do you need to stop off at Walmart to buy Tampons?! Do you need to stop off at Walmart to buy Tampons?!"
Eventually Forde got over it and confirmed that they had indeed arrived in Vancouver and visited Walmart. However one of the people in Walmart had already forwarded pictures informing us all of that.
So as you may have noticed I'm getting progressively more drunk while writing this and feeling the need to state that I have between little and no interest in Rihanna's menstrual cycle. However I think Live Nation really need to sort out this reporting system before Morocco. After all you can expect no help from the locals and as with the attack on the Benghazi consulate it's probably best I know sooner rather than later.
23:50 on 31/3/13.
Sunday, 31 March 2013
I'm Sorry.
It was John Hurt playing Sir Ian McKellen in Tandem's adaptation of Kate Mosse's novel "Labyrinth." Basically I couldn't decide if it was John or William so I Googled it and f*cked up.
Now if you'll excuse me I need to step outside for a good 10 minute giggling fit. After all my father watched it in all seriousness and I've been holding it in from the moment a scene featuring the only female lead "Alice" who didn't have a sex scene ended with the words; "And these walls were never penetrated."
22:00 on 31/3/13 but I'll be back in a few minutes.
Edited at 22:15 on 31/3/13 to add: Blimey it's enough to give you an aneurysm.
Obviously I don't want to spoil the intentionally hilarious "Labyrinth" for anyone who may still be watching it on +1 or On Demand. However I will say that Channel 4's decision to schedule it over the Easter weekend was to in introduce Tony Scott's suicide into what is soon going to be known as Hell Week.
It was also an attempt to ruin scores of casual sexual relationships in the UK. After all it is the season. Although I should point out that as Britain insists Summer Time has begun in a clear provocation to the Catholic Church it snowed. Unbelievably people are trying to cite that as proof that climate change isn't happening.
Now if you'll excuse me I need to step outside for a good 10 minute giggling fit. After all my father watched it in all seriousness and I've been holding it in from the moment a scene featuring the only female lead "Alice" who didn't have a sex scene ended with the words; "And these walls were never penetrated."
22:00 on 31/3/13 but I'll be back in a few minutes.
Edited at 22:15 on 31/3/13 to add: Blimey it's enough to give you an aneurysm.
Obviously I don't want to spoil the intentionally hilarious "Labyrinth" for anyone who may still be watching it on +1 or On Demand. However I will say that Channel 4's decision to schedule it over the Easter weekend was to in introduce Tony Scott's suicide into what is soon going to be known as Hell Week.
It was also an attempt to ruin scores of casual sexual relationships in the UK. After all it is the season. Although I should point out that as Britain insists Summer Time has begun in a clear provocation to the Catholic Church it snowed. Unbelievably people are trying to cite that as proof that climate change isn't happening.
Kenya Election Result Upheld.
Yesterday (30/3/13) Kenya's 7 member Supreme Court unanimously upheld the result of March 4th (4/3/13) Presidential election and declared Uhuru Kenyatta to be the winner. They immediately published a short version of their judgement that can be read here; http://allafrica.com/stories/201303300415.html
However the main points are;
1. The election was free and fair. However the Court is yet to provide a detailed explanation of how they came to that decision.
2. The result of the election is valid and therefore stands. However again the Court has offered no detail as to how it reached that conclusion.
3. The excluded ballots were rightfully excluded and therefore should not be counted. This is probably the most important part of the ruling because it sets a precedent for the clause in Kenya's new constitution that states elections should be decided on the ballots cast rather than the ballots counted. Obviously the Court has yet to offer any level of detail but the precedent they appear to be setting is that excluded ballots are not considered to be ballots cast. This seems to rather undermine the constitutional clause and seems to give a green light to future ballot rigging by providing a excuse for cast ballots to be excluded from the final count for even spurious reasons such as the ballots being cast in an area with 100% voter turnout.
4. The Court has no jurisdiction to amend the election result. Although this is technically true it strikes me as the Court trying to dodge its responsibilities. After all while it has no power to change the result it can most certainly order the Independent Election and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to alter the results if the Court finds problems with the way the IEBC has tallied the result.
The Supreme Court has promised to publish a full, detailed judgement within two weeks of Saturday which sets them a deadline of April 13th (13/4/13). I hope that judgement is forthcoming and does go into extensive detail. That's because as I've said before it is in the absence of official information that rumours start. Experience has taught us that in Kenya those rumours sometimes lead to violence. There has already been some evidence of this with 2 people killed and 11 injured in clashes between police and supporters of Raila Odinga in Kisumu. There were also clashes between protesters and police outside the Supreme Court building in Nairobi in which police fired tear gas although amid heavy rain these quickly broke up.
As I think I've already made perfectly clear I would have liked to have seen the Supreme Court rule that the margin of Kenyatta's victory was too narrow to be conclusive and order a run-off between Kenyatta and Odinga. That's because with such a narrow margin of victory, legitimate questions about the conduct of the election and now this rather murky ruling by the Supreme Court Uhuru Kenyatta will struggle to find anyone in the international community who considers him to be the legitimate President of Kenya. All of those problems would have been solved if he were to defeat Odinga in a run-off vote.
Kenyatta's credibility will be further diminished if the International Criminal Court (ICC) continue their prosecution of him over 2007's election violence. That's because while the matter is outstanding Kenyatta will be prevented from visiting any of the 139 nations that have signed up to the Rome Statute.
Finally although I think I'm already preaching to the converted I should again say that a load of Kenyans killing each other is going to do nothing to solve any of these problems.
16:30 on 31/3/13.
However the main points are;
1. The election was free and fair. However the Court is yet to provide a detailed explanation of how they came to that decision.
2. The result of the election is valid and therefore stands. However again the Court has offered no detail as to how it reached that conclusion.
3. The excluded ballots were rightfully excluded and therefore should not be counted. This is probably the most important part of the ruling because it sets a precedent for the clause in Kenya's new constitution that states elections should be decided on the ballots cast rather than the ballots counted. Obviously the Court has yet to offer any level of detail but the precedent they appear to be setting is that excluded ballots are not considered to be ballots cast. This seems to rather undermine the constitutional clause and seems to give a green light to future ballot rigging by providing a excuse for cast ballots to be excluded from the final count for even spurious reasons such as the ballots being cast in an area with 100% voter turnout.
4. The Court has no jurisdiction to amend the election result. Although this is technically true it strikes me as the Court trying to dodge its responsibilities. After all while it has no power to change the result it can most certainly order the Independent Election and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to alter the results if the Court finds problems with the way the IEBC has tallied the result.
The Supreme Court has promised to publish a full, detailed judgement within two weeks of Saturday which sets them a deadline of April 13th (13/4/13). I hope that judgement is forthcoming and does go into extensive detail. That's because as I've said before it is in the absence of official information that rumours start. Experience has taught us that in Kenya those rumours sometimes lead to violence. There has already been some evidence of this with 2 people killed and 11 injured in clashes between police and supporters of Raila Odinga in Kisumu. There were also clashes between protesters and police outside the Supreme Court building in Nairobi in which police fired tear gas although amid heavy rain these quickly broke up.
As I think I've already made perfectly clear I would have liked to have seen the Supreme Court rule that the margin of Kenyatta's victory was too narrow to be conclusive and order a run-off between Kenyatta and Odinga. That's because with such a narrow margin of victory, legitimate questions about the conduct of the election and now this rather murky ruling by the Supreme Court Uhuru Kenyatta will struggle to find anyone in the international community who considers him to be the legitimate President of Kenya. All of those problems would have been solved if he were to defeat Odinga in a run-off vote.
Kenyatta's credibility will be further diminished if the International Criminal Court (ICC) continue their prosecution of him over 2007's election violence. That's because while the matter is outstanding Kenyatta will be prevented from visiting any of the 139 nations that have signed up to the Rome Statute.
Finally although I think I'm already preaching to the converted I should again say that a load of Kenyans killing each other is going to do nothing to solve any of these problems.
16:30 on 31/3/13.
The Boat Race.
Later on today the UK will host the annual Oxford versus Cambridge University boat race. Last years event was of course disrupted in an effort to promote discussion about security for the 2012 London Olympic games. So this year the UK will be deploying members of the Royal Marines to provide security.
Along with elements of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea's (DPRK) 'threats' against the US this is a reference to that time in 2007 that I successfully negotiated the release of 15 Royal Marines and sailors from Iranian custody. Part of those negotiations was the release of a proof of life video that featured Captain Christopher Air - the senior Marine officer standing in front of a nautical map of the area. This was a scene largely recreated in the photograph released by the DPRK showing Kim Jong Un signing the order authorising the use of missiles against US targets in front of a nautical map of the area.
The release of those Marine and sailors is of course one of the 'crimes' for which I'm being punished. So the US, the UK and the DPRK have clearly been getting together to remind everybody why I'm being treated in the way I am. Personally I think they'd be better off conducting a survey of opinion lest they find themselves out on a limb describing that as an act or terrorism.
Fortunately the DPRK seem to have managed to keep themselves relatively quiet over the last 24 hours. I'd like to say that hopefully this will continue to give US a period of quiet time in order to assess the reality of it's situation. Sadly the US is showing no signs of breaking stride. Their latest move has been to announce that Evan Ebel the now dead lead suspect in the shooting of Colorado prisons chief may have been released early from prison due to a clerical error. Ebel had been serving an eight year sentence for a assault.
This is of course an effort to build tension ahead of Chris Brown's appearance in Court of Friday (5/4/13). After all one thing the Judge could do is sentence him straight to eight years in prison for the original assault on Rihanna whilst indicting him to trial for the subsequent offences. I though think that my suggestion of indicting for all offences whilst imposing strict bail conditions is the best solution. However I fear this is something of a academic discussion because it's quite clear that the US has so much resting on Brown's role in Rihanna's tour that unless a little bit of reality suddenly interjects itself into the situation they're going to continue to protect Brown. Either way I can happily wait until the Judge publicly announces his decision.
In other news clocks in the UK have moved forward 1 hour as we move into British Summer Time (BST). I of course will still be stubbonly using Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
11:30 on 31/3/13.
Along with elements of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea's (DPRK) 'threats' against the US this is a reference to that time in 2007 that I successfully negotiated the release of 15 Royal Marines and sailors from Iranian custody. Part of those negotiations was the release of a proof of life video that featured Captain Christopher Air - the senior Marine officer standing in front of a nautical map of the area. This was a scene largely recreated in the photograph released by the DPRK showing Kim Jong Un signing the order authorising the use of missiles against US targets in front of a nautical map of the area.
The release of those Marine and sailors is of course one of the 'crimes' for which I'm being punished. So the US, the UK and the DPRK have clearly been getting together to remind everybody why I'm being treated in the way I am. Personally I think they'd be better off conducting a survey of opinion lest they find themselves out on a limb describing that as an act or terrorism.
Fortunately the DPRK seem to have managed to keep themselves relatively quiet over the last 24 hours. I'd like to say that hopefully this will continue to give US a period of quiet time in order to assess the reality of it's situation. Sadly the US is showing no signs of breaking stride. Their latest move has been to announce that Evan Ebel the now dead lead suspect in the shooting of Colorado prisons chief may have been released early from prison due to a clerical error. Ebel had been serving an eight year sentence for a assault.
This is of course an effort to build tension ahead of Chris Brown's appearance in Court of Friday (5/4/13). After all one thing the Judge could do is sentence him straight to eight years in prison for the original assault on Rihanna whilst indicting him to trial for the subsequent offences. I though think that my suggestion of indicting for all offences whilst imposing strict bail conditions is the best solution. However I fear this is something of a academic discussion because it's quite clear that the US has so much resting on Brown's role in Rihanna's tour that unless a little bit of reality suddenly interjects itself into the situation they're going to continue to protect Brown. Either way I can happily wait until the Judge publicly announces his decision.
In other news clocks in the UK have moved forward 1 hour as we move into British Summer Time (BST). I of course will still be stubbonly using Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
11:30 on 31/3/13.
Friday, 29 March 2013
So Just to Clarify.
On Friday April 5th 2013 (5/4/13) a one Mr Christopher Maurice Brown D.O.B 5/5/89 (AKA Chris Brown) will be appearing in front of a LA County Judge.
Where upon he will be indicted on multiple counts of "perverting the course of justice" (I may need to check the federal statute). As these charges relate to his 'punishment' over the assault of a one Ms Robyn Rihanna Fenty (20/2/88) he shall be immediately be restrained from contacting Ms Fenty or coming within 1 mile of Ms Fenty's home or place as business. As Ms Fenty's place of business is currently defined as "The Media" the Court shall immediately issue an order preventing Mr Brown from using Twitter, Instagram or any other form of electronic media.
