[CTVNEWS.CA] TORONTO -- A woman who injected industrial silicone into the buttocks of customers as an illegal cosmetic procedure has been sentenced to eight years in prison. "The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin
That's what I said
The looser the waistband, the deeper the quicksand
Or so I have read"
With credit for time already spent in jug, the sentence means Marilyn Reid has five years and three months left to serve. Big bottom, big bottom
Talk about bum cakes, my girl's got 'em
Big bottom, drive me out of my mind
How could I leave this behind?
Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly says Reid "wounded, maimed, disfigured and endangered" the lives of her victims. I met her on Monday, it was my lucky fun day
You know what I mean
I love her each weekday, each velvety cheekday
You know what I mean
She says Reid was neither authorized to perform cosmetic surgery, nor was she authorized to give injections, but she did both. My love gun's loaded and she's in my sights
Big game is waiting there inside her tights
Reid, who is from Newmarket, Ont., held her head in her hands and looked down at the floor as she sat in the prisoner's box while Kelly discussed the details of her case. The 50-year-old pleaded guilty to eight counts of aggravated assault in January. Big bottom, big bottom
Talk about mudflaps, my girl's got 'em
Big bottom, drive me out of my mind
How could I leave this behind?
Court heard that Reid used syringes attached to a caulking gun to inject silicone into women's buttocks in hotel rooms or their homes between April 2011 and May 2012. All but one victim suffered serious health consequences -- four almost fatal. Some had to undergo repeated medical procedures and long periods in hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 12:39 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Do the victims in these kinds of crime still get to vote?
[Breitbart] Details in this week's Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General's report reveal only part of the story behind Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) abuse of his political office in 2012 and 2013. Through a brazen intervention, Reid ultimately forced the Department of Homeland Security to bend to his will in a way that benefited his political allies and family. So unlike Harry, the abuse of power that is.
[THESMOKINGGUN] A jury today found a Michigan woman guilty of firing a shot into a McDonald's drive-thru window after employees failed to put bacon on a cheeseburger she ordered.
Shaneka Monique Torres, 30, was convicted of a felony firearms charge after only an hour of deliberations by the panel. Torres faces a minimum of two years in state prison when she is sentenced next month.
Torres fired a single shot into the McDonald's at 3:10 AM last February 10, according to Grand Rapids police. The gunplay came after Torres and another woman "complained that the order was incorrect," cops noted.
When a McDonald's employee walked away from the drive-thru window, "one shot was fired from the suspect vehicle," reported police, who added that the bullet entered the eatery at "head level" and "traveled through the window, across the dining room, and exited the restaurant through another window on the east side of the restaurant."
Shortly after the shooting--which did not result in any injuries--cops located Torres and recovered the 9mm Glock handgun used during the bacon rage incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
Fast food preparation is a sticky wicket for Mooslims. I witnessed a Mooslim 'melt down' at a McDonald's in Lorton, VA years ago. The poor kid behind the counter went speechless, as did everyone else in the store.
[AA.TR] Liberian authorities on Wednesday reported two new Ebola infections, bringing the total number of new infections in the West African country to three and putting its goal of being declared Ebola-free further out of reach.
Sompson Sieh, the country's deputy Ebola incident manager, said one of the two cases involved an 18-year-old girl who was taking care of her 44-year-old mother who recently tested positive for the virus.
The mother used to sell food at a local community school before being taken to hospital on Friday after showing signs of the virus and later testing positive.
Liberian health workers are currently monitoring more than 80 people from the infected woman's community.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[AnNahar] Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... has ordered the closure of the country's land and sea borders before this weekend's general election, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.
The closure will take effect from midnight (2300 GMT Wednesday) until the same time on Saturday, after polling closes for presidential and parliamentary elections.
The ministry said in a statement that the move was designed "to allow for peaceful conduct of the forthcoming national elections."
Nigeria is bordered by Benin to the west, Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... to the east and also had borders with Chad and Niger in the north.
Security is always a major issue at Nigerian elections, with politically linked violence often flaring between supporters of rival parties.
In the last elections in 2011, about 1,000 people were killed in festivities after opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari was beaten by Jonathan for the presidency.
The two men are again contesting this year's election, with many predicting that the vote -- delayed for six weeks because of military operations against Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... -- is too close to call.
On Tuesday, Nigeria's federal police chief ordered the "total restriction" of vehicles between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm on election day, apart from the emergency services and others on "essential duties."
[AA.TR] Some 20,000 students have fallen pregnant in South African schools last year, the Department of Education revealed Wednesday.
In a written reply to parliament, the Department said that some 223 cases of teenage pregnancy were reported in primary schools.
According to the reply, South Africa's economic hub of Gauteng has reported the highest number of pregnant students at just over 5,000, followed by the Eastern Cape Province with 3898.
Over 2,000 cases of pregnancy among students were reported in Western Cape Province.
The Department, however, was not able to say how many of the pregnant students have since returned to school.
" Teenage pregnancy is a serious problem inSouth Africa and must be constructively and comprehensively addressed," Sonja Boshoff, a member of the Democratic Alliance's Basic Education Portfolio Committee in parliament, said in a statement.
She called for summoning Education Minister Angie Motshekga to brief the parliament on her plans to discourage teenage pregnancy.
"Education is a key to future success and without it; these young people will not have a fair chance at a better life," she said.
Teenage pregnancies are frequent at certain schools in South Africa, with female students as young as 15 getting pregnant.
In South Africa, students who fall pregnant are not expelled from school. They are allowed to continue with their students but some decide to drop out.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I believe you get pregnant from intentionally lying down not falling.
[Iran Press TV] Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... says Britannia's move to boost its military presence in the Malvinas Islands, known as the Falklands to the British, is a "provocation" and pre-election stunt.
