Connecting The Dots

HOPI TRIBE MASKS – PARIS AUCTION ORDERED BY JUDGE

Hopi tribe masks fetch record prices at Paris auction

 

A "Chof Cachina" sacred mask of the Arizona's Hopi native American tribe
The Hopi say the masks are blessed with the spirits of their ancestors

A mask from a native American tribe in Arizona has fetched 160,000 euros (£135,000) at auction in Paris, more than three times the pre-sale estimate.

Friday’s auction of 70 masks fetched some 930,000 euros after a legal challenge to stop the sale failed.

Lawyers for the Hopi tribe had asked for the auction to be cancelled on the grounds that the masks must have been stolen from the tribe.

It considers them sacred and blessed with divine spirits.

Auctioneers, however, say the masks had been bought and sold in the past and were legally acquired.

They said blocking the sale would have implications for the trade of indigenous art and could potentially force French museums to hand back collections they have bought.

‘Criminal gesture’

The masks – mysterious looking faces fashioned from wood, leather, horse hair and feathers, and painted in a vivid array of colours – are spiritual artefacts thought to have been taken from a reservation in northern Arizona in the 1930’s and 40’s.

To Hopi Indians they are sacred – tools through which the living can communicate with the spirits of the dead.

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Justice

AMISH GETS 15 YEARS PRISON FOR CUTTING A BEARD

What does the federal hate crimes law inspired by the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. have to do with an internal dispute among the Amish in which the beards of men and the hair of women were forcibly sheared?

“The scissors used to cut the hair were manufactured in one state and used in another,” explained Edward Bryan, defense lawyer for Amish bishop Samuel Mullet Sr., who was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

via Amish prosecuted because scissors ‘crossed state lines’.

News

PORTUGAL’S ELDER STATESMAN HAS CALLED ON HIS NATION TO DEFAULT

Mario Soares, who led Portugal to democracy in the 1970s after the Salazar dictatorship, has called on the government to default on its debts. The economic pressure on Portugal has been mounting in recent weeks, and the nation is losing patience with the EU imposed austerity. The Portuguese are looking at the death spiral in Greece, caused by their various rounds of bailouts and austerity.

Soares told Portuguese television channel Antena 1, “Portugal will never be able to pay its debts, however much it impoverishes itself. If you can’t pay, the only solution is not to pay. When Argentina was in crisis it didn’t pay. Did anything happen? No, nothing happened”.

Last week Portugal’s top court ruled that the government’s decision to slash pension payments and public sector wages was illegal. The ruling means the government is struggling to find the budget cuts required from elsewhere.

Portugal received an EU/IMF bailout in 2011, and as the crisis deepens again, many think it highly likely they will need another bailout very soon. If Portugal were to default, it would almost certainty mean their expulsion from the eurozone, and may lead other nations to follow their example.

Read More: The Telegraph

News

MAN DIES IN FALL ONTO TRACKS IN TIMES SQUARE

A man died on the tracks at the Times Square subway station Friday morning, causing delays.
Police say the man appears to have been electrocuted on the No. 2 line at the Times Square-42nd Street Station just before 7 a.m.The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Northbound No. 2 and 3 train service was running local 14the Street to 72nd Street due to the police investigation.The circumstances of the death are unknown at this time.

View 2013 NYC Deaths in a larger map
This is the second death this month in the subway.

via Subway delays after man dies in fall onto tracks in Times Square | 7online.com.

News

FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER MARGARET THATCHER DIED AGED 87

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died today aged 87, after suffering a stroke. Baroness Thatcher will be remembered as one of Britain’s greatest leaders with a legacy that endures to this day.

Margaret Thatcher was the daughter of a humble greengrocer. Her father was also a town councillor and lay preacher in the Methodist church, his example would play a big role in shaping her political beliefs. Thatcher’s formidable intellect and indomitable character helped her rise to the position of leader of the Conservative Party, a position many would have thought unreachable for a woman.

Baroness Thatcher came to power in the difficult days of 1979, inheriting a nation on the brink of bankruptcy, crippled by years of industrial action and powerful trade unions. Thatcher won many enemies in her battle with the powerful left. She managed to break the power of the trade unions, and release Britain into the free market. She forged a strong relationship with US President Ronald Reagan, with whom she shared many political ideologies. Internationally, Thatcher made Britain once more a force to be listened to. She played a key role in helping see an end to communism in Eastern Europe, and she will always be held with the highest esteem by the residents of the Falkland Islands, for leading Britain in the Falkland’s war, after Argentina invaded the islands in 1982. It was Thatcher’s communist enemies who first called her The Iron Lady, a title she relished.

In recent years Baroness Thatcher’s health began to fail, and doctors advised she no longer give speeches. Her later years were lived in relative isolation in London.

Her own parties divisions over Europe were to bring about her fall from power. As the pro-Europe wing of her party grew in power she was forced to resign. Now, more than 20 years on from her leaving power, her warnings on Europe read more like prophecy than political rhetoric.

