After years of Mainstream Media political reporters & columnists in U.S. being compulsive sycophants to Obama's White House, turning-off readers/viewers in droves, now their colleagues on U.S. national security beat have to deal with the karma -reality of (perhaps) being intentionally digitally monitored by Obama Administration. That's karma for you!; "Obama’s war on leaks has journalists and their sources on edge. ‘I worry now about calling somebody.’"; Damning CPJ report by Len Downie of Arizona State's Cronkite School & Washington Post and Sara Rafsky was released Thursday, but some say evidence is clear that MSM is still pulling-punches with Obama; @lendownie, @Cronkite_ASU, @CPJ, @pressfreedom, #pressfreedom

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'They think they are terrorists' -Gripping CCTV mobile phone video captures harrowing initial moments of stunned store customers as screams and gunshots ring out at Westgate Mall as team of al-Shabaab terrorists methodically take over Nairobi shopping mall, killing 68, injuring 175 and taking 30 hostage; #Kenya, #Westgate

CCTV Africa mobile phone video shows the initial confusion and shock as shoppers at Nairobi's Westgate Mall tried to decide what to do as they heard more and more gunshots that only got louder and closer to them. http://youtu.be/Zi7Kkot67oA
See this video and analysis of video at Sky News website:
http://news.sky.com/story/1145131/kenya-dramatic-video-shows-moment-of-attack

Related article: 
The Daily Mail
Shouts, screams... and then a sprint for their lives: Raw video footage shows full terror of moment Muslim terrorists struck at Nairobi mall
CCTV Africa reporter filmed clip at Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi
Video shows people running or cowering behind shelves and boxes
Man heard saying on his mobile phone: 'They think they are terrorists'
By MARK DUELL
PUBLISHED: 14:31 EST, 22 September 2013 
UPDATED: 14:39 EST, 22 September 2013
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2429431/Kenya-mall-attack-Gunshots-shouts-screams-heard-terrifying-video-filmed-inside-Nairobi-shopping-centre.html

If you couldn't name Muhammad's mother then you were shot dead #TargetingNonMuslims #Kenya http://t.co/KMjWDOPa95
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) September 22, 2013

When a terrorist attack started at a Nairobi mall today, NYT's @TylerHicksPhoto was next door: http://t.co/LdgPMCE6Mq
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 21, 2013

We must never forget... “@Lynnchepkor: @juliegichuru What a sad day! The innocent children pic.twitter.com/TVr1hCRgnX”
— Julie Gichuru (@juliegichuru) September 21, 2013

Update on the Westgate Mall Terror Attack http://t.co/s7yZHuVDdw
— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 22, 2013

We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get them. We shall punish them for this heinous crime.
— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 21, 2013

The way we lead our lives; in freedom, openness, unity & consideration for each other represents our victory over all those who wish us ill
— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 21, 2013

Terrorism in and of itself, is the philosophy of cowards.
— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 21, 2013

The despicable perpetrators of this cowardly act hoped to intimidate, divide and cause despondency among Kenyans.
— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) September 21, 2013

Kenyatta: My nephew and his fiancé lost their lives.
— InteriorCNG Ministry (@InteriorKE) September 22, 2013

Kenyatta: We need to work together to fight the terrorist battle. This is not a Kenyan war, this is an international war.
— InteriorCNG Ministry (@InteriorKE) September 22, 2013

Kenya Attack: Hostages Held In Terror Strike http://t.co/MAdMq3D2mZ
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 22, 2013

In my opinion, this video was the definitive TV news segment on what happened Saturday morning.

#RedCross Sec Gen @Abbas_Gullet leading from the front at #WestGate ^PO pic.twitter.com/JurJyH2Eh8
— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross) September 22, 2013

Large crowds waiting to Donate blood at Kencom pic via @UKinKenya ^PO pic.twitter.com/cxLdQ5qvnh
— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross) September 22, 2013

Kenya mall attack dominates papers: Attack on Kenya shopping mall dominates papers http://t.co/IMm0Hn68dr
— BBC News (@BBCNews_) September 22, 2013

As of 6:30 tonight EDT Sunday, the Kenya Red Cross has is still reporting that 58 people were killed and 175 have been injured, confirming reports early this morning from Reuters. As of this afternoon, the second floor of the five-storey Westgate Mall was thought to be the only floor that has not been secured by Kenyan Army Special Forces or Kenyan Police, who are now both above and below the 15 terrorists and what officials believe are approximately 30 hostages. Electricity to the ground floor has been cut-off but there are still fears that more terrorists are holed-up in the large Nakumatt supermarket. 