"This business from Great Britannia is a provocation, not just to Argentina but also to the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... ," Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said on Wednesday, referring to Britannia's so-called defense initiative over the Malvinas Islands.
On Tuesday, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon announced a £180-million (USD 268 million) package over 10 years to counter Argentina's "continuous intimidation" in the disputed South Atlantic islands.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Don Smilzo looked for an avenue of escape. The only window opened a hundred feet above the moat. The nearest of the hired assassins hold a bloody axe.
The window was looking better all the time.... Timerman said on Wednesday that Buenos Aires would file a formal complaint with the UN and the Decolonization Committee, which adopted a resolution calling on Britannia to negotiate with Argentina on the islands' status.
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's cabinet chief, Anibal Fernandez, has also criticized the new defense plan, saying it is less about Argentine threats than a cheap British nationalism campaign ahead of general elections on May 7.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Any word on whether Argentina is still getting long-range Russian aircraft in a trade deal?
[Iran Press TV] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused forces in the United States, Colombia, and Spain of waging an international "psychological war campaign" against his country, a media report says.
Maduro said the new operation adds to recent "aggression" from the US and aims to "generate fear and anguish" among the Venezuelan people, China's official state news agency, Xinhua, reported on Wednesday.
"They want to promote rumors to make the people forget about the imperial attacks against our homeland and once again deepen the economic war by stimulating hoarding, shortages and smuggling of basic products," he said.
The campaign is being coordinated from the Colombian capital city of Bogota and the US city of Miami by Venezuelan runaway right-wing political adviser, Juan Jose Rendon, Maduro added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
So now the OWG Global Unions = Wannabes for SOUTH AMERICA + LATIN AMERICA choose this time to start being aggressive or assertive???
"Reformed PRI", my ass. Still the same tax everything, resource slurping, rent seeking, collectivist jackasses who should never have been allowed back into power. The Mexican press took a pig, and painted it up to look like a horse, and everyone who got paid voted for the PRI.
MEXICO CITY — Carmen Aristegui, a feisty and popular Mexican radio host, published the kind of story every journalist dreams of last November. Aristegui revealed that Enrique Peña Nieto, the president of Mexico, and his wife, the actress Angélica Rivera, own an immense mansion in one of Mexico City’s most expensive neighborhoods.
The aptly dubbed “white house” is impressive: marble floors, a spa area, adjustable lighting in fancy hues (take a look: it’s called “Casa La Palma.” Built by renowned architect Miguel Ángel Aragonés, the place has been valued at around $7 million, a heavy burden on anyone’s finances, let alone Peña Nieto’s, who has worked in the public sector most of his life, or Rivera, a successful soap opera star but no Sofia Vergara.
It wasn’t the size of the house or its price tag that turned Aristegui’s scoop into an international scandal, however. The investigation revealed that Grupo Higa, the company which sold the house to Rivera, had a long history of ties to the Peña Nieto-led administration in the State of Mexico (not to be confused with Mexico, the State), from where the young governor leapt to the presidency in 2012, returning to power what was supposed to be a reformed Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after a dozen years in opposition.
More at the link
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
As the investigation into smuggling by Ukrainian volunteer military units expands, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported that detentions in the investigations have reached 30 individuals.
The sweeps, according to a news report in tsnensor,net have been conducted in both Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk oblasts since Monday's shootout, which killed one officer with the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).
So far interior ministry investigators have seized a number of weapons and contraband, said to be in the possession of members of the Right Sector political movement.
In Donetsk oblast, in Ukrainian held territory, investigators seized 19 vehicles, one machine gun, nine RPG-26 disposable anti tank missile launchers, 42 grenade launchers, pistols, grenades, about 13,000 rounds of ammunition and more than 6 kilograms of explosives.
Eight unidentified suspects were detained in Volnovakha, where the March 21st shootout took place, seizing rifles and RPGs. The suspects were said to be part of a volunteer unit, but not deployed in a defense zone as soldiers for their unit.
Ten more unidentified armed individuals were detained, although the report fails to make clear their association with Right Sector.
Four unidentified witnesses to the shootout were detained as well.
At a residence in Dnepropetrovsk oblast, additional munitions were seized, along with an unidentified suspected accomplice to the shootout. Among the munitions seized were ammunition and explosives.
Police also seized a van they say belonged to the unidentified shooter at the Volnovakha shootout, where they found 20 grenades and small arms ammunition.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
All volunteer military units on the Ukrainian side have been ordered to leave Mariupol by April 1st, according to Russian language news accounts.
An unidentified command element in Mariupol issued the order Wednesday.
The new order reflects a major change in policy governing Ukrainian volunteer units, such as Azov battalion, which states that all such units not integrated into either the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Interior, must disarm and disband.
According to a news story in tsnesor.net, commander of the 8th Separate Motorized Company, Andrei Cherven said in a news report that he could not leave Mariupol undefended.
According to data supplied by Russian mi8litary analyst Boris Rozhin, two volunteer units are in the Mariupol defense zone, including Azov and Donbass. Artem Lutsak, chief of staff of the 8th Separate Motorized Company characterized the order as a "betrayal".
The 8th Separate Motorized Company is staffed with members of the Right Sector political movement, which has gained a hard earned reputation as a ruthless, vicious political group in Ukraine.
Right Sector is a group funded in part by former Dnepropetrovsk government Igor Kolomoisky, which resigned his post Wednesday. Volunteer militias such as the Azov battalion and its sister units the 8th Separate Motorized Company are funded in part of several Ukrainian oligarchs, not just Kolomoisky. Ukrainian president Piotr Poroshenko has been cracking down on their existence by requiring them to disband or become part of the security services of Ukraine, including the army and Interior Ministry.
