[PHOTOS] Fredrico Fellini’s ‘La Dolce Vita’
Posted: January 26, 2017 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Cinema, Cinematography, Fredrico Fellini, Italy, La Dolce Vita, Movies, Photography, Rome Leave a commentRoberto Rossellini: Viaggio in Italia, ‘Journey to Italy’, Ingrid Bergman, 1954
Posted: December 3, 2016 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Cinema, Cinematography, Ingrid Bergman, Italy, Movies, Photography, Roberto Rossellini, Viaggio in Italia Leave a commentRussian Government Officials Told To Immediately Bring Back Children Studying Abroad
Posted: October 11, 2016 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, Russia, War Room | Tags: Bratislava, Brexit, Brussels, Bulgaria, Donald Tusk, EUROPE, European Union, François Hollande, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Jean-Claude Juncker, Military of the European Union, President of the European Commission, Turkey, United Kingdom 2 CommentsIn Europe, when it gets serious, you have to lie… at least if you are an unelected bureaucrat like Jean-Claude Juncker. In Russia, however, when it gets serious, attention immediately turns to the children.
“On the one hand, this is all part of a package of measures to prepare the elites for some ‘big war’ even if it is rather conditional, on the other hand – this is another blow to the unity of President Putin with his own elite”
— Political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky
Which is why we read a report in Russian website Znak published Tuesday, according to which Russian state officials and government workers were told to bring back their children studying abroad immediately, even if means cutting their education short and not waiting until the end of the school year, and re-enroll them in Russian schools, with some concern.
[Read the full story here, at Zero Hedge]
The article adds that if the parents of these same officials also live abroad “for some reason”, and have not lost their Russian citizenship, should also be returned to the motherland. Znak cited five administration officials as the source of the report.
“People note the hypocrisy of having a centralized state and cultivating patriotism and anti-Western sentiment, while children of government workers study abroad. You can not serve two gods, one must choose.”
The “recommendation” applies to all: from the administration staff, to regional administratiors, to lawmakers of all levels. Employees of public corporations are also subject to the ordinance. One of the sources said that anyone who fails to act, will find such non-compliance to be a “complicating factor in the furtherance of their public sector career.” He added that he was aware of several such cases in recent months. Read the rest of this entry »
The Assassination of Saint Peter: Axe to the Head, Dagger to the Chest, 1252
Posted: October 10, 2016 Filed under: Art & Culture, History, Religion | Tags: Catholic Church, Getty Museum, Italy, Saint Peter, Saint Peter Martyr, Taddeo Crivelli Leave a comment
Taddeo Crivelli (Italian, died about 1479, active about 1451 – 1479) Saint Peter Martyr, about 1469, Tempera colors, gold paint, gold leaf, and ink on parchment Leaf: 10.8 x 7.9 cm (4 1/4 x 3 1/8 in.) The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Saint Peter was assassinated with an axe to the head and a dagger to the chest in 1252 and was then canonized as a saint only 11 months later, making this the fastest canonization in history.
Source: thegetty
Viaggio in Italia, 1954: Roberto Rossellini Cross-fades
Posted: June 5, 2016 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: 1950s, Cinema, Filmmaking, Italy, Movies, Roberto Rossellini, Viaggio in Italia Leave a commentThomas Sowell: Socialist or Fascist
Posted: March 25, 2016 Filed under: Humor, Politics, Think Tank, White House | Tags: Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Democratic Party (United States), Donald Trump, Fascism, Italy, Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism, Republican Party (United States), United States 1 CommentWhat President Obama has been pushing for, and moving toward, is more insidious: government control of the economy, while leaving ownership in private hands. That way, politicians get to call the shots but, when their bright ideas lead to disaster, they can always blame those who own businesses in the private sector.
Thomas Sowell writes: It bothers me a little when conservatives call Barack Obama a “socialist.” He certainly is an enemy of the free market, and wants politicians and bureaucrats to make the fundamental decisions about the economy. But that does not mean that he wants government ownership of the means of production, which has long been a standard definition of socialism.
“What socialism, fascism and other ideologies of the left have in common is an assumption that some very wise people — like themselves — need to take decisions out of the hands of lesser people, like the rest of us, and impose those decisions by government fiat.”
What President Obama has been pushing for, and moving toward, is more insidious: government control of the economy, while leaving ownership in private hands. That way, politicians get to call the shots but, when their bright ideas lead to disaster, they can always blame those who own businesses in the private sector.
