Badly burned tank commander climbs back inside the burning armored vehicle to rescue a trapped crew member
I have often slammed the lose way the term ‘hero’ gets thrown around. In his glory days on the football field, O.J. Simpson was called a hero. Michael Jordan was called a hero for his basketball feats. Simpson and Jordan were no heroes. A hero is someone who risks his life for his country or to save the life of another human being, or even to save the life of an amnimal.
ISRAELI TANK COMMANDER RISKS LIFE TO SAVE CREW
By Miriam Kuhlmann
Israel Today
December 15, 2013
An investigation into an Israeli army training accident in which four soldiers were wounded along the Syrian border last week revealed that the commander of the tank involved demonstrated extraordinary courage.
With his quick thinking and rapid intervention, Second Lieutenant Eylon Tsarfati pulled his driver from the burning tank and prevented a far more tragic outcome.
Following an explosion in the tank when loose gun powder came in contact with a burning-hot gun muzzle, Tsarfati and two of his wounded crew members were promptly evacuated by others participating in the exercise.
Tsarfati immediately noticed that his driver was missing, and, despite having suffered burns over 30 percent of his legs, the young commander rushed back into the tank and pulled his last crew member to safety.
This kind of response "despite the burns he sustained is what you would expect from an IDF commander," a senior military official told Ynet.
All four of the tank crew members remain hospitalized, two of them in serious condition. But there is little doubt that without Tsarfati's selfless intervention, the incident would have ended in the loss of life.
Monday, December 16, 2013
FRANCIS PUTS THE KIBOSH TO LIMBAUGH’S DIARRHEA OF THE MOUTH
After the blowhard labeled him a Marxist, Pope Francis replied, “Marxist ideology is wrong, but I have known many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended”
It figures that Roach Limburger would shoot his big mouth off by describing the Pope’s criticism of the inequities in capitalism as “pure Marxism.”
‘I’M NO MARXIST’, POPE FRANCIS TELLS CONSERVATIVE CRITICS
Thomson/Reuters
December 15, 2013
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, responding to conservative criticisms that his economic and social ideas smack of communism, said in an Italian newspaper interview on Sunday that he is not a Marxist but that even Marxists can be good people.
Francis also denied reports that he would name a woman cardinal, said there was good progress in cleaning up Vatican finances and confirmed that he would visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next year, La Stampa said.
Last month, American radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who has a huge following in the United States, railed against the pope for written comments made on the world economy.
Limbaugh, who is not Catholic, said that parts of the document were "pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope" and suggested that someone else had written the papal document for him. He also accused the pope of going "beyond Catholicism" and being "purely political."
Asked about the accusations, which sparked a debate in the media and blogosphere last month, Francis, a member of the all-male Jesuit order associated with progressive social policies, said, "Marxist ideology is wrong. But in my life I have known many Marxists who are good people, so I don't feel offended."
He has also been criticized by other conservatives.
In last month's document, seen as a platform for his papacy, Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny" said an "economy of exclusion and inequality" had proven to be deadly for many people around the world.
In his response to the critics, Francis said he was not speaking "as a technician but according to the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, and this does not mean being Marxist". He said he was just trying to present a "snapshot of what is happening" in the world today.
In another document last week, Francis said huge salaries and bonuses were symptoms of an economy based on greed and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap.
Conservatives in the 1.2 billion member Church have expressed concern and disappointment about some of the pope's pronouncements, such as when he said he was not in a position to judge homosexuals who are people of good will sincerely seeking God.
Asked about speculation that a woman could be among the new cardinals he will appoint early next year, he said: "I don't know where that idea comes from. Women in the Church should be valued, not 'clericalized.'"
In other parts of the interview, Francis also said a committee of eight cardinals from around the world who are advising him on changes to the Vatican structure would make its first formal recommendations to him in February but that reform would be a "lengthy task."
He said that reform of the Vatican's sometimes murky finances was "on the right path" and expressed satisfaction that last week a Council of Europe committee called Moneyval gave the Vatican a good evaluation of its efforts to abide by international financial standards.
He said he had not yet decided what to do about the Vatican bank, which has been touched by scandals over the decades. In the past he has not ruled out closing it.
Francis said he was "getting ready" to go to the Holy Land next year to mark the 50th anniversary of when Pope Paul VI became the first pope in modern times to visit there.
He has been invited by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to make a visit, which is expected to take place in May or June.
It figures that Roach Limburger would shoot his big mouth off by describing the Pope’s criticism of the inequities in capitalism as “pure Marxism.”
‘I’M NO MARXIST’, POPE FRANCIS TELLS CONSERVATIVE CRITICS
Thomson/Reuters
December 15, 2013
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, responding to conservative criticisms that his economic and social ideas smack of communism, said in an Italian newspaper interview on Sunday that he is not a Marxist but that even Marxists can be good people.
Francis also denied reports that he would name a woman cardinal, said there was good progress in cleaning up Vatican finances and confirmed that he would visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next year, La Stampa said.
Last month, American radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who has a huge following in the United States, railed against the pope for written comments made on the world economy.
Limbaugh, who is not Catholic, said that parts of the document were "pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope" and suggested that someone else had written the papal document for him. He also accused the pope of going "beyond Catholicism" and being "purely political."
Asked about the accusations, which sparked a debate in the media and blogosphere last month, Francis, a member of the all-male Jesuit order associated with progressive social policies, said, "Marxist ideology is wrong. But in my life I have known many Marxists who are good people, so I don't feel offended."
He has also been criticized by other conservatives.
In last month's document, seen as a platform for his papacy, Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny" said an "economy of exclusion and inequality" had proven to be deadly for many people around the world.
In his response to the critics, Francis said he was not speaking "as a technician but according to the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, and this does not mean being Marxist". He said he was just trying to present a "snapshot of what is happening" in the world today.
In another document last week, Francis said huge salaries and bonuses were symptoms of an economy based on greed and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap.
Conservatives in the 1.2 billion member Church have expressed concern and disappointment about some of the pope's pronouncements, such as when he said he was not in a position to judge homosexuals who are people of good will sincerely seeking God.
Asked about speculation that a woman could be among the new cardinals he will appoint early next year, he said: "I don't know where that idea comes from. Women in the Church should be valued, not 'clericalized.'"
In other parts of the interview, Francis also said a committee of eight cardinals from around the world who are advising him on changes to the Vatican structure would make its first formal recommendations to him in February but that reform would be a "lengthy task."
He said that reform of the Vatican's sometimes murky finances was "on the right path" and expressed satisfaction that last week a Council of Europe committee called Moneyval gave the Vatican a good evaluation of its efforts to abide by international financial standards.
He said he had not yet decided what to do about the Vatican bank, which has been touched by scandals over the decades. In the past he has not ruled out closing it.
Francis said he was "getting ready" to go to the Holy Land next year to mark the 50th anniversary of when Pope Paul VI became the first pope in modern times to visit there.
He has been invited by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to make a visit, which is expected to take place in May or June.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
KERRY'S PEACE PIPE MUST BE FULL OF FUNNY TOBACCO
I don’t know what kind of tobacco Secretary of State John Kerry has been smoking, but I do not see either side in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict agreeing to the other side’s core demands. OK, so both sides have agreed to keep talking, but that does not mean they will reach any agreements on such core issues as borders, Israel’s security, Jewish settlements and Jerusalem.
The main reason Israel is participating in the peace talks is because it is being pressured by the U.S. to do so. The Palestinians are participating because they hope that with the backing of the Europeans they can force Israel to make suicidal concessions.
The U.S. and the Europeans refuse to acknowledge that the avowed goal of the Palestinians is to obliterate the Jewish state. When addressing the Arab world in Arabic, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and other PLO leaders have repeatedly vowed that “There will be only one state from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.”
So what was in that peace pipe Kerry has been smoking … crack or pot? His statements on the peace process sound like the ramblings of a crackpot.
KERRY: ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN DEAL POSSIBLE BY END OF APRIL
Thomson/Reuters
December 14, 2013
TEL AVIV, Israel — Shrugging off gloomy predictions of failure, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that Israelis and Palestinians remained committed to peace talks and were on course to wrap up a full deal by April.
Speaking at the end of his second visit to the region in just a week, Kerry said the two sides were discussing a framework for a final-status accord to resolve the core issues at the heart of the decades-old conflict.
"Both parties remain committed to fulfilling their obligations to stay at the table and negotiate hard during the nine-month period that we set for that," Kerry told reporters after separate talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
"We're not talking at this point about any shifts [in the schedule]," he said, dismissing bleak assessments from both sides on progress in the U.S.-brokered negotiations, which resumed in July after a three-year pause.
The U.S. top diplomat wants the two camps to accept a so-called framework accord that will touch on all the main issues, such as security, the future of Jerusalem and the fate of refugees, and serve as a broad outline for the final deal.
Palestinians fear such a preliminary agreement could serve to delay once again their hopes of establishing an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — land the Israelis seized in the 1967 war.
Kerry said his talks over the past two days, played out against a backdrop of fierce winter snow storms, had focused on security, with retired U.S. General John Allen joining him for the discussions with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian sources said Allen, a former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, had drawn up plans to allow a continued Israeli military presence for the next 10 years in the Jordan Valley — along the eastern border of any new Palestinian state.
Israel says its troops have to remain there to prevent arms and militants from entering the West Bank and launching attacks. Abbas has rejected the idea, but said he would accept seeing U.S. troops deployed along the border.
"We are working on an approach that both guarantees Israel's security and fully respects Palestinian sovereignty," Kerry said, without giving further details.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said after Kerry's visit "we want to achieve a peace based on Israel's withdrawal from lands occupied in 1967."
"We won't accept limiting Palestinian sovereignty over our land," Erekat added, in comments to al Arabiya television.
Palestinians also question whether Israel will press ahead with the third tranche of a planned release of Palestinian prisoners.
Seen as a vital confidence-building measure, Israel has so far freed about half the 104 prisoners it had pledged to let out of its jails under a deal secured by Washington in July. Kerry said the third tranche would go ahead on Dec. 29.
Kerry has made nine visits to the region since taking office in February in a relentless campaign to gain momentum and bridge a vast gulf of mutual mistrust.
"We remain hopeful that we can achieve that final-status agreement. Why? Because we are absolutely confident . . . that for both sides, and the region at large, peace can bring enormous benefits," Kerry said.