The urgency of the change in policy is likely due to the February 12th Minsk Ceasefire which requires all illegal armed groups to disarm, and not just the rebel units.
Leader of the Ukrainian Right Sector, in a separate news account, said that any agreement to disband their groups between the the Ukrainian government and the Donbas rebels are illegal, and that his group reserves the right continue fighting against the rebels despite any orders from the government.
The 8th Separate Motorized Company has been among the most active combat formations in Ukraine, near Shirokino, which is only a few kilometers east of Mariupol, where ongoing skirmishes have been taking place between them and rebel units since early February, despite the ceasefire.
According to rebel media, rebel units in western part of Shirokino have been fined on by Ukrainian mortars five times Tuesday. Sporadic small arms fire has been reported from the Ukrainians as well. Rebel units have been firing small arms fire on Ukrainian units from a house in the western part of Shirokino.
On Monday Ukrainian units, according to rebel media, have been fighting to take and keep parts of Shirokino. The Ukrainian Anti Terrorist Operation said on Monday that Ukrainian units had undergone small arms and mortar fire several times, five by their count, from rebel units.
Mariupol, a port city on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, has been identified by western sources as the next target of the rebels. However since the end of the battle for Debaltsevo, it is difficult to see how the rebels have much offensive power, given the hammering they took by Ukrainian units last month.
Artillery Fire in Donetsk
Rebel media said Ukrainian artillery hit at in Donetsk city at Peski, the Donetsk airport and St. Iveron monastery Monday. The fire was sporadic. It was reported an unidentified child was killed and four rebel effectives were wounded in the artillery fire.
More artillery fire was reported on the night of March 23rd to March 24th at Peski and the airport. Small arms fire exchanges were reported as well in nearby Avdievka.
Rebel media also reported Ukrainian artillery fire at Gorlovka.
On March 24th the rebel held village of Spartak was shelled several times with mortars coming from Avdievka. Some small arms fire exchanges were recorded as well.
Rebel media said that rebel positions at the airport were hit by Ukrainian artillery positioned at Opytnoye, by their count 15 times. Peskin was hit as well, twice midday.
Rebel said their positions at Gorlovka were hit by Ukrainian mortar teams twice on Tuesday.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
#1
In a sign of persistent tensions between the pro-Ukrainian volunteer battalions and Ukraine's regular army, Biletsky blamed Ukraine's top military commanders for battlefield defeats.
He said he has lost about 60 men in the conflict and wants a revamp of Ukraine's armed forces to promote a new generation of field commanders who have fought on the ground in a conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people.
"We have loads of generals brought up in the Soviet Union who have no idea of combat, who rose as state officials in uniforms rather than commanding officers in the field. These people don't want to and don't know how to fight."
[RFERL.ORG] Britannia's top diplomat says Russia "must return Crimea to Ukraine," calling the Kremlin's forcible annexation of the Black Sea peninsula last year "completely unacceptable."
"The annexation of Crimea was illegal and illegitimate in March 2014, and remains illegal and illegitimate in March 2015," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in March 22 comments posted on the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office's website.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine after sending troops there and staging a secession referendum on March 16, 2014, that was declared illegal in an overwhelming vote in the UN.
Hammond called the referendum a "sham" and a "fig leaf" for Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... 's "land grab."
"This behavior threatens international security and has grave implications for the legal order that protects the integrity and illusory sovereignty of all states," Hammond said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Some Brits seem to think that it's 1890 and the Empire rules the world.
I can't think Putin would even bother to respond with anything more than "Shut yo' pie hole, home boy".
#4
English Diplomat: They must return Crimea or we shall be very cross. And we will write Mr Putin a letter telling him how very cross we are with him.
#8
They're saying he suffered from depression. So let's say he's depressed.....and he decides that not only will he destroy his own life but those of 150 others? Do most suicidal people really want to be remembered that way?
#9
Why are we not being given the name of the third American killed? The news yesterday said they'd been in contact with the victim's family but "out of respect" they weren't releasing the name.
How does that work?
Was the person having an affair with one of the other two Americans killed, or was it really somebody very important?
How do we get away these days with selectively releasing victims names?
#10
He doesn't know his ethnicity or his religion, but says "I don't think that's where the answer to this lies."
If you don't know, then how can you say, "It can't be that"?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/26/2015 13:39 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Silentbrick, In the past the answer would be no, but we currently have a generation that attacks their school rather than a normal suicide so who can say.
#19
Why is the pilot's name being kept quiet? Why just Patrick S.?
As EC mentioned, they released the pilot's name some 4-6 hours ago.
As for not having released the third passenger's name, I can think of half a dozen innocuous and much less tin-foil-hatted reasons. Like a family member who was incommunicado, or for health reasons, who would be adversely affected were the information released before the family got news to them first. Try working in casualty notification sometime.
#21
And - as for the way the pilot was initially identified: perhaps our German colleague will correct me, but I think it was in compliance with privacy laws, or legal procedures, or perhaps both.
Sometimes not initially releasing the name may have benefit.
Consider the Boston Bomber, young Mr. Tsarnev. He told his friends that, should they hear his name on the news, they were to dispose of a backpack, a laptop, and other items he left with them.
#25
German press (yellow press excepted) still doesn't spell out both names, which seems rather pointless now.
It seems clear by now that this was murder. Yellow press has reported access to documents that prove mental instability of the FO, and that authorities knew about them. Some heads will roll over this.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/26/2015 22:51 Comments ||
Top||
#26
Buddies tell me, as I make the rounds,
That my butt sometimes rudely expounds.
They don't think it is crass
When I show them my ass
But they pass on the gas and the sounds.
[AnNahar] A French court on Tuesday sentenced two Kurds to five years in prison and seven others to lesser terms in an extortion case linked to the Kurdish gang PKK.