“The left’s vision is not only a vision of the world, but also a vision of themselves.”
Politically, it is heads-I-win when things go right, and tails-you-lose when things go wrong. This is far preferable, from Obama’s point of view, since it gives him a variety of scapegoats for all his failed policies, without having to use President Bush as a scapegoat all the time.
[Read the full story here, at TownHall.com]
Government ownership of the means of production means that politicians also own the consequences of their policies, and have to face responsibility when those consequences are disastrous — something that Barack Obama avoids like the plague.
Thus the Obama administration can arbitrarily force insurance companies to cover the children of their customers until the children are 26 years old. Obviously, this creates favorable publicity for President Obama. But if this and other government edicts cause insurance premiums to rise, then that is something that can be blamed on the “greed” of the insurance companies.
[Order Jonah Goldberg’s book “Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning” from Amazon]
The same principle, or lack of principle, applies to many other privately owned businesses. It is a very successful political ploy that can be adapted to all sorts of situations.
One of the reasons why both pro-Obama and anti-Obama observers may be reluctant to see him as fascist is that both tend to accept the prevailing notion that fascism is on the political right, while it is obvious that Obama is on the political left.
“Mussolini, the originator of fascism, was lionized by the left, both in Europe and in America, during the 1920s. Even Hitler, who adopted fascist ideas in the 1920s, was seen by some, including W.E.B. Du Bois, as a man of the left.”
Back in the 1920s, however, when fascism was a new political development, it was widely — and correctly — regarded as being on the political left. Jonah Goldberg‘s great book “Liberal Fascism” cites overwhelming evidence of the fascists’ consistent pursuit of the goals of the left, and of the left’s embrace of the fascists as one of their own during the 1920s. Read the rest of this entry »
Italian Poster for Hitchcock’s ‘The Wrong Man’, by Luigi Martinati
Posted: February 23, 2016 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Cinema, design, Henry Fonda, Hitchcock, Illustration, Italy, Movies, Mystery, Poster Art, suspense, Thriller, typography, vintage Leave a commentAmanda Knox Cleared of Final Remaining Bogus Charge: ‘Slandering Italian Police Officers and Prosecutor’
Posted: January 15, 2016 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Law & Justice | Tags: Amanda Knox, Grand jury, Italy, Meredith Kercher, murder, Perugia, Seattle Leave a commentOllie Gillman reports: Amanda Knox has been cleared of slandering police officers and a prosecutor in Italy.
Knox, who was cleared last year of murdering British student Meredith Kercher, was charged with slandering police in Perugia by claiming they interviewed her under duress.
The 28-year-old, who shared a student house with Miss Kercher when she was killed, said she was yelled at, slapped and threatened by police.
A judge in Florence threw the case out on Thursday after ruling that her comments were not slanderous.
Italian media said lawyers for Knox, who returned to the U.S. after her successful appeal and is now working as a journalist in Seattle, said she was ‘very happy with the acquittal’.
If she had been found guilty she would have had to pay each of the seven officials 15,000 euros ($16,300).
Knox was charged with slandering the officers back in 2011, when she was being questioned on charges of separately slandering Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba.
He spent two weeks in jail in 2007 after Knox accused him of murdering Miss Kercher, which was found to be untrue.
Her conviction for slandering Mr Lumumba is the only one that still stands against her name, with today’s hearing the last in her lengthy and highly documented legal tussle with Italian prosecutors. Read the rest of this entry »
Francesco Cabianca: Deposition of Christ, 1711
Posted: December 23, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, History, Religion | Tags: Christian tradition, Francesco Cabianca, God, Italy, Marble, Paul the Apostle, Renaissance art, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Sculpture, Venice Leave a commentCABIANCA, Francesco
Deposition of Christ
1711
Marble
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice
1953 Ferrari 340/375 MM Berlinetta ‘Competizione’ by Pinin Farina
Posted: December 18, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: 1950s, Automotive, design, fashion, Ferrari, Ferrari 340/375 MM Berlinetta, Italy, Photography, Race Car, Sports car, vintage Leave a commentRenaissance Art: Maria Maggiore, Rome
Posted: November 17, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Global, History | Tags: Italy, Maria Maggiore, Renaissance art, Rome Leave a commentllustration by Gino Boccasile
Posted: September 30, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Advertising, design, fashion, Glamour, Hair Care, Illustration, Italy, Poster Art, Red Head, typography, vintage Leave a commentHair care advertisement with llustration by Gino Boccasile
35 Million Migrants Heading to Europe, Says Hungary as it Builds Second Fence
Posted: September 18, 2015 Filed under: Food & Drink, Global | Tags: Brussels, EUROPE, European Parliament, European Union, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Invasion, Italy, Member state of the European Union, Migration, Refugee 1 CommentEstimates predict up to 35 million refugees could head for Europe due to hugely unstable situations across the world.