He left Israel later on Friday, bound for Vietnam and the Philippines.
The main reason Israel is participating in the peace talks is because it is being pressured by the U.S. to do so. The Palestinians are participating because they hope that with the backing of the Europeans they can force Israel to make suicidal concessions.
The U.S. and the Europeans refuse to acknowledge that the avowed goal of the Palestinians is to obliterate the Jewish state. When addressing the Arab world in Arabic, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and other PLO leaders have repeatedly vowed that “There will be only one state from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.”
So what was in that peace pipe Kerry has been smoking … crack or pot? His statements on the peace process sound like the ramblings of a crackpot.
KERRY: ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN DEAL POSSIBLE BY END OF APRIL
Thomson/Reuters
December 14, 2013
TEL AVIV, Israel — Shrugging off gloomy predictions of failure, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that Israelis and Palestinians remained committed to peace talks and were on course to wrap up a full deal by April.
Speaking at the end of his second visit to the region in just a week, Kerry said the two sides were discussing a framework for a final-status accord to resolve the core issues at the heart of the decades-old conflict.
"Both parties remain committed to fulfilling their obligations to stay at the table and negotiate hard during the nine-month period that we set for that," Kerry told reporters after separate talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
"We're not talking at this point about any shifts [in the schedule]," he said, dismissing bleak assessments from both sides on progress in the U.S.-brokered negotiations, which resumed in July after a three-year pause.
The U.S. top diplomat wants the two camps to accept a so-called framework accord that will touch on all the main issues, such as security, the future of Jerusalem and the fate of refugees, and serve as a broad outline for the final deal.
Palestinians fear such a preliminary agreement could serve to delay once again their hopes of establishing an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — land the Israelis seized in the 1967 war.
Kerry said his talks over the past two days, played out against a backdrop of fierce winter snow storms, had focused on security, with retired U.S. General John Allen joining him for the discussions with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian sources said Allen, a former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, had drawn up plans to allow a continued Israeli military presence for the next 10 years in the Jordan Valley — along the eastern border of any new Palestinian state.
Israel says its troops have to remain there to prevent arms and militants from entering the West Bank and launching attacks. Abbas has rejected the idea, but said he would accept seeing U.S. troops deployed along the border.
"We are working on an approach that both guarantees Israel's security and fully respects Palestinian sovereignty," Kerry said, without giving further details.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said after Kerry's visit "we want to achieve a peace based on Israel's withdrawal from lands occupied in 1967."
"We won't accept limiting Palestinian sovereignty over our land," Erekat added, in comments to al Arabiya television.
Palestinians also question whether Israel will press ahead with the third tranche of a planned release of Palestinian prisoners.
Seen as a vital confidence-building measure, Israel has so far freed about half the 104 prisoners it had pledged to let out of its jails under a deal secured by Washington in July. Kerry said the third tranche would go ahead on Dec. 29.
Kerry has made nine visits to the region since taking office in February in a relentless campaign to gain momentum and bridge a vast gulf of mutual mistrust.
"We remain hopeful that we can achieve that final-status agreement. Why? Because we are absolutely confident . . . that for both sides, and the region at large, peace can bring enormous benefits," Kerry said.
He left Israel later on Friday, bound for Vietnam and the Philippines.
PITTSBURGH COPS TO ASK VICTIMS 11 QUESTIONS DESIGNED TO HEAD OFF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DEATHS
The 11 questions are intended to gauge the potential for homicide or serious assaults in the future
I believe this program has the potential of reducing domestic violence murders and injuries.
PROGRAM TO HELP VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
By Margaret Harding
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
December 13, 2013
A new Pittsburgh police program will try to connect domestic violence victims with resources to reduce the risk of more violence, police leaders said on Friday.
Beginning Monday, officers responding to intimate partner domestic violence calls will ask the victim 11 questions meant to gauge the potential for homicide or serious assaults in the future, Acting Chief Regina McDonald said at a news conference at headquarters in the North Side.
Officers will use a department-provided cellphone to call the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh hot line to put the victim in touch with an advocate if they determine the victim is at a high risk of further trouble.
“Domestic violence will only get worse if it's not handled,” said Sgt. Eric Kroll, an instructor at the police academy.
The program is modeled after the Maryland Lethality Assessment Program. City Council passed legislation in June requiring officers to undergo domestic violence training. That legislation was prompted by the death of Ka'Sandra Wade, 33, who called 911 a day before police found her shot to death in her Lowell Street home in Larimer.
Two officers responding to the call on Dec. 31 left when Wade's boyfriend, Anthony L. Brown, 51, of Point Breeze, spoke to them through a window but refused to let them in. Brown confessed to killing her in a note and committed suicide during a standoff at his apartment on Jan. 2.
Shirl Regan, president of the Women's Shelter, said national statistics show that only 4 percent of victims of domestic violence-related homicides previously reached out to resources such as women's shelters.
“The goal is to immediately make a relationship between the victim and a service provider,” Regan said. “We know there is going to be a lot more individuals coming forward and getting help.”
Two detectives in the city's sex assault and family violence squad will follow up and reach out to victims who were unable to talk to an advocate.
“You reinforce what the officer has already done,” said Detective Tamara Hawthorne. “It gives them confidence that you can do this, you can break away.”
Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1 President Mike LaPorte said he has concerns the violence assessment and subsequent hot line phone call could affect response times and officers' ability to answer other calls.
“At the same time, if it does get someone the help they wouldn't have otherwise gotten, then it's worth it,” LaPorte said.
I believe this program has the potential of reducing domestic violence murders and injuries.
PROGRAM TO HELP VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
By Margaret Harding
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
December 13, 2013
A new Pittsburgh police program will try to connect domestic violence victims with resources to reduce the risk of more violence, police leaders said on Friday.
Beginning Monday, officers responding to intimate partner domestic violence calls will ask the victim 11 questions meant to gauge the potential for homicide or serious assaults in the future, Acting Chief Regina McDonald said at a news conference at headquarters in the North Side.
Officers will use a department-provided cellphone to call the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh hot line to put the victim in touch with an advocate if they determine the victim is at a high risk of further trouble.
“Domestic violence will only get worse if it's not handled,” said Sgt. Eric Kroll, an instructor at the police academy.
The program is modeled after the Maryland Lethality Assessment Program. City Council passed legislation in June requiring officers to undergo domestic violence training. That legislation was prompted by the death of Ka'Sandra Wade, 33, who called 911 a day before police found her shot to death in her Lowell Street home in Larimer.
Two officers responding to the call on Dec. 31 left when Wade's boyfriend, Anthony L. Brown, 51, of Point Breeze, spoke to them through a window but refused to let them in. Brown confessed to killing her in a note and committed suicide during a standoff at his apartment on Jan. 2.
Shirl Regan, president of the Women's Shelter, said national statistics show that only 4 percent of victims of domestic violence-related homicides previously reached out to resources such as women's shelters.
“The goal is to immediately make a relationship between the victim and a service provider,” Regan said. “We know there is going to be a lot more individuals coming forward and getting help.”
Two detectives in the city's sex assault and family violence squad will follow up and reach out to victims who were unable to talk to an advocate.
“You reinforce what the officer has already done,” said Detective Tamara Hawthorne. “It gives them confidence that you can do this, you can break away.”
Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1 President Mike LaPorte said he has concerns the violence assessment and subsequent hot line phone call could affect response times and officers' ability to answer other calls.
“At the same time, if it does get someone the help they wouldn't have otherwise gotten, then it's worth it,” LaPorte said.
FRANCIS CATCHING FLACK FROM FRANCISCANS
It looks as though not every Catholic is pleased with the Pope’s progressive proclamations.
POPE’S CRACKDOWN ON ORDER ALARMS TRADITIONALISTS
Associated Press
December 14, 2013
Pope Francis has come under scathing criticism from a growing number of traditionalist Catholics for cracking down on a religious order that celebrates the old Latin Mass.
The matter concerns the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, a small but growing order that was founded in Italy in 1990 as an offshoot of the larger Franciscan order of the pope's namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.
The Vatican in July took the order over and last week imposed remarkable sanctions: closing its seminary, suspending ordinations, and requiring priests to accept the post-Vatican II Mass.
The case has become a flashpoint in the ideological tug-of-war going on in the church over Francis' revolutionary agenda, which has thrilled progressives and alarmed conservatives.
POPE’S CRACKDOWN ON ORDER ALARMS TRADITIONALISTS
Associated Press
December 14, 2013
Pope Francis has come under scathing criticism from a growing number of traditionalist Catholics for cracking down on a religious order that celebrates the old Latin Mass.
The matter concerns the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, a small but growing order that was founded in Italy in 1990 as an offshoot of the larger Franciscan order of the pope's namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.
The Vatican in July took the order over and last week imposed remarkable sanctions: closing its seminary, suspending ordinations, and requiring priests to accept the post-Vatican II Mass.
The case has become a flashpoint in the ideological tug-of-war going on in the church over Francis' revolutionary agenda, which has thrilled progressives and alarmed conservatives.
IS SANTA CLAUS WHITE, BLACK, LATINO OR ASIAN?
When will fools like Fox’s Megyn Kelly and this N.M. educated idiot educator learn that Santa can be whatever a young kid wants him to be? This is not a political correctness issue, it’s a matter of common sense.
I am sure that if Christians in Africa celebrate Santa Claus, he is black. And Santa Claus in Latin America is Latino. And to African Christians, Jesus is very likely seen as black.
NM TEACHER TELLS BLACK STUDENT SANTA IS WHITE
By Todd Beamon
Newsmax
December 14, 2013
A New Mexico high school teacher has been disciplined after a parent says the man told his African-American son that Santa Claus is white.
Officials at the school in Rio Rancho, about 15 miles north of Albuquerque, said on Friday that the teacher was disciplined for his comments to the student, but they declined to say how, KOB-TV reported.
The move came after students at Cleveland High School were told they could come to class dressed as Santa, an elf, or a reindeer.
Michael Rougier said his ninth-grade son, Christopher, arrived wearing a Santa hat and beard, and the teacher asked the boy: "Don't you know Santa Claus
is white? Why are you wearing that?"
The teacher's name was not released, and attempts by The Associated Press to reach school officials Saturday were unsuccessful.
Michael Rougier said the teacher's comments enraged him.
"There's no room for that in the classroom," he said. "Whether this teacher felt Christopher may have been wearing this out of context, there's no room for it. There's just no room for it."