His final trial date will be set for some point between the end of July 2013 (7/13) and the end of that foolish Australasian leg.
01:05 on 30/3/13.
Where upon he will be indicted on multiple counts of "perverting the course of justice" (I may need to check the federal statute). As these charges relate to his 'punishment' over the assault of a one Ms Robyn Rihanna Fenty (20/2/88) he shall be immediately be restrained from contacting Ms Fenty or coming within 1 mile of Ms Fenty's home or place as business. As Ms Fenty's place of business is currently defined as "The Media" the Court shall immediately issue an order preventing Mr Brown from using Twitter, Instagram or any other form of electronic media.
His final trial date will be set for some point between the end of July 2013 (7/13) and the end of that foolish Australasian leg.
01:05 on 30/3/13.
Me, Me, Me.
I know it's so exciting isn't it.
Anyway in one of those yesterday's I received a letter from the Student Loans Company (SLC) informing me that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has in fact reminded Her Majesties Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that I am not eligible to make Student loan repayments. We are still waiting for HMRC to get in touch with the cheque for the outstanding value of the debt (let's say GBP15,000) along with another cheque of GBP1500 for their insolence. I strongly suggest they hurry up. After all this is a time limited offer. However being a reasonable person as the banks are closed in the UK until Tuesday (2/4/13) I will give them until 11:00 (BST) on Tuesday to deliver said cheques to my address by courier.
On possibly another one of those yesterdays I received another letter from the DWP inform me that they are still sticking to the position that they are assessing me as having unlimited capacity for work related activity. I'm just going to assume that letter was sent in error. After all the RF V Berdon LLP thing reminded me it's been a good 18 months since I've sued anyone.
I of course would like to share both of those letters with you. Unfortunately after a buying new scanner/printer combo to replace the old scanner/printer combo that didn't need buying in the first place my father still hasn't got the scanner/printer combo to work.
I though have far more important problems than that. A few months ago one of my trainers became more hole than trainer. As it is impossible to buy anything good in Croydon (Westfield will only make this problem worse) I've been delaying replacing them. Unfortunately yesterday in Tesco's I snapped and just brought the first pair of trainers I could find. You may have seen pictures of them on my Twitter account but frankly at GBP6 I'm just hoping they'll make a decent pair of slippers.
Of course before nipping into Tesco and finding it full of idiots I got my hair cut at my usual barber and put a prescription in at the local pharmacist. After leaving Tescos (seriously it took so long) I picked up part of my prescription and then I went home.
I think we're all meant to be assuming that the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is all upset because I still haven't been sent by ECG results. I doubt it though I mean it's not like the version I'm going to get sent is anywhere near the version Croydon University Hospital (CUH) sent out.
20:00 (GMT) on 29/3/13
Anyway in one of those yesterday's I received a letter from the Student Loans Company (SLC) informing me that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has in fact reminded Her Majesties Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that I am not eligible to make Student loan repayments. We are still waiting for HMRC to get in touch with the cheque for the outstanding value of the debt (let's say GBP15,000) along with another cheque of GBP1500 for their insolence. I strongly suggest they hurry up. After all this is a time limited offer. However being a reasonable person as the banks are closed in the UK until Tuesday (2/4/13) I will give them until 11:00 (BST) on Tuesday to deliver said cheques to my address by courier.
On possibly another one of those yesterdays I received another letter from the DWP inform me that they are still sticking to the position that they are assessing me as having unlimited capacity for work related activity. I'm just going to assume that letter was sent in error. After all the RF V Berdon LLP thing reminded me it's been a good 18 months since I've sued anyone.
I of course would like to share both of those letters with you. Unfortunately after a buying new scanner/printer combo to replace the old scanner/printer combo that didn't need buying in the first place my father still hasn't got the scanner/printer combo to work.
I though have far more important problems than that. A few months ago one of my trainers became more hole than trainer. As it is impossible to buy anything good in Croydon (Westfield will only make this problem worse) I've been delaying replacing them. Unfortunately yesterday in Tesco's I snapped and just brought the first pair of trainers I could find. You may have seen pictures of them on my Twitter account but frankly at GBP6 I'm just hoping they'll make a decent pair of slippers.
Of course before nipping into Tesco and finding it full of idiots I got my hair cut at my usual barber and put a prescription in at the local pharmacist. After leaving Tescos (seriously it took so long) I picked up part of my prescription and then I went home.
I think we're all meant to be assuming that the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is all upset because I still haven't been sent by ECG results. I doubt it though I mean it's not like the version I'm going to get sent is anywhere near the version Croydon University Hospital (CUH) sent out.
20:00 (GMT) on 29/3/13
Rihanna's Facebook Page.
Yeah turns out I'm really lazy. So lazy in fact I can't be bothered to set up my own Facebook page let alone a fake one for Rihanna.
If I did though I would probably set her status to something like: Stressed by the sudden lack of structure.
Then I'd write something on her wall about her wondering if she can have a massive blowout in Calgary tonight or whether she's got to save up all that stress and misery so Chris Brown can make his triumphant return.
Actually thinking about it it's probably best that I'm too lazy to set up a fake page. After all that crazy stalker dude Rihanna got a 3-year restraining order against is currently on trial over his February 10th (10/2/13 - I think) attempt to break into her LA home. I believe he's pleaded not guilty to 1 count of burglary.
17:10 on 29/3/13.
If I did though I would probably set her status to something like: Stressed by the sudden lack of structure.
Then I'd write something on her wall about her wondering if she can have a massive blowout in Calgary tonight or whether she's got to save up all that stress and misery so Chris Brown can make his triumphant return.
Actually thinking about it it's probably best that I'm too lazy to set up a fake page. After all that crazy stalker dude Rihanna got a 3-year restraining order against is currently on trial over his February 10th (10/2/13 - I think) attempt to break into her LA home. I believe he's pleaded not guilty to 1 count of burglary.
17:10 on 29/3/13.
Toddler Adandoned in Carlisle
The big news in the UK today is that a young girl believed to be about three years old was found abandoned in a pram in Carlisle, Scotland at around 23:00 on Thursday night.
This is actually the latest round in a bilateral that's been going on between the US and the UK for about a week. It began last Firday (22/3/13) with the death of Donna Oettinger and her three year old son in front of a train at Riddlesdown station in South Croydon. A Coroners Inquest has yet to be held but the incident is widely being treated as the mother committing suicide and murdering her child in the process. This tragedy obviously disrupted rail services throughout Croydon last Friday and cast a dark shadow across the borough. The US rapidly responded with the shooting and killing of a 13 month of boy also on Friday in Brunswick, Georgia, US. Brunswick, Georgia is of course not to be mistaken with the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Therefore this was meant to look like the UK asking the US if they should just kill the child I supposedly fathered back in 2007. The US then responding that the UK should definitely kill that child. Today's latest round looks like the UK going; "Ok we'll abandon it then."
However there is no evidence my child ever actually existed and the Carlisle featured in the story could be mistaken for the Carlisle trucking company featured in the US TV show "Ice Road Truckers." I'll need check but I'm pretty sure that Rihanna's tour caravan was actually impounded in one of the trucking yards featured in the show. So I suppose my fictional child could have being used as a metaphor for certain other wacky ideas the UK has for me. Possibly the idea that I'll be forced to undertake work related activity. However I think mainly all this was just was two close allies working in unison to spread confusion and disruption.
On the subject of the US working with a close ally to spread confusion and disruption the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) have been noisy again. After shutting down the hotline with South Korea which I suppose could have been a reference to my Rihanna phone DPRK is now apparently aiming it's rockets at the US and talking about the need to settle accounts. I suppose the US and the DPRK are hoping that we'll all stare deeply into this looking for indications the US is about to abandon some of it's wacky ideas about Chris Brown.
After all we'd all hate to see the US try and labour away in the desert again as they did during COP18/CMP8. Well I say 'hate.' If you weren't American that was hilarious to watch.
10:20 on 29/3/13.
This is actually the latest round in a bilateral that's been going on between the US and the UK for about a week. It began last Firday (22/3/13) with the death of Donna Oettinger and her three year old son in front of a train at Riddlesdown station in South Croydon. A Coroners Inquest has yet to be held but the incident is widely being treated as the mother committing suicide and murdering her child in the process. This tragedy obviously disrupted rail services throughout Croydon last Friday and cast a dark shadow across the borough. The US rapidly responded with the shooting and killing of a 13 month of boy also on Friday in Brunswick, Georgia, US. Brunswick, Georgia is of course not to be mistaken with the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Therefore this was meant to look like the UK asking the US if they should just kill the child I supposedly fathered back in 2007. The US then responding that the UK should definitely kill that child. Today's latest round looks like the UK going; "Ok we'll abandon it then."
However there is no evidence my child ever actually existed and the Carlisle featured in the story could be mistaken for the Carlisle trucking company featured in the US TV show "Ice Road Truckers." I'll need check but I'm pretty sure that Rihanna's tour caravan was actually impounded in one of the trucking yards featured in the show. So I suppose my fictional child could have being used as a metaphor for certain other wacky ideas the UK has for me. Possibly the idea that I'll be forced to undertake work related activity. However I think mainly all this was just was two close allies working in unison to spread confusion and disruption.
On the subject of the US working with a close ally to spread confusion and disruption the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) have been noisy again. After shutting down the hotline with South Korea which I suppose could have been a reference to my Rihanna phone DPRK is now apparently aiming it's rockets at the US and talking about the need to settle accounts. I suppose the US and the DPRK are hoping that we'll all stare deeply into this looking for indications the US is about to abandon some of it's wacky ideas about Chris Brown.
After all we'd all hate to see the US try and labour away in the desert again as they did during COP18/CMP8. Well I say 'hate.' If you weren't American that was hilarious to watch.
10:20 on 29/3/13.
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Operation Misery: Week 3, Day 6 - The Morocco Concert.
This follows from my Operation Misery: Week 2, Day 6 - Part 2 post that can be
found here; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/operation-misery-week-2-day-6-part-2.html
Rihanna’s concert in Boston which had to be cancelled has
now been rescheduled for May 6th (6/5/13). Originally this was
intended to give Rihanna the opportunity to publically apologise to Mitt Romney whose campaign HQ
was in Boston and the Republican Party for her failure to help him win the 2012
US Presidential election. As Rihanna claimed to have been supporting Barack
Obama throughout the campaign this concert should have caused backlash against
Rihanna as her tour continued throughout the US. However now it has been taken
out of its scheduled order this concert has lost most of its political
significance. Personally though I think it was a mistake to make this Rihanna’s
last US concert because there will then follow an almost three week break in
which Rihanna’s association and her betrayal of her race will reverberate.
Following that nearly three week break Rihanna’s tour will
move onto Rabat (24/3/13) in Morocco. As I’ve mentioned before in political
terms this is without the biggest concert of the entire tour. So much that I’ve
been struggling to work out where to begin. However I’ve decided that the best
place to start is at the beginning;
In 2009 Rihanna along with Jay-Z and Kanye West released a
song called “Run This Town.” The video in support of this single which can be
viewed here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVA-xTBeHyM featured lots of masked extras in a sort of riot/protest scenario.
Due to the use of some vaguely Arabic imagery such as henna tattoos and gold jewellery
some of the masked female extras could be mistaken for wearing the Islamic
Niqab. Therefore the Run This Town video seems to have predicted the events of
the so called ‘Arab Spring’ that began in 2010. So along with being blamed for
the UK’s 2011 August riots Rihanna and the Run This Town video has – in some
circles – been blamed for the Arab Spring.
This is of course nonsense. The Arab Spring was caused by
the demographic time bomb of large, educated but unemployed youthful
populations across the Arab world. Analysts had been warning that this powder
keg only needed a spark to explode since the days when Rihanna was just a
little girl playing in the streets of Barbados. That spark finally came on
December 17th 2010 (17/12/10) when Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on
fire outside a police station in Ben Arous, Tunisia in protest against police
corruption. Then while most of the western/Christian world was distracted by
the Christmas holidays the Tunisian people joined together to overthrow their
dictator Ben Ali. Then with a little help from Israel’s Mossad the Arab Spring
moved onto Egypt before being perverted by western intelligence agencies into
the horrors we continue to witness in Libya (the UK) and then Syria (the US).
However if it wasn’t for this interference from west many people – myself included
– think that the natural path of the Arab Spring would have been west first
into Algeria and then onto Morocco.