US MEDIA: FBI investigating claims that at least 2 of the #Westgate terrorists are Americans from Minnesota and Kansas City, Missouri
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) September 22, 2013

Reports: Foreign security agents join the #Westgate rescue operation. #WeAreOne
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) September 22, 2013

British, American and Israeli according to reports. Three Britons already known dead, many feared held hostage.

Reminder: Nairobi is 7 hours ahead of Miami and Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S. & Canada. 

Watch Sky News LIVE thru the day for regular updates on the harrowing situation in Nairobi at 
http://news.sky.com/templates/watch-live

BBC is streaming reports with lots of details on the standoff here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24193284

Despicable! Growing national backlash against sickening British police scandal that's only getting worse over time - Prime Minister David Cameron and entire U.K. literally staggered by the depths of despicable revelations re organized undercover police efforts to withhold evidence and smear the family of an innocent teenage boy murdered in 1993. Stephen Lawrence was murdered, and since then, it seems that Police and govt. bureaucrats have intentionally taken aim at his family to keep them quiet via orchestrated smears!; Damning news videos by BBC and Channel 4 News

Channel4News YouTube Channel video: Home Affairs correspondent Simon Israel reports on revelations that Stephen Lawrence's family was targeted and smeared by police. The parents of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence were treated as a threat to be smeared, according to a former undercover officer with the Metropolitan Police Service. Uploaded June 24, 2013. http://youtu.be/iXjGX35InhQ

BBC-TV video: The MP for Eltham & Plumstead, Clive Efford, who was involved in the call for the original 1997 inquiry into the case, describes the very grave nature of the revelations that some members of the Metropolitan Police -as well as people connected to the Home Office in the '90's- have not only been withholding damaging evidence about the truth surrounding the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, but been involved in even further corruption via an organized effort to smear the Lawrence family. MP Efford, a Labour Party member and the Shadow Secretary for Sport, further stated that he believed that the only way the truth will all come out is via a new inquiry that does NOT involve the "police investigating police" agreeing that it was "not going to be good enough" for the British people. And he's 100% correct.
Video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23030577

Despicable! Growing national backlash against sickening British police scandal that's only getting worse over time - Prime Minister David Cameron and entire U.K. literally staggered by the depths of despicable revelations re organized undercover police efforts to withhold evidence and smear the family of an innocent teenage boy murdered in 1993. Stephen Lawrence was murdered, and since then, it seems that Police and govt. bureaucrats have intentionally taken aim at his family to keep them quiet via orchestrated smears!; Damning news videos by BBC and Channel 4 News 

Doreen Lawrence: 'police resources were used to monitor our campaign' http://t.co/iq1jvf2kpJ via @guardian
— Clive Efford (@CliveEfford) June 23, 2013

The Stephen Lawrence inquiry must be recalled to investigate what information the police kept from them and who decided to withold it
— Clive Efford (@CliveEfford) June 23, 2013

@TelePolitics The public will have no confidence in the police investigating themselves on this matter it has to be completely independent
— Clive Efford (@CliveEfford) June 24, 2013

Much of Britain has woken-up lately feeling like a thunderous punch has been delivered to their collective stomachs, out-of-the-blue, while they were minding their own business this wet summer.

Except that was then quickly followed-up with a swift billy club to the back of the neck and a taser to their groin.

Groggy and barely able to stand, they hold on as best they can and wonder what sordid fact is  coming down the pike next in a police scandal that gets every one's emotions boiling in a flash.

And with that comes the larger possibility of yet another flash point.

Me being me, being interested in the very wide variety of things that I am, which, fairly often, confounds and frustrates both family and friends, and listening, reading and consuming by the ton the digital media that I do every week with a very heavy U.K. flavor, especially radio and TV, I've been following the Stephen Lawrence case for years.

BBC's timeline on the case:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16283806

Before these most recent revelations that have taken away every one's breath by their sheer level of cruelty and evil, the “hunt for disinformation” to discredit the Lawrences," l had planned on posting something about it over the Fourth of July weekend, when I'd finally post a lot of non-South Florida posts that I've already written and have been keeping in cold storage until the right time came.