The incident happened the same week that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly said on the air that both Santa Claus and Jesus were white.
Her comments came during a panel discussion Wednesday on "The Kelly File" about a column by an African-American female who said she was ashamed as a child because "our black Santa wasn’t the real thing."
Kelly's remarks drew national attention and prompted a slew of heated comments on blogs, social media sites, and television shows.
Kelly responded to the attacks on her Friday program, saying that "race is still an incredibly volatile issue in this country and Fox News, and yours truly, are big targets for many people."
In New Mexico, a spokesman for Rio Rancho Public Schools said the Cleveland High School teacher knows he made a "dumb" mistake and has since apologized to the Rougier family.
Michael Rougier said he still had concerns.
"If he has that attitude, how is it affecting students, studies, grading habits, trending toward Caucasian kids?" Rougier said of the teacher.
The teacher still works at Cleveland, but Christopher has been removed from his class, KOB-TV reported.
I am sure that if Christians in Africa celebrate Santa Claus, he is black. And Santa Claus in Latin America is Latino. And to African Christians, Jesus is very likely seen as black.
NM TEACHER TELLS BLACK STUDENT SANTA IS WHITE
By Todd Beamon
Newsmax
December 14, 2013
A New Mexico high school teacher has been disciplined after a parent says the man told his African-American son that Santa Claus is white.
Officials at the school in Rio Rancho, about 15 miles north of Albuquerque, said on Friday that the teacher was disciplined for his comments to the student, but they declined to say how, KOB-TV reported.
The move came after students at Cleveland High School were told they could come to class dressed as Santa, an elf, or a reindeer.
Michael Rougier said his ninth-grade son, Christopher, arrived wearing a Santa hat and beard, and the teacher asked the boy: "Don't you know Santa Claus
is white? Why are you wearing that?"
The teacher's name was not released, and attempts by The Associated Press to reach school officials Saturday were unsuccessful.
Michael Rougier said the teacher's comments enraged him.
"There's no room for that in the classroom," he said. "Whether this teacher felt Christopher may have been wearing this out of context, there's no room for it. There's just no room for it."
The incident happened the same week that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly said on the air that both Santa Claus and Jesus were white.
Her comments came during a panel discussion Wednesday on "The Kelly File" about a column by an African-American female who said she was ashamed as a child because "our black Santa wasn’t the real thing."
Kelly's remarks drew national attention and prompted a slew of heated comments on blogs, social media sites, and television shows.
Kelly responded to the attacks on her Friday program, saying that "race is still an incredibly volatile issue in this country and Fox News, and yours truly, are big targets for many people."
In New Mexico, a spokesman for Rio Rancho Public Schools said the Cleveland High School teacher knows he made a "dumb" mistake and has since apologized to the Rougier family.
Michael Rougier said he still had concerns.
"If he has that attitude, how is it affecting students, studies, grading habits, trending toward Caucasian kids?" Rougier said of the teacher.
The teacher still works at Cleveland, but Christopher has been removed from his class, KOB-TV reported.
CHINA’S SPACE PROGRAM TO ATTEMPT ROVER LANDING ON MOON (UPDATE)
Here is an update to my post of December 1.
CHINA SAFELY SOFT-LANDS ROVER ON THE MOON
Associated Press
December 14, 2013
State media say China has safely carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades.
State television showed pictures of the moon's surface as the Chang'e 3 lander touched down Saturday evening.
The lander carries a moon rover called "Jade Rabbit" that will separate from the lander and embark on a three-month scientific exploration.
China is the third country to carry out a lunar soft landing after the United States and the former Soviet Union. The last one was in 1976.
China's ambitious space program is an enormous source of pride for the country. China plans to eventually land people on the moon.
CHINA SAFELY SOFT-LANDS ROVER ON THE MOON
Associated Press
December 14, 2013
State media say China has safely carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades.
State television showed pictures of the moon's surface as the Chang'e 3 lander touched down Saturday evening.
The lander carries a moon rover called "Jade Rabbit" that will separate from the lander and embark on a three-month scientific exploration.
China is the third country to carry out a lunar soft landing after the United States and the former Soviet Union. The last one was in 1976.
China's ambitious space program is an enormous source of pride for the country. China plans to eventually land people on the moon.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
CIA DRONE BLASTS YEMEN WEDDING PARTY
Apparently the CIA drone strikes have resulted in some collateral damage with innocent civilians being killed and wounded in Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. There have been some cases in which the CIA targeted the wrong residences and cars.
U.S. DRONE STRIKE HITS WEDDING PARTY KILLING 15 PEOPLE, YEMENI OFFICIALS SAY
15 people died and 5 more were injured when party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday
Reuters
December 12, 2013
Yemeni officials said today that a U.S. drone strike has hit a convoy heading to wedding party, killing 15 people.
Their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday.
The officials did not identify the plane in the strike in central al-Bayda province, but tribal and local media sources said that it was a drone.
'An air strike missed its target and hit a wedding car convoy, ten people were killed immediately and another five who were injured died after being admitted to the hospital,' one security official said.
Five more people were injured, the officials said.
Department of Defense made no comment when contacted by MailOnline on Thursday.
The United States has stepped up drone strikes as part of a campaign against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the most active wing of the militant network.
Yemen, AQAP's main stronghold, is among a handful of countries where the United States acknowledges using drones, although it does not comment on the practice.
Human Rights Watch said in a detailed report in August that U.S. missile strikes, including armed drone attacks, have killed dozens of civilians in Yemen.
Stabilizing the country, which is also struggling with southern separatists and northern rebels, is an international priority due to fears of disorder in a state that flanks top oil producer Saudi Arabia and major shipping lanes.
On Monday, missiles fired from a U.S. drone killed at least three people traveling in a car in eastern Yemen.
U.S. DRONE STRIKE HITS WEDDING PARTY KILLING 15 PEOPLE, YEMENI OFFICIALS SAY
15 people died and 5 more were injured when party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday
Reuters
December 12, 2013
Yemeni officials said today that a U.S. drone strike has hit a convoy heading to wedding party, killing 15 people.
Their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday.
The officials did not identify the plane in the strike in central al-Bayda province, but tribal and local media sources said that it was a drone.
'An air strike missed its target and hit a wedding car convoy, ten people were killed immediately and another five who were injured died after being admitted to the hospital,' one security official said.
Five more people were injured, the officials said.
Department of Defense made no comment when contacted by MailOnline on Thursday.
The United States has stepped up drone strikes as part of a campaign against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the most active wing of the militant network.
Yemen, AQAP's main stronghold, is among a handful of countries where the United States acknowledges using drones, although it does not comment on the practice.
Human Rights Watch said in a detailed report in August that U.S. missile strikes, including armed drone attacks, have killed dozens of civilians in Yemen.
Stabilizing the country, which is also struggling with southern separatists and northern rebels, is an international priority due to fears of disorder in a state that flanks top oil producer Saudi Arabia and major shipping lanes.
On Monday, missiles fired from a U.S. drone killed at least three people traveling in a car in eastern Yemen.
THE CIA TORTURED CAPTIVES?
I can’t believe the CIA would stoop so low as to torture anyone. Why not? Because the CIA has told us they haven’t tortured anybody.
OBAMA WON’T RELEASE SENATE REPORT ON CIA TORTURE
By Lisa Barron
Newsmax
December 13, 2013
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence adopted a 6,300 page report on the CIA's post-9/11 torture program a year ago — but it remains classified, meaning nobody else has seen it.
That's because the Obama administration has yielded to pressure from a faction in the CIA to keep the agency's rendition, detention, and interrogation tactics secret, The Atlantic reports.
Senators from both parties, however, have pushed the White House to make the contents of the report public.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona has said the report "confirms for me what I have always believed and insisted to be true—that the cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of prisoners is not only wrong in principle and a stain on our country's conscience, but also an ineffective and unreliable means of gathering intelligence."
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the intelligence committee, said she thinks releasing the information "will settle the debate once and for all over whether our nation should ever employ coercive interrogation techniques such as those detailed in this report."
In addition, the study contradicts the belief that these techniques were what led to finding Osama bin Laden's courier, suggesting that "the CIA detainee who provided the most accurate information about the courier provided the information prior to being subjected to coercive interrogation techniques," according to McCain, Feinstein, and Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, reports Politico Magazine.
And Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told the publication that the reports details how "the CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information about its interrogation program to the White House, the Justice Department, and Congress."
The CIA reportedly sent a response to the report to Congress, criticizing many of its findings, but has apparently addressed just the bullet points that come before the executive summary.
Meanwhile, the Center for Victims of Torture is pressing not only for the release of the study but also for a response from the government.
"The Intelligence Committee’s 6,000-plus page report, containing more than 35,000 footnotes, is a serious and comprehensive review of the CIA’s past torture program. The report is a significant step to making sure the U.S. government does not return to official policies of torture and cruel treatment," said Curt Goering, executive director of CVT.
"The Administration needs to get right its response to it. While the CIA certainly has a role in reviewing the report and providing feedback to the Intelligence Committee, given the agency’s large hand in policies of torture and cruel treatment, their comments should not be allowed to pass through without an independent assessment from other relevant agencies, including the White House."
"Not doing so would be like letting the fox guard the henhouse," he added.
OBAMA WON’T RELEASE SENATE REPORT ON CIA TORTURE
By Lisa Barron
Newsmax
December 13, 2013
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence adopted a 6,300 page report on the CIA's post-9/11 torture program a year ago — but it remains classified, meaning nobody else has seen it.
That's because the Obama administration has yielded to pressure from a faction in the CIA to keep the agency's rendition, detention, and interrogation tactics secret, The Atlantic reports.
Senators from both parties, however, have pushed the White House to make the contents of the report public.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona has said the report "confirms for me what I have always believed and insisted to be true—that the cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of prisoners is not only wrong in principle and a stain on our country's conscience, but also an ineffective and unreliable means of gathering intelligence."
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the intelligence committee, said she thinks releasing the information "will settle the debate once and for all over whether our nation should ever employ coercive interrogation techniques such as those detailed in this report."
In addition, the study contradicts the belief that these techniques were what led to finding Osama bin Laden's courier, suggesting that "the CIA detainee who provided the most accurate information about the courier provided the information prior to being subjected to coercive interrogation techniques," according to McCain, Feinstein, and Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, reports Politico Magazine.
And Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told the publication that the reports details how "the CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information about its interrogation program to the White House, the Justice Department, and Congress."
The CIA reportedly sent a response to the report to Congress, criticizing many of its findings, but has apparently addressed just the bullet points that come before the executive summary.
Meanwhile, the Center for Victims of Torture is pressing not only for the release of the study but also for a response from the government.
"The Intelligence Committee’s 6,000-plus page report, containing more than 35,000 footnotes, is a serious and comprehensive review of the CIA’s past torture program. The report is a significant step to making sure the U.S. government does not return to official policies of torture and cruel treatment," said Curt Goering, executive director of CVT.
"The Administration needs to get right its response to it. While the CIA certainly has a role in reviewing the report and providing feedback to the Intelligence Committee, given the agency’s large hand in policies of torture and cruel treatment, their comments should not be allowed to pass through without an independent assessment from other relevant agencies, including the White House."
"Not doing so would be like letting the fox guard the henhouse," he added.
30-YEAR-OLD HAS EARNED $11 MORE THAN HE WOULD HAVE WITHOUT COLLEGE EDUCATION
The Onion
December 13, 2013
DUBLIN, OH—After accounting for the cost of tuition, four years of lost earning potential, and the minimal increase in salary an undergraduate degree provides, 30-year-old local man Patrick Moorhouse has, at this point in his life, earned $11 more than he would have had he not attended college at all, an independent study confirmed today.
“All told, Patrick’s B.A. in Political Science translates to about $5,000 more in annual wages, but when you account for his student loan payments, including his 6 percent interest rate, his degree from a respected four-year university amounts to slightly more than 10 extra bucks in his wallet,” said researcher Ken Overton, adding that had Moorhouse been accepted to his more prestigious first-choice college, his earnings would have totaled $54 more than if he had never enrolled in higher education. “If Patrick had started working straight out of high school, he would have had slightly fewer job options than he does now, but living at home instead of a dorm or student apartment even just those first two years would have added at least $16,000 in total savings, which pretty much evens things out. All in all, the countless hours Patrick spent stressing about getting into school and then working hard to succeed in college have been more or less a financial wash.”
The study noted, however, that one cannot ever truly put a price on the 12 Post-WWII European History lectures Moorhouse attended junior year.
December 13, 2013
DUBLIN, OH—After accounting for the cost of tuition, four years of lost earning potential, and the minimal increase in salary an undergraduate degree provides, 30-year-old local man Patrick Moorhouse has, at this point in his life, earned $11 more than he would have had he not attended college at all, an independent study confirmed today.
“All told, Patrick’s B.A. in Political Science translates to about $5,000 more in annual wages, but when you account for his student loan payments, including his 6 percent interest rate, his degree from a respected four-year university amounts to slightly more than 10 extra bucks in his wallet,” said researcher Ken Overton, adding that had Moorhouse been accepted to his more prestigious first-choice college, his earnings would have totaled $54 more than if he had never enrolled in higher education. “If Patrick had started working straight out of high school, he would have had slightly fewer job options than he does now, but living at home instead of a dorm or student apartment even just those first two years would have added at least $16,000 in total savings, which pretty much evens things out. All in all, the countless hours Patrick spent stressing about getting into school and then working hard to succeed in college have been more or less a financial wash.”
The study noted, however, that one cannot ever truly put a price on the 12 Post-WWII European History lectures Moorhouse attended junior year.
HITLER MAKES THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON LIST, OBAMA DOESN’T
Well, it’s a relief to know that Lincoln and Washington outranked Hitler.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON EVER: HITLER, JESUS, SHAKESPEARE MAKE THE LIST
By Calvin TerBeek
Houston Press Hair Balls
December 13, 2013
Who's the most important person ever? Two computer scientists wanted to figure out who the most historically significant human beings to ever walk the face of the earth were (well, since we decided to start recording things with various forms of writing). So, being computer scientists, they developed computational models using Wikipedia and other data sources:
__We rank historical figures just as Google ranks webpages, by integrating a diverse set of measurements about their reputation (including PageRank, article length, and readership) into estimates of their fame, explained by a combination of achievement (gravitas) and celebrity. We correct for the passage of time in a principled way, so we can fairly compare the significance of historical figures of different eras.
Here's their Top 10 most significant persons of all time:
1. Jesus
2. Napoleon
3. Shakespeare
4. Muhammed
5. Abraham Lincoln
6. George Washington
7. Adolf Hitler
8. Aristotle
9. Alexander the Great
10. Thomas Jefferson
THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON EVER: HITLER, JESUS, SHAKESPEARE MAKE THE LIST
By Calvin TerBeek
Houston Press Hair Balls
December 13, 2013
Who's the most important person ever? Two computer scientists wanted to figure out who the most historically significant human beings to ever walk the face of the earth were (well, since we decided to start recording things with various forms of writing). So, being computer scientists, they developed computational models using Wikipedia and other data sources:
__We rank historical figures just as Google ranks webpages, by integrating a diverse set of measurements about their reputation (including PageRank, article length, and readership) into estimates of their fame, explained by a combination of achievement (gravitas) and celebrity. We correct for the passage of time in a principled way, so we can fairly compare the significance of historical figures of different eras.
Here's their Top 10 most significant persons of all time:
1. Jesus
2. Napoleon
3. Shakespeare
4. Muhammed
5. Abraham Lincoln
6. George Washington
7. Adolf Hitler
8. Aristotle
9. Alexander the Great
10. Thomas Jefferson
Friday, December 13, 2013
AFFLUENZA: PSYCHOLOGIST’S DIAGNOSIS LEADS TO GROSS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
Wealthy 16-year-old Texas teen steals beer, gets rip-roaring drunk, kills four pedestrians with speeding pickup truck, gets probation instead of jail time
On June 15, 16-year-old Ethan Couch and some friends stole two cases of beer from a Walmart in the Ft. Worth area. They proceeded to get rip-roaring drunk. With seven teen passengers in his speeding pickup truck, Couch ran down and killed four pedestrians on a dark road in Burleson, Texas. Two teens in the bed of the pickup were severely injured as well. Couch’s blood alcohol level was .24, three times the legal limit. Valium was also found in his system.
Couch pled guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of assault by intoxication causing bodily injury (to the two teenagers in the bed of the truck). Texas sentencing guidelines call for a 2-20-year prison term and a fine of up to $10,000. The judge, however, did not give him any jail time Tuesday and opted instead for 10 years of probation. And now Couch’s father wants to cough up $450,000 to put him in a California treatment facility.
District Judge Jean Boyd was influenced by the Affluenza diagnosis of psychologist Gary Miller. According to Miller, that affliction is the result of Couch’s wealthy parents letting him get away with anything. Miller testified that Couch ”never learned that sometimes you don’t get your way. He had the cars and he had the money. He had freedoms that no young man would be able to handle.”
Now it really breaks me up that young Ethan could not cope with the luxurious lifestyle that was so cruelly thrust upon him. I'm sure that poverty-stricken Americans are overjoyed that they do not have to suffer the unbearable burdens that come with wealth.
The stupid judge bought Miller’s phony affluenza diagnosis hook-line-and-sinker. Being a wealthy spoiled brat is a defense? What a gross miscarriage of justice. Ethan Couch is a thief and by getting behind the wheel of a car while drunk-as-a-skunk, he committed four murders, not manslaughter. The spoiled brat should have been put away for the maximum term of 20 years.
Dr. Gary Buffone, a Jacksonville, Florida psychologist, said Thursday that instead of affluenza, “the simple term would be spoiled brat.” Buffone was highly critical of the judge's ruling, saying: “Essentially what [Judge Boyd] has done is slapped this child on the wrist for what is obviously a very serious offense which he would be responsible for in any other situation. The [affluenza] defense is laughable, the disposition is horrifying … not only haven't the parents set any consequences, but it's being reinforced by the judge's actions.”
The affluenza defense is even more ridiculous than the Twinkie Defense used by Dan White’s attorneys in his 1979 trial for the murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
Miller is not the only one in his profession to use affluenza as an excuse for the bad behavior of rich kids. However, in its most recent manual, the American Psychiatric Association declared that it does not recognize the diagnosis of affluenza. If Judge Boyd would have just checked with the APA, she would have uncovered the scam perpetrated on her court by psychologist Miller.
On June 15, 16-year-old Ethan Couch and some friends stole two cases of beer from a Walmart in the Ft. Worth area. They proceeded to get rip-roaring drunk. With seven teen passengers in his speeding pickup truck, Couch ran down and killed four pedestrians on a dark road in Burleson, Texas. Two teens in the bed of the pickup were severely injured as well. Couch’s blood alcohol level was .24, three times the legal limit. Valium was also found in his system.
Couch pled guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of assault by intoxication causing bodily injury (to the two teenagers in the bed of the truck). Texas sentencing guidelines call for a 2-20-year prison term and a fine of up to $10,000. The judge, however, did not give him any jail time Tuesday and opted instead for 10 years of probation. And now Couch’s father wants to cough up $450,000 to put him in a California treatment facility.
District Judge Jean Boyd was influenced by the Affluenza diagnosis of psychologist Gary Miller. According to Miller, that affliction is the result of Couch’s wealthy parents letting him get away with anything. Miller testified that Couch ”never learned that sometimes you don’t get your way. He had the cars and he had the money. He had freedoms that no young man would be able to handle.”
Now it really breaks me up that young Ethan could not cope with the luxurious lifestyle that was so cruelly thrust upon him. I'm sure that poverty-stricken Americans are overjoyed that they do not have to suffer the unbearable burdens that come with wealth.
The stupid judge bought Miller’s phony affluenza diagnosis hook-line-and-sinker. Being a wealthy spoiled brat is a defense? What a gross miscarriage of justice. Ethan Couch is a thief and by getting behind the wheel of a car while drunk-as-a-skunk, he committed four murders, not manslaughter. The spoiled brat should have been put away for the maximum term of 20 years.
Dr. Gary Buffone, a Jacksonville, Florida psychologist, said Thursday that instead of affluenza, “the simple term would be spoiled brat.” Buffone was highly critical of the judge's ruling, saying: “Essentially what [Judge Boyd] has done is slapped this child on the wrist for what is obviously a very serious offense which he would be responsible for in any other situation. The [affluenza] defense is laughable, the disposition is horrifying … not only haven't the parents set any consequences, but it's being reinforced by the judge's actions.”