Read More: BBC

News

WOMAN FOUND DEAD ON CANAL STREET SUBWAY TRACKS

It was another bad weekend for subway fatalities. On Saturday, a man was hit by a D train at 72nd Street and Central Park West after trying to retrieve something he dropped on the tracks. Then on Sunday around 1:30 p.m., a woman was found lying on the southbound 1 line tracks at the Canal Street station. Its unclear if she was hit by a train or passed out on the platform and landed in the trough. The victim, whos believed to be in her thirties, was wearing leather pants and high heels. A police source tells the Post, “She looks like she was out clubbing.” She was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy is being conducted to determine her cause of death.

via Woman Found Dead on Canal Street Subway Tracks — Daily Intelligencer.


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News

HOMESCHOOLING FAMILY FIGHTING DEPORTATION TO GERMANY

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike fled Germany in 2006 over the family’s decision to home school their children. Homeschooling is banned in Germany, after school attendance was made mandatory in 1918, and homeschooling was finally banned outright by Hitler in 1938.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike now live in Tennessee with their six children, and have been seeking political asylum. They argue that their right to choose the type of education they want for their children is not respected in Germany.

German home schoolers face significant fines, and even risk their children being taken into care.

The Romeike’s were initially granted asylum status in 2010, but the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appealed the decision with the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Board overturned their asylum status.

The family now plan to fight the Board’s decision in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear the case on April 23.

The attorney for the family believe they have a strong case, arguing that a parents right to choose the form of education for their children is granted in Article 26, section 3 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights which reads: “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”

Read More: ABC News

News

“WOMEN IN THE WORLD” CONFERENCE 2013 IN NEW YORK CITY

Thursday 4th and Friday 5th of April saw the Lincoln Centre in New York host the annual “Women in the World” Conference. The Women in the World Foundation was born out of Newsweek and The Daily Beast’s annual Women’s Summit, and seeks to advance the rights of women and girls worldwide.

The 2013 conference was attended by over 2,500 women from across the world, and saw many big names converge on New York City. Keynote speakers included Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, and Oprah Winfrey.

Under discussion were issues like safe access to maternity services for women in third world countries, the plight of orphans, education for girls in countries where girls rarely have the opportunity, human trafficking, and the horrors women face in war zones like present day Syria.

The conference was one of the first major speaking engagements of Hillary Clinton since she stood down as Secretary of State. In her speech she reiterated her belief that “human rights are women’s rights; and women’s rights are human rights.”

Random Events, Free Will or Something Darker?

RICK WARREN’S SON COMMITS SUICIDE

Matthew Warren, the son of Pastor Rick and Kay Warren, has committed suicide, aged 27. Rick Warren is most notably known as the author of the Purpose Driven Life series and proclaimed Pastor at Saddleback Church, the eighth largest in the U.S. He also tried to bring Christians and Muslims together by stating he believed Allah and God were the same. His son was a part of the church from the time of his birth. According to a letter e-mailed by Pastor Rick, Matthew suffered from mental illness from the time he was a baby and never found his way out of the “relentless pain”.

Part of Warren’s e-mail stated:
You who watched Matthew grow up knew he was an incredibly kind, gentle, and compassionate man. He had a brilliant intellect and a gift for sensing who was most in pain or most uncomfortable in a room. He’d then make a bee-line to that person to engage and encourage them.

But only those closest knew that he struggled from birth with mental illness, dark holes of depression, and even suicidal thoughts. In spite of America’s best doctors, meds, counselors, and prayers for healing, the torture of mental illness never subsided. Today, after a fun evening together with Kay and me, in a momentary wave of despair at his home, he took his life.

Kay and I often marveled at his courage to keep moving in spite of relentless pain. I’ll never forget how, many years ago, after another approach had failed to give relief, Matthew said ” Dad, I know I’m going to heaven. Why can’t I just die and end this pain?” but he kept going for another decade.
Thank you for your love and prayers. We love you back.
Pastor Rick

The Saddleback Church’s Facebook page has an outpouring for the pastor and his family during this tragic time.

To Read the Complete E-mail
Read More: Enstarz, or CBS News

News

MAN, 58, KILLED BY D TRAIN AT 72ND ST. SUBWAY STATION

A man was struck and killed by a subway train on the upper West Side Saturday morning, authorities said.

The 58-year-old, identified as John Williams of Washington Heights, was trying to retrieve something he dropped on the tracks when he was struck by a downtown D train at the 72nd St. station on Central Park West. He was hit about 6:45 a.m.

Emergency medical services brought Williams to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Cops said no criminality is suspected.

via Man, 58, killed by D train at 72nd St. subway station – NY Daily News.


View 2013 NYC Deaths in a larger map

Random Events, Free Will, Pre-destiny or Something Darker ?