Not even the good guys are pure as the driven snow.
Investigators probed an extortion racket linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) campaign to raise funds among the Kurdish diaspora through a so-called revolutionary tax.
Two of the nine Kurds tried in Gay Paree were found to be planning violence against a man who refused to pay. They were handed five year jail terms, while the rest received lighter sentences.
The other terms ranged from 30-month suspended sentences to two years in prison. The judge in the case also noted that the PKK remained on the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's list of terrorist organizations.
The case had initially included a probe into an alleged liquidation attempt in the southeastern French town of Draguignan in 2012, said to have been foiled due to a heavy police presence at the scene. That aspect of the case was eventually dropped.
At least 40,000 people have been killed on both sides since the PKK formally began its insurgency in 1984 demanding self-rule for The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's Kurds, who make up around 20 percent of the population.
Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan called last week for a congress to end the Kurds' conflict with Turkey. Ankara welcomed his call.
09.30 They are not naming the pilots at this moment, and cannot give out any information as to when they will name them, writes Justin Huggler in Berlin.
They said they "cannot confirm or deny the report in the New York Times, The investigation is the responsibility of the French authorities".
Both pilots were trained at the Lufthansa Flight Training School in Bremen.
The captain had over 6,000 flight hours' experience. He joined Germanwings in May 2014. Previously he was a pilot with Lufthansa and Condor, a Lufthansa partner airline.
The first officer joined Germanwings in September 2013. He had about 630 flight hours. They were unable to confirm whether this was his first job as a professional pilot, or any previous experience.
09.22 The German pilots' union say they are making no comment and giving out no information until the next Germanwings press conference, which will be at 2.30pm CET (1.30pm London time). They say they will not name the pilots, that is for the company to do.
The Lufthansa flight training school in Bremen say they have been told to give out no information and are referring all queries to the Lufthansa press office in Frankfurt.
#3
The pilot is reported as Patrick S. (~6000 hrs). The First Officer was Andreas L. (~630 hrs); it was him who got locked out. The pilot might have had a stroke or heart attack--it's a possibility that will probably never be known. Their religion was not reported.
#4
Too much speculation and unconfirmed rumors at this point.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/26/2015 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Scenario: First officer leaves the cockpit to use the head & door is locked behind him as is standard. Returns & knocks normally for re-admission; no response. But so far WE have no indication of anything wrong with the flying characteristics. Knocks louder. No response.
It's in the middle of a flight, & I would expect on autopilot. So if the captain was incapacited & unable to unlock the door, how did the plane go into a death dive? Does airplane autopilot act like a car's cruise control, where touching the brakes disengages it - so if the pilot got up to unlock the door and collapsed onto the control stick & pushed it forward it would have disengaged the autopilot and put the plane into it's final dive?
The only other alternative is the mass murder-suicide, but names Patrick and Andreas are not typical for the demographic that usually does that sort of thing.
#6
The NYT report is unconfirmed. Sloppy journalism. What ever happened to the second source principle?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/26/2015 8:04 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Oh, I'm watching the official press conference of the state attorney in Marseille. This now indeed indicates a possible deliberate action of the First officer (incompetence or more?). His name was given as Andreas Lubitz (sp?)
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/26/2015 8:21 Comments ||
Top||
#8
« Il a refusé d'ouvrir la porte au commandant de bord sorti momentanément du cockpit et actionné les commandes activant la descente de l'appareil »
means he refused to open the door and activated the descent. This looks serious.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/26/2015 8:24 Comments ||
Top||
#10
The Marseille prosecutor has said that the co-pilot of the Germanwings flight, Andreas Lubitz may have crashed the plane deliberately.
"The co-pilot is alone at the controls," prosecutor Brice Robin said, drawing on information gathered from the black box recorder. "He voluntarily refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and voluntarily began the descent of the plane."
Mr Robin said the 28-year-old had a "deliberate desire to destroy this plane. He ... refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and deliberately began the descent of the plane."
A mother of a schoolmate told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he had told her daughter he had taken a break from his pilot training because he was suffering from depression.
"Apparently he had a burnout, he was in depression," the woman, whom the paper did not name.
She said her daughter had seen him again just before Christmas and that he had appeared normal. She added he was a "lovely boy". "He had a good family background," she told the paper.
Carsten Spohr, CEO of Germanwings parent company, said in a press conference today that Lubitz "took a break in his training six years ago. Then he did the tests (technical and psychological) again. And he was deemed 100 percent fit to fly."
"I am not able to state the reasons why he took the break for several months."
#11
In the US, first officers of jets are required to have 1500 flight hours.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/26/2015 15:24 Comments ||
Top||
#12
@#11: True, but the increase in required hours came about in USA-land after two low-timers rolled Colgan Air Flight 3407 into a house in Clarence Center, New York, after experiencing an aerodynamic stall.
The 1,500 hours is an ATP thing changed owing to the above-cited accident. See here.
"'Ted Kennedy received his posthumous accolades from the Department of Labor (DOL) with an induction into the agency's 'Hall of Honor.' The recognition is meant to showcase the life-changing contributions that a unique group of people have made on the American way of work, according to the agency. A special panel comprised of the Solicitor of Labor, the Assistant Secretary for Policy and the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management decides who gets honored. Selecting the former Massachusetts senator was an 'absolute no-brainer,' according to DOL Secretary Thomas Perez because Kennedy 'had a profound impact on so many people.'" It's good to be a Kennedy.
One set of rules for me, another set of rules for thee.
Racism, sexism, any 'ism' is forgivable if you're a card carrying member of the inner party. If you're not, any mole hill or past indiscretion or family tree or proximity to some 'sin' is enough to find one dumped down the memoryhole and damned for eternity.