The affluenza defense is even more ridiculous than the Twinkie Defense used by Dan White’s attorneys in his 1979 trial for the murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
Miller is not the only one in his profession to use affluenza as an excuse for the bad behavior of rich kids. However, in its most recent manual, the American Psychiatric Association declared that it does not recognize the diagnosis of affluenza. If Judge Boyd would have just checked with the APA, she would have uncovered the scam perpetrated on her court by psychologist Miller.
‘PAT-DOWNS’ NOT GOOD ENOUGH WHEN COPS SEARCH PRISONER BEFORE TRANSPORTING HIM TO JAIL
N.C. teen is the latest in growing number of cases where handcuffed prisoners in the back of a cop car shoot themselves
It was one year ago that a handcuffed Houston teenager shot himself to death in the back of a police patrol car. And now we have a Durham, N.C. teen who shot himself likewise. There have been a number of other such shootings throughout the U.S.
Any way you cut it, the fault has to lie in the search technique used by the arresting officers. Although the cops will deny it, I suspect that in these cases they conducted only cursory pat-downs instead of a thorough and methodical search where they grip the prisoner’s body and limbs sliding their hands up and down, including the crotch area, to detect any weapons the arrestee may be concealing.
Pat-downs are usually OK for a stop-and-frisk, but once a person has been taken into custody, he must be carefully and thoroughly searched.
NC TEEN DIED OF SELF-INFLICTED WOUND IN SQUAD CAR
Jesus Huerta was searched and cuffed before he somehow shot himself in the cruiser's backseat
By Wes Platt
The Herald-Sun
December 12, 2013
DURHAM, N.C. — Jesus Huerta, the Riverside High School student who died Nov. 19 in the back of a Durham police officer's patrol car, suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Police Chief Jose Lopez Sr.
"Whether that wound was accidental or intentional is unknown at thistime," Lopez told reporters during a news conference Wednesday at police headquarters.
He said that the state medical examiner's office confirmed the cause of death. However, state officials told The Herald-Sun that although an autopsy was completed weeks ago, no report had been released nor was it available Wednesday.
It remains unclear exactly how Huerta — who Lopez said was searched and cuffed behind the back by Officer Samuel Duncan before he was put into the patrol car — managed to get a gun into the car with him, let alone pull the trigger.
The chief provided more narrative for the events of the early morning hours of Nov. 19 than had been released before:
Duncan responded to the 1200 block of Washington Street in reference to a runaway. Once he reached the area, Duncan encountered Huerta and thought he might be the runaway.
"Another male with Huerta was also located at the scene and he gave officers a false name," Lopez said. "Another officer took this person, Jamie Perez, to headquarters where Perez was issued a citation for resist, delay and obstruct and then he was released."
Duncan found an outstanding warrant for a second-degree trespassing charge against Huerta. The officer then handcuffed, searched and detained Huerta in the back seat.
On the way to the Durham County Jail, Duncan stopped at police headquarters on Chapel Hill Street to obtain a copy of the warrant. As he pulled into the parking lot, the officer heard what he thought was a gunshot and "jumped from the vehicle for fear of being shot," Lopez said. The car, still moving, rolled through the parking lot until it stopped against another parked vehicle.
Duncan immediately called 911 and asked for paramedics after he saw Huerta slumped over in the back seat, "still handcuffed behind him and not moving," the chief said.
Investigators found a handgun on the floorboard of the patrol car.
"Our department continues to investigate the origin of the weapon, but we can confirm that it was not a departmental weapon and no officer fired a weapon during this incident," Lopez said.
"I know that it is hard for people not in law enforcement to understand how someone could be capable of shooting themselves while handcuffed behind the back," he said. "While incidents like this are not common, they unfortunately have happened in other jurisdictions in the past."
In December 2012, a high school student in the Houston area shot himself while in the back seat of a patrol car after he had been cuffed and searched.
Several months earlier, in Arkansas, a man named Chavis Carter was searched twice for weapons before he was handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car. Police in Jonesboro said he too managed to shoot himself with a hidden gun.
"You'd be surprised what an individual handcuffed behind can do," Lopez said.
Durham investigators would not divulge the type of handgun found with Huerta or where the bullet struck him in the head, saying it was still under review by the State Bureau of Investigation.
Part of the investigation includes exploring "the nature of the search" carried out by Duncan and whether it was thorough enough, Lopez said.
Duncan remains on administrative leave with pay pending completion of the investigation by the department's professional standards division.
"Once again, our thoughts and prayers remain with the Huerta family as we work through this sad and difficult situation," Lopez said.
Shortly after the incident, Jose Gomez told The Herald-Sun that he didn't believe that his friend, Huerta, would commit suicide.
"From the bottom of my heart, I believe he would not take his own life," Gomez said. "It wasn't in him to do something like that. He was happy to be alive."
Alex Charns, a lawyer representing Huerta's family, on Wednesday issued a statement criticizing the department's explanation.
"The chief's statement is a conclusion exonerating, in part, the DPD, while blaming the one person who can't speak for himself," Charns said. "The chief offers no details to support his claims. We are asked to trust without any way to verify the information."
The family made a public records request seeking all communications that touch on what happened to Jesus Huerta, including text messages, emails, voicemails and video footage from the patrol car and headquarters on the morning of his death.
Earlier this week, representatives from a Latino-focused organization called Presente.org joined Huerta's family in asking the federal government to lead an investigation into officer-related deaths and profiling concerns in Durham.
On Wednesday, that organization's executive director, Arturo Carmona, said the chief's statement underlined the need for federal intervention.
"The absurd statements by Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez about the shooting death of Jesus Huerta are sad, predictable and prove what the Huerta family and local Latinos know: the Durham police cannot and will not conduct a transparent investigation of the incident," Carmona said. "The Department of Justice needs to step in."
It was one year ago that a handcuffed Houston teenager shot himself to death in the back of a police patrol car. And now we have a Durham, N.C. teen who shot himself likewise. There have been a number of other such shootings throughout the U.S.
Any way you cut it, the fault has to lie in the search technique used by the arresting officers. Although the cops will deny it, I suspect that in these cases they conducted only cursory pat-downs instead of a thorough and methodical search where they grip the prisoner’s body and limbs sliding their hands up and down, including the crotch area, to detect any weapons the arrestee may be concealing.
Pat-downs are usually OK for a stop-and-frisk, but once a person has been taken into custody, he must be carefully and thoroughly searched.
NC TEEN DIED OF SELF-INFLICTED WOUND IN SQUAD CAR
Jesus Huerta was searched and cuffed before he somehow shot himself in the cruiser's backseat
By Wes Platt
The Herald-Sun
December 12, 2013
DURHAM, N.C. — Jesus Huerta, the Riverside High School student who died Nov. 19 in the back of a Durham police officer's patrol car, suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Police Chief Jose Lopez Sr.
"Whether that wound was accidental or intentional is unknown at thistime," Lopez told reporters during a news conference Wednesday at police headquarters.
He said that the state medical examiner's office confirmed the cause of death. However, state officials told The Herald-Sun that although an autopsy was completed weeks ago, no report had been released nor was it available Wednesday.
It remains unclear exactly how Huerta — who Lopez said was searched and cuffed behind the back by Officer Samuel Duncan before he was put into the patrol car — managed to get a gun into the car with him, let alone pull the trigger.
The chief provided more narrative for the events of the early morning hours of Nov. 19 than had been released before:
Duncan responded to the 1200 block of Washington Street in reference to a runaway. Once he reached the area, Duncan encountered Huerta and thought he might be the runaway.
"Another male with Huerta was also located at the scene and he gave officers a false name," Lopez said. "Another officer took this person, Jamie Perez, to headquarters where Perez was issued a citation for resist, delay and obstruct and then he was released."
Duncan found an outstanding warrant for a second-degree trespassing charge against Huerta. The officer then handcuffed, searched and detained Huerta in the back seat.
On the way to the Durham County Jail, Duncan stopped at police headquarters on Chapel Hill Street to obtain a copy of the warrant. As he pulled into the parking lot, the officer heard what he thought was a gunshot and "jumped from the vehicle for fear of being shot," Lopez said. The car, still moving, rolled through the parking lot until it stopped against another parked vehicle.
Duncan immediately called 911 and asked for paramedics after he saw Huerta slumped over in the back seat, "still handcuffed behind him and not moving," the chief said.
Investigators found a handgun on the floorboard of the patrol car.
"Our department continues to investigate the origin of the weapon, but we can confirm that it was not a departmental weapon and no officer fired a weapon during this incident," Lopez said.
"I know that it is hard for people not in law enforcement to understand how someone could be capable of shooting themselves while handcuffed behind the back," he said. "While incidents like this are not common, they unfortunately have happened in other jurisdictions in the past."
In December 2012, a high school student in the Houston area shot himself while in the back seat of a patrol car after he had been cuffed and searched.
Several months earlier, in Arkansas, a man named Chavis Carter was searched twice for weapons before he was handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car. Police in Jonesboro said he too managed to shoot himself with a hidden gun.
"You'd be surprised what an individual handcuffed behind can do," Lopez said.
Durham investigators would not divulge the type of handgun found with Huerta or where the bullet struck him in the head, saying it was still under review by the State Bureau of Investigation.
Part of the investigation includes exploring "the nature of the search" carried out by Duncan and whether it was thorough enough, Lopez said.
Duncan remains on administrative leave with pay pending completion of the investigation by the department's professional standards division.
"Once again, our thoughts and prayers remain with the Huerta family as we work through this sad and difficult situation," Lopez said.
Shortly after the incident, Jose Gomez told The Herald-Sun that he didn't believe that his friend, Huerta, would commit suicide.
"From the bottom of my heart, I believe he would not take his own life," Gomez said. "It wasn't in him to do something like that. He was happy to be alive."
Alex Charns, a lawyer representing Huerta's family, on Wednesday issued a statement criticizing the department's explanation.
"The chief's statement is a conclusion exonerating, in part, the DPD, while blaming the one person who can't speak for himself," Charns said. "The chief offers no details to support his claims. We are asked to trust without any way to verify the information."
The family made a public records request seeking all communications that touch on what happened to Jesus Huerta, including text messages, emails, voicemails and video footage from the patrol car and headquarters on the morning of his death.
