Malaysian Air again.

"When you think is peace and safety:
A sudden destruction.
Collective security for surety, ye-ah" ~Bob Marley~


I hear you brother Bob. It's crazy out here. Those poor souls on that Malaysia Airlines jet could not have thought that such an unspeakable tragedy could have hit that carrier twice in such a short span of time. And yet....




Anyway, it's looking more and more like those Russian backed separatists are to blame for this surface to air missile blowing that jet out of the sky in the Eastern Ukraine.




Mr. Putin and the boys might have some explaining to do. (Apparently there is audio of one of those separatists saying to one of their Russian handlers that they f****d up.) Not that this would bother the aforementioned Mr. Putin. The man, quite frankly, is insane.




There should be a black box (if the rebels haven't stolen it already) so unlike the case of that other tragic Malaysian flight, we should have some closure.




Finally, folks know that I chase racism with the best of them, but sometimes there are false alarms, and we should know how to recognize them when they manifest themselves.




Take for instance this case in Iowa:

"A star high school athlete in rural Marshalltown, Iowa has been suspended for three football games this fall because he posted a social media image of himself enthusiastically festooned from head to toe in white clothing during school spirit week. In the photo, he made the letter “W” with his hands — which in this case stands for white.

The student is Blair Van Staalduine, reports Des Moines NBC affiliate WHO-TV.The student’s parents say the the principal of Marshalltown High School called Van Staalduine a racist after concluding that his hand signal was a white pride symbol.

The parents have now responded to the suspension and the charge that their son is a racist by threatening to sue.

“We were appalled,” his mother, Cathy Van Staalduine, tol WHO-TV. “We were appalled and so was he. Absolutely. Because the furthest thing from Blair is being racist.”

The school colors at Marshalltown High appear to be red, white and blue. Van Staalduine wore white because school officials had asked members of his class to wear white during school spirit week festivities.

“The actual school chose the colors that each grade would be wearing,” Cathy Van Staalduine explained. “Juniors wore white. So Blair, of course, being active in the school, dressed from head to toe in white.”


She noted emphatically that the “W” sign was for the color her son was assigned.


“Blair says if they were wearing orange, they would have done an ‘O,’” she said.
The mad mother said she talked to the principal, and he managed to call her a racist to her face.

The Marshalltown High School principal is Aiddy Phomvisay, according to the Marshalltown Senior High School website.

The Van Staalduine family is now demanding that the principal quash the suspension and issue a public apology. Otherwise, they say, they will file a lawsuit to protect their son’s good name.

As for the actual image showing her son making a “W” sign, Cathy Van Staalduine said she is holding it close to the vest in the event that this incident actually ends up in court." [Source]

Looking...looking...looking....nope, no sign of the big R here. We need to move along.


The poor kid could have been a George W Bush fan for all we know.