[DAWN] Former president Asif Ali Zardari has called for broad-based electoral reforms for the sake of political stability and to put an end to what he termed the manipulated political transfer that has been the bane of Pakistain's political landscape during the past six decades or so.
The former president was commenting on the agreement between the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz and Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... on the formation of a judicial commission.
"It is hoped that the agreement on formation of judicial commission will mark an end to confrontational and dharna politics and pave way for PTI politicians to play their due role in the Parliament instead of on the streets," he said on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[JP] The Pentagon has just revealed a stunning amount of information on some of Israel's the most closely guarded secrets, including details of its nuclear program.
I haven't the vocabulary strong enough to express what I think of the people who ordered and executed this.
The United States has just revealed a stunning amount of information on some of Israel's the most closely guarded secrets: information about its military cooperation with America and 20 years' worth of details on Israel's nuclear technology development, up to the 1980s.
The 386-page report, composed in 1987 by the federally funded Institute for Defense Analysis, (an NGO that operates under the Pentagon), is titled "Critical Technological Assessment in Israel and NATO Nations."
It was declassified by the Pentagon in early February -- but oddly, the report has been redacted so as to black out or withhold everything the Institute wrote on America's NATO allies -- but to reveal all that American experts assembled in Israel.
The news of the betrayal is only just now beginning to filter in to Israeli media and in fact has made no headlines at all in the U.S. news markets, where networks seem largely unaware of the tsunami that may follow when the news sinks in at home.
Given the timing of the declassification and the selective redaction of the report, one has to wonder about the choices that were made from the top. But a request to publish the report was filed under the Freedom of Information Act three years ago by American journalist Grant Smith.
One of the most revealing parts of the report states the Israelis are "developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs.* That is, codes which detail fission and fusion processes on a microscopic and macroscopic level."
The report also compared Israel's laboratories to those at Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratories. Israeli facilities, the report stated, are "an almost exact parallel of the capability currently existing at our National Laboratories."
Finally, in some areas, Israeli scientists were apparently ahead of the Americans; the report noted with admiration that Israeli physicists at Rafael (research and development laboratory in Israel) had found "ingeniously clever" solutions to difficult issues. Nevertheless, the report maintained that Israeli scientists had not yet reached the level of "partners", inasmuch as they had obtained nuclear technologies "based on extrapolations of US equipment and ideas" and that were being produced in the United States.
However, it was found upon further investigation on site that the Jewish State had created "a totally integrated effort in systems development throughout the nation." All forms of electronic combat operated within an "integrated system, not separated systems for the Army, Navy and Air Force." The technology in some instances "is more advanced than in the U.S.," the expert reported.
*A hydrogen bomb is much more powerful than the atomic bomb that wiped out Hiroshima in the 1940s.
#2
Given the timing of the declassification and the selective redaction of the report, one has to wonder about the choices that were made from the top.
Wonder ?
The initial classifying authority is the only one authorized to declassify. This is the type of action that would have crossed the desks of the President's Director of National Security (DNI), General Jim Clapper as well as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI).
This is a non-trivial declassification action to say the least.
#11
The question is does this scare the tar out of the Muslim world who suspected as much but had no proof or are they all breathing a sigh of relief because they'd assumed Israel had billions of neutron bombs designed to only kill Muslims.
Either way I believe the world is less safe since this was released than it was before.
A researcher at the defense company Boeing has filed a patent for a sci-fi-esque cloaking device that would protect soldiers from intense shock waves generated by explosions.
The just-issued patent (No. 8,981,261) to Boeing envisions stopping shock waves using a veil of heated, ionized air. Such a "shield" would damp the force of explosions. It doesn't build an invisible wall of force, but rather makes shock waves bend around objects, just as some high-tech materials bend light and make things invisible.
Brian J. Tillotson, a senior research fellow at Boeing, said the idea occurred to him after noticing the kinds of injuries suffered by soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We were doing a much better job of stopping shrapnel," Tillotson told Live Science. "But they were coming home with brain injuries."
Though the armor plating on a military vehicle might stop the debris from a roadside bomb from injuring a soldier, it can't shield against the shock waves generated by such explosions. The blast wave goes right through a human body and causes massive trauma. (This is why the action-movie scenes where the hero runs ahead of an explosion and escapes harm are pure fiction.)
Tillotson's invention is a device that would heat the air in front of the spot where the bomb goes off. In one version, a detector "sees" an explosion before the shock wave hits. The detector is connected to an arc generator, basically two ends of a circuit connected to a large power source. When the system generates enough current, an arc of electricity jumps between the two ends of the circuit, like a bolt of lightning.
That arc heats and ionizes, or charges, particles of air. The heated air would work as a shield by changing the speed at which shock waves travel, and therefore bending them around a protected soldier, Tillotson said.
West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda was detained in PNG and left about an hour ago, it is unclear whether he was deported. Today's extraordinary events saw the PNG Prime Minister demanding Mr Wenda's release while the Immigration department tried to deport him. AQ has released a free backgrounder on West Papua (usually you have to pay).
MOST PEOPLE have never heard of West Papua and both the Australian and Indonesian governments would like to keep it that way. The region, less than two hours flight north of Darwin, is the scene of a slow-moving genocide. Indonesian armed forces are estimated to have killed roughly one seventh of the 1961 population either directly or by starvation and sickness from forced relocation.
Enough Indonesian migrants have been shipped in to reduce the survivors to a minority. If trends continue West Papuans will cease to exist.
The island of New Guinea is a resource-rich land mass where Melanesians have lived for up to 50,000 years, evolving into tribes that speak more than 1000 different languages.
A line on the map cuts the island in half from north to south.
After World War II the Dutch ruled the west. Australia had the east.