Earlier this week, representatives from a Latino-focused organization called Presente.org joined Huerta's family in asking the federal government to lead an investigation into officer-related deaths and profiling concerns in Durham.
On Wednesday, that organization's executive director, Arturo Carmona, said the chief's statement underlined the need for federal intervention.
"The absurd statements by Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez about the shooting death of Jesus Huerta are sad, predictable and prove what the Huerta family and local Latinos know: the Durham police cannot and will not conduct a transparent investigation of the incident," Carmona said. "The Department of Justice needs to step in."
HUSBAND’S SUGGESTION FOR WIFE'S BREAST ENLARGEMENT
The Unconventional Gazette
December 12, 2013
Fresh from her shower, Betty stoodd in front of the mirror complaining to her husband Bob that her breasts are too small. Instead of characteristically telling her it's not so, he uncharacteristically comes up with a suggestion.
"If you want your breasts to grow, then every day take a piece of toilet paper and rub it between them for a few seconds."
Willing to try anything, Betty fetched a piece of toilet paper and stood in front of the mirror, rubbing it between her breasts. "How long will this take?" she asked.
"They will grow larger over a period of years," her husband replied.
She stopped. "Do you really think rubbing a piece of toilet paper between my breasts every day will make my breasts larger over the years?"
Without missing a beat he says, "Worked for your ass, didn't it?"
Bob is still alive, and with a great deal of therapy, he may even walk again, although he will probably continue to take his meals through a straw.
December 12, 2013
Fresh from her shower, Betty stoodd in front of the mirror complaining to her husband Bob that her breasts are too small. Instead of characteristically telling her it's not so, he uncharacteristically comes up with a suggestion.
"If you want your breasts to grow, then every day take a piece of toilet paper and rub it between them for a few seconds."
Willing to try anything, Betty fetched a piece of toilet paper and stood in front of the mirror, rubbing it between her breasts. "How long will this take?" she asked.
"They will grow larger over a period of years," her husband replied.
She stopped. "Do you really think rubbing a piece of toilet paper between my breasts every day will make my breasts larger over the years?"
Without missing a beat he says, "Worked for your ass, didn't it?"
Bob is still alive, and with a great deal of therapy, he may even walk again, although he will probably continue to take his meals through a straw.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
CONDEMNATION OF OBAMA’S ACTIONS AT MANDELA MEMORIAL IS ABSURD
As soon as pictures and reports of Obama shaking hands with Cuba’s President Raul Castro at the Mandela memorial surfaced, there was a torrent of criticism that rained down on the president. And when pictures of Obama taking a selfie with his cellphone camera of British Prime Minister David Cameraon, Denmark’s hottie Prime Minster Helle Thorning-Schmidt and the three of them laughing it up, the chorus of criticism became even louder.
As all of you must know by now, I have no use for President Obama. But give me a break! There’s nothing in what Obama did that merits any criticism. He was at a memorial service that lasted four hours. Surely people did not expect him to shed tears during the whole ceremony. I’ve been to memorials that did not last anywhere that long, and people tend to joke around among themselves from time to time during the occasion.
As for shaking hands with Raul Castro, what could possibly be wrong with that? Obama was merely following the protocol of greeting the leaders of other nations. They just shook hands. Obama did not embrace Castro or bow down to him like he did in 2009 with the Saudi King.
The U.S. would have had some sort of accommodation or reconciliation with Cuba long ago if it were not foe the vehement opposition of the politically powerful Cuban exile community in Miami. All the sanctions we have enforced against Cuba, sanctions that other nations have not imposed, have not brought about the downfall of the Castro regime. Our sanctions have only hurt Cuban’s common people and they have also hurt America’s farmers and businesses.
The condemnation of his actions at the Mandela memorial is nothing more than a load of crap dumped on the president by those who look for any excuse to criticize or humiliate Obama. Shame, shame on them!
As all of you must know by now, I have no use for President Obama. But give me a break! There’s nothing in what Obama did that merits any criticism. He was at a memorial service that lasted four hours. Surely people did not expect him to shed tears during the whole ceremony. I’ve been to memorials that did not last anywhere that long, and people tend to joke around among themselves from time to time during the occasion.
As for shaking hands with Raul Castro, what could possibly be wrong with that? Obama was merely following the protocol of greeting the leaders of other nations. They just shook hands. Obama did not embrace Castro or bow down to him like he did in 2009 with the Saudi King.
The U.S. would have had some sort of accommodation or reconciliation with Cuba long ago if it were not foe the vehement opposition of the politically powerful Cuban exile community in Miami. All the sanctions we have enforced against Cuba, sanctions that other nations have not imposed, have not brought about the downfall of the Castro regime. Our sanctions have only hurt Cuban’s common people and they have also hurt America’s farmers and businesses.
The condemnation of his actions at the Mandela memorial is nothing more than a load of crap dumped on the president by those who look for any excuse to criticize or humiliate Obama. Shame, shame on them!
SUNNIS AND SHIITES
If you have wondered about the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, Stratfor Global Intelligence provides the answer:
Sunni and Shia represent the two main sects of Islam. The sectarian divide has its origins dating back to the earliest days of Islam, following the death of Prophet Mohammed in 632.
At the time it was a political split on who should be the Prophet’s successor. The choice was between his closest lieutenant, Abu Bakr, and his cousin and son-in-law, Ali. Those who agreed on the latter went on to be known as Shia, and those who were in favor of the former became the Sunnis.
In essence, Sunnis believe in the caliph, who is decided upon by consensus of Muslims, while the Shiites believe in the imam, who is divinely ordained and has to be from the family of the Prophet.
Sunni and Shia represent the two main sects of Islam. The sectarian divide has its origins dating back to the earliest days of Islam, following the death of Prophet Mohammed in 632.
At the time it was a political split on who should be the Prophet’s successor. The choice was between his closest lieutenant, Abu Bakr, and his cousin and son-in-law, Ali. Those who agreed on the latter went on to be known as Shia, and those who were in favor of the former became the Sunnis.
In essence, Sunnis believe in the caliph, who is decided upon by consensus of Muslims, while the Shiites believe in the imam, who is divinely ordained and has to be from the family of the Prophet.
CIA WASTED $3 BILLION ON SPY PROGRAM
Another good example of your tax dollars at work.
CIA’S ANTI-TERRORISM NOC EFFORT CALLED ‘COLOSSAL FLOP’
$3 billion wasted; spent with little to show for it
By Ken Dilanian
McClatchy, Tribune
December 11, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Several years ago, a senior officer in the CIA clandestine service attended a closed-door conference for overseas operatives. Speakers included case officers who were working in the manner Hollywood usually portrays spies — out on their own.
Most CIA officers abroad pose as U.S. diplomats. But those given what's called non-official cover are known as NOCs, pronounced "knocks," and they typically pose as business executives. At the forum, the NOCs spoke of their cover jobs, their false identities and measures taken to protect them. Few said much about gathering intelligence.
A colleague passed a caustic note to the senior officer. "Lots of business," it read. "Little espionage."
Twelve years after the CIA began a major push to get its operatives out of embassy cubicles and into foreign universities, businesses and other local perches to collect intelligence on terrorists and rogue nations, the effort has been a disappointment, current and former U.S. officials say. Along with other parts of the CIA, the budget of the so-called Global Deployment Initiative, which covers the NOC program, is now being cut.
"It was a colossal flop," a former senior CIA official said in sentiments echoed by a dozen former colleagues, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified program.
Spurred by Congress after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the CIA rushed to put its eyes and ears in gritty corners of the globe where Al Qaeda and other adversaries operate or recruit. The risk was considerable: Unlike CIA officers in embassies, NOCs have no diplomatic immunity if caught, and could face imprisonment or worse.
The CIA spent at least $3 billion on the program, and the number of specially trained spies grew from dozens to hundreds. The entire clandestine service is believed to total about 5,000 people.
But because of inexperience, bureaucratic hurdles, lack of language skills and other problems, only a few of the deep-cover officers recruited useful intelligence sources, several former officers said.
Some of the most ambitious efforts were aimed at Iran, former officers said. The CIA created front companies and elaborate fake identities for operatives trying to recruit sources inside Iran's nuclear and missile procurement networks.
But Iranian authorities were able to expose American operatives, said two former senior CIA officials. They were transferred back to CIA headquarters in Virginia or other U.S. posts.
Sometimes the CIA didn't send the right people with the right cover, said Joseph Wippl, former chief of the CIA's Europe division. Others were posted "a zillion miles from where their targets were located," he said.
CIA leaders also were reluctant to put the special spies in harm's way.
"There was just a great unwillingness to put NOCs in really, really dangerous places," said another former case officer. "If you're a high-grade agency manager, are you going to sign off on a memo that puts Joe Schmuckatelli in Pyongyang? Whether you are a careerist or not, that is a hard decision for anybody to make."
The program also was tainted by financial irregularities, according to a former senior CIA official. The CIA's inspector general found that some NOCs billed the agency for unjustified time and expenses, three former officials said, and it forced a few to repay money.
A CIA spokesman, Todd Ebitz, declined to comment about the NOC program, its budget or its problems.
"The agency does not discuss publicly any cover techniques that it may employ," he wrote in an email. "The CIA does keep the congressional intelligence oversight committees fully informed of its activities, which are constantly evolving to meet the threats to national security. And, while the details of the agency budget remain properly classified, sequestration and budget cutbacks have affected the entire federal government, including CIA."
The best-known NOC was Valerie Plame. In the mid-1990s, while in Brussels, she posed as an energy analyst for a Boston-based firm, Brewster Jennings & Associates, which the CIA later acknowledged was a front company. Plame maintained her false identity after she moved back to CIA headquarters in 1997, traveling frequently to the Middle East and elsewhere to recruit agents who could spy in Iran and elsewhere.
Her CIA career ended in 2003 after Bush administration officials leaked her name to the press in an effort to discredit her husband, who had claimed the White House had manipulated intelligence on Iraq. A White House aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was later convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Plame's best-selling book on the case, "Fair Game," was turned into a Hollywood film.
Masking spies as engineers, consultants or other professions has long been part of the CIA playbook. But the push took on new urgency after the 2001 terrorist attacks exposed the CIA's lack of informants inside Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks.
It wasn't that CIA officers were expected to personally infiltrate Al Qaeda. But working outside the embassy might make it easier to recruit local sources in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere who could collect intelligence on terrorist money, aims and intentions.
