Time To Hunker Down Even Further...

Note to Yahoo!: making your pages look like Google’s does not make them easier to navigate with.  (It doesn’t help you.)

2012.12.31

Hillary Clinton in hospital for a clot that resulted from her recent concussion.

Hugh Hefner to marry again— his… 26-yr.-old girlfriend.  Another woman in her twenties.

C2C caller predictions for 2013:

The U.S. will declare Martial Law.

An asteroid impact off the coast of California.

NSA/CIA/etc. Artificial Intelligent machines (supercomputer AIs) will get out of control and spread like a virus into the internet.

2012.12.30

Kim Komando kicked off her show with an… electronic toilet.

This Sunday’s Parade has Al Roker on the cover, quoted saying, I’ve never felt this good in my life!

Year-End Quiz (two of the funnier ones):

1. This year scientists discovered evidence of the Higgs boson particle, or “God particle.”  What analogy did they use to describe how it operates?

[A] Oil hitting a hot frying pan

[B] Fans mobbing Justin Bieber at a concert

[C] A roller coaster accelerating down a steep track

[D] Ballet dancers performing Sawn Lake

Answer: (b). …

7. Which of these wacky news stories made real headlines in 2012?

[A] Woman’s divorce filing cites Fifty Shades of Grey

[B] Police arrest several women in Emporia, Kan. for trying to break into a closed Hostess facility and steal boxes of Twinkies

[C] California passes legislation to allow “driverless cars” to operate on state roads

Answers: (a) and (c) both really happened this year.

MPAA double-standard

While Killer Joe had infrequent nudity, sex and serious violence, the Saw franchise really pushed the boundaries, if not crossed lines sometimes.  Seing Killer Joe myself, I put it at 15-16+ —an ‘R’ rating, but the MPAA gave the limited, black comedy based on a stage play—not any kind of porn an NC-17.  “Surprising,” but not filthy… it does appear to be independent— so it’s that indie/Hollywood double-standard with the ratings board.  You’d know what I mean if you watched a particular movie that explores the Motion Picture Assoc. of America’s rules and standards.

In Take This Waltz, with Michelle Williams (as Margot) and Sarah Silverman (as Geraldine), you see everything.  Full frontal nudity, several women showering after a pee-in-the-pool ‘incident’ (chemicals in the water turning blue)— you also see the whole process of Margot sitting down on the toilet, urinating (while Seth Rogan’s character was brushing his teeth, or something), and standing from the toilet.  And then there was her stripping to enter the shower.  That cute-and-lonely film, that features a rotating display with sex toward the end, got an ‘R.’

And then there’s “old people sex”—fine with the Ass. of America.  Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carrell, had steam and sex scenes that were not short, plus anger and language.  That movie was given a ‘PG’ rating.

Coast To Coast AM

When it comes to the attempts at disarming the veterans from warzone, the guest before the last hopes we can avoid a shoot-out.  (And the last one was about Quran translations and misuse.)

Wars overseas, PTSD at home: suicides may have exceeded KIAs.

SSRI anti-depressants linked to suicides.

Corporate media have huge advertising contracts with the pharmaceutical industry.

The manufacturers admit to an increase of violence, loss of impulse control.

30% of all the treatments prescribed and performed are for profit/development, not needs.

Back in the 1990s, the FOX reporters that refused to take information out that made Monsanto look bad were not only fired, they lost their appeal because the courts said, basically, that corporate media doesn’t have to tell the truth.

Hypocratic oath: first, do no harm.
…You’re not supposed to shoot protein into your veins.  Peanut oil is used as an agitant in vaccines.  So your body builds antibodies, but the body builds antibodies to attack proteins.  Auto-immune problems, anyone?

“Enslaved to a private sector bank.”

A way to control people by attaching interest to something that doesn’t work with it.  There is only collection to make up for yet more holes dug, as it is designed to collapse.  Two ways this will go: either the govt. will admit that the Federal Reserve-style banking system has been stealing from the public, or they will just find another way to tax you, even in ways that aren’t traditionally considered taxes.  They always do the latter.

The War of 1812 occurred because Europe couldn’t compete with the U.S. form of monetary system and circulation—without a central bank.

Andrew Jackson pushed for a central bank; it was enough for there to be an attempt on his life.