As the colonial era unwound Indonesia reached for the land and was willing to fight the Netherlands to get it.
But the Papuans wanted independence. They shared no cultural ties with Indonesia. They were tribal and Christian Melanesians who did not want to be ruled from Jakarta by Javanese Muslims.
So the Dutch prepared them for self-rule and on December 1, 1961, the West Papuans raised their new Morning Star flag and sang a national anthem.
Indonesia sent in armed infiltrators.
By 1962 intense pressure was on the Netherlands to hand over the territory. The US and Australia succumbed to cold war fears that Indonesia was aligning with the Soviet Union and turned to support Jakarta.
The day after hundreds of Indonesian paratroopers dropped into West Papua the Netherlands agreed to hand Indonesia the region - provided they let the people choose their own future within five years.
There was no referendum for the estimated 700,000-strong population.
In 1969 the Indonesian military chose 1022 representatives to vote on independence in a show of hands. It was called the "Act of Free Choice" but there was no choice about it. In areas such as Biak Indonesian soldiers simply selected men from the crowd. Dissenters were led away at gunpoint.
In the weeks before the sham vote, West Papuan leaders sent Willem Zonggonao and Clemens Runawery to the UN carrying testimonies calling for independence and petitions to complain about the way the vote was being conducted.
They never made it. At Vanimo in the Australian Territory of PNG they were questioned by ASIO and sent to Manus Island. Their complaints were never heard.
The "Act of Free Choice" was unanimous and the UN acknowledged Indonesia's annexation.
The Papuans have been fighting ever since. Many fled to the jungles and attacked the Indonesians with bows and arrows, sticks, rocks and any guns they could find.
The Indonesians retaliated with napalm, chemical weapons, cluster bombs, aerial strafing, mass migration and a military occupation that has never really ended.
Estimates of the total death toll since 1969 vary from the Amnesty International figure of 100,000 to West Papuan claims of more than 500,000.
There are now 8,000 West Papuan refugees living in the Western Province of PNG. The numbers fluctuate with Indonesian military operations which sport codenames like "Tumpas" (annihilation).
What goes on inside the region almost never makes it to the Australian public.
The Indonesian military learnt from losing East Timor that having foreign journalists on the ground during a massacre makes front page news.
So journalists are heavily restricted. Organisations such as Amnesty International who might report in a way that can be picked up by the world's media have also been kicked out.
"When they are killing people they want to make sure nobody finds out," said journalist and academic John Martinkus.
"If you look at it coldly, it is quite correct. If people did know the extent of the torture and intimidation there would be outrage."
As a result in July, 1998, Australians had no idea that Indonesian soldiers and police were in a standoff with a group of unarmed Papuans on the island of Biak.
They had hoisted the Morning Star flag above a water tower and were refusing to leave.
The armed forces started shooting. They rounded up the survivors and butchered them.
They raped and killed children, some of whom were still wearing their school uniforms. They sexually mutilated women.
Up to 150 people died. The bodies, some missing limbs and cut into pieces, washed up on the beaches and became tangled in fishermen's nets.
Indonesia denied the atrocity for years.
The story was buried until Sydney University's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies convened a citizen's tribunal to investigate.
Fifteen years after the massacre the story was run by the ABC, The Guardian and News Ltd.
The effectiveness of the time lag is clear. Indonesia's supporters can say things are different now and nobody is listening to the people who say otherwise.
AUSTRALIA WORRIED ABOUT INDONESIA
The Australian Government just wants a good relationship with Indonesia.
The archipelago sits on top of Australia's sea lines of communication. It has a population of more than 250 million.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) will this year donate $601 million in aid. 2014
"More than 120 million Indonesians live on less than $2 per day. Australia is helping to save lives," DFAT says on its website.
But Indonesia is not poor. It is the world's 16th largest economy. When adjusted for purchasing power parity, Indonesia's GDP outstripped Australia's in 2012. Forbes Asia found the richest 50 Indonesians were worth a combined US$95 billion last year.
Jakarta has no difficulty paying Russia for attack helicopters, amphibious tanks and submarines and is on a five-year plan to upgrade its US$8 billion military.
Indonesia is also buying Sukhoi fighter jets that analysts say will dominate Australia's northern air space by 2020.
Jakarta has at best been indifferent to Australia's overtures and at worst its open hostility is kept in check by aid money and Australia's US security alliance.
To court favour, Canberra has been rejecting political refugees from West Papua since 1962.
The Howard Government broke with tradition in 2006, granting 42 temporary protection visas to West Papuans who fled to Cape York in an outrigger canoe. Indonesia furiously recalled its ambassador.
To make amends, the government signed the Lombok Treaty which states that Australia will not: "in any manner support or participate in activities by any person or entity which constitutes a threat to the stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity of the other Party, including by those who seek to use its territory for encouraging or committing such activities, including separatism, in the territory of the other Party."
Last year three West Papuans climbed the walls of the Australian consulate in Bali pleading for foreign journalist access and the release of political prisoners. They did not ask for independence so Australia was not bound by the Lombok treaty.
Consular staff threatened to call the police, so they fled.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott then nailed his colours to the mast.
"Australia will not give people a platform to grandstand against Indonesia," he told reporters.
BENDING THE RULES FOR JAKARTA
Less than 4km separates Australia's northernmost island in the Torres Strait from the PNG coast.
Seven West Papuans including a pregnant woman and a 10-year-old girl crossed it in a tinnie last September. That would be September 2013 They fled after taking part in the Freedom Flotilla protest, broadcast on the internet.
When they reached Boigu Island they asked for asylum.
Within 48 hours they were dumped in PNG.
The Department of Immigration did not say why they were treated differently to the thousands of would-be migrants who travel to Indonesia and pay smugglers for a passage to Christmas Island.