Rob Virtue and Agnes Kegel report:The huge figure was revealed today by Hungary’s minister for foreign affairs and trade Peter Szijjártó.
Speaking as the country begins work on its second fence to stop migrants heading across its border he predicted the current crisis will continue for years.
Mr Szijjártó told the Hungarian Times: “The name of the fence is ‘Temporary Security Border Fence’ but I think there is no question that in this case temporary means years.
“It’s a self delusion to call this situation a migration crisis; it is a massive migration of nations, with inexhaustible reserves.
“I don’t think that the analysis results, stating that 30-35 million people out there could possibly become migrants, would be an exaggeration.
“Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are all countries with a huge population and an extremely unstable situation.”
The Hungarian government also defended itself from criticism over its fences.
It comes as a ten-year-old migrant boy with a severe lung condition died in Hungary.
His mother and siblings successfully made the journey to Germany but his father stayed behind with the poorly youngster, who was buried on Friday.
The first barrier was put up at its border with Serbia but, after migrants changed their route, they have now begun erecting a 41 kilometre fence at Croatia. Read the rest of this entry »
La Dolce Vita
Posted: September 12, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Reading Room | Tags: Books, Cinema, Cinematography, Federico Fellini, Film, Foreign Film, France, Italy, La Dolce Vita, Lo Duca, Paperback, Photography, Rome, Sweet Life Leave a commentItaly’s Top Criminal Court: Amanda Knox Murder Case Showed ‘Stunning Weakness’
Posted: September 7, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Global, Law & Justice | Tags: Amanda Knox, Associated Press, Court of Cassation (France), Italy, Ivory Coast, murder, Murder of Meredith Kercher, Perugia, United States, Universities in the United Kingdom Leave a commentThe court cited an ‘absolute lack of biological traces’ connecting the alleged killers to 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. Prosecutors did not even have proof that Knox and Sollecito were in the room where Kercher was fatally stabbed.
Jason Silverstein reports: The murder case against Amanda Knox had such “stunning weakness” and a lack of evidence that prosecutors should be ashamed of themselves, Italy’s top criminal court said Monday.
Knox, 28, did not comment on Monday’s final ruling, but in March, she told reporters: ‘I am so grateful for the justice I have received. I am so grateful to have my life back.’”
The Supreme Court of Cassation — which declared Knox and her then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito blameless in the death of Knox’s roommate in 2007 — put an epilogue on the saga with a 52-page report that basically accused prosecutors and investigators of incompetence.
The court cited an “absolute lack of biological traces” connecting the alleged killers to 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. Prosecutors did not even have proof that Knox and Sollecito were in the room where Kercher was fatally stabbed.
‘Dalla Vedova said his client was happy, though not completely. ‘She is very satisfied and happy to read this decision,” he said. “At the same time, it’s a very sad story…because Meredith Kercher is no longer with us.’”
The pair ended up being found guilty in 2009 despite “stunning weakness,” “investigative bouts of amnesia” and “blameworthy omissions of investigative activity” in the case, the report says.
[Read the full text here, at the NY Daily News]
That conviction was overturned before the pair was convicted again in 2014. In March, Italy’s highest court cleared the former lovers again, forever preventing further legal action. Read the rest of this entry »
Movie Poster: Frederico Fellini’s 8 1/2
Posted: August 20, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Cinema, design, Frederico Fellini, graphics, Illustration, Italy, Marcello Mastroianni, Movies, Photography, Rome, typography, vintage Leave a comment
[PHOTO] William Klein: Rome 1962
Posted: August 13, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, History | Tags: Italy, Photography, Rome, William Klein Leave a commentWilliam Klein Rome 1962
Samantha Cristoforetti: First Italian Woman in Orbit, Brewing the First Espresso in Space
Posted: May 5, 2015 Filed under: Food & Drink, Science & Technology, Space & Aviation | Tags: Astronaut, Coffee, Espresso, International Space Station, ISS, Italy, NASA, Samantha Cristoforetti, Zero-G cup Leave a comment“To boldly brew….”