The Federal Reserve (not its original name) was created in 1913, and would start the undoing of this country’s economy.

Two World Wars later, Bretton Woods: the gold standard was the agreement with the world.

Another established black hole would be coupled with Nixon taking us off the gold standard.

And so, we are subject for a full collapse.  You can only lie for so long.

It only ends when you end the fraud in the banking system, and put the crooked politicians in jail.  That’s what Iceland did after their 2008 meltdown.  (It worked.)

2012.12.29

Fiscal cliff: tax more, spend less on domestic support.

Free Talk Live discussions

“Obstruction of justice” and “resisting arrest” abuse by cops: the ability to arrest anyone they don’t like.  A man who got five years probation for a lemonade stand will test the law again w. possible arrest & jail time.

A judge may call for stores, radio, TV to be forced to put up apologies by cigarette companies because of “dishonesty” in the past and past rulings of the 1970s and ’90s—“dishonesty” in not disclosing the obvious fact that cigarettes kill.

Canada requires stores to block off any view of cigarette brands; you have to ask for a catalogue to browse.

With the FCC, there are so many rules and regulations that even if you have all the money and attorneys, you still will probably not be able to legally put up your own radio station.

The efficiency you tend to see with govt. agencies and bureaucracies: IT guy after IT guy, tens of millions of dollars just to install an e-mail system.  The vast majority of railways were put up on behalf of common interest, not eminent domain; the system forces people to move for parking, and taxpayers have to pay for it…along with ugly parking meters and rationing.

It costs the show hundreds of dollars a mo. to host the FTL website… shop.freetalklive.com for Amazon shopping.

2012.12.28

First “Rockin’ Eve” w. just Ryan Secrest, as Dick Clark died in April after the stroke in 2004; Secrest (American Idol) joined Clark (American Band Stand) in 2005.

Obit

AP: Children of Bedford founder Jean (Streuven) Harris, 89, died Sunday, Dec. 23, at an assisted-living facility in New Haven, Connecticut, according to her son, James, on Friday.  Convicted of murdering Herman Tarnower, Harris had two heart attacks, and was later granted clemency when she underwent heart bypass surgery.

Born on April 27, 1923, she grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, attended private schools, graduated magna cum laude from Smith College and married industrialist James Harris.  James and Jean, who lived in Grosse Pointe, MI, where she got her first job as a first grade teacher, had two sons, and divorced in 1966.

At the age of 43, a slender Jean met Herman, 12 years her senior, at a party on Park Avenue in New York.  But since the discussion of marriage never panned out, she would only remain a ‘lover,’ eventually seeing him on weekends and vacations, or as an ‘arm’ at social gatherings.

In 1977, she left her sales administration job in New York to become the patrician girls’ school headmistress of the Madeira School for girls in the Washington suburb of McLean, Virginia, a position that also got her listed in the capital’s social register.

On March 10, 1980, Jean went armed to Herman’s Westchester County estate in Purchase, and shot him to death.  She was convicted of his murder in 1981, and sentenced 15 years to life.  Spending 12 years in prison, she always maintained that she only went to confront him over his womanizing and to kill herself, but, in a struggle she unintentionally shot him four times.  It wasn’t until parole that she admitted being “certainly guilty to something.”  The man’s dead.

Against letters written by Harris, where the blonde, blue-eyed woman referred to her rival as an “ignorant slut” and “a vicious, adulterous psychotic,” her lawyer gambled on an “extreme emotional disturbance” defense in a failed attempt to knock the charge(s) down to manslaughter.  In addition, the defense said she was in the thrall of anti-depressant drugs Tarnower had prescribed to her.  The jury did not find the struggle re-enactment credible.

The “Scarsdale Diet doctor” murder case rallied feminists and inspired television movies, such as The People Vs. Jean Harris (which aired not long after her conviction) and Mrs. Harris (2006, HBO).  The case also inspired author Shana Alexander to write a book about the case, entitled Very Much a LadyThe fact was, Jean Harris was too much of a lady to admit that she was jealous of the office girl, the late Alexander wrote.  She would rather go to prison than acknowledge it.  And she did.

However, as an inmate, Harris criticized authority, chafing under what she saw as ‘arbitrary, counter-productive rules.’  She advocated reform, both for her own benefit and that of other imprisoned women.  She also taught mothering skills to expectant inmates.