But Monday morning while looking for something else, I found this powerful BBC News video

that falls hard on the heels of all the dozens of news articles, columns, blog posts and radio program discussions so very upsetting and despicable in the tale it told, that I found myself unable to wait any longer.
And when I received my daily Snowmail from London after Noon on Monday from Channel 4 News that gives me the rundown on the news stories they'll be doing later,
https://mailing.channel4.com/public/read_message.jsp;jsessionid=0;apw63?sigreq=1937640847
I was absolutely sure of it. http://www.channel4.com/news/

The Guardian
Police 'smear' campaign targeted Stephen Lawrence's friends and family
Exclusive: former undercover officer Peter Francis says superiors wanted him to find 'dirt' shortly after 1993 murder
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis, The Guardian
23 June 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/23/stephen-lawrence-undercover-police-smears

The Guardian

Stephen Lawrence: Cameron deeply concerned by smear campaign claim

PM calls for investigation into claims undercover police officer was part of operation to smear family of murdered teenager
Alexandra Topping, Paul Lewis, Rob Evans and Patrick Wintour, guardian.co.uk, 
24 June 2013 04.24 EDT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/24/stephen-lawrence-cameron-police-smear-claim

The Telegraph

Who’s keeping tabs on the undercover cops?

Stephen Lawrence's family are not the only ones concerned about their activities

By Philip Johnston

8:43PM BST 24 Jun 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10139126/Whos-keeping-tabs-on-the-undercover-cops.html

I had to get it out of my system before I literally blew a gasket, and so have deleted many prior links to stories about the case that have been attached to the Draft for many months, given that they no longer seem nearly as important to the overall picture, given what we've learned of late.

Most of you reading this now know as well as I do that there are some things that are more than merely dramatic literary license and fictional threats delivered in film or criminal procedural drams on TV, but actually common knowledge.
One of those things that we know to be true is that former policemen in prison have a very difficult time surviving.

But knowing what I know about this case and the way that some undercover police and govt.
bureaucrats seem to have attempted to orchestrate a PR lynch mob against the family of a teenage boy killed for no logical reason other than sheer hate, I only hope it's even worse in prison for the people involved in this case, since they have been drawing a public paycheck for years as guardians of civility, without people they encounter having any idea of the true depths of their immorality.

Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe responds to allegations in the media about undercover officers conduct in the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation:
http://content.met.police.uk/News/Commissioner-statement-following-allegations-about-undercover-officers/1400018214005/1257246745756

-----
Speaking of incompetent and/or unethical police, I will soon be posting some information here on the blog about what I and many other concerned and well-informed Hallandale Beach residents believe is the completely unsatisfactory performance over the recent past of the Hallandale Beach Police Dept.

I will be mentioning and raising questions about several specific situations and episodes that I am all-too-familiar with, as well as daily policing practices that STILL defy logic and reason despite how obvious it is that they bear no semblance of common sense.

But continue they do, ridiculous or not...

They continue because the HBPD was, is and will likely continue to be led by people who really are NOT that interested in improving the performance and reputation of the police force and making hard choices, so that it at least measures up to what HB residents, taxpayers and small business owners have a reasonable right to expect, considering the giant over-sized slice of the city budget the HBPD currently consumes.

The ratio of HB taxpayer money spent on policing to the actual HB taxpayer's level of satisfaction is completely out-of-whack.

Things really need to change dramatically there soon.

In part, before the HBPD pension problems become so much worse that even the sleepwalking local news media finds themselves unable to ignore the problem any more, and HAVE TO start showing up at HB City Hall in person -which they hate, and not without reason.

Oh the ignominy of them showing-up at 400 S. Federal Highway, knowing perfectly well before they finally find a place to park in the too-small public parking lot that they will be met with a stonewall just like so many HB residents are when they want to know what's really going on at HB City Hall.

Imagine that, reporters actually (finally!) asking hard questions about how large those pension obligations are, and actually reporting what the percentage of the city's future budget they'll be consuming, though the truth is that we all know most of the local print reporters would rather just be leaving messages from their officefor the city's spokesman, messages that will never be returned.

You know, "unavailable for comment."

Try looking up "unavailable for comment" in the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel's archives  PLUS the words "Hallandale Beach" and see how many times that comes up.

If yours truly only had a five-dollar bill for every time a newspaper article said that about someone at HB City Hall since i moved here, we'd already have that next trip to Sweden in the Fall already paid for -airfare, lodging and some really good food this time!