BREAKING: Hundreds of Mediterranean Migrants Feared Dead After Boat Capsizes
Posted: April 19, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News | Tags: Africa, BBC, Boat, Capsizing, EUROPE, European Union, Immigration, International Chamber of Shipping, International Transport Workers' Federation, Italy, Lampedusa, Libya, Mediterranean Sea Leave a commentHundreds of people are feared to have drowned after a boat carrying up to 700 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea
A major rescue operation is under way after the vessel carrying “between 500 and 700 migrants” capsized at midnight local time, south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.
So far 28 people have been rescued.
Earlier this week, four hundred people are feared to have drowned when their vessel capsized north of Libya.
Passing ship
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that many people were feared dead.
@Armed_Forces_MT assisting rescue op after boat wt 650 immigrants capsized in #Libya waters. Less than 50 rescued so far. Many feared dead.
— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) April 19, 2015
Italian ships, the Maltese Navy and commercial vessels are all involved in the rescue operation in Libyan waters.
The Times of Malta newspaper reported that the migrants fell overboard when they rushed to draw the attention of a passing merchant ship.
New migrants emergency – 28 rescued, many corpses found as boat with 700 capsizes
Twenty-eight migrants have been rescued but hundreds are feared dead after a boat carrying as many as 700 migrants capsized last night.
The incident happened in an area just off Libyan waters, 120 miles south of Lampedusa.
The emergency was declared at about midnight when the migrants are believed to have moved to one side of the boat, capsizing it, when a merchant ship approached.
The incident bears similarities to another case last week when some 400 migrants are believed to have perished. Only some 150 were rescued.
A number of bodies were washed ashore in Libya.
Mark Micallef, a journalist with the paper, told the BBC such incidents were “not at all uncommon”.
“We have seen this sort of scenario happen all over again, where a boat gets capsized right at the moment of rescue. Read the rest of this entry »
Vintage Movie Poster: ‘Il Sengo di Zorro’
Posted: April 18, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: 20th Century Fox, Basil Rathbone, Cinema, design, graphics, Il Segno di Zorro, Illustration, Italy, Linda Darnell, Movies, Poster Art, typography, Tyrone Power, Zorro Leave a commentItalian Release Poster for ‘Phantasm’
Posted: March 31, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Cinema, design, Fantasmi, Illustration, Italy, Phantasm, Photography, Poster Art, typography Leave a commentStatements from Amanda Knox and Her Family
Posted: March 27, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Law & Justice, Mediasphere | Tags: Amanda Knox, Conviction, DNA, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Italy, Ivory Coast, murder, Murder of Meredith Kercher, Seattle, United States Leave a commentStatements from #AmandaKnox and her family
Statement from Amanda Knox:
“I am tremendously relieved and grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court of Italy. The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal. And throughout this ordeal, I have received invaluable support from family, friends, and strangers. To them, I say: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness has sustained me. I only wish that I could thank each and every one of you in person.”
Statement from Amanda Knox’s family:
“We want to express our profound gratitude to all of those who have supported Amanda and our family. Countless people – from world-renowned DNA experts, to former FBI agents, to everyday citizens committed to justice – have spoken about her innocence. We are thrilled with and grateful for today’s decision from the Supreme Court of Italy. And we are grateful beyond measure for all that so many of you have done for her.”
[VIDEO] Amanda Knox Murder Conviction Overturned by Italy’s Highest Court
Posted: March 27, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Law & Justice, Mediasphere | Tags: #AmandaKnox, Acquittal, Amanda Knox, Breaking news, Central Italy, Italy, media, murder, Murder of Meredith Kercher, news, Perugia, Supreme Court, video Leave a commentLos Angeles (AFP) – American Amanda Knox expressed “tremendous” relief Friday after Italy’s top court cleared her of the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, drawing a line under the eight-year legal saga.
“I am tremendously relieved and grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court of Italy,” Knox said in a statement shortly after Italy’s Court of Cassation cleared her and Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Amanda Knox waves to supporters as she makes her first appearance at SeaTac Airport after arriving in Seattle following her release from prison in Italy on October 4, 2011 (AFP Photo/Kevin Casey)
“I am tremendously relieved and grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court of Italy.”