In December 1992, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo granted Harris clemency during her hospitalization for bypass surgery, and was released on parole three weeks later.  With her skills and prison experience at hand, she founded Children of Bedford Inc., a non-profit organization to provide scholarships and tutoring for children of female inmates, and worked in the Bedford Hills children’s center.

2012.12.27

Obit

AP: actor Harry Carey Jr., 91, whose career spanned over fifty years, starring in Westerns such as 3 Godfathers, and later in movies like Gremlins and Back to the Future Part III, died of ‘natural causes’ Thursday.  He was surrounded by family at a hospice facility in Santa Barbara, California.

While he lacked the leading-man stature of longtime friend and co-star John Wayne, Carey’s boyish looks and horse-riding skills got him into many John Ford classics, such as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers and The Long Gray Line.  For Rio Grande, which starred Wayne, he and fellow actor Ben Johnson learned to stand simultaneously on two galloping horses.

Carey’s memoir, Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company, was published in 1994.

2012.12.26

AP: world’s longest fast train line opens in China—can more than twice as fast as the last; 2,298 km., init. 300KPH (186MPH); total time of 8 hrs. v. 20.  But the high-speed rail program has in recent months faced high-profile problems: part of a line collapsed in central China after heavy rains in March, while a bullet train crash in the summer of 2011 killed 40 people.  Xinhua News says, citing the Ministry of Railways, that over 150 pairs of HS trains will run on the new line every day—one that runs along Guangzhou, Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Changsha.

Reuters: Egypt’s contentious Islamist constitution becomes law.

Reuters: UAE says they’re arrested a cell planning attacks.

AP: Syrian minister leaves Beirut for fear of arrest.

Reuters: Spring Wish denied as suicide bomber brings down Afghan juice empire.

AP, rocks and clubs: unrest breaks out near French embassy in CAR.

AP, South Africa: Nelson Mandela released from the hospital; in since 11.08?

Most common ATM PINs: 1234 (#1), 1111 (#2), 2580 (down the middle—#22).

LiveScience.com: new boson computer bridges classical and quantum computing; keeping qubits in superposition, however, is challenging.

Ben Affleck, considered a candidate to pursue John Kerry’s to-be-vacant seat, announced his decision online.

WDC looking into whether David Gregory broke the law, displaying a 30-round clip on Meet The Press; NBC was informed that they were not permitted, but D.C. officers advised the ATF spokesman that Gregory could display a clip so long as it’s empty.

2012.12.24-25

Hypocritical scumbags that promote the status quo… How was your Christmas?

This Just In: Delusional Narratives

In Newtown, and the media on Caucasian mayhem (Portland Phoenix, 2012.12.16/21), Chris Faraone criticizes the mass media, obsessing “over cherry-picked atrocities,” working for the part of the public that want to know more about guys like James Holmes and Jeffrey Johnson; a media that, at first, wanted so badly to peg the culprit that they picked a namesake off of Facebook and gave the real shooter’s brother the creeping horrors; a media that for “lack of meaningful context in urban crime reporting” reflects “a larger media failure”; that, in reality, black people are six times more likely to be murdered than white folks.  As Caucasian bogeymen crept last summer, three African-Americans were murdered at a Houston nightclub, while in Boston, three women of color were slain in a parked car.

Sometimes, black people even get shot at movie theaters, as happened in August in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and last year in Rockford, Illinois.  Little ink was spilled on either of those senseless cinema sprees.  A young man squeezed enough bullets into babies to alter the course of [Newtown] forever, but if reporters spent more time on, say, the ongoing horrors in Chicago, then the 40 shootings and 10 homicides that took place there over Memorial Day weekend would have lit up the national newsire.  Instead, most outlets — if they covered the incidents at all — condensed the tragedies into a singular disposable headline.  Forget medical records — we don’t even always learn the names of black shooters.

As public discourse bastardizes facts about violence in America, people are increasingly ignorant about their own surroundings.  According to Gallup, “despite a sharp decline in the United States’ violent crime rate since the mid-1990s, the majority of Americans [for most of the past decade] continue to believe the nation’s crime problem is getting worse.”  But the problem with this narrative is that it trivializes the plight of those who actually face extraordinary danger on a daily basis.