In 2004, then-CIA Director Porter J. Goss announced a new effort to put more officers under deep cover to gain what he called "close-in access to the plans and intentions" of America's adversaries. Soon after, Congress passed legislation permitting undercover CIA officers serving overseas to keep salaries from their civilian cover jobs even if it exceeded their federal paychecks.
Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee pressed the CIA to go further. They attached a provision to their 2006 intelligence authorization measure questioning whether the spy service was "committed to doing what is needed to ensure that NOC operations are successful."
The agency doubled down. A growing number of recruits at the CIA training facility at Camp Peary, Va., known as the Farm — including the class of 2008, the largest in CIA history — was made up of NOCs, former officials said.
Unlike their classmates, they were barred from making cellphone calls or using the Internet in order to hide any ties to the CIA. Later, many would operate in their own names, holding real jobs for multinational companies around the globe.
But when it came to penetrating terrorist networks, NOCs suffered the same shortcomings as other CIA officers — too few spoke Urdu, Pashto, Dari or other necessary languages, or could disappear in local cultures, former CIA officers say.
In 2008, a former CIA operative's biting memoir, "The Human Factor," was published, describing his 15 years overseas targeting nuclear networks and terrorist groups. He wrote that the CIA had spent at least $3 billion since 2001 to get deep-cover operatives overseas, but only a few had been successfully deployed.
"There were only a handful of effective NOCs overseas, and that never changed," the author, who uses the pseudonym Ishmael Jones, said in a telephone interview.
In 2010, then-CIA Director Leon E. Panetta gave a speech promising "new approaches to cover." But the vast majority of case officers continue to pose as diplomats, U.S. officials say.
John Maguire, who retired from the CIA in 2005, argues that the CIA could help the NOC program by doing more to establish legitimate commerce for the front companies. But that would cause headaches for CIA administrators, he acknowledged.
Maguire said he knew only three successful NOCs in his 23 years as a case officer. "They were absolute nightmares for the administrative bureaucracy of the agency," he said.
CIA’S ANTI-TERRORISM NOC EFFORT CALLED ‘COLOSSAL FLOP’
$3 billion wasted; spent with little to show for it
By Ken Dilanian
McClatchy, Tribune
December 11, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Several years ago, a senior officer in the CIA clandestine service attended a closed-door conference for overseas operatives. Speakers included case officers who were working in the manner Hollywood usually portrays spies — out on their own.
Most CIA officers abroad pose as U.S. diplomats. But those given what's called non-official cover are known as NOCs, pronounced "knocks," and they typically pose as business executives. At the forum, the NOCs spoke of their cover jobs, their false identities and measures taken to protect them. Few said much about gathering intelligence.
A colleague passed a caustic note to the senior officer. "Lots of business," it read. "Little espionage."
Twelve years after the CIA began a major push to get its operatives out of embassy cubicles and into foreign universities, businesses and other local perches to collect intelligence on terrorists and rogue nations, the effort has been a disappointment, current and former U.S. officials say. Along with other parts of the CIA, the budget of the so-called Global Deployment Initiative, which covers the NOC program, is now being cut.
"It was a colossal flop," a former senior CIA official said in sentiments echoed by a dozen former colleagues, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified program.
Spurred by Congress after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the CIA rushed to put its eyes and ears in gritty corners of the globe where Al Qaeda and other adversaries operate or recruit. The risk was considerable: Unlike CIA officers in embassies, NOCs have no diplomatic immunity if caught, and could face imprisonment or worse.
The CIA spent at least $3 billion on the program, and the number of specially trained spies grew from dozens to hundreds. The entire clandestine service is believed to total about 5,000 people.
But because of inexperience, bureaucratic hurdles, lack of language skills and other problems, only a few of the deep-cover officers recruited useful intelligence sources, several former officers said.
Some of the most ambitious efforts were aimed at Iran, former officers said. The CIA created front companies and elaborate fake identities for operatives trying to recruit sources inside Iran's nuclear and missile procurement networks.
But Iranian authorities were able to expose American operatives, said two former senior CIA officials. They were transferred back to CIA headquarters in Virginia or other U.S. posts.
Sometimes the CIA didn't send the right people with the right cover, said Joseph Wippl, former chief of the CIA's Europe division. Others were posted "a zillion miles from where their targets were located," he said.
CIA leaders also were reluctant to put the special spies in harm's way.
"There was just a great unwillingness to put NOCs in really, really dangerous places," said another former case officer. "If you're a high-grade agency manager, are you going to sign off on a memo that puts Joe Schmuckatelli in Pyongyang? Whether you are a careerist or not, that is a hard decision for anybody to make."
The program also was tainted by financial irregularities, according to a former senior CIA official. The CIA's inspector general found that some NOCs billed the agency for unjustified time and expenses, three former officials said, and it forced a few to repay money.
A CIA spokesman, Todd Ebitz, declined to comment about the NOC program, its budget or its problems.
"The agency does not discuss publicly any cover techniques that it may employ," he wrote in an email. "The CIA does keep the congressional intelligence oversight committees fully informed of its activities, which are constantly evolving to meet the threats to national security. And, while the details of the agency budget remain properly classified, sequestration and budget cutbacks have affected the entire federal government, including CIA."
The best-known NOC was Valerie Plame. In the mid-1990s, while in Brussels, she posed as an energy analyst for a Boston-based firm, Brewster Jennings & Associates, which the CIA later acknowledged was a front company. Plame maintained her false identity after she moved back to CIA headquarters in 1997, traveling frequently to the Middle East and elsewhere to recruit agents who could spy in Iran and elsewhere.
Her CIA career ended in 2003 after Bush administration officials leaked her name to the press in an effort to discredit her husband, who had claimed the White House had manipulated intelligence on Iraq. A White House aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was later convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Plame's best-selling book on the case, "Fair Game," was turned into a Hollywood film.
Masking spies as engineers, consultants or other professions has long been part of the CIA playbook. But the push took on new urgency after the 2001 terrorist attacks exposed the CIA's lack of informants inside Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks.
It wasn't that CIA officers were expected to personally infiltrate Al Qaeda. But working outside the embassy might make it easier to recruit local sources in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere who could collect intelligence on terrorist money, aims and intentions.
In 2004, then-CIA Director Porter J. Goss announced a new effort to put more officers under deep cover to gain what he called "close-in access to the plans and intentions" of America's adversaries. Soon after, Congress passed legislation permitting undercover CIA officers serving overseas to keep salaries from their civilian cover jobs even if it exceeded their federal paychecks.
Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee pressed the CIA to go further. They attached a provision to their 2006 intelligence authorization measure questioning whether the spy service was "committed to doing what is needed to ensure that NOC operations are successful."
The agency doubled down. A growing number of recruits at the CIA training facility at Camp Peary, Va., known as the Farm — including the class of 2008, the largest in CIA history — was made up of NOCs, former officials said.
Unlike their classmates, they were barred from making cellphone calls or using the Internet in order to hide any ties to the CIA. Later, many would operate in their own names, holding real jobs for multinational companies around the globe.
But when it came to penetrating terrorist networks, NOCs suffered the same shortcomings as other CIA officers — too few spoke Urdu, Pashto, Dari or other necessary languages, or could disappear in local cultures, former CIA officers say.
In 2008, a former CIA operative's biting memoir, "The Human Factor," was published, describing his 15 years overseas targeting nuclear networks and terrorist groups. He wrote that the CIA had spent at least $3 billion since 2001 to get deep-cover operatives overseas, but only a few had been successfully deployed.
"There were only a handful of effective NOCs overseas, and that never changed," the author, who uses the pseudonym Ishmael Jones, said in a telephone interview.
In 2010, then-CIA Director Leon E. Panetta gave a speech promising "new approaches to cover." But the vast majority of case officers continue to pose as diplomats, U.S. officials say.
John Maguire, who retired from the CIA in 2005, argues that the CIA could help the NOC program by doing more to establish legitimate commerce for the front companies. But that would cause headaches for CIA administrators, he acknowledged.
Maguire said he knew only three successful NOCs in his 23 years as a case officer. "They were absolute nightmares for the administrative bureaucracy of the agency," he said.
THE FIVE WORST PEOPLE OF 2013
‘The 20 Worst People of 2013’ was posted by Peter Kotz in the December 11 issue of Houston Press Hair Balls. Here are the five worst from Kotz’s list:
5. Thomas Lowe
Eagan, Minnesota divorce lawyer Thomas Lowe was representing an abused woman with mental troubles. His services included more than unlimited bluster and threatening paperwork. He also provided full-immersion discovery, bedding her just to ensure that he'd probed every last detail of the case.
It is said that Lowe possesses the erotic fury of a caged ferret. The woman was smitten -- even though Lowe was actually billing her for their time in bed.
Six months later, the married lawyer declared the bedroom phase of the case concluded. But his decision was premature, perhaps clouded by the fact that her bank account was running low. She responded by trying to whack herself.
The affair was revealed at the hospital, which led the state bar association to accuse Lowe of conduct unbecoming, even for a lawyer. Though he had upheld the profession's highest calling -- the blind pursuit of billable hours -- his law license was indefinitely suspended.
4. Marcus O'Neal
Aside from spending the diaper money on Wild Turkey and crack, nothing quite says "I love you" like unbridled jealousy. Or so thought Marcus O'Neal.
He's not the most self-confident man. It's a reasonable position, since he's also a moron and a candy-ass. The evidence: His girlfriend had "liked" a photo on Facebook that showed a female friend and another man. O'Neal equated the like with lust for the man and flew into a rage.
He closed the windows so the neighbors couldn't hear, then began beating his girlfriend, calling her a whore and threatening to kill her as four kids in the home shrieked in horror.
At one point, the woman nearly blacked out. O'Neal ripped off her clothes, "inspecting for signs of infidelity," according to police. Because he'd never watched CSI, he was unaware that electronic images can't be detected on the human body.
Springfield, Missouri police charged him with three counts of domestic assault.
3. Jonathan Savas
There's a reason tornados always ask for directions to the nearest trailer park whenever they come to town. They're looking for people like Jonathan Savas.
Savas was hanging at a friend's mobile home in Sha-De-Land, Florida with his ten-month-old baby and the child's mother. The child wouldn't stop crying, presumably interrupting Savas' thoughtful discourse on Keynesian economics. So he decided to sit on the baby's head. Nothing quite silences a fussy infant like suffocation by buttocks.