Knox, convicted with Sollecito for a second time last year for taking part in the brutal knife slaying of Kercher, has always vehemently maintained her innocence.
“The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal.”
“The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal,” Knox said.
“And throughout this ordeal, I have received invaluable support from family, friends and strangers. To them, I say: Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
“And throughout this ordeal, I have received invaluable support from family, friends and strangers. To them, I say: Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
“Your kindness has sustained me. I only wish that I could thank each and every one of you in person.”
“Your kindness has sustained me. I only wish that I could thank each and every one of you in person.”
A separate statement from Knox’s family expressed “profound gratitude” to those who had championed the former student’s innocence. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Perfect: As Italy Continues to Hound Amanda Knox and Rafael Sollecito For a Brutal Murder They Didn’t Have Anything to Do With, They Release Rudy Guede, The Actual Murderer, from Prison’
Posted: March 27, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Global, Law & Justice | Tags: Amanda Knox, British Museum, Central Italy, Conviction, Italy, murder, Murder of Meredith Kercher, Perugia, Rome, United States Leave a commentThe DNA results from the crime scene come in. It turns out there’s lots and lots of DNA at the crime scene. Unfortunately, not a speck of it is Knox’s or her boyfriend’s. Not. A. Speck.
Ace of Spades HQ writes:
Let me explain what happened. Under pressure to solve a brutal murder quickly — in a sleepy college town where such things were rare — Italian prosecutors fixated early upon Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Rafael Sollecito as Meredith Kercher’s murderers. They also thought a third man, a black nightclub owner with no criminal history, was involved, because Amanda had texted “See you later” to him on the night of the murder, but in Italian. Amanda worked at this guy’s bar, and the night wasn’t busy, so he had told her not to bother coming in, and she said “See you later,” literally translating the English phrase.
They thought this literally meant “see you later,” rather than “Until next time.” Or as the Italians would say it, arriverdercci.
I say he’s black because it’s relevant. I’ll explain later.
They interrogated Knox almost nonstop for three days, telling her that the killer was this black nightclub owner and they knew it, and that she was a coconspirator so why didn’t she just admit it before she went to jail for life?
[Read the full text here, at Ace of Spades HQ]
Finally, they asked her to envision what it would have been like to see this black nightclub owner at the murder scene, and she wrote out a statement speaking of herself “having a vision” of the man at the scene.
Case closed, they say in a dramatic press conference, in which very high ranking members of the Italian prosecutor corps and police are all flanking the main prosecutor. They then drive Amanda and Rafael around the town of Perugia, doing laps with them in the back of the squad car like Achilles dragging Hector behind his chariot, as the town cheers.
And bonus, they can lock up this black nightclub owner with no possible motive to kill Kercher and no history indicating he’d be interested in killing anyone at all.
Yeah one problem with that: The black nightclub owner was at his bar all night and at least nine witnesses could put him there all night.
So, the prosecutors decide their theory is still sound, but now they just need a different third man.
See, their theory has just been completely refuted, but no sweat, it just needs to be tweaked.
Well, after a few days, the DNA results from the crime scene come in. It turns out there’s lots and lots of DNA at the crime scene. Unfortunately, not a speck of it is Knox’s or her boyfriend’s. Not. A. Speck.
However, there is a ton of DNA material identified as that of one Rudy Guede, a drifter with a prior background of breaking into homes for petty theft while armed with a knife (on a previous burglary, he merely warned the startled occupant of the home away with the knife, rather than killing him).
He only casually knew Amanda Knox because he occasionally played basketball with Knox’s downstairs neighbors, some Italian boys. They had merely been present in the same room when the girls and Guede were watching tv with the downstairs boys.
Guede had murdered Kercher with a frenzied attack with the knife, and had cut himself on the hand with the blade (as happens). He had a cut on his hand when arrested. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: ITALIAN COURT RULES NOT GUILTY, AMANDA KNOX ACQUITTED
Posted: March 27, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Law & Justice, Mediasphere | Tags: #AmandaKnox, Amanda Knox, Conviction, Italy, Meredith Kercher, murder, Perugia, Raffaele Sollecito, Rome, Supreme Court Leave a commentAmanda Knox’s conviction overturned by Italian court. She will not be sent back to prison
Italy’s top court orders acquittal of Amanda Knox in Meredith Kercher murder case
ROME — Italy’s highest court overturned the murder conviction against Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Friday, bringing to a definitive end the high-profile case that captivated people on both sides of the Atlantic.