In Cook County, the child-poverty rate exceeds 30%, and schools have growing racial achievement gaps.  About two out of five Windy City teens drop out before graduation.  IL has one of the highest recidivism rates in the U.S., and spends nearly $1.5 bn./year jailing people.  Meanwhile, a staggering effort still goes into verifying the fallacy that the latest suburban mess was all an accident; ABC News actually ran the headline, “Residents Shocked by Mass Killing in ‘Adorable Little Town.’”  If major media bureaus used their resources to analyze the home situations and backstories of some young Chicago shooters, they’d probably find a less assuring message … they might even see a school-related shooting or two.

Obit

TV, stage actor and gambler Jack Klugman, 90, died on 12.24.  Klugman had a six-decade acting career that ventured into Broadway.  Breaking ground on The Twilight Zone, and starring in Quincy, M.E., he was best known for his role as Oscar Madison in the original Odd Couple.  Klugman’s relationship with Tony Randall (as Felix Unger in the series) was strong enough that he wrote Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship.  Randall died in 2004.  What I didn’t get the chance to tell him was that our friendship had made me a better human being, Klugman wrote.  It made me a better father.  I let my children inside now and I’m not afraid to let them see me as I am.  Throat cancer was the wake up call—accepting Tony’s friendship and generosity was the beginning of an honest answer.  I’m hoping this book will be read by …young actors and writers who must understand that the most basic unit of any successful dramatic truth is human feeling.  Not a quick joke, not a clever premise, not a multi-milion dollar explosion can outperform a single human emotion.  So much of the work Tony and I did together … was based on that premise.

Actor Charles Durning, 89, died in Manhattan, also on 12.24.  Warm, fatherly and tender, Durning was a WWII vet before he became an actor, and an actor that brought out briliance in other actors—enough to make Al Pacino (Dog Day Afternoon, 1975) and Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie, 1982) big—name stars.  Durning, himself, may have even outperformed Mel Brooks in his own To Be or Not to Be (1983), portraying a bumbling head of ‘zee Gestapo.’  Also a ballroom dance teacher, his unexpected performance in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) earned him an Oscar® nomination.

2012.12.22-23

GOP may seek to replace John Boehner, as his “fiscal cliff” Plan B is rejected.

Orwellian nightmare: almost ready.  Maybe the “final nail in the coffin of our freedom.”
Not just facial recognition software tested for over a decade on over a hundred video cameras, but a company wanting to test microphone feed(s) at the Olympics, all the way down to the way that you walk—also like a finger print.

Fear of a gun ban(s): gun shop owners are struggling to keep up with demand, as…
Charles Schumer—can’t wait until he leaves…(and somebody worse takes his place)—compares guns to cigarettes; says society can get rid of gun violence by getting rid of guns.  Yes, and get rid of sling-shots and rocks—oh, no, you can’t really do any of the above.  Sorry, try again.

NRA: bullet-proof backpacks and arming teachers... Forget mental health issues, arming teachers is “borderline insane.”

“A-list” Hollywood, WDC campaign for stricter gun controls: “enough is enough.”  Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, news rooms (or cast of Newsroom), Ellen Degeneres, cast members of Friends: “How many more? … Enough. … Demand a plan … As [fill-in-blank]. … As a human being. … It’s time. … We can do better than that.”  Yeah, we can do better than this ad.

Lanza’s teacher says Adam was gentle—that what he did seemed ‘out of character,’ that he would never hurt another soul.  Oh, no!— Run for your lives!— Anyone and everyone could snap— Ban guns!

Obit

AP: Lee Dorman, 70, bass guitarist for Iron Butterfly, dies of ‘natural causes’ in Southern California.  A statement from the OC coroner’s office says Dorman was under the care of a physician when he was found dead in his car Friday at his home in the coastal town of Laguna Niguel.  Authorities have said he may’ve been on his way to a doctor’s appointment.  No services have been announced.

The 1960s psychedelic rock band Iron Butterfly rose to prominence in the late ’60s.  According to the band’s website, its second album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (a title that exists due to a drunken performance of the words “in the garden of evil”) sold more than 30 mn. copies.  The title track’s distinctive notes have been featured in numerous films and TV shows.  The other band members include Erik Brann, Ron Bushy and Doug Ingle.

2012.12.21

Yep.  Not dead today.  A lot of rain and wind, though.