The Abbott Government had won office barely three weeks before.
Accepting them would be a dangerous irritant to fragile Indonesian relations.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison invoked a 2003 Memorandum of Understanding to expel them.
People must claim asylum through PNG if they have spent seven days or more there before crossing to Australia under the agreement.
The Boigu Seven had not been in PNG long enough to qualify but Mr Morrison leant on Attorney-General Kerenga Kua to bend the rules.
"I extracted a -- well, we had an agreement that they could go back under the terms of that arrangement," he told 2GB radio host Ray Hadley.
The refugees were taken to Kiunga near the East Awin Iowara refugee camp and the Indonesian border.
Two Indonesians came and took their photographs. Witnesses said they recognised them from the Indonesian consul's office in Vanimo. Many Indonesians were seen around town and rumours were rife of cross-border kidnappings.
One of the seven, Jacob Mandobayan, said he was afraid. In December the PNG Government threatened to send him back to Indonesia if he undertook any political activities and he went into hiding.
The threat would appear to be a breach of the non-refoulement principal of international law which forbids the rendering of a victim to their persecutor.
But who will take up his case inside PNG?
PAPUA NEW GUINEA CRACKS DOWN (ALSO AFRAID OF INDONESIA)
When independence leader Benny Wenda escaped Indonesia and was given sanctuary in the UK, Jakarta pursued him aggressively.
Indonesia falsely accused the Nobel Peace Prize nominee of terrorism and issued an international arrest warrant.
Interpol found the accusations were politically motivated and dropped the red notice.
Indonesia lost that skirmish but won a victory in PNG last June 2013 when Prime Minister Peter O'Neill pledged closer ties and signed an extradition treaty.
It contains a provision protecting political activists -- overridden by alleged terrorism.
Activists sheltering in PNG are at risk of being labelled a terrorist and extradited, silencing them.
Wenda faced this risk when he travelled to Port Moresby after Governor Powes Parkop invited him to raise the Morning Star flag over City Hall on December 1. 2013
It was a significant act of defiance. The flag is strictly banned in Indonesia. In 2004 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Filep Karma got a 15-year treason sentence for lifting the colours. He is still in prison.
What followed was extraordinary.
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill personally asked for the flag not to be flown.
The day before the ceremony, immigration officers raided the delegation's hotel and threatened both Mr Wenda and Australian human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson with arrest and deportation if they engaged in "political activities".
Police blocked the activists from marching.
Governor Parkop vowed to raise the flag himself, which he did, to the thumping of drums and joyful dancing.
Three activists were arrested for no obvious reason and the flag that was supposed to be flown for a week was taken down within a day.
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill denied international pressure had been applied.
But Mr Parkop publicly blamed Jakarta.
"Today Indonesia tried to extend its ugly regime ... into our country," he said. "But this is the independent state of PNG and we have rights and freedom."
The pressure may not only have come from Indonesia. Australia does not want PNG provoking Indonesia and despite official denials it is not difficult to get compliance.
Canberra doesn't give the impoverished Melanesian nation as much money as it gives Indonesia, but it is PNG's biggest donor at $519.4 million this year. 2014
PNG has a tiny defence force of just over 2000 troops and relies on Australia to guarantee its 750km border. By comparison, Jakarta has more than 400,000 active troops at its disposal and an Aladdin's cave of high-tech military hardware.
In the 1980s Cabinet was warned that if Australia had to defend PNG the entire army would be wiped out in the top tenth of the border between Vanimo and Green River.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS...
Special Autonomy laws in 2001 have not changed the lives of most Papuans and economic development only brings more Indonesians.
Jakarta wants to build cattle stations.
Energy company BP is expanding the Tangguh LNG plant in Bintuni Bay while mining company Freeport McMoRan paid US$13.8 billion into Jakarta's coffers from the Grasberg mine in the decade to 2012.
In the geopolitical sphere, China has replaced the USSR as the new bogeyman to encourage the US and Australia to court Indonesia.
Australian Government thinking appears to be that a "big Indonesia" is a valuable defence asset, regardless of the bloodshed needed to yoke its unwilling citizens together. It is seen, wishfully, as a shield to the north and a protection from the feared instability of two or three smaller nations that might be poor and disorderly.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott declared: "The people of West Papua are much better off as part of a strong, dynamic and increasingly prosperous Indonesia."
Not everyone in Indonesia shares this view.
In 1999, political analyst Soedjati Djiwandono wrote:
"Would we prefer to have a single nation-state out of this huge but almost unmanageable archipelago ... marked by abject poverty among the majority of people, by continued injustice, continuous tension and conflicts because of seemingly irreconcilable differences in ethnic, religious and cultural terms? Or at the risk of being dubbed 'blasphemous' to split peacefully into two, three, four or even five smaller nation-states with a greater chance and hope for peace, greater prosperity, equality and justice for all?"
The independence movement has never forgotten that when Australian troops arrived in East Timor it sent such a clear signal to the Indonesian settlers in West Papua that 60,000 of them left for other parts of Indonesia.
Many Papuans are hopeful. They do not see their struggle as futile and they want to tell the world about their situation.
Not all Indonesians are against them. Just the ruling elite.
This article originally published in the June 2014 edition of AQ: Australian Quarterly
This is an edited extract but the original is worth a look as it gives a strategic idea of Australia - Indonesia - PNG relations which become important as China moves its naval bases through the South China Sea. It also has pretty pictures and factboxes.
#1
It would be nice if some of the western volunteers risking it all to fight ISIS could be guided to a few of these tertiary battles. Let ISIS fight Iran and put the talent into rolling back the worst on the periphary of Islam where Wahhabism doesn't have as firm a grip.
