SEAWORLD - Caves-in to Fanatics

IMHO:  It's a sad day when fanatics rule.  They can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.  What's next, banning of fish tanks in your home because your fish are harmed by not being in oceans or rivers?

"No more Shamu — SeaWorld to end breeding of killer whales" PBS NewsHour 3/17/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  SeaWorld has made headlines several times in the past decade; trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by a captive orca during a live show in 2010, and a 2013 documentary focused intense scrutiny on the family-oriented theme park over the use of killer whales as show animals.  On Thursday, SeaWorld announced that it would no longer breed or keep orcas. Jeffrey Brown reports.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  Orca whales have been entertaining audiences at SeaWorld parks since 1964.  Once feared — they’re commonly known as killer whales — they have become hugely popular and even beloved.

Today’s announcement, made with the Humane Society, means the era of public exhibition is, gradually at least, coming to an end.

JOEL MANBY, CEO, SeaWorld:  Current orcas under our care will be the last generation at SeaWorld.  We’re going to phase out our theatrical shows.

JEFFREY BROWN:  SeaWorld is ending its breeding program for the animals, though it’s keeping the whales it already has.

And the Orlando-based company says the shows will give way to what it calls inspiring natural orca encounters.  Animal rights activists have long criticized keeping the animals in captivity.

WOMAN:  Any of us would be miserable if we had to spend out life living in a bathtub.  And orcas at SeaWorld are just as miserable.  They spend their lives confined to tiny tanks, where they go mad from confinement and boredom.

JEFFREY BROWN:  The parks came under new scrutiny in 2010 after one of the whales drowned a trainer.  That attack later became the peg for 2013’s “Blackfish,” a documentary examining the effects of captivity on killer whales.

The company also faced regulatory and legislative efforts to ban orca captivity.  And ticket sales to the parks have dropped significantly.

And we’re joined now by the man who made today’s announcement, SeaWorld CEO and president Joel Manby; and by Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, a longtime critic of SeaWorld that worked with it on the new reform measures.

ISIS - Prophesying the End-of-Days

(aka "The World of the Delusional")

"How the Islamic State group justifies brutality with an apocalyptic vision" PBS NewsHour 11/2/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The Islamic State militant group is taking advantage of chaos and upheaval in the Middle East to recruit fighters by prophesying the end of days, says William McCants, an early Islam historian.  McCants joins chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner to discuss his new book “The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State.”

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Now another addition to the NewsHour Bookshelf.

As the U.S. steps up military efforts against the Islamic State in Syria, a question persists:  How did this extremely brutal group emerge so rapidly?  A new book offers one answer, “The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State.”  Its author is early Islam historian William McCants, senior fellow and project director at the Brookings Institution.

He spoke recently with chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner.

MARGARET WARNER (NewsHour):  Will McCants, welcome.

You suggest right at the beginning of the book that it was triggered in a way by a question your father asked, which is, why do they do that?  Is that what this book is, an answer for that?

WILLIAM MCCANTS, Author, The ISIS Apocalypse:  That’s right.

My dad is 85 years old.  And like most Americans, he watches the news and he can’t understand why a group like the Islamic State is so brutal to people and why they would be so extreme in their actions.  So, it’s for him that I — and people like him that I wrote this book.

MARGARET WARNER:  So, you, as your title says, chalk that up to its apocalyptic vision.  What is that vision?

WILLIAM MCCANTS:  That’s right.

The Islamic State believes that the end of the world is approaching and it believes that it has also reestablished God’s kingdom on Earth.  And that kingdom is going to wage an epic battle against the infidels before it all comes tumbling down.

MARGARET WARNER:  And that drives them, what, with a special sense of urgency?

WILLIAM MCCANTS:  Gives them a special sense of urgency, but also has been terrific for recruiting.

They have been able to attract a lot of foreigners to their cause and many of the foreigners, based on interviews with journalists, say that the main reason they’re there is because they believe that the world is coming to an end and the Islamic State is a fulfillment of prophecy.  So, they’re traveling there to do their bit.