So ahead of Rihanna’s concert in Rabat the first big thing
her CIA handlers plan to hit the Moroccans with is a debate about whether they
believe Rihanna started the Arab Spring with the Run This Town video and if so
do they think she was acting alone or as part of a wider US conspiracy. This is
a complex question to answer because while I’m in no doubt that Rihanna did not
cause the Arab Spring and any contribution she did make was purely
unintentional in the years prior the US was certainly positioning itself to
take all the glory should something like the Arab Spring happen. Also the more
I think about it the more convinced I become that the director of the Run This
Town video – Anthony Mandler – is a man with strong links to the US
intelligence community. Not least because of his extensive work with the UK
artist M.I.A whose career only really exists due to Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Once they’d attempted to confuse the Moroccans with that
complex question the US would move on (although I doubt this would be a linear
debate) to the issue of whether perhaps the Moroccan state owes the US a debt
for its efforts in diverting the Arab Spring away from Morocco. Finally the US
will be looking to start a discussion about what steps the Moroccans are taking
to avoid their own Arab Spring style popular uprising. That’s because while the
rest of the Middle-East, North Africa (MENA) region was ablaze the Moroccans
were quietly putting in place a series of economic reforms designed to reduce
youth unemployment. For these plans to work Morocco needs to maintain over 5% per
year economic growth. In 2013 they’re on course to scrape in a 4.8%. Therefore I
keep having nightmares about a doomsday scenario in which Rihanna’s Morocco
concert provokes something that triggers the Moroccan leg of the Arab Spring.
If that happens (it’s unlikely) the US might have to send in actual, proper
Marines to get Rihanna and her team out safely. Given their endorsement of her
reunion with Chris Brown I doubt they’ll bother.
The second issue that Rihanna’s Rabat concert is intended to
raise between the US and Morocco is that of religion. In its entirety. Morocco
is a Muslim nation where it is a criminal offence (article 220 of the penal
code) to attempt to shake the faith of a Muslim or convert him to another
religion. This prompts discussion about whether elements of Rihanna’s stage
show – particularly the intro section – contain Christian imagery that would
shake a Muslim’s faith making Rihanna guilty of the offence of proselytization. Although at first glance elements such as the
use of statues and the use of stained glass windows could be mistaken for
Christian imagery I think this is a very short argument. That’s because on
closer inspection the statues are cultural/historical reference such as the
Venus de Milo and Roman Emperors. Likewise although they are used extensively
in Christian Churches stained glass windows are not in of themselves Christian
symbols. It’s just the time we learned how to stain glass coincided with the
time that Christianity was spreading across Europe so many of the new Churches
included this new, modern design feature. Stained glass windows are also widely
used outside Churches and in fact I have one in my hallway. I suppose if you tilt
your head and squint your eyes that window could symbolise a rose but mainly it just
looks pretty. Then there is the issue of the song “Mother Mary” itself. As with
in the Beatles song “Let it Be” the ‘Mother Mary’ being referenced by Rihanna is
actually marijuana rather than the mother of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary.
However as I understand that Jesus Christ is considered a prophet within Islam
mere references to his mother would surely only strengthen a Muslim’s faith
rather than shake it. Finally there is Rihanna’s habit of posting Bible passages
and Christian prayers on Instagram. However if you’ve actually studied the
Bible (Rihanna clearly hasn’t) you would know that most of these are either
taken wildly out of context or simply made up. Rihanna’s purpose in posting
these passages is to use them as a way to pass on coded messages – often to
Chris Brown. This is something that is actually quite offensive to Christians
and fortunately something that Rihanna seems to be getting out of the habit of
doing.
As the Arab Spring swept away largely secular dictators in
places like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya it has created space for some of the more
extreme interpretations of Islam to flourish. Many of these see it as their
duty to God to either convert everybody to their interpretation of Islam or
kill them. One thing they most certainly do not tolerate is people converting
Muslims to other religions such as Christianity. This new level of intolerance
has seen people in Egypt being given prison sentences of around 15 years for
converting people to Christianity and around 150 Coptic Christians kidnapped
and tortured in Libya on suspicion that they may try and convert Muslims. Therefore
the question of whether Rihanna’s concert constitutes an effort at
proselytization is one that will reverberate across the MENA region from
Morocco in the west through to Turkey in the north-east. The US is hoping to
use the issue as a sort of barometer of extremism across the entire region.
Religious idolatry is a specific issue within Morocco
though. Morocco is an absolute Monarchy and not only that the Monarch is
considered to be some kind of supernatural, Supreme Being. That is to say he is
considered to be the embodiment of God on earth which is similar to what
Christians believe to be true of Jesus Christ. Therefore the Moroccan King’s
opinions are considered infallible and unquestionable. Apart from economic
reforms in order to avoid an Arab Spring style uprising Morocco has amended its
constitution to reduce the idolatry around its King. For example I believe
his corporal form is now no longer considered to be the sacred vessel of God on
earth. The idea of the Moroccan King being an earthly god is actually deeply
offensive to most Muslims. It’s is especially offensive to Salafists who believe the teachings of the Prophet
Mohamed as written down in the Qur’an are God’s final say. Therefore any
attempt to add to or re-interpret those teachings or elevate yourself to or
above the level of the Prophet Mohamed is sacrilege. As Salafists tend to make
up the bulk of violent Jihadists testing out how flexible the Moroccans are prepared
to be on the idolatry surrounding their King is a good way for the US to try
and gauge how worried the Moroccans are about violent Jihadists in their
country.
Then there is the issue of Rihanna’s marijuana use. In Islam
the use of mind-altering substances is forbidden. In the time of the Prophet
Mohamed this meant only alcohol. However as the range of mid-altering
substances available increased the definition expanded to include all of what
are considered illegal street drugs in the west. Many Muslims though are permitted to smoke
tobacco which is considered roughly the same marijuana in the west . Therefore
Muslim attitudes to smoking marijuana vary widely. Morocco has traditionally
and historically been very tolerant to marijuana use with the city of Marrakesh
long being considered and essential stop on the hippy trail although normal
border rules do apply. Therefore Morocco’s tolerance or otherwise of Rihanna’s
marijuana use will provide the US with another barometer of whether
interpretations of Islamic law are becoming more strict in the country.
The other major issue that will be present during Rihanna’s
trip to Morocco will be her relationship with Chris Brown. Although it is more
a tribal tradition rather than a strictly speaking Islamic one many Muslim
nations including Morocco practice arranged and forced marriage. At its most
benign arranged marriage is simply people – often the parents – who know two
people well thinking they’d make a good couple and suggesting they spend time
together. At its most extreme forced marriage is a parent – often the father –
forcing a child –often the daughter - into a marriage under the threat of
death. More often than not what marks the difference between an arranged
marriage and a forced marriage is the transfer of wealth or status between the families
or clans of the two people getting married. So a father will often offer a
bribe or dowry along with his daughter in order to buy his way into a higher
status family.
Obviously the US’ main strategy is to use confusion to exert
pressure on the Moroccans to see what falls out. Therefore the comparison
between Rihanna and Chris Brown’s relationship and a forced marriage is not a
tidy one. However it is clear that their relationship has been engineered
through a high-level of coercion. These
include threats having been made to Rihanna such as she could lose her US work
permit, the threat that she could lose her legal action against Berdon LLP and
the threat that either her or her mother could be prosecuted by the US’ Inland
Revenue Service (IRS) over tax evasion. It also includes forcing Rihanna to
undertake a hectic schedule of recording and touring along with containing her
in the gilded cage of fame with the constant threat of paparazzi and crazy
stalker fans keeping so isolated that she keeps going back to Brown because he
is effectively the only man in her life. Also as Rihanna is significantly
wealthier and significantly more famous than Chris Brown the transfer of wealth
and status from her to him as part of their relationship could be interpreted
as a kind of dowry. However I think it is far more likely that Brown will end
up dragging Rihanna down to his level rather than Rihanna pulling him up to hers.
In many tribal/Islamic societies the practice of forced
marriage is under-pinned by the practice of honour killing. Basically if a
family member – often a woman – brings dishonour to the family they are killed
by other family members in order to restore the family’s honour. More often
than not the thing that the woman does to bring dishonour is to either to refuse
a marriage or to have sex outside of marriage thus losing her virginity reducing
her value as an asset that can be traded through marriage. Although honour
killing is one of the most extreme forms of domestic violence once again the
comparison with Rihanna and Chris Brown is an unwieldy one. However the US were
hoping that the Moroccans along with other Arab Monarchies would believe their
story about Rihanna causing the Arab Spring. Therefore the debasement and
ultimately destruction of Rihanna that her relationship with Chris Brown will inevitably
bring could be viewed as the US killing Rihanna in order to restore honour to
the Arab Monarchies.
Clearly the US wants its role in the debates over forced
marriage and honour killing to be viewed differently by different groups. They
want the Arab Monarchies to view it as a sign that the US understands, respects
and shares their views and traditions. However the US also wants the Arab
Street and western liberals to view it as them bravely standing up to the Arab
Monarchies and their abhorrent and outdated views . I doubt though that those
last two groups will be stupid enough to fail to notice that the US clearly has
no problem doing this sort of thing itself.
Another major issue at Rihanna’s concert in Morocco will be
her sexuality as expressed through her raunchy dance moves and her clothing or
lack thereof. Even before you get into complex issues such as homosexuality attitudes
to everyday sexuality within Muslim societies are deeply contradictory. On one
hand the Prophet Mohamed not only taught that Muslims should engage in sexual activity
but that it was their duty to God to be good at it. However that sexual
activity should only take place within the privacy of the marital home.
Therefore Muslim women should dress demurely in public so only their husbands
get to see what they’ve got to offer. However over the centuries and with the emergence
of Kings in some Islamic societies that teaching got twisted to mean that only
men and not women were permitted to enjoy sex. A few Islamic societies – mainly
in east Africa – have taken this to the extreme of practicing female genital
mutilation. Basically this involves of the sensitive parts of a woman’s
genitals being surgically removed leaving her physically incapable of
experiencing pleasure from sexual intercourse.
Prior to the Arab Spring the secular dictators largely kept
a lid on these debates about Islam and sexuality. Now with those dictators out
of the way those rules are being re-interpreted and re-written every day on the
streets. For example in Cairo, Egypt it is so common for woman out in public
alone to be groped, sexually assaulted or raped that a French charity has gone
to the lengths of setting up volunteer patrols to deter and catch the
perpetrators. By contrast in Tunisia a young woman, Amina Tyler recently
published photographs of herself topless save for slogans decrying the notion that Muslim
men own a Muslim woman’s body. Despite initial fears for her safety and the occasional
boisterous threat she appears to have escaped any serious retribution.
So by sending Rihanna and what the US hopes will be a
growing debate about the state of her vagina to Morocco to perform a raunchy
concert wearing costumes that fall far below even the most moderate of Islamic
dress codes the US is hoping to provoke widespread public debate in the newly
freed airwaves and on the Internet. The US will then study and analyses all
that is said and written about Rihanna in an effort to assess attitudes to
sexuality – especially women’s – in the newly freed middle-east.
Finally Morocco is home to the city of Casablanca that was
made famous by the 1942 US film of the same name. During World War two Morocco stayed largely
neutral so became a hotbed for spying and espionage activity. Therefore
Casablanca has become a by-word for modern day Azerbaijan. As I’ve previous
mentioned whilst performing in Azerbaijan in October 2012 Rihanna experienced a
significant emotional meltdown. Therefore this promotes a discussion about
whether the Moroccan authorities will be able to protect Rihanna’s safety and
welfare whilst she is in the country. This rapidly becomes a discussion of
whether the Moroccan authorities consider Chris Brown to have a positive or
negative effect on Rihanna’s welfare. That then becomes a discussion over
whether Morocco would be willing to allow Chris Brown into their country. If
their answer is yes it then becomes a discussion over whether the Moroccans can
prevent someone killing Chris Brown whilst he is in the country. That
discussion forces the Moroccans to reveal a lot of information to the US about
the security threats they have in their country and the security apparatus they
have in place to control those threats.
22:15 on 28/3/13.
Oscar Pistorius Bail Conditions Loosened.
Today Oscar Pistorius' legal team have been in Court for a review of the bail conditions imposed on the South African sprinter as he awaits trial over the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The Judge has ruled that Pistorious is allowed to return home now that forensic tests have been completed and the house is no longer considered an active crime scene.
The Court also ruled that Pistorius is allowed to travel outside of South Africa to attend athletics competitions. However this is not the same as saying that Pistorius has been given his passport back. Instead if he wishes to attend a specific athletics event he must inform the relevant authority (I believe his probation officer) of his exact travel plans one week in advance. If those plans are approved Pistorius' lawyer is allowed to release his passport to him on the day of travel. Pistorius must then re-surrender his passport to his lawyer within 24 hours of his scheduled return to South Africa.
