Martin World News

 

This will be a Martin World News of a different sort.  Bear with me, and we might learn something.

Story #1- BBC

...She was one of 57 confirmed victims in Greece's worst-ever rail disaster and like many of them she was a student.

This tragedy has shaken Greece. So many of the lives lost were young and it has unleashed a national outpouring of grief and outrage mostly directed against the country's ruling classes. Not for the first time, Greeks feel betrayed by their politicians.

If you haven't heard this deal, it was a freight train hitting a passenger train, apparently because of human error vastly compounded by technology that hasn't been maintained by the Greek government.

But for many Greeks this is all too little too late. According to early polling, 87% say there are other causes beyond human error, and guilt needs to be assigned. Every day new revelations about the sordid state of Greece's train network cause more horror, anger and distrust of the political class.

A class that neglected the rail system, privatised operations, spent millions on security systems only to let them rot and wasted vital EU funding. Greeks are angry that billions are spent on new fighter jets while critical infrastructure has been left underfunded and understaffed.

 

 "They don't care about us. They don't care about our lives," said a retired senior manager in my neighbourhood called Giorgos, who knew two of the young victims well: "What do I do? Who do I vote for? No one is worth it." 

 

The root cause of this? Greece is one of the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) who were forced into "austerity measures" in order to keep getting EU bailout money a few years back.  Here in the US, we complain about the UN and other international groups "infringing on our sovereignty", but we never saw it to the level that Greece had. The EU forced them to such measures that necessary items like the safety switches on the railroads had to be ignored, only politicians that went along with it could be elected, and that brings us to what we have here: An unsafe nation led by untrusted politicians.  EU, this is the Law Of Unintended Consequences, something I have found liberals to be absolutely ignorant of, and conservatives purposefully undereducated in. Next slide...

Story #2- again, BBC

As the BBC wisely points out, this is what the "Prosperity Gospel" brings you to:

Evarline Okello breaks down in tears as she tells me she is hundreds of dollars in debt, after paying a pastor to pray for her.

She lives in a tiny shack in Kibera, a vast slum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and can no longer provide for her four children.

Ms Okello hasn't earned anything for months, she tells me as we talk on the telephone. So when she heard about a pastor whose prayers could make life better, she wanted to see him. He asked her for $115 (£96; 15,000 Kenyan shillings).

This is known as a "seed offering": a financial contribution to a religious leader, with a specific outcome in mind.

Ms Okello borrowed the money from a friend, who took out a loan on her behalf. She had been told this pastor's prayers were so powerful that she would see a return on her money within a week.

But the miracle never came. In fact things got even worse, she says. The loan her friend took out has ballooned due to unpaid interest. She now owes more than $300, and has no idea how she'll pay it back. Her friend has stopped talking to her, and she still has no job.

 

I don't mean to poke fun at this woman.  But NEVER NEVER believe in someone who asks you to pay for anything from God.  God doesn't work on the lay-away plan, and Christ was not crucified on a cash register.  And don't blame God for this evil: These are "pastors"- and we encounter them everywhere- to whom it is just a money making job. They will tell you, "You need to have more faith, to give more." Jesus said you only need faith the size of a mustard seed, and you can get a 7 ounce bag of those for $7.49 on Amazon.  Thankfully, Evarline has learned her lesson, and hopefully gotten a better relationship with God out of the deal:

"I wouldn't say that church is bad. The church is good. It is the pastors who are doing wrong. They are the ones who are asking for money."

 

Story #3- Barron's, from AFP

This story is about a dual nationality Swedish-Iranian, who was apparently some level of dissident, and was kidnapped on a trip to Turkey, dragged back to Iran, and sentenced to death for "terrorism". Now obviously, his choice to go to another Muslim country which will nod and wink to fellow Muslim countries, when said nation don't accept the civilized concept of 'dual nationality', was not especially bright.  But, here's the thing I see, is Sweden being naive.  So you've let this man into your country, under the idea of tolerance.  You let him agitate against a foreign government, because "that's his business". You think that it is safe to let such a citizen go to a nation who laughs at your dual citizenship laws.  And then when the inevitable happens...

Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said the Swedish government and diplomats in Tehran "are working intensively to get further clarity" on Chaab's case.

"The death sentence is an inhumane and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its use in all circumstances," Billstrom told AFP in an email.

Oh, dear, it's inhumane.  Have you not seen what Muslim extremists like those in charge of nations like Iran do, have you not watched ISIS videos, Have you EVER noticed that places like Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan are not exactly safe places for expats to visit?  I honestly don't know why the call it "woke" because it all sounds asleep to me.

Let's do one more- and prepare to be mad at me...

Story # 4- FoxNews

Arrested for holding Christian beliefs at a Christian school? Canadian Catholic high school student Josh Alexander claims that's the story behind authorities arresting – and charging – him for trying to attend class last month.

And this is about what? Well, being Canada, trying hard to be the wokest of woke nations, this particular Catholic school had unisex bathrooms.  Josh had heard from various girls that they were uncomfortable with boys using their restrooms, and he decided to be active about it.  

Alexander said he pointed out the school's Christian identity, claiming he took a related discussion to school administrators, but they refused to hear him out.

"They removed me from the building for the remainder of the year and, when I attempted to attend class, I was arrested and charged," he continued.

His lawyer blames the nation's "much weaker" Constitution (compared to the USA) for allowing things like this to happen...

"There seems to be, culturally and legally, much less respect for individual rights and freedoms and much more interest in government having the power to do what it wants," he said, adding, "But there is legal recourse to the Ontario Human Rights Commission in this case… we think there's been religious discrimination on the basis of Josh's Christian religious beliefs, so we're going to file a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission…"

 

This is ridiculous on so many levels.  How is it that any school of a Christian faith can stoop so far into woke-ism to even conceive of unisex restrooms? How is it that a student can bring a faith-based question to a faith based school, and be expelled for merely bringing it up? and how is it that Canada will arrest anyone for bring up something well within his free speech rights in an arena where the topic NEEDS to be discussed?  And finally, with all the recently ripped open scars over the way your first nations were treated in their "Canadian-izing" boarding schools, how does no one see this is the VERY SAME THING?

Like I said, not your typical Martin World News.  Somedays, the world just isn't funny.