Turkish House of Cards finally coming apart? Istanbul - Come for the peaceful protests, but stay for the tear gas and the water cannons! Turkey continues to screw-up over-and-over, play the 'heavy,' and cause reasonable Western observers to shake their heads and wonder whether it can now be trusted in the future; blogger Dani Karlsson is right in the middle of the action!

bakshow1 YouTube Channel video: Overview of Gezi Park protests in Istanbul and government's clumsy and heavy-handed response, as seen via Al Jazeera News' English-language service. Uploaded May 31, 2013. http://youtu.be/-MZpzPeeKOk


Taksim Istanbul
by Its me, your Dani June 1st, 2013 15:57

Well, as so often seems to be the case, Swedish model and blogger Dani Karlsson, of "It's me, your Danni" fame, recently in Miami, has found herself in the middle of everything yet again.
I mean really in the right place at the right time.

This week, in the middle of the mass protests by Turkish citizens, chiefly in Istanbul, who don't want the government to chop down some much-needed shade trees and level parts of Gezi Park,  a spot of green amongst acres and acres of concrete, merely to indulge their edifice complex instincts and do some redevelopment in a place where it's both inappropriate and unpopular, though there's no accounting for taste among visiting tourists.

Tens of thousands of regular citizens participated there and eslewhere in Turkey.
And in the case of the former, received complimentary tear gas and water cannons for their troubles.

Dani, who appears on the popular Metromode blogging platform, has lots of photos of her
protest experience at http://dani.metromode.se/2013/06/01/occupy-taksim/

The BBC's take on the government's heavy-handed reaction and the police over-reaction, is interesting:

Correspondents say that what was initially a local issue has spiralled into widespread anti-government unrest and anger over the perceived "Islamisation" of Turkey.

One woman told Agence France-Presse: "They want to turn this country into an Islamist state, they want to impose their vision all the while pretending to respect democracy."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22741644

Meanwhile, Channel 4 News has their own take here.

Channel 4 News video: Turkey protests: police fire tear gas on demonstrators
Turkish police fire tear gas and pressurised water at demonstrators on a second day of anti-government action, which was sparked by a protest to protect a park from redevelopment. 
SATURDAY 01 JUNE 2013
http://www.channel4.com/news/turkey-protest-police-tear-gas-taksim-square-istanbul-ankara  They're chanting, among other things, "shoulder to shoulder against fascism"

In their dispatch from there today, Reuters deals a lot more with the increasingly-seen authoritarian side of the current Turkish Prime Minister and the grave concerns among secular Turks that he is increasingly willing-accomplice in undoing what modern Turkey had become -a small-case democracy with a majority Muslim population within NATO.

If Erdogan keeps it up, he will be initiating the brain drain that's long been feared.
Once that happens, that country will quickly lose its dynamism and become the land of misfits as companies bolt. leaving the dummies behind.

Reuters
Turkish PM Erdogan calls for end to protests as clashes flare
By Nick Tattersall and Humeyra Pamuk
ISTANBUL/ANKARA | Sat Jun 1, 2013 4:23pm EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/01/us-turkey-protests-idUSBRE94U0J920130601

American Thinker
Are the Turkish people finally waking up to 'creeping Islamization'?
By Rick Moran
June 1, 2013
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/06/are_the_turkish_people_finally_waking_up_to_creeping_islamization.html

Observations on today's funeral of Margaret Thatcher, THE most-important woman of the 20th Century, and for years, THE most-famous person. Period. History will remember her forever even as some of her political opponents and their professional social misfit allies are still rehashing the same feeble arguments that were thoroughly rejected three times by the British public when it counted -on Election Day; watch the funeral at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22151589

pressassociation·YouTube Channel video: Prime Minister David Cameron pays respects to Baroness Thatcher following the 87-year-old's death following a stroke. 

http://youtu.be/7lYolV88nLQ

UKParliament YouTube Channel: Tributes to Baroness Thatcher in the House of Commons Chamber. The House of Commons was recalled from the Easter Recess on Wednesday 10 April, to pay tribute to Baroness Thatcher via a general debate on the motion 'That this House has considered the matter of tributes to the Rt Hon Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven LG OM'. This excerpt consists of remarks by Prime Minister David Cameron and Opposition Leader Ed Milliband. Uploaded April 10, 2013.  http://youtu.be/KsTdIECilSs

Observations on today's funeral of Margaret Thatcher, THE most-important woman of the 20th Century, and for years, THE most-famous person. Period. History will remember her forever even as some of her political opponents and their professional social misfit allies are still rehashing the same feeble arguments that were thoroughly rejected three times by the British public when it counted -on Election Day; watch the funeral at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22151589

2:00 a.m.

