Ardin, picture below, is accusing Assange (above) of rape Anna Ardin, joins Sofia Wilén in accusing Julian Assange of rape. Ardin previously had ties to a CIA backed anti-Fidel Castro group, which kind of makes you wonder. We’ve got the first picture that’s been put out there of Anna Ardin, and we’ll have more pictures [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Fidel Castro’
Cuba up in arms against video game
November 11th, 2010 |
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Cuba has condemned the release of a new video game in which U.S. special forces try to kill young Fidel Castro.
State-run media said the game, Call of Duty: Black Ops, attempted to legitimize murder and assassination in the name of entertainment.
Castro: Cuban model doesn’t work
September 9th, 2010 |
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Capitalism’s favorite bogeyman Fidel Castro has admitted that the communist economic model doesn’t work. Cuba’s former long-time leader made his surprising comments to an American journalist in Havana.
30 Historical Figures Recreated in Lego
June 28th, 2010 |
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If you thought a star on Hollywood Boulevard or being on the cover of Vogue was a sign of celebrity status, think again. The new benchmark is whether you’ve been recreated in Lego yet.
Evil Dictators Before They Were Famous
May 12th, 2010 |
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The historian Edward Gibbon once wrote that ‘history is little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind’. Yet there is more to mankind than crime: if only this lot hadn’t had the folly to abandon respectable careers, history would have been more fortunate. Adolf Hitler: Postcard PainterHere’s Hitler as just one [...]
April 13, 1953: CIA OKs MK-ULTRA Mind-Control Tests
April 13th, 2010 |
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1953: Central Intelligence Agency director Allen Dulles authorizes the MK-ULTRA project. The agency launches one of its most dubious covert programs ever, turning unsuspecting humans into guinea pigs for its research into mind-altering drugs.
More than a decade before psychologist Timothy Leary advocated the benefits of LSD and urged everyone to “turn on, tune in, drop [...]
Haiti a litmus test for global co-operation: Fidel Castro
January 18th, 2010 |
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Veteran Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Sunday said Haiti’s devastating earthquake would be a test of international co-operation, as other leftist leaders lambasted a US “occupation” of the ravaged nation. “Haiti can become an example of what humanity can do for itself,” 83-year-old Castro,
Fidel Castro says Obama’s smile can’t be trusted
December 15th, 2009 |
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Cuban leader Fidel Castro warned on Monday that U.S. President Barack Obama’s “kindly smile” could not be trusted, saying Washington was plotting against leftist Latin American governments including Venezuela’s. Castro, 83, who ran Cuba for nearly 50 years before poor health led him to hand
Games for Thinkers
November 24th, 2009 |
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Pastimes to Challenge and Entertain
Thinkers relish the challenge and stimulation of brilliant games. They enjoy games for the pure thrill of exercising their minds and judgments in pursuit of victory. You can take pleasure in any number of great games. Here is a selection of recommended pastimes. Add them to your Christmas list:
1. Chess
Chess is the king of games. It represents a pure cerebral struggle between two minds. It teaches strategy, tactics, positional play and the benefits of absolute concentration. Every home should have a set. Every child should learn to play. Everyone can enjoy the challenge.
2. Scrabble
Scrabble is the classic word game. You can play it with 3, 4 or 5 people but it is ideal for couples. Luck plays a small part. You have to make the most of whatever letter tiles are in your hand using the available resources on the board. Skilled players see remarkable possibilities and know a range of obscure and short words that they use adroitly.
3. Monopoly
This is the game that Fidel Castro banned when he came to power in Cuba because he saw it as a model for capitalism. There is a large element of luck but the skilled player will often triumph because he or she has focussed on the right resources and developed a set quickly. It teaches trading skills and probabilities.
4. Bridge
There are many great card games but surely the finest is bridge. The bidding and the play of the cards represent two different skill sets, with the play having amazing subtleties. Good players remember all the cards played and can quickly deduce the lie of the hidden cards. Most players learn whist first before graduating to bridge.
5. Cluedo (Clue in US)
This is a popular family game which is great fun. Can you put the clues together and figure out who is the murderer?