I suppose this could be Pistorius being used as a metaphor for me. After all it's been nearly some eight years since I've been allowed to return home. Also while the UK claims that it is refusing to allow me a passport in order to protect me from nations that may wish to do me harm many nations - particularly South Africa - would be more than happy to host me. In fact one thing the UK was hoping for from Rihanna's tour is that we would become at least friends providing the UK with the opportunity to discuss with the nations on the tour itinerary whether they would allow me entry to visit Rihanna on tour. However I don't think that's really the main problem I'm facing at the moment.
I suppose this could also be Pistorius being used as a metaphor for Chris Brown. After all while there is no question that Brown will ever be permitted to contact Rihanna ever again the South Africans could be indicating that they would allow him certain freedoms whilst on bail to promote his new album. It is here I disagree with the South Africans because Brown's efforts to promote his album so far such as his interview with USA Today, his appearance on the Ryan Seacrest radio show and his interviews with Rolling Stone magazine and MTV online have all be clearly intended to serve a political purpose particularly disrupting the BRICS Summit. Also these sort of promotion efforts along with his use with his use of Twitter and Instagram provide Brown with an opportunity to contact Rihanna through his fans and her wider social circle. Therefore if Brown is to be permitted to continue promotional work each individual effort (Tweets included) will have to be subject to at least 7 days prior approval and heavy censorship. As Brown has already been convicted constitutional protections of free speech do not apply.
Mainly though I think the news about Oscar Pistorius is about the actual Oscar Pistorius. After all he is presumed innocent until proven guilty so the conditions imposed on him until the trial shouldn't unnecessarily punish him by either preventing him from returning to his home or preventing him form working. The nature of Pistorius' job means that he needs to travel internationally in order to attend competitions both to remain in peak physical condition should he be found innocent and to earn the money needed to mount a defence.
13:05 on 28/3/13.
The Court also ruled that Pistorius is allowed to travel outside of South Africa to attend athletics competitions. However this is not the same as saying that Pistorius has been given his passport back. Instead if he wishes to attend a specific athletics event he must inform the relevant authority (I believe his probation officer) of his exact travel plans one week in advance. If those plans are approved Pistorius' lawyer is allowed to release his passport to him on the day of travel. Pistorius must then re-surrender his passport to his lawyer within 24 hours of his scheduled return to South Africa.
I suppose this could be Pistorius being used as a metaphor for me. After all it's been nearly some eight years since I've been allowed to return home. Also while the UK claims that it is refusing to allow me a passport in order to protect me from nations that may wish to do me harm many nations - particularly South Africa - would be more than happy to host me. In fact one thing the UK was hoping for from Rihanna's tour is that we would become at least friends providing the UK with the opportunity to discuss with the nations on the tour itinerary whether they would allow me entry to visit Rihanna on tour. However I don't think that's really the main problem I'm facing at the moment.
I suppose this could also be Pistorius being used as a metaphor for Chris Brown. After all while there is no question that Brown will ever be permitted to contact Rihanna ever again the South Africans could be indicating that they would allow him certain freedoms whilst on bail to promote his new album. It is here I disagree with the South Africans because Brown's efforts to promote his album so far such as his interview with USA Today, his appearance on the Ryan Seacrest radio show and his interviews with Rolling Stone magazine and MTV online have all be clearly intended to serve a political purpose particularly disrupting the BRICS Summit. Also these sort of promotion efforts along with his use with his use of Twitter and Instagram provide Brown with an opportunity to contact Rihanna through his fans and her wider social circle. Therefore if Brown is to be permitted to continue promotional work each individual effort (Tweets included) will have to be subject to at least 7 days prior approval and heavy censorship. As Brown has already been convicted constitutional protections of free speech do not apply.
Mainly though I think the news about Oscar Pistorius is about the actual Oscar Pistorius. After all he is presumed innocent until proven guilty so the conditions imposed on him until the trial shouldn't unnecessarily punish him by either preventing him from returning to his home or preventing him form working. The nature of Pistorius' job means that he needs to travel internationally in order to attend competitions both to remain in peak physical condition should he be found innocent and to earn the money needed to mount a defence.
13:05 on 28/3/13.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
North Korea's Latest Photostrop.
With the BRICS Summit going on South Africa the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been even more noisy than usual. Apparently they've announced they're going to cutting the military hot-line with South Korea and are to warn the United Nations (UN) about the imminent threat of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula. However my favourite bit has been their reaction to that Rihanna bikini photograph.
This involved the DPRK releasing photographs of eight hovercraft landing on a beach as part of a recent military exercise. However analysis of those photographs by a French news agency (and others) has concluded that the DPRK photographs had been altered using a computer program similar to photoshop and in fact only show two hovercraft duplicated four times. Apart from giving everybody the headache of having to analyse the photographs this was intended to provoke China at the BRIC Summit by showing that it's neighbour and once close ally is now working hand in glove with the US.
This doesn't seem to have fazed the Chinese much who quickly responded with some pictures of dead ducks which may or may not have been photoshopped. This angered the US who responded by circulating a fake Tweet attributed to Kim Kardashian. In this fake Tweet the member of Rihanna wider social circle is claimed to have called Nigeria such a disgusting country she couldn't wait to leave and comparing Nigerian women to apes. This obviously offended quite a few Nigerian people and added to the debate about things being photoshopped.
I should point out that the Nigeria Tweet is utterly fake and not only has Kim Kardashian denied writing it the person who faked it (Twitter user @chuckicheese) has come forward and admitted they faked it 'as a practical joke.' However even if it were true it still wouldn't be the most offencive thing that's been said in response to that Rihanna bikini photograph. That honour goes to the Brits who responded with something along the lines of; "It's either photoshopped or it's seen more action than Helmand."
So "Operation Misery" apparently. Fortunately the BRICS Summit is only a two day affair so given the time difference between South Africa and Canada it should be broken up long before Rihanna is due to take to the stage in Edmonton tonight. Hopefully it'll be a good show because if you've been following the USS Guardian story the US plans to have the Navy ship broken up by mid-April.
17:05 on 27/3/13.
This involved the DPRK releasing photographs of eight hovercraft landing on a beach as part of a recent military exercise. However analysis of those photographs by a French news agency (and others) has concluded that the DPRK photographs had been altered using a computer program similar to photoshop and in fact only show two hovercraft duplicated four times. Apart from giving everybody the headache of having to analyse the photographs this was intended to provoke China at the BRIC Summit by showing that it's neighbour and once close ally is now working hand in glove with the US.
This doesn't seem to have fazed the Chinese much who quickly responded with some pictures of dead ducks which may or may not have been photoshopped. This angered the US who responded by circulating a fake Tweet attributed to Kim Kardashian. In this fake Tweet the member of Rihanna wider social circle is claimed to have called Nigeria such a disgusting country she couldn't wait to leave and comparing Nigerian women to apes. This obviously offended quite a few Nigerian people and added to the debate about things being photoshopped.
I should point out that the Nigeria Tweet is utterly fake and not only has Kim Kardashian denied writing it the person who faked it (Twitter user @chuckicheese) has come forward and admitted they faked it 'as a practical joke.' However even if it were true it still wouldn't be the most offencive thing that's been said in response to that Rihanna bikini photograph. That honour goes to the Brits who responded with something along the lines of; "It's either photoshopped or it's seen more action than Helmand."
So "Operation Misery" apparently. Fortunately the BRICS Summit is only a two day affair so given the time difference between South Africa and Canada it should be broken up long before Rihanna is due to take to the stage in Edmonton tonight. Hopefully it'll be a good show because if you've been following the USS Guardian story the US plans to have the Navy ship broken up by mid-April.
17:05 on 27/3/13.
Operation Misery: Week 3, Day 5.
Yes that's right I didn't put myself through the pain barrier at the gym so I could slip straight back down again. So I'm up at a reasonable time so I can got to the gym again for a clean session.
In the meantime I should point out that yesterday the US went public with the news that 1970's soul icon Dionne Warwick has filed for bankruptcy. Although I've not seen the papers I believe Ms Warwick's claim centres around an unpaid income tax bill or more accurately the penalty fees and interest accrued on an income tax bill that was paid late. The timing of the announcement was clearly designed to co-incide with the hearing in Robyn Fenty V Berdon LLP that was heard in a Barbados Court on the same day.
The Berdon LLP hearing was actually simple. It was merely to allow the Court to decide whether counsel for Beardon LLP could travel to Barbados to take a deposition of evidence from Rihanna's mother Monica Braithwaite under the Hague convention rather than forcing Ms Braithwaite to travel to the US to give evidence. The Court ruled they can and offered Ms Braithwaite a date between April 2nd (2/4/13) and April 5th (5/4/13) or a date between April 10th (10/4/13) and April 12th (12/4/13) to give her deposition. As Chris Brown is scheduled to appear before a Los Angeles Court on April 5th I suggest Ms Braithwaite goes for the April 10th option.
It is really here that the connection between the two cases ends. That's because if it is ruled that Berdon LLP was justified in it's charging of fees then Rihanna had no taxable income for the period. However if it is ruled that those fees were unnecessary then Rihanna still has no taxable income until Berdon LLP pays it's debt so the US Inland Revenue Service (IRS) can't charge Rihanna fees or interest. When Berdon LLP come to pay their debt they simply pay off the IRS first and give Rihanna the remainder. Either way I don't see Rihanna taking home a huge amount of cash from this case.
It is worth pointing out though that Dionne Warwick is the aunt of the late Whitney Houston. Therefore the timing of the announcement is also intended to generate speculation about what Rihanna's future with Chris Brown will be like. The problem is that by doing this the US has revealed that it already knows exactly what will happen if it continues to protect Chris Brown and allows him to reunite with Rihanna. Therefore I think I speak for us all when I say we can wait until April 5th to see whether the US will do the right thing or the wrong thing.
After all if you've heard the latest details from the Atherton Dangerous Dogs Case about a young girl who loved music and loved to dance you would know that even the UK is trying to distance itself from the Rihanna/Chris Brown reunion.
11:00 on 27/3/13.
In the meantime I should point out that yesterday the US went public with the news that 1970's soul icon Dionne Warwick has filed for bankruptcy. Although I've not seen the papers I believe Ms Warwick's claim centres around an unpaid income tax bill or more accurately the penalty fees and interest accrued on an income tax bill that was paid late. The timing of the announcement was clearly designed to co-incide with the hearing in Robyn Fenty V Berdon LLP that was heard in a Barbados Court on the same day.
The Berdon LLP hearing was actually simple. It was merely to allow the Court to decide whether counsel for Beardon LLP could travel to Barbados to take a deposition of evidence from Rihanna's mother Monica Braithwaite under the Hague convention rather than forcing Ms Braithwaite to travel to the US to give evidence. The Court ruled they can and offered Ms Braithwaite a date between April 2nd (2/4/13) and April 5th (5/4/13) or a date between April 10th (10/4/13) and April 12th (12/4/13) to give her deposition. As Chris Brown is scheduled to appear before a Los Angeles Court on April 5th I suggest Ms Braithwaite goes for the April 10th option.
It is really here that the connection between the two cases ends. That's because if it is ruled that Berdon LLP was justified in it's charging of fees then Rihanna had no taxable income for the period. However if it is ruled that those fees were unnecessary then Rihanna still has no taxable income until Berdon LLP pays it's debt so the US Inland Revenue Service (IRS) can't charge Rihanna fees or interest. When Berdon LLP come to pay their debt they simply pay off the IRS first and give Rihanna the remainder. Either way I don't see Rihanna taking home a huge amount of cash from this case.
It is worth pointing out though that Dionne Warwick is the aunt of the late Whitney Houston. Therefore the timing of the announcement is also intended to generate speculation about what Rihanna's future with Chris Brown will be like. The problem is that by doing this the US has revealed that it already knows exactly what will happen if it continues to protect Chris Brown and allows him to reunite with Rihanna. Therefore I think I speak for us all when I say we can wait until April 5th to see whether the US will do the right thing or the wrong thing.
After all if you've heard the latest details from the Atherton Dangerous Dogs Case about a young girl who loved music and loved to dance you would know that even the UK is trying to distance itself from the Rihanna/Chris Brown reunion.
11:00 on 27/3/13.
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
David Miliband Quits UK Parliament.
The former senior UK Foreign Minister and current member of Parliament for South Shields David Miliband has this evening announced he is giving up his seat in Parliament to take up a "big international job based in New York." This is believed to be the head of the International Rescue Committee. This is a charity that provides first responders such as firefighters and paramedics to disaster zones across the world. David Miliband's brother Ed Miliband is of course the current leader of the UK's opposition Labour Party.