I've got so very much to say about Margaret Thatcher that I've decided, rather reluctantly, and very much against my original plans from the weekend, to wait a few more days to posit it all at one time.

I did however want to share three columns -and some videos- that, to my way of thinking, offer the most spot-on assessments that have appeared in print or online since the news of Lady Thatcher's death last week, since they deal principally with the continuing power of her ideas and her ideals for making Great Britain strong and relevant again -Thatcherism.

I'm going to be watching the funeral at St. Paul's starting in a few hours, about 6 a.m. Eastern, via BBC News , which I'm watching right now as I type this.
You can watch it online now at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22151589

Wales Online

“She inspired love in her admirers, hatred in her foes and fear in her ministers. She dominated her Government and the nation like no other British leader since 1945.”

By Robert Llewellyn-Jones

14 Apr 2013 10:32

As a young reporter Sir Max Hastings felt like he had been hit by a "10-ton truck" after interviewing Mrs Thatcher when she was Secretary of State for Education in the 1970s

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/business/business-news/sir-max-hastings-late-margaret-2594155

The Guardian

The Iron Lady is dead but Thatcherism lives on

In death Margaret Thatcher has caused further division. 

The left has failed to convince enough people of the alternatives

By Gary Younge

11 April 2013 16.00 EDT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/11/iron-lady-dead-thatcherism-lives?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Reason magazine
How Thatcher Liberated Western Europe
Even while saying "No. No. No," the famous Euro-skeptic helped the continent say yes to much-needed reforms
By Matt Welch
April 9, 2013
http://reason.com/archives/2013/04/09/how-thatcher-liberated-western-europe

For more information, see http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/lady-thatcher-1925-2013/

Growing anger in Great Britain as foster-care scandal widens by the hour as party leaders & pols of all stripes condemn Labour-led Rotherham Council Social Services removal of three children from experienced foster-parents -with spotless record- because of their political beliefs

ITV News YouTube Channel: UKip leader Nigel Farage on Rotherham fostering case. Uploaded November 26, 2012. http://youtu.be/Gc_lw7V6iTM
This is from today and was uploaded this afternoon, U.S. Eastern time

Growing anger in Great Britain as foster-care scandal widens by the hour as party leaders & pols of all stripes condemn Labour-led Rotherham Council Social Services removal of three children from experienced foster-parents -with spotless record- because of their political beliefs. 

The three children involved are a baby girl, a boy and an older girl, and the couple who have been foster parents many times before consist of a retired Royal Navy reservist who works with disabled children and his wife who is a is a licensed nursery nurse. Political correctness run amok!

ITV News YouTube Channel: Conservative Party co-chair Michael Fabricant on possible pact with UKip that would allow a straight-up Yes or No referendum on EU membership if UKip doesn't oppose them. But today UKip has pulled their willingness to participate in such a pact because of Prime Minister David Cameron's comments. 
On Saturday, though, Channel 4 News' "Snowmail" news email, which I subscribe to had a subject header that read, "Cameron's U-turn on Ukip: they're 'not closet racists.'" But then Downing Street retracted the retraction! Uploaded November 26, 2012. http://youtu.be/6hbadVRcKdo 

BBC News, Daily Politics show: Rotherham Council faces fostering legal threat from UKip. Party leader Nigel Farage has suggested taking legal action against them after it removed foster children from a family who are members of his party. November 26, 2012. Video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20496707



View Larger Map
Rotherham is located in South Yorkshire

Now here's more on the story in chronological order...

Saturday...