6. Backgammon
Backgammon is an excellent game for two players with its own mixture of luck, skill and gambling. You can choose risky or cagey strategies and double the value of game on occasions.
7. Poker
Some people wrongly think that poker is all about bluffing. It is a highly demanding intellectual exercise in which the skilful players read their opponents. You need nerves of steel and excellent understanding of the probabilities to succeed. This is a costly game to learn and it can be dangerous but surely it is one of life’s greatest pastimes.
8. Dingbats
Dingbats are rebuses or visual word puzzles where you have to figure out the common phrase or word represented by what you see. The advice is to say what you see – but can you look laterally enough to see the answer?
9. Articulate
This is an entertaining word game for friends and family to enjoy. You have to describe words quickly to your team members without any miming.
10. Trivial Pursuit
This the daddy of all quiz games. This will test your general knowledge and your ability to think in the same clever ways that the puzzle-setters use.
11. Pictionary
You have to draw the words in order to explain their meaning to your team mates. This will test your graphical thinking skills. It can be both frustrating and hilarious.
12. Charades
Charades is a well-established game in which you have to mime the meanings of names, phrases or titles. You have to think quickly and find clever ways to get the message across without speaking.
13. Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Lateral thinking puzzles are strange situations where one person knows the solution and others have to ask him or her questions (for example, 20 Questions). The quizmaster can only answer, ‘yes, no or irrelevant’. You have to come at the problem from different directions, check your assumptions and put the clues together. Good fun with friends and family.
Paul Sloane is an author and speaker on leadership, innovation and lateral thinking. His most recent book is The Innovative Leader. He helps organizations improve innovation, creativity and leadership. He is the founder of Destination Innovation. He has written 15 books of lateral thinking puzzles and hosts the lateral puzzles forum.
Sean Penn Fidel Castro Vanity Fair One-On-One Interview
October 27th, 2009 |
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Actor Sean Penn has flown all the way to Cuba to interview controversial communist leader Fidel Castro for an article to be featured in Vanity Fair Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor has learned. The Oscar winner has been regulalry criticized for his support of the anti-U.S. revolutionary, his president brother Raul, and Venezuelan President [...]
Fidel Castro in favour of Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize
October 10th, 2009 |
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Count Fidel Castro among those in favour of the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s controversial choice of US President Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace prize. The former Cuban leader said on Saturday that he thought the choice was a ‘positive step’, though he added it was more a repudiation of
Aubrey O’Day Defends Castro & Hitler Brilliant Remark
September 2nd, 2009 |
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Former MTV reality star and Bad Boy Records signee Aubrey O’Day is defending comments she made about dictators Fidel Castro and Adolf Hitler during an appearance on a conservative political show on Monday.
The former Danity Kane vocalist stunned viewers of The Sean Hannity Show on Monday night when she referred to Castro and Hitler [...]
End immoral Cuba embargo, US urged
September 2nd, 2009 |
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The US should lift sanctions on Cuba as a prelude to dropping its "immoral" trade embargo against the island, Amnesty International has urged.
US President Barack Obama has until 14 September to decide whether or not to extend the Trading with the Enemy Act, which imposes sanctions on Cuba.
The embargo is preventing Cubans from accessing life-saving medicine, says Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan.
The US imposed the embargo in 1962 in protest at Cuban human rights abuses.
Mr Obama has insisted that the trade ban will stay in place until Cuba frees political prisoners and improves human rights.
‘Vital medicines’
But London-based rights organisation Amnesty is concerned that the embargo is endangering the lives of Cubans.
"The US embargo against Cuba is immoral and should be lifted," said Ms Khan.
"It’s preventing millions of Cubans from benefiting from vital medicines and medical equipment essential for their health."
Cuba’s inability to import nutritional products from the US has led to an increase in the number of cases of iron deficiency anaemia, according to a report produced by Amnesty, using data from the UN.
Some 37.5% of Cuban children under the age of three have been affected by the ban on nutritional products, the report suggests.
The embargo was first imposed in the wake of the communist revolution in Cuba, which swept Fidel Castro to power.
The US wanted to force the island to reject Mr Castro’s socialist policies and embrace capitalism and democracy.