‘‘Finished!’’ Knox’s lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova exulted after the decision was read out. ‘‘It couldn’t be better than this.’’
The decision by the supreme Court of Cassation is the final ruling in the case, ending the long legal battle waged by Knox and Italian co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito. Both Knox, who was awaiting the verdict in her hometown of Seattle, and Sollecito have long maintained their innocence in the death of British student Meredith Kercher.
#CNN Victory for Knox: Ruling a ‘surprise’ http://t.co/Bf1UbhBMBI
— News, Views, People. (@TheCampaignPage) March 27, 2015
Judge’s reasoning behind Amanda Knox decision is to be made public within 90 days http://t.co/xiU8PlFgvc pic.twitter.com/yjdzWVgh9g
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 27, 2015
The supreme Court of Cassation overturned last year’s convictions by a Florence appeals court, and declined to order another trial. The decision means the judges, after thoroughly examining the case, concluded that a conviction could not be supported by the evidence.
Their reasoning will be released within 90 days.
The case has aroused strong interest in three countries for its explosive mix of young love, murder and flip-flop decisions by Italian courts…(read more)
Italy successfully rules that owning a rabbit vibrator does not make one guilty of a convoluted Sex Cult Murder.
— TheClassyLife (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 27, 2015
WATCH: Italian court acquits Amanda Knox of murder charge; live coverage on @CBSNLivehttp://t.co/MFqXuEGdY8pic.twitter.com/gl8tNTdz0F
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 27, 2015
Italy Supreme Court acquits #AmandaKnox and #RaffaeleSollecito in the #MeredithKercher murder trial. http://t.co/PWjetYWC8D
— CNN International (@cnni) March 27, 2015
Amanda Knox screamed with delight as she was cleared http://t.co/dVVLB4eNk5
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 27, 2015
Amanda Knox’s conviction overturned by Italian court. She will not be sent back to prison: http://t.co/MMYJ2JITclpic.twitter.com/k8IQBmobal
— ABC News (@ABC) March 27, 2015
The absurd conviction of Amanda Knox, who is incidentally 100% innocent, reversed for the 2nd time by Italy’s Supreme Court.
— TheClassyLife (@AceofSpadesHQ) March 27, 2015
TIME reports: The Italian Supreme Court overturned Amanda Knox’s conviction Friday for the 2007 murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher.
Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted as co-conspirators in Kercher’s murder in the apartment they shared as exchange students in Perugia in 2009. But that conviction was overturned in 2011 and in 2014, after prosecutors argued that evidence had been omitted in the appeal, the original guilty verdict was reinstated.
But Italy’s Supreme Court ruled Friday afternoon to finally acquit the American of the long-hanging charges over her. She had faced extradition to Italy if the conviction had been upheld. Read the rest of this entry »
Still Waiting for Ruling in Amanda Knox Case
Posted: March 27, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Global, Law & Justice | Tags: Amanda Knox, Appellate court, Italy, murder, Murder of Meredith Kercher, Perugia, Rome, Seattle, Supreme Court, United States 1 CommentROME – Italy’s highest court was expected to decide Friday whether to uphold the murder convictions of Seattle resident Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. But by noon Seattle time — 8 p.m. in Italy — nothing had been heard from the justices.
While Knox is watching what is happening from Seattle, Sollecito is in Italy. His lawyer made a last-ditch appeal to overturn the pair’s convictions for the 2007 slaying Meredith Kercher, Knox’s British roommate.
Attorney Giulia Bongiorno began her defense of Sollecito by offering what she called a “little sampling” of the errors and contradictions of “colossal proportions” in the 2014 Florence appeals court verdict that convicted her client and Knox.
Bongiorno noted, for example, that trial documents indicate that there were “no traces of Sollecito in the room” where Kercher, 21, was sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed.