Channel 4 News video: The Rotherham Borough Council's Social Services' decision to remove three happy and well-adjusted foster children from emergency placement from their experienced foster-parents is 'indefensible' says Minister of Education Michael Gove. This report gives a timeline on the situation. Posted November 24, 2012.

http://bcove.me/7ysg4chv

Article at: http://www.channel4.com/news/ukip-couple-have-foster-children-removed-from-care

Channel 4 News video: UKip leader Nigel Farage responds to questions from Channel 4 news presenter on 'racist' tag. Posted November 24, 2012.
Video at http://bcove.me/2fjaiir8

BBC News video: Labour leader Ed Miliband: 'Urgent investigation' into fostering row. Posted November 24, 2012. 
Video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20475812


UKIP Webmaster YouTube Channel video: Foster-parent scandal in Rotherham. Various news bites from SkyNews and BBC. A solid case of Political Correctness run amok that's taking children from parents with a spotless record? Uploaded November 24, 2012. http://youtu.be/WwpNYUvaLfk

On Sunday morning, as more and more people have learned the facts, people woke-up to this shocking news in The Daily Mail...

We were RIGHT to take foster children away from Ukip couple insists social workers as they blame party's 'extreme' views for decision
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238155/We-RIGHT-foster-children-away-Ukip-couple-insists-social-workers.html


UKIP Webmaster YouTube Channel video: On the BBC's Sunday Politics show, host Andrew Neil spoke to Tim Loughton, a conservative Party MP and the former Labour Minister for Children and Families and Liam Byrne, a Labour MP, and current Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on the story that has everyone up-in-arms and wondering if there's something rotten in Rotherham? Uploaded November 25, 2012. http://youtu.be/P86iRpSc9tc
The complete interview between Neil and Byrne is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20495841

Liarspoliticians YouTube Channel is at: http://www.youtube.com/user/liarpoliticians

Updated news and videos on this story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/rotherham

Intrepid Swedish police inspector Kurt Wallander and beautiful-but-dangerous Ystad FINALLY makes it back to TV in Miami again

EmilyBarkerandTRCH video: Nostalgia by Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo from their "Despite The Snow" album. Track was subsequently re-recorded with composer Martin Phipps and used as the theme to "Wallander," winning a Royal Television Society Award for best original theme and a BAFTA for best TV soundtrack.Uploaded on June 26, 2010. http://youtu.be/w098rz-rdiQ

See also: https://sites.google.com/a/blowupthenandnow.com/branagh-s-wallander/theme-music

Before you ask, yes, you're right, I was just thinking the same thing.

PBS has taken seemingly forever to catch-up on the English language TV series adaption of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels, starring Kenneth Branagh as the idealistic Swedish police inspector who investigates murder in the greater Ystad area of Skåne in southern Sweden, that has both its rural-but-beautiful charm as well as the Danish medieval old town area. (And many readers of the blog!)



BBCWorldwide video: Wallander's Revenge. Scenes of Ystad Square. Uploaded on March 5, 2010. http://youtu.be/0QpgFaCQOnc

Originally broadcast on BBC1, where it continues to air and Series 3 started up in early July, almost two years since the last episode of Series 2 was supposed to air in the U.S., this past Sunday we finally saw Season 3's series-opener An Event in Autumn.
Below, a preview of that episode.

Watch Wallander: An Event in Autumn Preview on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

See the entire episode online here until October 9th: http://video.pbs.org/video/2276220740

This has been a particular problem far from both Albion and Wallander's Ystad, as where I live in South Florida, the Miami PBS station has NOT shown some of the series episodes from the previous two seasons, the last of which was supposed to air in October of 2010.

gogomezzz video: PBS "Wallander" Series 1, Episode 1- "Sidetracked" based on the 1999 novel  "Villospår," starring Kenneth Branagh as Police Inspector Kurt Wallander. Here, with David Warner as his father Povel Wallander, who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. Uploaded on October 6, 2010. http://youtu.be/gXRjmsMpaA8 

I know because I've waited and waited and waited... only to hear about it from friends in other U.S. cities, while we in backwater South Florida were getting buried under an avalanche of WPBT's mishmash of programming geared to get elderly Anglophiles and elderly supporters of Israel to cough up some money during one of their all-too-frequent fundraising drives.

The last point is ironic given Mankell's well-known anti-Israel political sentiments, even to the point of having been a passenger and willing participant on one of the Palestinian Ship of Fools flotillas that never succeeded, but still, I wanted to see the shows -in order- and not have to buy the DVD to do that.

I've said it here before but it bears repeating: to me, compared to the options that are available to other PBS viewers in other parts of the country, WPBT-TV, Channel 2, based out of North Miami, is the worst-run PBS station of any American city I've ever lived in, given its resources and locale, and I know of what I speak.

It is so far from what it once was - entrepreneurial, opportunistic and community-minded.