Coming in the middle of the Northern Ireland V Israel match along with the fact that both Miliband brothers are what I would term secular Jews and New York is sometimes affectionately referred to as "Jew York" the timing of this announcement was designed to promote discussion about the UK's relationship with Israel. After all it has been suggested that the only reason Ed Miliband has been tolerated as Labour leader is so he can act as the UK Queens pet Jew letting her know what Israel is thinking.
The fact the David Miliband is now leaving UK politics ends speculation that he will challenge his brother for the Labour leadership. This means that it is around 90-95% certain that Ed Miliband is going to be anointed as the UK's next Prime Minister. Personally I don't think that either he nor the Labour Party are anywhere near ready. That's because they need around five years of fighting it out with a minority Conservative government to grind off the party's nasty authoritarian edge. However me saying that only makes it more likely they'll get the nod from the Crown. After all it wouldn't be like the Queen to tolerate talk of libertarianism otherwise there could be dangerous talk of a meritocracy next.
21:55 on 26/3/13.
Coming in the middle of the Northern Ireland V Israel match along with the fact that both Miliband brothers are what I would term secular Jews and New York is sometimes affectionately referred to as "Jew York" the timing of this announcement was designed to promote discussion about the UK's relationship with Israel. After all it has been suggested that the only reason Ed Miliband has been tolerated as Labour leader is so he can act as the UK Queens pet Jew letting her know what Israel is thinking.
The fact the David Miliband is now leaving UK politics ends speculation that he will challenge his brother for the Labour leadership. This means that it is around 90-95% certain that Ed Miliband is going to be anointed as the UK's next Prime Minister. Personally I don't think that either he nor the Labour Party are anywhere near ready. That's because they need around five years of fighting it out with a minority Conservative government to grind off the party's nasty authoritarian edge. However me saying that only makes it more likely they'll get the nod from the Crown. After all it wouldn't be like the Queen to tolerate talk of libertarianism otherwise there could be dangerous talk of a meritocracy next.
21:55 on 26/3/13.
The Atherton Dangerous Dogs Case.
In the last few hours police in Greater Manchester UK have announced that they have found a teenage (some reports say 15 other reports say 14) girl dead in a house where a number of dogs were running dangerously out of control. Police say that four of the dogs were "humanely destroyed by armed officers" which is a polite way of saying they shot them.
As the term 'dangerous dog' is long established British code for black gang member this is the UK trying to force it's way into the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit which is currently getting under way in South Africa. The first meaning is the UK trying to reassure the world - and in doing so creating speculation - that there won't be any repeat of last week's nonsense as I make my traditional Tuesday trip to the pub. However I think you'll find I took care of that myself last week. The second meaning is the UK trying to promote discussion about the 'dangerous dogs' it controls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR).
If you're still trying to work out what the US' effort to force itself into the BRICS Summit is well on the day that the Supreme Court Of The United (SCOTUS) is sitting on gay marriage (California's Proposition 8 and the Defence of Marriage Act) someone does appear to have given Chris Brown this mistaken impression that he's allowed to talk.
As for my trip to the pub there's an important England match that kicks off at eight that I want to be home in time for. Therefore due to car-parking issues I'll actually be going to Norbury. So the local network should consider this their advance warning if they want to spread the hate around. They won't though because Croydon Council don't have any re-development goals in Norbury.
18:00 on 26/3/13.
As the term 'dangerous dog' is long established British code for black gang member this is the UK trying to force it's way into the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit which is currently getting under way in South Africa. The first meaning is the UK trying to reassure the world - and in doing so creating speculation - that there won't be any repeat of last week's nonsense as I make my traditional Tuesday trip to the pub. However I think you'll find I took care of that myself last week. The second meaning is the UK trying to promote discussion about the 'dangerous dogs' it controls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR).
If you're still trying to work out what the US' effort to force itself into the BRICS Summit is well on the day that the Supreme Court Of The United (SCOTUS) is sitting on gay marriage (California's Proposition 8 and the Defence of Marriage Act) someone does appear to have given Chris Brown this mistaken impression that he's allowed to talk.
As for my trip to the pub there's an important England match that kicks off at eight that I want to be home in time for. Therefore due to car-parking issues I'll actually be going to Norbury. So the local network should consider this their advance warning if they want to spread the hate around. They won't though because Croydon Council don't have any re-development goals in Norbury.
18:00 on 26/3/13.
Operation Misery: Week 3, Day 4.
There is still no official word on how Rihanna's concert in Winnipeg, Canada went last night. However because everybody else is making the effort I am able to tell you that the whole show did go ahead delayed by 1 hour due to problems at the border. A$AP Rocky did return following his bout of illness. Rihanna performed her standard set with standard costumes. However it is still not clear in which order the "Rudeboy" and "Jump" acts were performed (Acts 2 &3 in the original schedule). As Rihanna's voice has clearly not yet fully recovered her backing track and backing singers did most of the work. Again the overwhelming review is that the performance seemed subdued and mechanical however Rihanna appear to be more fired up on this occasion no doubt in response to the problems at customs.
As for those problems at customs everybody is remaining tight-lipped over whether US border officials or Canadian border officials stopped Rihanna's tour caravan. The overwhelming consensus of rumour though is that it was the Canadians. This was their attempt to get their answer in ahead of a US test flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that took place later on in the day.
The message the Canadians seem to be sending is that the UK Commonwealth nations on the tour schedule (so Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK) will be striking back against Rihanna in this way and trying to enquire as to who will be following their lead. Of course this means Rihanna's tour team will need to take counter-measures such as making sure all the tour vehicles are cleaner then clean and adding extra-time to the schedule in order to absorb any problems. There is though an outside possibility that the Commonwealth through Canada trying to re-assure the US that their Rihanna operation is still viable. After all while on a personal level I think this must stop now on a professional level there is nothing we'd like to see more then the US trying to press ahead with a blown operation. That said the Brits are rarely that sophisticated and certainly have the most to lose by the Rihanna operation being terminated.
There is though a third possibility that I'm choosing to believe because it's much less scary and frankly it massages my ego. That is Canada was acting independently of the Commonwealth and were simply giving Rihanna and her tour team a little nudge to remind them that it is under my protection rather then the US' that this tour is going ahead. Therefore they had better start making an effort to ensure that I get the information I require to do my job.
Oh and today the Supreme Court Of the United States (SCOTUS) will be ruling on two cases relating to gay marriage. I hope the US wasn't hoping that we'll all be staring intently at those in order to look for clues as to whether Chris Brown and Rihanna's relationship (the ultimate gay marriage) will continue because we won't.
14:20 on 26/3/13.
Edited at around 17:10 on 26/3/13 to add;
Yesterday (25/3/13) someone posted on Twitter a photograph of Rihanna in a bikini that purports to show her naked vagina. If you're really that interested the picture can be viewed here; https://twitter.com/SA1LORGOON/status/316227380429606912
However having studied it at great length it is most likely fake and is hardly that revealing. Along with the controversy over the Luluemon yoga pants that were withdrawn from stores in Canada for being too see-through at the time Rihanna was performing her Toronto concerts the photograph has clearly been distributed to promote discussion about Rihanna's Act 3/Man Down stage costume. The question obviously being; How sheer is too sheer?
As Islamic societies are not overly keen on women exposing their hair on their heads this debate is primarily focused on the Morocco concert and to a lesser extent the Turkey concert. The dialogue between the US and Morocco is already active and ongoing. A delegation of officials from Morocco attended the memorial service of assassinated Colorado prison boss Tom Clements. The areas for discussion there were Morocco's attitude towards Saudi Arabia (a Saudi national has been discussed as a possible suspect), the Chris Brown/Rihanna reunion and whether Morocco will be willing to allow Chris Brown into the nation and if so will they be able to guarantee his safety.
As in political terms the Morocco concert is now active I will need to get around to writing up a full preview of the issues in play. I will try and do this when there is a gap in concerts so Thursday (28/3/13) or Friday (29/3/13). However as Morocco is politically the biggest concert of the entire tour I'm honestly trying to work out where to start.
As for Rihanna's costume I would strongly suggests she moves to boy shorts. After all we don't want people speculating what she's thinking when she's wearing that outfit on stage.
As for those problems at customs everybody is remaining tight-lipped over whether US border officials or Canadian border officials stopped Rihanna's tour caravan. The overwhelming consensus of rumour though is that it was the Canadians. This was their attempt to get their answer in ahead of a US test flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that took place later on in the day.
The message the Canadians seem to be sending is that the UK Commonwealth nations on the tour schedule (so Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK) will be striking back against Rihanna in this way and trying to enquire as to who will be following their lead. Of course this means Rihanna's tour team will need to take counter-measures such as making sure all the tour vehicles are cleaner then clean and adding extra-time to the schedule in order to absorb any problems. There is though an outside possibility that the Commonwealth through Canada trying to re-assure the US that their Rihanna operation is still viable. After all while on a personal level I think this must stop now on a professional level there is nothing we'd like to see more then the US trying to press ahead with a blown operation. That said the Brits are rarely that sophisticated and certainly have the most to lose by the Rihanna operation being terminated.
There is though a third possibility that I'm choosing to believe because it's much less scary and frankly it massages my ego. That is Canada was acting independently of the Commonwealth and were simply giving Rihanna and her tour team a little nudge to remind them that it is under my protection rather then the US' that this tour is going ahead. Therefore they had better start making an effort to ensure that I get the information I require to do my job.
Oh and today the Supreme Court Of the United States (SCOTUS) will be ruling on two cases relating to gay marriage. I hope the US wasn't hoping that we'll all be staring intently at those in order to look for clues as to whether Chris Brown and Rihanna's relationship (the ultimate gay marriage) will continue because we won't.
14:20 on 26/3/13.
Edited at around 17:10 on 26/3/13 to add;
Yesterday (25/3/13) someone posted on Twitter a photograph of Rihanna in a bikini that purports to show her naked vagina. If you're really that interested the picture can be viewed here; https://twitter.com/SA1LORGOON/status/316227380429606912
However having studied it at great length it is most likely fake and is hardly that revealing. Along with the controversy over the Luluemon yoga pants that were withdrawn from stores in Canada for being too see-through at the time Rihanna was performing her Toronto concerts the photograph has clearly been distributed to promote discussion about Rihanna's Act 3/Man Down stage costume. The question obviously being; How sheer is too sheer?
As Islamic societies are not overly keen on women exposing their hair on their heads this debate is primarily focused on the Morocco concert and to a lesser extent the Turkey concert. The dialogue between the US and Morocco is already active and ongoing. A delegation of officials from Morocco attended the memorial service of assassinated Colorado prison boss Tom Clements. The areas for discussion there were Morocco's attitude towards Saudi Arabia (a Saudi national has been discussed as a possible suspect), the Chris Brown/Rihanna reunion and whether Morocco will be willing to allow Chris Brown into the nation and if so will they be able to guarantee his safety.
As in political terms the Morocco concert is now active I will need to get around to writing up a full preview of the issues in play. I will try and do this when there is a gap in concerts so Thursday (28/3/13) or Friday (29/3/13). However as Morocco is politically the biggest concert of the entire tour I'm honestly trying to work out where to start.
As for Rihanna's costume I would strongly suggests she moves to boy shorts. After all we don't want people speculating what she's thinking when she's wearing that outfit on stage.
Amanda Knox to Return to Italy.
In a move that has prompted me to add a search function to this blog an Italian Court has ruled that American Amanda Knox must return to Italy to face a re-trail over the murder of her British (Croydon born) roommate Mereditch Kercher. This is absolutely no surprise because the evidence against Knox at the original trial was overwhelming. However that trial and associated investigation revealed Knox to be the rarest of things - a female sociopath.
As the term sociopath is not well understood or defined within psychology this means that Knox's research value is immense. Therefore the US put huge pressure on Italy so Knox would be released to effective US custody so she could be studied. A key part of this study was to get Knox to tell the US authorities her life story which they disguised as helping her to write her autobiography. As that book is now complete this is the Italians declaring that they want Knox returned to their custody so she can complete her sentence and justice can be served.
As the Knox case along with CIA agent Ray Davies' freeing from Pakistani custody played a significant part in getting Italian ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi laughed out of office the ruling on Knox is also supposed to signify that Italy is stronger without Berlusconi. Finally it is intended to send a message to the US that if they continue to protect Chris Brown they can expect every single diplomatic request they make anywhere in the world to be answered with a simple; "No."
12:15 on 26/3/13.