Mr Obama has indicated that he favours a softening in US-Cuban relations, and has lifted the ban on Cuban-Americans visiting the island and sending money back to relatives who still live there.
The Cuban government, now led by Mr Castro’s brother Raul, has said it is willing to enter negotiations with Washington, but will not make any unilateral concessions.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Aubrey O’Day “Hitler & Castro Were Brilliant†VIDEO (FOX News “The Sean Hannity Showâ€)
September 1st, 2009 |
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In Today’s Edition of “When Pretty Plastic Girls Speak:” Former Danity Kane star Aubrey “Jugs A-Poppin’” O’Day is sparking debate that she’s “Damaged” any shot she had at rebuilding her recording career, after she appeared on FOX News’ Great American Panel — hosted by Sean Hannity — on Monday, Aug. 31 and defended Communist leader [...]
Is Aubrey really stupid? Yes
September 1st, 2009 |
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Aubrey O’Day has been called many negative things in the past; skanky, slutty, talentless, waste of skin, crazy, etc.
But now we can chalk in Stupid to her list of descriptions!
The “singer?” was on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox and was defending Fidel Castro as well as singing his praises. She also went on to call [...]
Cuba delays rare party congress
August 1st, 2009 |
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Cuban President Raul Castro has postponed what would have been the the ruling Communist Party’s first congress since 1997.
Mr Castro said the congress, which was expected before the end of the year, was being delayed so the party could deal with escalating economic problems.
He was quoted as saying the economic situation was "very serious".
Cuba has lowered its projected economic growth estimate for this year from 2.5% to 1.7%
That is down from an initial estimate of 6%.
The congress is used to set the Cuba’s economic and political direction, and elect the party’s leaders.
The one planned for this year was set to chart the country’s future into an era where the generation that led the Cuban revolution is no longer in charge, the BBC’s Michael Voss reports from the Cuban capital Havana.
"The most likely thing is that, given the nature of life, this will be the last congress led by the Revolution’s historic leadership," Mr Castro was quoted as saying in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
Mr Castro, 78, formally took over last year from his brother Fidel, who had led Cuba since taking power in the revolution of 1959.
The congress was due to decide whether Fidel Castro, 82, would continue as head of the party.
He stepped aside after undergoing gastric surgery in 2006 and has largely retreated from public life.
Cuba’s economy has been badly hit by the global financial crisis forcing the government to push through a series of austerity measures, our correspondent says.
Citing Mr Castro, Communist Party newspaper Granma said the conference would be put off "until this crucial phase… has been overcome", but gave no indication of when that would be.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Havana ceremony honours del Toro
July 31st, 2009 |
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Oscar-winning actor Benicio del Toro has been presented with an award by the Cuban government in Havana, in recognition of his body of work.
The inaugural Tomas Gutierrez Alea prize was presented at a ceremony attended by US actors Robert Duvall, James Caan and Bill Murray.
Their visit is seen as a sign of warming Cuban-US relations.
Puerto Rican-born del Toro played revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara in two films out last year.
Named after prolific Cuban filmmaker Alea, the new award was voted for by the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.
Del Toro – who won a best supporting actor Oscar for Traffic in 2001 – said it was "an honour" to receive the award and thanked Che director Steven Soderbergh.
The director’s two-part, four-and-a-half hour biopic on the Argentine revolutionary who helped Fidel Castro take power in Cuba in 1959, was a big hit on the island.
Murray sang songs to union members packed into a room behind the group’s main headquarters.
He then jokingly passed around a baseball cap to collect tips for the pianist who accompanied him.
"This is a show that will never be able to be repeated," del Toro said.
"Bill Murray singing, Robert Duvall with his flowers, James Caan sitting here next to me, with [Cuban actors] Jorge Perugorria and Mirta Ibarra.
"It will stay in history forever."
Because of the long-standing US trade embargo against communist Cuba, Americans have been forbidden – with some exceptions – from visiting the island, which is 90 miles (145km) away from Key West, Florida.