A one-hour warning will be given before the verdict is read. Read the rest of this entry »
Déjà Vu: U.S.A. vs Italy ‘Double Jeopardy’ Extradition Fight on Horizon as Italy’s Highest Court to Rule in Amanda Knox Case
Posted: March 25, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Law & Justice | Tags: Amanda Knox, Appellate court, Conviction, Extradition, Italy, Murder of Meredith Kercher, Perugia, Rome, Seattle, United States Leave a commentItaly’s high court set to rule on Amanda Knox case
Italy’s highest court on Wednesday took up the appeal of Amanda Knox’s murder conviction, more than seven years after the American was accused in the brutal killing of her British roommate in Perugia.
The decision is likely to spark a U.S. versus Italy extradition battle that would call into play the American legal system’s “double jeopardy” rule.
“To date, the high-profile legal saga of Knox and Sollecito has produced flip-flop guilty-then innocent-then guilty verdicts, polarizing observers in three nations.”
The court will consider the fate of a “very worried” Knox, according to her attorney, as judges decide whether the former undergraduate student’s convictions and 28 ½-year sentence should stand. The court also will decide on the 25-year sentence of Knox’s ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who was also convicted in the murder of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher.
“Knox has been portrayed alternately as a victim of a botched investigation and shoddy Italian justice, or a promiscuous predator who falsely accused a Congolese bar owner of the murder.”
Kercher was found dead Nov. 2, 2007, in the apartment she shared with Knox in the idyllic hillside town of Perugia, where both women were studying. Her throat was slashed and she had been sexually assaulted.
“Amanda is innocent.”
— Luciano Ghirga, attorney for Amanda Knox
Suspicion quickly fell on Knox and Sollecito, who were arrested in the days after the murder. The couple denied involvement and said they had spent the evening at Sollecito’s place watching a movie, smoking pot and making love.
They were found guilty by a trial court in Perugia in 2009, but freed in 2011 after an appellate court overturned the convictions.
They found themselves back in an appellate court after the Court of Cassation vacated the acquittals in 2013 in a harsh rebuke of the Perugia chief appellate judge’s reasoning.
“Some legal experts say the U.S. Constitution’s ‘double jeopardy’ ban on being tried twice for the same offense after an acquittal would stand in Knox’s favor, and that U.S. courts would frown on her having been tried in absentia.”
To date, the high-profile legal saga of Knox and Sollecito has produced flip-flop guilty-then innocent-then guilty verdicts, polarizing observers in three nations. Knox has been portrayed alternately as a victim of a botched investigation and shoddy Italian justice, or a promiscuous predator who falsely accused a Congolese bar owner of the murder.
Now, Italy’s highest court could decide to confirm the convictions, throw out the convictions and order a third appeal trial or, less likely, it could overturn both convictions without ordering a retrial, which would be tantamount to an acquittal.
“Others argue the very existence of an extradition treaty implies that the United States accepts the Italian justice system, strengthening the case for extradition.”
A decision by the judges to confirm the convictions would then raise questions of extradition for Knox since she is free in the U.S. That verdict would then divert attention from Italy’s judicial process to a matter of diplomatic ties. Read the rest of this entry »
Even Jihadists Get the Blues: Ferrero-Rocher Loving Jihadi Tweets About His Lonely Life
Posted: March 21, 2015 Filed under: Food & Drink, Global, War Room | Tags: Chocolate, Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero SpA, Islamism, Italy, Jaffa Cakes, Jihadism, Monte Carlo, Nestlé, Nutella, Switzerland, Terrorism 1 CommentA.B. Sanderson reports: He may have managed to find a few of his favourite Ferrero-Rocher chocolates, but from his twitter account it seems that former Morrisons security guard turned jihadi is not being spoiled.
Omar Hussein, who left home where he lived with his mother, his having real difficulty living the life of a jihadi fighter – struggling even to take care of his personal admin let alone join front line fighters in trying to bring about a repressive, violent Islamic caliphate, the Daily Mail reports.
“Chocolate can do wonders when ur feeling lonely, lol.”
— Omar Hussein
His social media timeline demonstrates that while others are engaged in a fight to the death in the terrorist occupied lands, Hussain is struggling to even wash his own clothes and admits in one tweet it took him almost an hour to peel potatoes for his dinner.
The hapless Hussein moaned that he was too tired after his monumental task of peeling tatties to even chop them:
The updates show a bored, lonely man who doesn’t go anywhere near the front line, but just scrounges off the others.
He has shown off his attempts at cooking, saying he was ‘what the Oxford dictionary defines as, a Chef! Tuk! (sic) before posting a photo of some brown slop and telling his followers is took him 27 minutes to make two servings.