As the term sociopath is not well understood or defined within psychology this means that Knox's research value is immense. Therefore the US put huge pressure on Italy so Knox would be released to effective US custody so she could be studied. A key part of this study was to get Knox to tell the US authorities her life story which they disguised as helping her to write her autobiography. As that book is now complete this is the Italians declaring that they want Knox returned to their custody so she can complete her sentence and justice can be served.
As the Knox case along with CIA agent Ray Davies' freeing from Pakistani custody played a significant part in getting Italian ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi laughed out of office the ruling on Knox is also supposed to signify that Italy is stronger without Berlusconi. Finally it is intended to send a message to the US that if they continue to protect Chris Brown they can expect every single diplomatic request they make anywhere in the world to be answered with a simple; "No."
12:15 on 26/3/13.
Monday, 25 March 2013
Cyprus and the Central African Republic.
Somewhere amid the chaos of last night the European Union (EU) agreed to give Cyprus a E10bn bailout. The main points of this deal will see Cyprus' second largest bank Laiki closed down meaning that its shareholders and bond holders will lose everything. Laiki's good assets such as savers accounts will be transferred to the Bank of Cyprus while its toxic assets such as defaulted on loans will be put into a bad bank to be disposed of. This will be funded in part by the E10bn from the EU and a seizure of private assets. However bank accounts containing less than E100,000 will be protected while accounts over E100,000 will see 40% of their contents going to the Cypriot government. In order to prevent people from draining their accounts Cypriot banks will remain closed on Tuesday and ATM withdrawals are to be limited to E100 per day.
The doubling of the levy on accounts over E100,000 from 20% to 40% is a clear attempt to hurt Russian investors. Although there are the long term frictions between the EU and Russia this seems to be the Eurogroup sending a very clear message to Russia that they want them to end their support for the Syrian government in order to punish the US for their behaviour in the Rihanna operation. The Russians have responded by announcing that it is going to review a E2.5bn loan it made to Cyprus in 2011 presumably with a view to recouping some of the money it's citizens will lose through the asset seizure.
While I appreciate the message being sent over the Rihanna situation I think this is a bad idea. Firstly setting the precedent that private assets can be seized is hardly going to increase investor confidence in Eurozone nations such as Spain and Italy who are close to the edge themselves. If investment dries up it will be enough to push those nations over the edge and the EU simply cannot afford to bail them out. Also there are significant doubts over whether the bailout agreed for Cyprus will be enough. With Russia likely to retaliate by either calling in or increasing the cost of it's existing loans to Cyprus the nation could be requiring another bailout by the end of 2013. If that happens Cyprus will simply have to leave the Euro.
Also today the Seleka rebels formally took control of the Central African Republic (CAR). The Seleka leader Michel Djotodia has declared himself President and declared that he will not hold elections for at least three years. The only positive sign is that Djotodia has spoken of forming a government of national unity and is keeping former President Francois Bozize's Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye in post for now. However with the common enemy gone and the spoils of a peace-deal to be shared out it is more likely that Seleka (literally "alliance") will break apart leading to more fighting which may spread into neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
At the moment the situation in CAR is deeply chaotic. Former President Bozize has been confirmed as having fled to Cameroon but that is really the only thing we do know. Residents of the capital Bangui have been more or less confined to their homes for the past two days as the rebel fighters loot and ransack their way through the capital. 13 South African peacekeeping troops were killed in the fighting for Bangui and 1 more is missing in action. French troops who are basically in the country to secure the airport and help French nationals escape ended up killing two Indian nationals and a number of the Chadian nationals amid the chaos. This is hardly likely to improve relations between France and Chad as they fight Islamists in Mali.
The timing of the coup in CAR is highly suspicious because it comes just as senior UK Foreign Minister William Hague and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie in her United Nations (UN) special envoy role visited the DRC and and neighbouring Rwanda to tackle the conflict in DRC particularly the use of sexual violence and sexual slavery in that conflict. Rwanda is widely accepted to be supporting the March 23 (M23) rebels who carrying out most of the sexual violence in DRC and are in turn close allies of the people who have just seized power in CAR. Therefore the confusion caused by events in CAR and the possibility of it opening up a new conflict in DRC makes the job of the people such as the UN who are trying to end the conflict in DRC difficult to the point it must feel damn near impossible.
23:20 on 25/3/13.
The doubling of the levy on accounts over E100,000 from 20% to 40% is a clear attempt to hurt Russian investors. Although there are the long term frictions between the EU and Russia this seems to be the Eurogroup sending a very clear message to Russia that they want them to end their support for the Syrian government in order to punish the US for their behaviour in the Rihanna operation. The Russians have responded by announcing that it is going to review a E2.5bn loan it made to Cyprus in 2011 presumably with a view to recouping some of the money it's citizens will lose through the asset seizure.
While I appreciate the message being sent over the Rihanna situation I think this is a bad idea. Firstly setting the precedent that private assets can be seized is hardly going to increase investor confidence in Eurozone nations such as Spain and Italy who are close to the edge themselves. If investment dries up it will be enough to push those nations over the edge and the EU simply cannot afford to bail them out. Also there are significant doubts over whether the bailout agreed for Cyprus will be enough. With Russia likely to retaliate by either calling in or increasing the cost of it's existing loans to Cyprus the nation could be requiring another bailout by the end of 2013. If that happens Cyprus will simply have to leave the Euro.
Also today the Seleka rebels formally took control of the Central African Republic (CAR). The Seleka leader Michel Djotodia has declared himself President and declared that he will not hold elections for at least three years. The only positive sign is that Djotodia has spoken of forming a government of national unity and is keeping former President Francois Bozize's Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye in post for now. However with the common enemy gone and the spoils of a peace-deal to be shared out it is more likely that Seleka (literally "alliance") will break apart leading to more fighting which may spread into neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
At the moment the situation in CAR is deeply chaotic. Former President Bozize has been confirmed as having fled to Cameroon but that is really the only thing we do know. Residents of the capital Bangui have been more or less confined to their homes for the past two days as the rebel fighters loot and ransack their way through the capital. 13 South African peacekeeping troops were killed in the fighting for Bangui and 1 more is missing in action. French troops who are basically in the country to secure the airport and help French nationals escape ended up killing two Indian nationals and a number of the Chadian nationals amid the chaos. This is hardly likely to improve relations between France and Chad as they fight Islamists in Mali.
The timing of the coup in CAR is highly suspicious because it comes just as senior UK Foreign Minister William Hague and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie in her United Nations (UN) special envoy role visited the DRC and and neighbouring Rwanda to tackle the conflict in DRC particularly the use of sexual violence and sexual slavery in that conflict. Rwanda is widely accepted to be supporting the March 23 (M23) rebels who carrying out most of the sexual violence in DRC and are in turn close allies of the people who have just seized power in CAR. Therefore the confusion caused by events in CAR and the possibility of it opening up a new conflict in DRC makes the job of the people such as the UN who are trying to end the conflict in DRC difficult to the point it must feel damn near impossible.
23:20 on 25/3/13.
Operation Misery: Week 3, Day 3.5 - Trouble at the Border.
According to Rihanna's Twitter feed her 10 vehicle tour caravan has been stopped at the US/Canadian border where it is being subjected to a full search. This is obviously going on as I write but can involve taking every vehicle and piece of equipment to bits screw by screw. As a result it could takes days rather than hours and is likely to significantly jeopardise tonight's concert in Winnipeg, Canada.
It has not yet been confirmed whether it is US or Canadian border officials who have ordered the search. However as Live Nation were able to warn in advance that the Winnipeg concert would be delayed I suspect that they've conspired with the US to make sure this search took place. This has been done to promote discussion about whether any other nation on the tour schedule will be taking similar action. This is because central to the US' plan for Rihanna's tour is the idea that she would cause so much disruption during these early stages that everybody would be provoked into striking back against Rihanna in just this sort of way. Of course if those other nations instead choose to strike back against the US directly through things like Syria the US' plan is pretty much f*cked.
Anyway I'm sure more will follow on what is clearly a developing situation. Fortunately I'm now at the top of my Twitter timeline.
17:40 on 25/3/13.
Edited at around 19:50 on 25/3/13 to add;
The good news that Rihanna's actual tour bus was not stopped at the US/Canada border. Therefore Rihanna and her core group have now arrived safely in Winnipeg. The bad news is that it seems the rest of the tour caravan is still being held at customs. The doomsday scenario is that a significant quantity of drugs is found and all the vehicles are impounded as evidence. This would force Rihanna's tour team to build and pay for a completely new set or cancel the tour. On the up side cancelling the tour would probably help Rihanna's reputation and give her the opportunity to try and make a go of this relationship with Chris Brown free from distractions and excuses. However I should point out this is the absolute worst case scenerio and therefore extremely unlikely to happen.
I have heard from a deeply untrustworthy source that it is US authorities who are searching the caravan. However nothing has been confirmed. So allow me to speculate wildly when I say it could be the English speaking Canadian authorities who stopped the caravan. This would have been done to force Rihanna and her core group into some very tense downtime in English speaking Canada. Britain could then claim that they'd been able to study the relationships between that core group especially their views on Chris Brown. However to get let in on those secret results everybody would have to be really nice to the UK over the coming days.
In the meantime I tempted to see if the Navy can get the hashtag; #FreeRihannaStage trending worldwide. After all it's something to do.
Edited again at 20:10 on 25/3/13 to add; It's now been confirmed that Rihanna's caravan has arrived at the venue in Winnipeg and the stage is being set up. Still no word on who was responsible for the delay.
It has not yet been confirmed whether it is US or Canadian border officials who have ordered the search. However as Live Nation were able to warn in advance that the Winnipeg concert would be delayed I suspect that they've conspired with the US to make sure this search took place. This has been done to promote discussion about whether any other nation on the tour schedule will be taking similar action. This is because central to the US' plan for Rihanna's tour is the idea that she would cause so much disruption during these early stages that everybody would be provoked into striking back against Rihanna in just this sort of way. Of course if those other nations instead choose to strike back against the US directly through things like Syria the US' plan is pretty much f*cked.
Anyway I'm sure more will follow on what is clearly a developing situation. Fortunately I'm now at the top of my Twitter timeline.
17:40 on 25/3/13.
Edited at around 19:50 on 25/3/13 to add;
The good news that Rihanna's actual tour bus was not stopped at the US/Canada border. Therefore Rihanna and her core group have now arrived safely in Winnipeg. The bad news is that it seems the rest of the tour caravan is still being held at customs. The doomsday scenario is that a significant quantity of drugs is found and all the vehicles are impounded as evidence. This would force Rihanna's tour team to build and pay for a completely new set or cancel the tour. On the up side cancelling the tour would probably help Rihanna's reputation and give her the opportunity to try and make a go of this relationship with Chris Brown free from distractions and excuses. However I should point out this is the absolute worst case scenerio and therefore extremely unlikely to happen.
I have heard from a deeply untrustworthy source that it is US authorities who are searching the caravan. However nothing has been confirmed. So allow me to speculate wildly when I say it could be the English speaking Canadian authorities who stopped the caravan. This would have been done to force Rihanna and her core group into some very tense downtime in English speaking Canada. Britain could then claim that they'd been able to study the relationships between that core group especially their views on Chris Brown. However to get let in on those secret results everybody would have to be really nice to the UK over the coming days.
In the meantime I tempted to see if the Navy can get the hashtag; #FreeRihannaStage trending worldwide. After all it's something to do.
Edited again at 20:10 on 25/3/13 to add; It's now been confirmed that Rihanna's caravan has arrived at the venue in Winnipeg and the stage is being set up. Still no word on who was responsible for the delay.
Operation Misery: Week 3, Day 3.
There has still been no official word on how Rihanna's concert last night in Saint Paul's, US went. Nor has there been any official explanation as to why tonight's concert in Winnipeg, Canada has been delayed by one hour. There hasn't even been any word as whether Rihanna has crossed the international border between the US and Canada although let's be honest we're not expecting any problems on the Canadian side.
So instead I will concentrate of the events of this coming Tuesday (26/3/13). Although Rihanna won't be performing it will be a big day for her as the latest round in the Robyn Fenty Versus Berdon LLP and associates is heard in a Barbados court. Although I've not seen the papers this case centres around an accusation that Berdon drained tens of millions of dollars from Rihanna's tour revenues by charging unjustified fees. This was done to such an extent that Rihanna actually incurred a loss from the 2009 Last Girl on Earth tour despite gross revenues (ticket sales etc) indicating a healthy profit. The case also accuses Berdon LLP of being responsible for accountancy errors that have seen Rihanna being under an ongoing audit by the US Inland Revenue Service (IRS) since roughly 2010.