The friend confronted Savas. The child's mom told him to stop. But Savas invoked his paternal right to be an asshole. "It's my baby," he allegedly responded. "I can do whatever I want."
Police contested his thesis by arresting him for child abuse.
2. William T. Woodward
William Woodward had a longstanding beef with a neighbor. The man had borrowed a roll of duct tape that went unreturned. Woodward simmered, since it's apparently very difficult to find duct tape in Florida.
His rage turned to a boil on Labor Day, when his neighbors were holding a cookout. Woodward claims he heard someone yell, "Come on, boys... We're going to get him. We're going to get him, all three of us." Or maybe he just imagined it, since the phrasing sounds suspiciously like the wooden dialogue on Rizzoli and Isles.
Either way, he snuck up on the party and shot three men, killing two of them. The third survived despite being shot 11 times.
Yet Woodward thought it a righteous shooting. He asked that murder charges be dismissed, citing Florida's Stand Your Ground law and the Bush Doctrine.
Legal experts believe the Stand Your Ground defense may be a longshot, since the law was intended to let Floridians shoot black kids who enjoy Skittles, not white guys cooking meat.
The Bush Doctrine shows more promise. It was used by President George W. Bush to justify the Iraq War. Though Iraq had yet to attack the U.S., he reasoned, it probably might. So he considered himself legally justified in blowing Iraq up now, rather than waiting until we're all wearing veils and getting squeamish over hot dogs.
Woodward awaits trial on murder charges.
1. Wells Fargo
Retiree Larry Delassus suffered from a rare blood-clot disorder that often left him disoriented and hospitalized. But this disability would prove minor compared to a more serious affliction: He was a customer of Wells Fargo.
The bank held the mortgage on his Hermosa Beach, California condo. Unfortunately for Larry, Wells Fargo mistook him for another customer, who happened to owe thirteen grand in back taxes. Despite his protests, it doubled Larry's mortgage to pay off the non-existent taxes. He quickly fell behind.
At some point, Wells Fargo discovered it had confused Larry with another resident of his complex. But the company foreclosed on him anyway.
Being a banker means never having to say you're sorry. And you get to take people's homes. It's a win-win situation.
Larry lost his condo and was forced into assisted living.
He sued Wells Fargo for negligence and discrimination, but died one day in court. A coroner ruled it heart failure. Larry's friends believe the bank killed him.
There is a happy ending, however. The American Bankers Association gave Wells Fargo its Benito Mussolini Award, bestowed annually for "the exemplary persecution of orphans, widows, and sickly old guys." It is considered the industry's highest honor.
5. Thomas Lowe
Eagan, Minnesota divorce lawyer Thomas Lowe was representing an abused woman with mental troubles. His services included more than unlimited bluster and threatening paperwork. He also provided full-immersion discovery, bedding her just to ensure that he'd probed every last detail of the case.
It is said that Lowe possesses the erotic fury of a caged ferret. The woman was smitten -- even though Lowe was actually billing her for their time in bed.
Six months later, the married lawyer declared the bedroom phase of the case concluded. But his decision was premature, perhaps clouded by the fact that her bank account was running low. She responded by trying to whack herself.
The affair was revealed at the hospital, which led the state bar association to accuse Lowe of conduct unbecoming, even for a lawyer. Though he had upheld the profession's highest calling -- the blind pursuit of billable hours -- his law license was indefinitely suspended.
4. Marcus O'Neal
Aside from spending the diaper money on Wild Turkey and crack, nothing quite says "I love you" like unbridled jealousy. Or so thought Marcus O'Neal.
He's not the most self-confident man. It's a reasonable position, since he's also a moron and a candy-ass. The evidence: His girlfriend had "liked" a photo on Facebook that showed a female friend and another man. O'Neal equated the like with lust for the man and flew into a rage.
He closed the windows so the neighbors couldn't hear, then began beating his girlfriend, calling her a whore and threatening to kill her as four kids in the home shrieked in horror.
At one point, the woman nearly blacked out. O'Neal ripped off her clothes, "inspecting for signs of infidelity," according to police. Because he'd never watched CSI, he was unaware that electronic images can't be detected on the human body.
Springfield, Missouri police charged him with three counts of domestic assault.
3. Jonathan Savas
There's a reason tornados always ask for directions to the nearest trailer park whenever they come to town. They're looking for people like Jonathan Savas.
Savas was hanging at a friend's mobile home in Sha-De-Land, Florida with his ten-month-old baby and the child's mother. The child wouldn't stop crying, presumably interrupting Savas' thoughtful discourse on Keynesian economics. So he decided to sit on the baby's head. Nothing quite silences a fussy infant like suffocation by buttocks.
The friend confronted Savas. The child's mom told him to stop. But Savas invoked his paternal right to be an asshole. "It's my baby," he allegedly responded. "I can do whatever I want."
Police contested his thesis by arresting him for child abuse.
2. William T. Woodward
William Woodward had a longstanding beef with a neighbor. The man had borrowed a roll of duct tape that went unreturned. Woodward simmered, since it's apparently very difficult to find duct tape in Florida.
His rage turned to a boil on Labor Day, when his neighbors were holding a cookout. Woodward claims he heard someone yell, "Come on, boys... We're going to get him. We're going to get him, all three of us." Or maybe he just imagined it, since the phrasing sounds suspiciously like the wooden dialogue on Rizzoli and Isles.
Either way, he snuck up on the party and shot three men, killing two of them. The third survived despite being shot 11 times.
Yet Woodward thought it a righteous shooting. He asked that murder charges be dismissed, citing Florida's Stand Your Ground law and the Bush Doctrine.
Legal experts believe the Stand Your Ground defense may be a longshot, since the law was intended to let Floridians shoot black kids who enjoy Skittles, not white guys cooking meat.
The Bush Doctrine shows more promise. It was used by President George W. Bush to justify the Iraq War. Though Iraq had yet to attack the U.S., he reasoned, it probably might. So he considered himself legally justified in blowing Iraq up now, rather than waiting until we're all wearing veils and getting squeamish over hot dogs.
Woodward awaits trial on murder charges.
1. Wells Fargo
Retiree Larry Delassus suffered from a rare blood-clot disorder that often left him disoriented and hospitalized. But this disability would prove minor compared to a more serious affliction: He was a customer of Wells Fargo.
The bank held the mortgage on his Hermosa Beach, California condo. Unfortunately for Larry, Wells Fargo mistook him for another customer, who happened to owe thirteen grand in back taxes. Despite his protests, it doubled Larry's mortgage to pay off the non-existent taxes. He quickly fell behind.
At some point, Wells Fargo discovered it had confused Larry with another resident of his complex. But the company foreclosed on him anyway.
Being a banker means never having to say you're sorry. And you get to take people's homes. It's a win-win situation.
Larry lost his condo and was forced into assisted living.
He sued Wells Fargo for negligence and discrimination, but died one day in court. A coroner ruled it heart failure. Larry's friends believe the bank killed him.
There is a happy ending, however. The American Bankers Association gave Wells Fargo its Benito Mussolini Award, bestowed annually for "the exemplary persecution of orphans, widows, and sickly old guys." It is considered the industry's highest honor.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
URUGUAY ABOUT TO BECOME STONER NATION
Despite the fact that two-thirds of Uruguayans are opposed to a government-run marijuana industry, that nation’s Senate passed a bill by a vote of 16 to 13 Tuesday that puts the Uruguayan government in the business of growing, distributing and selling pot. President Jose Mujica is expected to sign the measure into law because he believes bureaucrats can do a better job of controlling drug use and defeating drug cartels than police, soldiers and prison guards. It was his party that was instrumental in the passage of this bill.
Senator Constanza Moreira said, “Today is an historic day. Many countries of Latin America, and many governments, will take this law as an example.” She may very well be right.
I believe Uruguay will in time come to regret the passage of this law. Uruguay will experience a significant increase in the number of pot users. If the government tries to limit the amount of pot that can be purchased, the stoners will just turn to the illegal drug organization to satisfy their demands. And I can already see thousands of Argentinians crossing the RÃo de la Plata from Buenos Aires to buy whatever amounts of pot they can legally get their hands on in Montevideo.
Senator Constanza Moreira said, “Today is an historic day. Many countries of Latin America, and many governments, will take this law as an example.” She may very well be right.
I believe Uruguay will in time come to regret the passage of this law. Uruguay will experience a significant increase in the number of pot users. If the government tries to limit the amount of pot that can be purchased, the stoners will just turn to the illegal drug organization to satisfy their demands. And I can already see thousands of Argentinians crossing the RÃo de la Plata from Buenos Aires to buy whatever amounts of pot they can legally get their hands on in Montevideo.
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN GOING DOWNHILL FAST (2ND UPDATE)
Arrested November 18 after his new girlfriend alleged he threatened her with a shotgun
Samantha Scheibe, the woman who called police to say that her boyfriend threatened her with a shotgun and smashed some of her furniture, now wants to get back together with Zimmerman and is dropping the charges against him.
In a sworn statement to the court Scheibe says she was intimidated by the cops who responded to her call for help and added that she “may have misspoken” in describing the November 18 incident.
Misspoken my ass! The woman was terrorized by the incident. She did not misspeak to the cops.
Scheibe is just one of countless examples of how crazy some women are when they fall in love. I can understand why a woman with three or four children, who is totally dependent for survival on a male companion who beats her up time after time, does not want to leave him. But then there are those nutty broads who become pen pals to convicts and fall in love with them, even with murderers on death row.
Zimmerman and Scheibe are a matched set. They are both nutcases. And Zimmerman is a human disaster waiting to happen.
Samantha Scheibe, the woman who called police to say that her boyfriend threatened her with a shotgun and smashed some of her furniture, now wants to get back together with Zimmerman and is dropping the charges against him.
In a sworn statement to the court Scheibe says she was intimidated by the cops who responded to her call for help and added that she “may have misspoken” in describing the November 18 incident.
Misspoken my ass! The woman was terrorized by the incident. She did not misspeak to the cops.
Scheibe is just one of countless examples of how crazy some women are when they fall in love. I can understand why a woman with three or four children, who is totally dependent for survival on a male companion who beats her up time after time, does not want to leave him. But then there are those nutty broads who become pen pals to convicts and fall in love with them, even with murderers on death row.
Zimmerman and Scheibe are a matched set. They are both nutcases. And Zimmerman is a human disaster waiting to happen.
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