Most recently he has struggled washing his clothes, saying he gets flustered when it begins to rain and his washing is still out on the line.
But it’s not all domestic drudgery: he has also posted a picture of a local gym he once visited as well as photos of himself sunbathing by a pool in Syria.
And the chocaholic was delighted when he managed to find himself a Ferrero-rocher, saying ‘chocolate can do wonders when ur feeling lonely, lol. And he was delighted when he managed to secure himself a packet of jaffa cakes, saying he hadn’t had one in a year. Read the rest of this entry »
[PHOTOS] This Road in China Got Covered in Almost 15,000 Pounds of Live Catfish
Posted: March 20, 2015 Filed under: China, Food & Drink, Global | Tags: Agence France-Presse, Alibaba Group, Bangladesh, Catfish, China, Fish, Guizhou, Italy, Jonathan Klein (Getty Images), Seafood, Truck, Wels catfish 1 CommentWe’re back with more catfish! I discovered and posted a link to small item about this here, yesterday, but was disappointed to not find any additional reporting on it, but most of all, disappointed to find no photos. Thankfully, images are coming in. A story about a gigantic catfish-in-the-streets catastrophe is obviously a lot less fun without pictures.

ChinaFotoPress—Getty Images
When the door of a delivery truck in the southern Chinese province of Guizhou swung open, 15,000 lb. of catfish came spilling out, covering the road in a flopping, scaly mess.
Remarkably, with the help of community members and the local fire department, a two-hour rescue effort was undertaken and the shipment was not wasted, according to the Shanghaiist. Their task was arduous but simple — workers basically sprayed the fish with water to keep them alive while others picked them up and returned them to the truck…(read more)

ChinaFotoPress—Getty Images
Valerio Cioli: Tomb of Michelangelo
Posted: March 6, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, History | Tags: 16th Century, Florence, Italy, Michelangelo, Renaissance, Sculpture, Tomb of Michelangelo, Valerio Cioli Leave a commentValerio Cioli c. 1564
Tomb of Michelangelo (detail)
Love Blooms: Amanda Knox Engaged
Posted: February 11, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Mediasphere | Tags: Almería, Amanda Knox, DNA profiling, Italy, Lars von Trier, Murder of Meredith Kercher, Seattle, United States 4 CommentsSEATTLE — Amanda Knox, the Seattle woman who was convicted of murder, freed from prison on reversal and then re-convicted by Italian courts of killing her roommate in 2007, is now engaged, the Seattle Times reported Wednesday.
Knox, 27, is engaged to Colin Sutherland, also 27, a musician from New York who recently moved back to Seattle and whom she’s known since middle school, according to Times editorial columnist Jonathan Martin.
No date for the wedding has been set, according to Martin.
On Nov. 2, 2007, Knox’s roommate, Meredith Kercher, of Britain, was found slain at their flat in Perugia, Italy. Knox was there for her junior year of college abroad.
Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were later convicted of murder in the case. Their convictions were reversed on appeal in 2011 and they were freed from prison. But the prosecutors appealed that decision and they were both re-convicted last year. Read the rest of this entry »
[PHOTO] Women of the Antifascist Forces During the Liberation of Milan, 1945
Posted: January 28, 2015 Filed under: History, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: EUROPE, Fascists, Italy, Liberation of Milan, Milan, Photography, SPAIN, Twitter, Women Fighters, WW2 2 CommentsThe Apocalypse Tapestry
Posted: January 21, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere | Tags: 100 years war, Adolf Hitler, book of Revelations, Chateau d’Angers, England, France, French Revolution, Great Comet, Italy, Normandy landings, Renaissance art, World War II 2 CommentsThe Apocalypse Tapestry is a 14th century French work commissioned by the Duke of Anjou. In over 90 scenes it portrays the apocalypse as described by John in the New Testament book of Revelations. Allusions to the 100 years war with England are also present. The Anjous held the tapestry for a century before gifting it to Angers Cathedral. During the French Revolution the tapestry was stolen, cut into pieces, and used for functional purposes ranging from floor mats to insulating stables. During the 19th century a canon of the cathedral located the pieces (all but 16 were successfully recovered) and began restorative work. After World War II the tapestry once again moved, this time to Chateau d’Angers. In order to preserve the 300 foot masterpiece a special gallery with dim lighting and custom ventilation was built within the castle where it remains on view today.