I am of course very interested to see the full case papers. The first thing I will be looking for is some even vaguely legal reason why a suit filed by a US resident against a US company in a US Court is being heard in Barbados at all. The political reason is of course pretty obvious. Tuesday's hearing is going to centre on the role of Rihanna's book-keeper/accountant mother in the dispute. This is of course intended to be used as a metaphor for Rihanna's mother's role in her life in general and specifically her relationship with Chris Brown.
The problem for the US who are attempting to impose this survey on Barbados is that by appointing Judge Reifer (prn Reefer - as in marijuana joint) it is quite clear that Barbados have already concluded that Chris Brown is the root cause of Rihanna's problems. This puts Barbados in a very difficult position because if they refuse to allow Chris Brown entry to the country Rihanna will simply refuse to visit cutting her off from their positive influences and further into Chris Brown's clutches. I think they should just go for it though. That's because while it will take the US to limit the damage that Chris Brown is able to do to Rihanna we can certainly limit the damage he does to everybody else.
As for Rihanna while the IRS audit does make it very difficult she should seriously consider dropping the case and rather then focusing on how she got ripped off on previous tours focus on how she's getting ripped-off on this tour. That's because while Team Rihanna are still refusing to lift a finger her fans (the Navy) have been bending over backwards to make sure I get the information I require. That's creating an Us versus Them mentality between Rihanna and the Navy that is going to leave some of them questioning why they bother.
16:20 on 25/3/13.
Edited at around 16:40 on 25/3/13 to add: Now I've had coffee I should point out that while I've not seen the case papers I suspect what has triggered the IRS audit is the suspicion that Rihanna and her mother conspired with Berdon LLP to charge these fees in order to evade tax. The untaxed income would then be re-paid to Rihanna. However if after this length of time the IRS have been unable to find that money trail it's because it doesn't exist. Therefore they should either proceed to prosecution or drop the audit.
Of course the US will claim that they're keeping the audit in place as a way to supervise Rihanna's finances to make sure she doesn't get ripped-off that badly again. However could I be so bold as to suggest by creating all this stress and disruption the US actually preventing Rihanna from learning how to manage her own finances.
And yes this case does perfectly reflect my efforts to teach my newly self-employed friend about filing tax returns. Hence the term "Mirror."
So instead I will concentrate of the events of this coming Tuesday (26/3/13). Although Rihanna won't be performing it will be a big day for her as the latest round in the Robyn Fenty Versus Berdon LLP and associates is heard in a Barbados court. Although I've not seen the papers this case centres around an accusation that Berdon drained tens of millions of dollars from Rihanna's tour revenues by charging unjustified fees. This was done to such an extent that Rihanna actually incurred a loss from the 2009 Last Girl on Earth tour despite gross revenues (ticket sales etc) indicating a healthy profit. The case also accuses Berdon LLP of being responsible for accountancy errors that have seen Rihanna being under an ongoing audit by the US Inland Revenue Service (IRS) since roughly 2010.
I am of course very interested to see the full case papers. The first thing I will be looking for is some even vaguely legal reason why a suit filed by a US resident against a US company in a US Court is being heard in Barbados at all. The political reason is of course pretty obvious. Tuesday's hearing is going to centre on the role of Rihanna's book-keeper/accountant mother in the dispute. This is of course intended to be used as a metaphor for Rihanna's mother's role in her life in general and specifically her relationship with Chris Brown.
The problem for the US who are attempting to impose this survey on Barbados is that by appointing Judge Reifer (prn Reefer - as in marijuana joint) it is quite clear that Barbados have already concluded that Chris Brown is the root cause of Rihanna's problems. This puts Barbados in a very difficult position because if they refuse to allow Chris Brown entry to the country Rihanna will simply refuse to visit cutting her off from their positive influences and further into Chris Brown's clutches. I think they should just go for it though. That's because while it will take the US to limit the damage that Chris Brown is able to do to Rihanna we can certainly limit the damage he does to everybody else.
As for Rihanna while the IRS audit does make it very difficult she should seriously consider dropping the case and rather then focusing on how she got ripped off on previous tours focus on how she's getting ripped-off on this tour. That's because while Team Rihanna are still refusing to lift a finger her fans (the Navy) have been bending over backwards to make sure I get the information I require. That's creating an Us versus Them mentality between Rihanna and the Navy that is going to leave some of them questioning why they bother.
16:20 on 25/3/13.
Edited at around 16:40 on 25/3/13 to add: Now I've had coffee I should point out that while I've not seen the case papers I suspect what has triggered the IRS audit is the suspicion that Rihanna and her mother conspired with Berdon LLP to charge these fees in order to evade tax. The untaxed income would then be re-paid to Rihanna. However if after this length of time the IRS have been unable to find that money trail it's because it doesn't exist. Therefore they should either proceed to prosecution or drop the audit.
Of course the US will claim that they're keeping the audit in place as a way to supervise Rihanna's finances to make sure she doesn't get ripped-off that badly again. However could I be so bold as to suggest by creating all this stress and disruption the US actually preventing Rihanna from learning how to manage her own finances.
And yes this case does perfectly reflect my efforts to teach my newly self-employed friend about filing tax returns. Hence the term "Mirror."
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Eurogroup Meeting on Cyprus Delayed.
Citing an overrunning meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the Eurogroup (basically the European Union minus the UK) meeting on Cyprus has been delayed until 19:00 GMT.
This provides me with the opportunity to point out that while I haven't fully run the numbers it might actually be a good idea for the EU to simply refuse to bailout Cyprus. After all the Cypriot economy is so small that the effect of it's economic collapse on the Eurozone as a whole would be negligible. Then once Cyprus leaves the Euro, reverts to the Cypriot pound, devalues and then has the entire financial world round on it for refusing to pay it's debts it would make a example of what could happen to other Eurozone nations such as Greece and Italy who think they can debate austerity measures.
Also on a completely unrelated note my brother is going to have dinner with my father in Wetherspoons at around 19:00. I won't be joining them for the simple reason that my feet hurt, my back hurts and I'd much rather be sitting at home in the warm drinking wine than being out in the cold dealing with people.This was a decision I made when I failed to get up this morning long before I'd even remembered that there was such a thing as Cyprus.
18:15 on 24/3/13.
This provides me with the opportunity to point out that while I haven't fully run the numbers it might actually be a good idea for the EU to simply refuse to bailout Cyprus. After all the Cypriot economy is so small that the effect of it's economic collapse on the Eurozone as a whole would be negligible. Then once Cyprus leaves the Euro, reverts to the Cypriot pound, devalues and then has the entire financial world round on it for refusing to pay it's debts it would make a example of what could happen to other Eurozone nations such as Greece and Italy who think they can debate austerity measures.
Also on a completely unrelated note my brother is going to have dinner with my father in Wetherspoons at around 19:00. I won't be joining them for the simple reason that my feet hurt, my back hurts and I'd much rather be sitting at home in the warm drinking wine than being out in the cold dealing with people.This was a decision I made when I failed to get up this morning long before I'd even remembered that there was such a thing as Cyprus.
18:15 on 24/3/13.
Tidying Up Time.
While I was tearing about on Friday (22/3/13) two rather important things happened.
Firstly the Cypriot Parliament agreed a new plan to secure a European Union (EU) bailout. Basically rather then seizing 10% of all savings accounts in the country they will now seize 20% of all savings accounts worth more then E100,000. This is a transparent attempt to keep Cypriot voters happy while piling extra pressure on Russia over Syria. Cyprus will now have to go back to the EU to see if they approve of the plan. If I was making that decision I would be very tempted to refuse Cyprus a bailout. After all if Cyprus are still desperate to do the UK's bidding against the EU perhaps they should enquire as to how large a bailout the UK is offering. But then I have always been something of a hot-head.
Also on Friday apparently US President Barack Obama forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to telephone the Turkish Prime Minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan to apologise for the 2010 Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Marmara in which 8 Turkish nationals were killed. Coming just as Obama was leaving Israel for Jordan the US were keen for this to be seen as Obama getting tough with Netanyahu. However the call has a more worrying subtext. It appeared to be the US admitting to Israel that they have made such a mess in Syria the US is no longer able to guarantee Israel's safety so Israel had better improve relations with Turkey. Apart from trying to win friends in Jordan the news that the US will increase funding for Syrian refugees in Jordan seemed to be an attempt to reassure Israel that while the US is unable to provide diplomatic support they will continue to pay for everything.
Personally I think Obama was wasting his time on the Mavi Marmara issue. After all while Erdogan has to demand that Israel apologises and Netanyahu equally has to refuse to apologise I think both nations have really moved past the incident. That's because all involved understand that Israel would have been well within it's rights to sink the Mavi Marmara killing all on board. So while it was hardly the Israeli military's finest hour even with 9 dead the commando raid was still the least worst option.
Finally on Friday the rebel alliance (Seleka) formally launched a large military offensive against the government in the Central African Republic (CAR). Attacking on two fronts by Saturday they had arrived in the capital Bagui. According to some reports today Seleka have succeeded in capturing the Presidential palace although the status of the President Francois Bozize remains unknown. This massively increases the pressure on Chad who are currently trying to keep the peace in CAR while fighting the Islamists in Mali. It also increases the pressure on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). That's because if anything the surrender of Bosco Ntangda has only complicated the conflict between the DRC government and the March 23rd (M23) rebels while the links between M23 and Seleka means that the DRC could soon find itself under attack from both Rwanda in the east and CAR in the north.
Also I should point out I've not yet watched today's Formula 1 Grand Prix from Malaysia. However I gather the big story was Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel ignoring team orders to over take his team mate Mark Webber in order to win. So a bit argument about people trying to jump their place in the queue then.
12:25 on 24/3/13.
Firstly the Cypriot Parliament agreed a new plan to secure a European Union (EU) bailout. Basically rather then seizing 10% of all savings accounts in the country they will now seize 20% of all savings accounts worth more then E100,000. This is a transparent attempt to keep Cypriot voters happy while piling extra pressure on Russia over Syria. Cyprus will now have to go back to the EU to see if they approve of the plan. If I was making that decision I would be very tempted to refuse Cyprus a bailout. After all if Cyprus are still desperate to do the UK's bidding against the EU perhaps they should enquire as to how large a bailout the UK is offering. But then I have always been something of a hot-head.
Also on Friday apparently US President Barack Obama forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to telephone the Turkish Prime Minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan to apologise for the 2010 Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Marmara in which 8 Turkish nationals were killed. Coming just as Obama was leaving Israel for Jordan the US were keen for this to be seen as Obama getting tough with Netanyahu. However the call has a more worrying subtext. It appeared to be the US admitting to Israel that they have made such a mess in Syria the US is no longer able to guarantee Israel's safety so Israel had better improve relations with Turkey. Apart from trying to win friends in Jordan the news that the US will increase funding for Syrian refugees in Jordan seemed to be an attempt to reassure Israel that while the US is unable to provide diplomatic support they will continue to pay for everything.
Personally I think Obama was wasting his time on the Mavi Marmara issue. After all while Erdogan has to demand that Israel apologises and Netanyahu equally has to refuse to apologise I think both nations have really moved past the incident. That's because all involved understand that Israel would have been well within it's rights to sink the Mavi Marmara killing all on board. So while it was hardly the Israeli military's finest hour even with 9 dead the commando raid was still the least worst option.
Finally on Friday the rebel alliance (Seleka) formally launched a large military offensive against the government in the Central African Republic (CAR). Attacking on two fronts by Saturday they had arrived in the capital Bagui. According to some reports today Seleka have succeeded in capturing the Presidential palace although the status of the President Francois Bozize remains unknown. This massively increases the pressure on Chad who are currently trying to keep the peace in CAR while fighting the Islamists in Mali. It also increases the pressure on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). That's because if anything the surrender of Bosco Ntangda has only complicated the conflict between the DRC government and the March 23rd (M23) rebels while the links between M23 and Seleka means that the DRC could soon find itself under attack from both Rwanda in the east and CAR in the north.
Also I should point out I've not yet watched today's Formula 1 Grand Prix from Malaysia. However I gather the big story was Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel ignoring team orders to over take his team mate Mark Webber in order to win. So a bit argument about people trying to jump their place in the queue then.
12:25 on 24/3/13.
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Operation Misery: Week 3, Day 1.
Although Rihanna's Chicago concert last night is still something of a mystery I am getting a clearer idea of what happened during her Detroit concert on Thursday (21/3/13).
Rihanna actually arrived on stage at around 21:50 (local) which although is technically 50 minutes later than the advertised start time it is well within the +/- 20 minutes of what should be considered the real 22:00 start time. Rihanna performed the standard set-list with the standard stage set-up and costume changes. The main accusation levelled against the concert is that it was a bit dull and both Rihanna and the crowd seemed subdued. However considering the warm-up to the concert I provided I think we can all appreciate that it would have been difficult for anyone to lift the mood. Therefore I will try and do my preview of the next phase of the tour in the gap between the final Brooklyn concert and the next concert.