That was back when I and some friends of mine in the pre-Cable TV mid-1970's, actually went around the North Miami Beach area trying to get local businesses -especially bars and restaurants- to contribute money to Channel 2 when they announced, quite out-of-the-blue, that IF they received enough money to purchase the rights, they would simulcast -wait for it- the NHL's Stanley Cup Finals. 

We succeeded, they aired it, we watched it in huge numbers -and the then-small number of sports bars were happy to have so many hockey fans showing up heir venues.

Everyone won, especially South Florida's sports fans.

The current management people making decisions at Channel 2 seem not capable of the sort of thinking outside-of-the-box that its former execs did to give South Florida programming that nobody else was offering us.

If they ever has a fastball, they've lost it, and it's clear that it's never coming back...

See also
BBC News
Sir Kenneth Branagh: Knighthood 'surreal'
18 June 2012 
Last updated at 10:03 ET 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18493574


In the Footsteps of Wallander: A Guide to Ystad and the surrounding area for fans of criminal inspector Kurt Wallander:
http://www.ystad.se/ystadweb.nsf/wwwpages/2B771FAB0A5A7DC9C125730700343C64/$File/wallander_pdf_english.pdf
To get an application for the above, download at App Store and Android Market. www.wallander.ystad.se


ystadweb video: The Film about Ystad (English version, HD). Uploaded March 11, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC8yRj9HJTQ

Unless something unusual happens in the next few weeks, like some crazy and wonderful invitation or completely out-of-the-blue opportunity presents itself, I won't be getting to Skåne on my upcoming trip to Sweden. 
Or Malmö or Göteborg.

-----
https://sites.google.com/a/blowupthenandnow.com/branagh-s-wallander/

http://www.emily-barker.com

http://www.henningmankell.com/

Olympic torch fever sweeps across Great Britain as huge crowds watch the flame and its torchbearers make their way towards London in 13 days, delighting supporters and surprising cynics; #London2012, #London2012TorchRelay, #bbctorchcam

London2012 video: Olympic Torch Relay Week 8 Highlights - London 2012
http://youtu.be/N_Qn7YdWzU0

Beanyman62News video: London 2012 Olympics -Prime Minister David Cameron greets Olympic Torchbearers in his constituency in West Oxfordshire, and discusses the immense popularity and interest in the progress of the relays across Great Britain as they make their way to the Opening Ceremonies in London on the night of July 27th. http://youtu.be/2TP8fiolA30

On Wednesday, Day 53, it was The Queen and Prince Philip and The Olympic Flame and Sebastian Coe at Windsor Castle:http://twitter.com/London2012/status/222737068747526144/photo/1

WiltshireCouncil video: U.S. Gold medalist Michael Johnson's Olympic Torch Run at Stonehenge. July 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/blOP_nGf-Bg

On Friday the 13th, Day 55, the flame went thru Dorset, one of the most magical places in all of England. (If it's not God's Country, it's a nearby suburb!.)

Seriously, who doesn't love Dorset, beautiful any time of the year, rain or shine!

Moment to Shine

In Dorset, 15-year old swimmer and torchbearer Lisa Devine at the lookout at Durdle Door

http://twitter.com/London2012/status/223830983529603074/photo/1/large
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18812188

http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2012/07/olympic-torch-relay-continues-into-day-55-starting-off-at-stonehenge/#1 Moments she will never forget!

The Olympic Torch relays start in the morning and remember the five-hour time difference between Miami/EDT and London right now, so unless you are a night owl, you can always  watch videotape of what happened While You Were Sleeping

Follow the progress of the Torch here, http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/route/

and watch the Olympic Torch relay Route LIVE at http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay and 
http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/video/live.html

This morning, I watched it make its way from Bournemouth to Southhampton, where 100 years ago this past April, everything started out so swimmingly for the maiden voyage of The Titanic...

BBC torchcam becomes cult viewing worldwide

Roger Mosey | 11:09 UK time, Wednesday, 23 May 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/rogermosey/2012/05/bbc_torchcam_becomes_cult_view.html

At 10 a.m., they're zipping down the road in one of their many vehicles with a police escort, since as you might've already guessed, though the route is 8,000 miles, there isn't someone running or walking for all 8,000 miles over 70 days.   

At 10:01 we just passed the Esso service station...

#London2012TorchRelay

Realtime: https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23London2012TorchRelay
http://www.youtube.com/user/london2012/