Hollywood stars such as Robert Redford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and director Steven Spielberg have visited in the past but cultural exchanges slowed down because of restrictions imposed by former US President George W Bush.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
US turns off Havana news ticker
July 28th, 2009 |
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The US has turned off a giant electronic billboard at its diplomatic mission in the Cuban capital, Havana.
The screen, put up during the Bush administration, scrolled news and messages in 1.5m (five-foot) high letters, angering the Cuban government.
Cuban authorities had tried to block it from view with placards and flags.
The decision to turn off the ticker comes as the US seeks to improve relations with Cuba.
‘Billboard battle’
The ticker, set up in 2006, streamed news and political messages to the Cuban people from the fifth floor of the US Interest Section in Havana.
It prompted what came to be known as "the battle of the billboards".
Then Cuban leader Fidel Castro accused the US offices of becoming the "headquarters of the counter-revolution".
He also ordered a million people to march around the mission in protest.
A US state department spokesman, Ian Kelly, announced on Monday that the ticker had been turned off in June because it was "really not very effective as a means of delivering information to the Cuban people".
"It was evident that the Cuban people weren’t even able to read the billboard because of some of the obstructions that were put in front of it," he said.
He added that President Barack Obama’s decision to allow US communications companies to do business with Cuba would bolster the flow of information to the island.
Earlier in July, US and Cuban officials held their first talks since 2003 on Cuban migration to the US. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
US pulls plug on ticker in Cuba
July 27th, 2009 |
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Sign flashing human rights messages at the US interests section in Havana goes blank
It was smuggled through the US diplomatic pouch, secretly installed across the facade of a building overlooking Havana and given a very specific mission: to annoy Fidel Castro.
The scrolling electronic sign, a low-tech version of New York’s Time Square ticker, escalated the US’s propaganda war with Cuba’s leader three years ago by flashing human rights messages in five-foot high crimson letters. But history, or more specifically Barack Obama, appears to have pulled the plug on the billboard which flitted across 25 windows of the US interests section in Havana. The screen has gone blank – the latest indication that half a century of enmity may be winding down.
The ticker, erected by the Bush administration in January 2006, infuriated Castro and provoked tit-for-tat diplomatic jousting which further strained relations.
“It was basically a contest of which side could annoy the other the most,” said Dan Erikson, author The Cuba Wars and an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue thinktank. “The US described [the sign] as a way to convey information to the Cuban people but the real purpose was to irritate the Cuban government.”
It ran quotes from Martin Luther King (“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up”) and Abraham Lincoln (“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent”) as well as the likes of Lech Walesa.
It also blamed the island’s transport crisis and material privations on the communist authorities: “Some go around in Mercedes, some in Ladas, but the system forces almost everyone to hitch rides.” Bush officials said the ticker was a way to circumvent censorship and convey hope and liberty to a tropical gulag.
Castro said it was another assault on Cuba’s sovereignty by a hypocritical imperialist bully. Soon after it appeared he marched a million people past in protest, dug up the US mission’s car park and erected anti-US billboards and 138 huge black flags to commemorate “victims of US aggression” – and block the ticker.
The revolutionary leader said there would be no contact between Havana-based US diplomats and Cuba’s foreign ministry until the sign came down. Since then he has fallen ill and been succeeded as president by his brother, Raul, and Bush has been replaced by a Democrat who has spoken of a new start with the Caribbean island 90 miles off Florida.
After Obama’s election the Cuban government expressed a desire to normalise relations and took down its billboards around the US mission, though the flags remained. In recent months the White House lifted restrictions on remittances and travel for Cuban-Americans – a slight easing of the Kennedy-era economic embargo – and resumed talks with Havana over migration and disaster preparedness. The ticker disappeared several weeks ago but was reported only today. US diplomats told visitors there were “technical difficulties” and that there were no plans to switch it back soon, according to Reuters.
There is speculation that US and Cuban officials in Havana have resumed contact. The US state department and Cuban foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
The ticker made little visible impact on Cubans but became a tourist attraction. Cumbersome technology, however, diminished its impact. The sign was slow-moving, difficult to read and lacked Spanish accents and tildes.
For instance “año”, which means year, appeared as “ano”, which means anus.
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