The Scream - Edvard Munch

“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.” Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, also known as the ‘Bishop of Corum’

  • “Rising unemployment and plunging business confidence in the euro area revealed the increasingly fragile state of the region’s economy on Wednesday, as voters in France and Greece prepare to deliver their verdict on austerity in Sunday elections.” I thought Krugman said the confidence fairy was dead and gone.
  • “When Adam Groffman landed in Berlin last summer it was supposed to be just another stage on his round-the-world trip. But it didn’t take long for him to realize he wanted to stay.”
  • “Whichever candidate wins the presidential election this weekend faces a Humpty-Dumpty problem. How do you ‘put back together again’ the fractured France revealed in the compelling, but scary, small-print of the first round vote on 22 April?”
  • “It’s been called a ‘race to the bottom.’ The hyper-accelerated movement of capital, jobs and resources from the world’s international corporations — manufacturing, agriculture, service — to the lowest bidder. GlobalPost explores the human cost of such a race in an era of diminished expectations, broken promises and sleight of hand between governments, employers, unions and their workers.”
  • “At least 20 people have been killed in Cairo in an attack on a protest near the Egyptian Ministry of Defence. The unknown attackers used rocks, clubs, firebombs and shotguns. The protesters retaliated, beating some assailants.”
  • “The Israeli military has closed its file on the killing of 21 members of a Palestinian family during the Gaza war in 2009, saying there were no grounds for criminal or disciplinary action against those responsible for the shelling of the house in which civilians were sheltering.”
  • “The Taliban announced the start of its ‘spring offensive‘ yesterday just hours after the US President, Barack Obama, promised to ‘finish the job’ and end the war in Afghanistan on a flying visit to the country.”
  • “Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng says he gave up his refuge in the US embassy in Beijing after Chinese authorities made threats to family members.”
  • “The hunt for Osama bin Laden followed a path with many twists and turns. Around each corner lay new discoveries, each often more unbelievable than the last. What was most amazing about this story?”
  • “Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sworn in as a member of Burma’s parliament, a month after her party’s sweeping victory in by-elections. She and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) had initially refused to take part in a swearing-in ceremony due to the wording of an oath.”
  • “During a recent appearance on the US chat show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the actor Jason Segel revealed he’d received a letter from Hillary Clinton. Segel had expressed an interest in appearing onscreen with the Secretary of State, who responded that she’d be happy to take up his offer in the future. ‘My only condition,’ she wrote, using a Woody Allenesque typeface, ‘is that there be Muppets involved’.”
  • “A San Diego college student was forgotten by federal drug agents and left in a holding cell for five days without food, water or access to a toilet.” Oh, you gotta read this, it gets better.
  • “The Scream Auction: Edvard Munch’s Painting Sells For $119.9 Million, Sets A World Record”

TRNN:

The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off.