Bert's Travels

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

An Embarrassing Error

I chatted with these Islamic ladies for half an hour before the waiter of the restaurant told me that they were umbrellas.

Bertstravels
wondered why they did not reply to my comments.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

JULIAN ASSANGE

was a computer “guru” who became a so-called “hacker”.

A Hacker is a person who breaks into somebody's computer for the purpose of stealing information. He is not much different from the person who breaks into somebody's home for the purpose of stealing things.

After having hacked the computer systems of the U.S. Pentagon, U.S, Department of Defense, Citybank, and sundry other Government Agencies as well as private companies, banks, universities etc. he was arrested by Australian police, charged with a number of offenses, find a minimal amount, and released on a “Good Behavior Bond.”

There followed a period of positive and negative attention paid to Assange and his e-platform “WikiLeaks” from a variety of individuals.

In November of 2010 Assange was accused by Swedish authorities to have, during a visit to their country, committed a number of sex related offenses.

He fled to England and in August of 2012 asked the Ecuadorian embassy for “political asylum”.

(One wonders what is “political” about charges of rape?)

Julian Assange has lived in a room there ever since.

His reluctance to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy seems to be based on his concern of being arrested by British Authorities, being extradited to Sweden, possibly tried for the sex related charges and then being extradited to the U.S.A. where he would face charges of Espionage activities.

Julian, it seems, is slowly getting tired of life in one room in a South American embassy and has applied to the United Nations for a finding on his situation.

In February of 2016 a five member panel, in a 3:2 decision found that Julian Assange has been subject to “arbitrary detention and should be compensated".

British and Swedish prosecutors rejected this finding and, quite frankly, I am at a total loss, how three out of five panel members can possibly come to such a conclusion.

No one is detaining the man in the Embassy. He went there of his own free will and has remained there voluntarily ever since.

If, as he states, he is innocent of all charges, why does he not come out, and rely on the honesty of Swedish prosecutors, who will be unable to convict him. His innocence will be proven in a Court of Law.

I, in fact, do not believe that these Swedish charges are what Julian is really worried about. I think he is more concerned that Sweden will be positively inclined to allow the U.S.A.'s request for extradition to the USA, where he would be tried for Espionage.

Julian, the Hacker, now has a choice: Come out of the narrow protection of Ecuador and face the charges raised against him, be found innocent or guilty, as the evidence or lack thereof may direct,

or he may remain “in Ecuador”, in order to avoid prosecution in Sweden and/or the USA.

The operative word now is “may”.

He may stay ( as long as Ecuador is willing to host him ),

or he “may” leave and face the music.

Under no circumstances can he claim, nor should a UN panel have found that he is being

“arbitrarily detained”.

Arbitrary: 1.) uncontrolled or unrestricted by law.

2.) capricious, unreasonable, unsupported.

Detention: keeping a person in custody or confinement.

Neither of these dictionary definitions fit the circumstances of the case.

If hiding from the Authorities can be compared to detention, then every accused person who seeks escape from lawful prosecution could make this same claim.

Al Capone or John Dillinger, both of whom hid for many years from the authorities could have filed a claim for “compensation”.

It staggers my imagination how such a finding could have been arrived at by persons of sound mind.

What do you think ?

Bertstravels

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Monica Rathgeber, again...

I had planned to make the previous entry about Monica my very last comment about this issue.
However, some of the suggestions made in one of the daily papers are so unbelievable that I simply must address them.

In all seriousness one columnist actually suggests, that Monica was and is the "Sacrificial Lamb".
That she simply did as she was ordered to do and that she should go free and others ( her superiors)
should be charged.
They, of course, should be charged, but not with Grand Larceny and Forgery, but with failing to properly supervise the activities of their staff.

Does this writer really think that the Minister of Finance, or the Premier of the Province of Salzburg ordered Ms Rathgeber to change an invoice from an arborist, submitted for removal of some trees, amounting to €468.00 to, believe it or not, €266,468 ?
Does he truly believe that Monika's political and administrative bosses ordered her to forge signatures on almost 100 financial documents which, according to the rules, demanded two signatories affixing their name?

Now the "Conspiracy Theorists" naturally have a field day and it will turn out that in their mind it is everybody's fault, except for Monika Rathgeber, this poor woman who was forced to lie and forge and do her bosses bidding.

And if you believe this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn which I can sell you. Real cheap.....

Bertstravels

Atop the "Koralm" (almost )

No snow whatever in the lower regions.
Not a flake.
So, I decided to drive up the "Koralm" as far as I could safely go.
With no tire chains, no "Four Wheel Drive" I went on my way.
At one point I stopped to take some pictures and could not get the car back into motion, having stopped on an icy patch.
Backing up was also not an easy thing, since I was pretty close to the edge of the road.
Finally, by rocking the car a bit from "reverse" to a low "forward gear" I was able to get moving again. I was not prepared to take any further chances and after having found a wider stretch of this road, I carefully turned around and arrived safely back in the snowless valley.
The pictures I got are worth the pounding of my heart:

The Village of St. Andrae, as seen from half way up the Koralm.

The lower regions are totally devoid of snow,

with some of the white stuff high up on the opposite hills.

A lonesome farm, just at the edge of the snow.

This is where the going got dicey.

About a hundred meters further up,

I carefully turned the car around

and breathed a sigh of relief when I got back to bare road conditions.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Monika Rathgeber

Do you remember her ?
She is the lady who was in charge of the administration of Tax moneys, paid by the Citizens of the Province of Salzburg.
She "invested" large funds in very risky derivatives and other high risk ventures. She made some money for the Province in the beginning, then she started to lose, which forced her, or so she thought, to gamble some more and in larger amounts. She then forged documents, channeled funds intended for the building of apartments and used them to gamble some more, all in the hope of making up the losses incurred previously.
Finally she lost, so it was reported, in excess of 500 million Euros.
All this happened in 2012. She stood accused of Grand Larceny, Forgery and who knows what else.
The trial started and ended yesterday.
Monika Rathgeber made a full confession and received a rather light sentence:
Four years, but only one unconditional.
The judge also mentioned that she would be an ideal candidate for a leg shakle.
This apparent light sentence was imposed because Monika did not commit her crime for her own enrichment. She did it, so she said, for the people of the Province of Salzburg.
So, she poorly invested and lost between 350 and 500 million Euros (depending on which paper you read), forged signatures on documents, misdirected funds, so she could gamble some more and she may not serve one day in Jail.
Actually this corresponds closely with my philosophy about "who should be in Jail".
I think that only violent offenders should serve jail sentences.
Jails are over crowded with inmates whom society needs not fear.
Non-violent offenders should therefore be sentenced to leg shakles, monetary fines, and/or social services. And yet, I consider Ms Rathgeber's punishment a bit on the light side.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Art for Art's Sake !

I seem to be surrounded by talented painters:
Here are samples of a few of them.
Each of them has worked in a variety of styles.
Unfortunately I can show only a limited number.
There will be more later.