‘Grandad Hooligans’ Terrorizing British Soccer

Soccer (football) club chairmen in Britain are warning of a new threat of football hooliganism from retired grandfathers.

Dave Doggett, boss of the soccer team Cambridge United, says a hardcore of around 10 men in their 50s and 60s are trying to relive the 1980s by arranging fights with rivals on match days.

“Club chiefs say ageing thugs who took part in violence during the 1970s and 80s are returning to the terraces,” according to the Daily Mirror.

Mr. Doggett warns the violence has increased recently as the men return to the club in their retirements after being distracted by years of having a career and raising families.

Doggett says there is a danger that they will spread violence as they try to encourage younger men to join their “gangs,” states The Telegraph.

Writing in his club’s latest program, Mr Doggett says: “Unfortunately football clubs still attract an undesirable element of society that appear determined to ruin the enjoyment of real supporters of football clubs.

“Our promotion to the Football League appears to have encouraged our ‘risk’ from the 1980s to come out of retirement.

“Many of them are grandparents trying to encourage the next generation to join their ‘gangs’.

“It sounds pathetic but unfortunately it is reality.”

Doggett states they are working closely with police on the matter.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/grandad-football-hooligans-coming-out-5493256

Gohmert: ‘You’re Playing God With The Internet!’

Secular Talk

U.S. Representative from Texas Louie Gohmert got it wrong on Net Neutrality during a recent congressional hearing. Gohmert speaks loudly and forcefully, so some people might believe him.

The FCC did not “take over the internet,” but it “classified the internet as a utility.”

The big Internet Service Providers (ISPs) would like to charge more for quicker downloads and uploads for specific sites. The big ISPs could also threaten to slow down your site unless you pay more money.

The FCC classified it as a utility so that this won’t happen. The FCC wants Net Neutrality, which is keeping the internet the same as it is now.

Who Is Responsible for Saving World Heritage Treasures? – utalk

euronews

Euronews’ Utalk looks at the topic of protecting world heritage sites.

The question comes from Raja in Brussels: “Who is responsible for protecting World Heritage sites? In cases of conflict what can the international community do?”

The response is from Mechtild Rossler of Unesco’s Heritage Division: “The key responsibility of a site which is listed on the World Heritage list lies with the state that has ratified this convention. The problem comes when you are in a conflict zone where the state party may lose control over the area and the international community has to come in, in these circumstances.

“You may remember in the early 1990’s we saw the destruction in Dubrovnik,” said Rossler. “Unesco immediately intervened. Those architects saved the roofs and Dubrovnik is today again today a jewel in Croatia.”

Did Governor Chris Christie Cut A Deal With Exxon?

There is a controversy out of New Jersey which continues to get more interesting by the day, according to MSNBC. Years ago, after decades of misuse, Exxon had damaged more than 1,500 acres of wetlands in northern New Jersey.

The state of New Jersey filed an $8.9 billion lawsuit about a decade ago. The case progressed in the state’s favor — Exxon’s culpability was finally effectively decided. The only remaining question was how much the oil giant would pay in damages.

Last week, however, New Jersey settled the case.

Why? After seeking $8.9 billion — $2.6 billion for environmental restoration and $6.3 billion for compensatory damages — the state agreed to accept just $250 million. That’s roughly 3% of the original amount. Most of that total would go towards closing the governor’s budget shortfall, rather than environmental repair.

New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak (D) said to MSNBC, “We want to find out who engineered this. Was it the attorney general’s office? Was it [the state’s Department of Environmental Protection] or was it maybe someone in the governor’s office?”

The New York Times seeks to answer that question as well:

“For more than a decade, the New Jersey attorney general’s office conducted a hard-fought legal battle to hold Exxon Mobil Corporation responsible for decades of environmental contamination in northern New Jersey.

“But when the news came that the state had reached a deal to settle its $8.9 billion claim for about $250 million, the driving force behind the settlement was not the attorney general’s office — it was Gov. Chris Christie’s chief counsel, Christopher S. Porrino, two people familiar with the negotiations said.”

Christie’s chief counsel “inserted himself into the case, elbowed aside the attorney general and career employees who had developed and prosecuted the litigation, and cut the deal favorable to Exxon,” according to Bradley Campbell, the commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/nyregion/christies-office-took-over-exxon-settlement-ex-official-says.html?_r=1