I read a book once upon a time that basically promoted the idea that Islam as we know it is vast and diverse (think Indonesia with the Java dancers and Turkey with the Belly Dancers) but it basically started as Arab Imperialsm (and they are uptight and a bit militant). Then in teh last decade or so Saudi Oil money has taken over a large number of mosques and Arab Imperialism has returned.
Long story short he suggested it would've been easier to roll back the nasty form of Islam if we'd positioned ourselves as against Arab Imperialism but we wanted a more direct action against the 911 attacks and we unwilling to upset the dear Arabs. We'll never know if the Western Strategy was wise or not since victory was pissed away.
[AA.TR] Thailand's junta-leader-cum-prime minister threatened Wednesday to do away with journalists who "cause division" and fail to toe the official line.
"We will probably just execute them," stated General Prayut Chan-ocha when asked how journalists considered too critical should be treated.
Chan-ocha's comments - at a military airport prior to a departure to Brunei - were the latest in a series seen to challenge the work of news hounds in the Kingdom.
"The media divide society," he said in a report published by Khaosod online. "From now on, I will keep my eyes on all media agencies and, if necessary, I will have the National Peace and Order Council [the junta's official name] investigate them."
He then added - without a trace of a smile - the possibility of executions.
The general has routinely shown disdain towards the press.
Earlier this month, he said he wanted "to punch the face" of a journalist who asked him about junta progress since the May 22 coup, and last year he threw a half-eaten banana at a news hound during a press event.
Outside of his roles as junta-leader and premier, Chan-ocha also hosts his own hour-long TV program.
Broadcast every Friday evening, "Bring back happiness to Thai people" showcases the military general discussing a variety of topics in a fatherly tone - from the price of vegetables to international relations.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Building a resume for the next White House Press Secretary?
#2
Interesting find, anon1. Fits the well known pattern of spreading Islam at the point of a sword or a gun. I'm left with the impression that we appeased Indonesia for the same kind of Cold War reasons that we appeased Pakistan. And with 250 million people you can understand why the Aussies or anyone else for that matter would be reluctant to take them on. Certainly wouldn't expect our own Champ to do anything about it. But it's a damn shame about some of their neighbors.
gents of the Drug Enforcement Administration reportedly had "sex parties" with prostitutes hired by drug cartels in Colombia, according to a new inspector general report released by the Justice Department on Thursday.
In addition, Colombian police officers allegedly provided "protection for the DEA agents' weapons and property during the parties," the report states. Ten DEA agents later admitted attending the parties, and some of the agents received suspensions of between two to 10 days. Typical government "punishment" WHAT? DEA, ATF, FBI, pistols for pu**y....? Noooooooooo, tell me it isn't so. The stunning allegations are part of an investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general into claims of sexual harassment and misconduct within DEA, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The IG's office found that DEA did not fully comply with its probe. I see the first bunch of agencies to zero out funding to
The congressional committee charged with federal oversight is already promising hearings and an investigation into the allegations.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz told POLITICO on Thursday he wanted the agencies involved to swiftly fire those involved and that his panel would immediately start digging into the allegations.
"You can't ignore this. This is terribly embarrassing and fundamentally not right," the Utah Republican said. "We need to understand what's happening with the cultureâŚanytime you bring a foreign national into your room, you're asking for trouble." And yet it will happen again and again as our government becomes more like Caligula's Rome as our Republic dies.
[Wash Times] North Carolina State University's recent ban against alcohol consumption at fraternity events does not include the school's five historically black fraternities.
The university announced the decision Friday to crack down on alcohol after a racially offensive pledge book allegedly belonging to a Pi Kappa Phi member was discovered at a local restaurant and separate allegations of drugs and sexual assault surfaced at Alpha Tau Omega, The Associated Press reported.
A news release from university spokesman Fred Hartman said the school worked with the Interfraternity Council (IFC) to temporarily suspend social events that involve alcohol. Only problem is that the ban doesn't apply to the school's black fraternities, which are separately organized under the National Pan-Hellenic Council, The Daily Caller reported.
#2
Only problem is that the ban doesn't apply to the school's black fraternities, which are separately organized under the National Pan-Hellenic Council, The Daily Caller reported.
Problem? Tribal separatists to the core. Next question please.
#3
Lots of guys formerly known as white might want to be pledging these black frats. White frats aren't allowed to ban black pledges over race, so black frats shouldn't be allowed to ban white pledges over race, right?
#9
Where I went to college whites were allowed to join black fraternities but few wanted to because its a way different thing. Similar thing with white fraternities. They were open to blacks but few even tried to join (but of course the Whites were branded as racist for not having the appropriate numbers).
I'd be curious to hear more about this racially offensive pledge book. Was it the book itself (in which case the national chapter has some explaining to do) or was it writting scribbled into the book (possibly by the person who found the book). Questions questions, but it seems the attack on fraternities continues.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[CTVNEWS.CA] TORONTO -- A woman who injected industrial silicone into the buttocks of customers as an illegal cosmetic procedure has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Just a little 'DAP' will do ya. .jpg)
[THESMOKINGGUN] A jury today found a Michigan woman guilty of firing a shot into a McDonald's drive-thru window after employees failed to put bacon on a cheeseburger she ordered.
[AA.TR] Liberian authorities on Wednesday reported two new Ebola infections, bringing the total number of new infections in the West African country to three and putting its goal of being declared Ebola-free further out of reach.
Goodluck Jonathan
[RFERL.ORG] 
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
[JP] The Pentagon has just revealed a stunning amount of information on some of Israel's the most closely guarded secrets, including details of its nuclear program.
A researcher at the defense company Boeing has filed a patent for a sci-fi-esque cloaking device that would protect soldiers from intense shock waves generated by explosions. 