Without access to much audio of either concerts I cannot tell how Rihanna's voice is doing. However the fact that no-one has felt the need to mention it suggests it's slowly improving rather than getting dramatically worse.
The big story from both Detroit and Chicago though was that Rihanna's support act A$AP Rocky was forced to cancel due to illness. This could have been faked to promote discussion about Rihanna's recent bout of illness and the debates that provoked about her voice. It could also have been faked to provoke discussion about whether the member of Rihanna's tour team who was caught in possession of marijuana has been kicked off the tour. After all that individual has still not been identified and Rihanna and Melissa Forde's Twitter argument about who brought the 'Ugg' into the Detroit dressing could certainly have been mis-interpreted as a coded reference to that. However as Twitter sniper quickly popped up to suggest that the 'Ugg' may in fact have been a 'Croc' (of sh*t) I doubt think anyone was fooled.
Mainly though I think it is just a simple case of A$AP Rocky actually being ill. After all this tour looks like it's going to be seriously heavy going. I mean I'm not even on it and it's making me feel unwell.
The big event of the last two days though has been Rihanna's trip to the Barrington High School in Chicago to meet the winners of the Diamond's video competition. For this Rihanna arrived a full four and a half hours late and stayed for precisely 12 minutes. During that time Rihanna was lectured on the school's extensive charitable works the highlights of which I thought were their fund-raising for the victims of the tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri in 2011 and the school's long-term work with residents of the Crow Creek Native American reservation in Dakota.
Joplin, Missouri of course shares it's name with Janis Joplin who is a member of the notorious 27 Club which everyone's worried about Rihanna joining. The female residents of the Crow Creek reservation will of course now be covered by the recently signed US Violence Against Women Act (VOWA). VOWA of course tackles the issues of domestic violence and abuse which how a lot of people think Rihanna will be joining the 27 Club.
Therefore the whole event had been intended to be interpreted as Barrington High School teaching Rihanna some much needed lessons. Not least amongst those lessons is how to behave during these sort of stage managed public appearance which are part and parcel of the diplomatic/ambassadorial role that Rihanna is being prepared for. In reality it was an attempt to put Rihanna through a thoroughly unpleasant experience in an effort to disrupt her concert that evening further angering her fans, reducing her fame and making it harder for Rihanna to refuse the diplomatic/ambassador role.
The events central theme of charity is a reference to one of the areas where people have suggested that Rihanna would be capable of so much more provided she sorts out her current car crash of a life. Take Rihanna's recent donation of around USD1.75m to the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Barbados. While I should point out that I don't have the full details and clearly no-one said no to the donation what appears to have happened is Rihanna has simply signed a cheque to buy three pieces of medical imaging equipment for the hospital. While the hospital clearly appreciates this equipment it does present them with the problems of having to provide electricity to run the equipment, service contracts to maintain the equipment and trained staff to operate the equipment and interpret the results. These things all cost money so unless the Rihanna and the hospital have carefully researched and assessed the impacts of the purchase it could have a negative impact on the hospital over the long-term.
Therefore on hearing the news of Rihanna's donation anyone who has worked in the financial, charitable, health-care or government sectors would have simply said; Rather than buying the equipment outright Rihanna should have donated the money to a charitable trust. That way it can be invested to produce a continuous dividend which would allow the hospital to provide better health care day after day long after the news of Rihanna's donation had been forgotten.
Of course dumping all this on Rihanna while she's on tour is only likely to make her more miserable rather than solve the problem. After all as she rushes on to Saint Paul's for tomorrow's (24/3/13) concert and then onto Canada it's unlikely Rihanna is going to be able to find the time to start interviewing fund managers.
The reason that we know what went on during Rihanna's trip to Barrington High School at all is in itself highly interesting. Initially Rihanna's CIA handlers had banned the media from the event. That ban though was then dramatically lifted meaning that not only were the media allowed to attend the event it was actually streamed live across the Internet. So while the official reason was traffic congestion the four and a half hour delay struck me as a plan being hastily re-written. After all it takes time to set up a live Internet stream.
The delay though did mean that the Barrington High School event clashed with my trip to the pub with my friend. Specifically it clashed with the period me and my friend were sitting a pub which continues to display emblems of the banned Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) terrorist group while there was something secretive going on in the function room upstairs involving members to that problematic local network. This combined with the discovery today of a car bomb in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland is going to lead to a lot of people to conclude that Rihanna was being used as a distraction to allow the US and the UK to use the security threat to gang-up on the nation's attending the G8 Summit in June. It is though perhaps a little much to expect Rihanna personally to have been aware of that in advance.
The US were obviously hoping that the lifting of the Barrington media ban would be interpreted as a sign that they are going to co-operate with people like me for the rest of Rihanna's tour. However you will note they are still failing to provide the information that I've told them is essential in order for me to do my job. For her part Rihanna does seem to be making something of an effort by for example Tweeting out that she'd arrived in Chicago. It's still a bit hit and miss at the moment but I have to say that while what she's done makes me want to kiss her if Rihanna was looking for positive reinforcement from me yesterday really wasn't the best time to start.
Although I doubt it will assuming that this level of co-operation from Rihanna's CIA handlers continues with no concert today it seems and appropriate time to talk about how the rest of the tour will progress. Taking it as a given that rather then continuing to protect him the LA Courts will now be doing everything in their power to make Chris Brown a thing of Rihanna's past I vote that the tour should continue as advertised. That is to say the concerts that have already been announced go ahead. However no more dates will be added and there will be no more stunts like Barrington High School.
The only exceptions are Morocco and Turkey. These concerts have only been added to Rihanna's schedule for purely political purposes. As the recording of the Unapologetic album alone was highly political and deeply distasteful and the issues surrounding the Morocco and Turkey concerts being so inflammatory in areas like Syria Rihanna simply shouldn't be put through it. If the US wants to achieve it's diplomatic aims for the concerts I suggest they try using a qualified and experienced diplomat rather than someone who is still essentially just a messed up kid.
16:50 on 23/3/13.
Rihanna actually arrived on stage at around 21:50 (local) which although is technically 50 minutes later than the advertised start time it is well within the +/- 20 minutes of what should be considered the real 22:00 start time. Rihanna performed the standard set-list with the standard stage set-up and costume changes. The main accusation levelled against the concert is that it was a bit dull and both Rihanna and the crowd seemed subdued. However considering the warm-up to the concert I provided I think we can all appreciate that it would have been difficult for anyone to lift the mood. Therefore I will try and do my preview of the next phase of the tour in the gap between the final Brooklyn concert and the next concert.
Without access to much audio of either concerts I cannot tell how Rihanna's voice is doing. However the fact that no-one has felt the need to mention it suggests it's slowly improving rather than getting dramatically worse.
The big story from both Detroit and Chicago though was that Rihanna's support act A$AP Rocky was forced to cancel due to illness. This could have been faked to promote discussion about Rihanna's recent bout of illness and the debates that provoked about her voice. It could also have been faked to provoke discussion about whether the member of Rihanna's tour team who was caught in possession of marijuana has been kicked off the tour. After all that individual has still not been identified and Rihanna and Melissa Forde's Twitter argument about who brought the 'Ugg' into the Detroit dressing could certainly have been mis-interpreted as a coded reference to that. However as Twitter sniper quickly popped up to suggest that the 'Ugg' may in fact have been a 'Croc' (of sh*t) I doubt think anyone was fooled.
Mainly though I think it is just a simple case of A$AP Rocky actually being ill. After all this tour looks like it's going to be seriously heavy going. I mean I'm not even on it and it's making me feel unwell.
The big event of the last two days though has been Rihanna's trip to the Barrington High School in Chicago to meet the winners of the Diamond's video competition. For this Rihanna arrived a full four and a half hours late and stayed for precisely 12 minutes. During that time Rihanna was lectured on the school's extensive charitable works the highlights of which I thought were their fund-raising for the victims of the tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri in 2011 and the school's long-term work with residents of the Crow Creek Native American reservation in Dakota.
Joplin, Missouri of course shares it's name with Janis Joplin who is a member of the notorious 27 Club which everyone's worried about Rihanna joining. The female residents of the Crow Creek reservation will of course now be covered by the recently signed US Violence Against Women Act (VOWA). VOWA of course tackles the issues of domestic violence and abuse which how a lot of people think Rihanna will be joining the 27 Club.
Therefore the whole event had been intended to be interpreted as Barrington High School teaching Rihanna some much needed lessons. Not least amongst those lessons is how to behave during these sort of stage managed public appearance which are part and parcel of the diplomatic/ambassadorial role that Rihanna is being prepared for. In reality it was an attempt to put Rihanna through a thoroughly unpleasant experience in an effort to disrupt her concert that evening further angering her fans, reducing her fame and making it harder for Rihanna to refuse the diplomatic/ambassador role.
The events central theme of charity is a reference to one of the areas where people have suggested that Rihanna would be capable of so much more provided she sorts out her current car crash of a life. Take Rihanna's recent donation of around USD1.75m to the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Barbados. While I should point out that I don't have the full details and clearly no-one said no to the donation what appears to have happened is Rihanna has simply signed a cheque to buy three pieces of medical imaging equipment for the hospital. While the hospital clearly appreciates this equipment it does present them with the problems of having to provide electricity to run the equipment, service contracts to maintain the equipment and trained staff to operate the equipment and interpret the results. These things all cost money so unless the Rihanna and the hospital have carefully researched and assessed the impacts of the purchase it could have a negative impact on the hospital over the long-term.
Therefore on hearing the news of Rihanna's donation anyone who has worked in the financial, charitable, health-care or government sectors would have simply said; Rather than buying the equipment outright Rihanna should have donated the money to a charitable trust. That way it can be invested to produce a continuous dividend which would allow the hospital to provide better health care day after day long after the news of Rihanna's donation had been forgotten.
Of course dumping all this on Rihanna while she's on tour is only likely to make her more miserable rather than solve the problem. After all as she rushes on to Saint Paul's for tomorrow's (24/3/13) concert and then onto Canada it's unlikely Rihanna is going to be able to find the time to start interviewing fund managers.
The reason that we know what went on during Rihanna's trip to Barrington High School at all is in itself highly interesting. Initially Rihanna's CIA handlers had banned the media from the event. That ban though was then dramatically lifted meaning that not only were the media allowed to attend the event it was actually streamed live across the Internet. So while the official reason was traffic congestion the four and a half hour delay struck me as a plan being hastily re-written. After all it takes time to set up a live Internet stream.
The delay though did mean that the Barrington High School event clashed with my trip to the pub with my friend. Specifically it clashed with the period me and my friend were sitting a pub which continues to display emblems of the banned Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) terrorist group while there was something secretive going on in the function room upstairs involving members to that problematic local network. This combined with the discovery today of a car bomb in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland is going to lead to a lot of people to conclude that Rihanna was being used as a distraction to allow the US and the UK to use the security threat to gang-up on the nation's attending the G8 Summit in June. It is though perhaps a little much to expect Rihanna personally to have been aware of that in advance.
The US were obviously hoping that the lifting of the Barrington media ban would be interpreted as a sign that they are going to co-operate with people like me for the rest of Rihanna's tour. However you will note they are still failing to provide the information that I've told them is essential in order for me to do my job. For her part Rihanna does seem to be making something of an effort by for example Tweeting out that she'd arrived in Chicago. It's still a bit hit and miss at the moment but I have to say that while what she's done makes me want to kiss her if Rihanna was looking for positive reinforcement from me yesterday really wasn't the best time to start.
Although I doubt it will assuming that this level of co-operation from Rihanna's CIA handlers continues with no concert today it seems and appropriate time to talk about how the rest of the tour will progress. Taking it as a given that rather then continuing to protect him the LA Courts will now be doing everything in their power to make Chris Brown a thing of Rihanna's past I vote that the tour should continue as advertised. That is to say the concerts that have already been announced go ahead. However no more dates will be added and there will be no more stunts like Barrington High School.
The only exceptions are Morocco and Turkey. These concerts have only been added to Rihanna's schedule for purely political purposes. As the recording of the Unapologetic album alone was highly political and deeply distasteful and the issues surrounding the Morocco and Turkey concerts being so inflammatory in areas like Syria Rihanna simply shouldn't be put through it. If the US wants to achieve it's diplomatic aims for the concerts I suggest they try using a qualified and experienced diplomat rather than someone who is still essentially just a messed up kid.
16:50 on 23/3/13.
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