CSM: Japanese firms set spending record in buying up foreign assets—2012 breaks records set in late 1980s w. Mitsubishi Estate (Rockefeller Center) and Sony (Columbia Pictures).  Taking over the world, their Tokyo asset bubble in 1990 reached a height of 463 acquisitions; this year, it’s over 500, with over 7 tn. yen (~US$83 bn.).  IT giant Softbank’s $20 bn. takeover of Sprint Nextel Corp., announced in Oct., will be the biggest foreign takeover ever undertaken by a Japanese company, despite huge govt. debt.  Yuuichiro Nakajima says China’s activity, buying across multiple sectors, often overshaddows Japan’s activity, even though the fear of the nominally communist force today seems tame compared with the hysteria about Japan in the 1980s.

World:

Reuters: Georgian parliament passes law to pardon 3,500 prisoners, including those jailed under Pres. Mikheil Saakashvili (party ousted in Oct.).

Reuters: after 21 mos. of revolt, Syrian rebels warn of targeting intl. Aleppo airport—their first direct attack on a civ. flight.

Reuters: S. Sudan admits it downed U.N. peacekeeping helicopter in Jonglei, killing four Russian crew members.

Reuters, Sudan: intl. peacekeeper shoots dead three comrades, self in Darfur yesterday, said UNAMID.

Reuters: N. Korea says it has detained a Korean American tourist on charges of perpetrating a crime against the state.

Yemen: gunmen snatch three Westerners—Finnish couple and an Austrian man—in the centre of Sanaa, a security official told Reuters.

Reuters: Italian PM Mario Monti resigns; elections likely in February.

Reuters: Russia clashes over energy w. Belarus and Ukraine—disrupted oil and gas supplies; has also termed E.U. energy policy as “uncivilized.”

AP: Margaret Thatcher recuperating at U.K. hospital after operation to remove a bladder growth.

AP: Pope stresses family values as gay marriage gains.

U.S.:

Frankstown Township, Penn. highway shootings: bef. being killed in a shoot-out, man killed woman putting up Christmas decorations, two others at a separate scene; three police officers hurt.

U.S. Senate requires $3.4 bn. spending offsets for Sandy aid bill; part of $60.4 bn. measure.

John Kerry nominated for secy. of state; pres.’s pick expected to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton.

AP: AL woman on couch sleeps through tornado ripping off roof; Betty Russell, 76, was instead awoken by rescue sirens in the area.

PSY’s Gangnam Style officially hits 1 billion YouTube views, available since 7.15; Justin Bieber’s Baby held the prev. record at +800 mn.

2012.12.20

AP: in Mexico, New Agers hope Dec. 21 brings new era.

Torture controversy: bin Laden movie Zero Dark Thirty (which topped the list of EW’s 2012 list of critical grade averages) slammed; key portions are “grossly inaccurate,” three senior U.S. senators insist.

AP: Facebook tests charging $1 to route messages to inbox rather than oft-ignored ‘other’ folder (circa 2011).  The company says charging for messages could help discourage spammers.  In Oct., Facebook unveiled another feature that lets users pay if they want more people to read their updates.  For $7, users can promote a post to their friends, just as advertisers do.

Sci.:

The Register (U.K.): scientists find spider marionette in the Amazon—a spider that makes its own eight-legged decoy(s) to fool predators.

Boiling water turns to snow: known as the Mpemba effect, scientists still can’t agree on exactly why hot water freezes faster than cold.  (My theory: ice requires expansion; boiling water is already expanding.)

Pot, Pol.:

1 in 15 12th Graders smoke pot daily.

House approves $633 bn. defense bill.

Need more outrage(!): TX lawmaker says ‘Ping-pongs’ are deadlier than guns.

2012.12.19

Pre-arranged resignations happened today over “system failure”…the Benghazi failure.
Howie Carr: it’s kind of like that saying, “success has a thousand fathers, and failure is an orphan.”  Now it’s like failure’s an emaculate conception.  That gave Colonel David Hunt a chuckle.

2012.12.18

Reuters: Israel presses ahead on plan to bulid 6,000 new settlement homes.

Reuters: CAR rebels kill 15 soldiers, seize diamond mining town.

Reuters: Kurdish troops fire on Iraqi army helicopter in dispute.

Iraqi president in hospital after suffering stroke; in “critical but stable condition,” said the govt.

Reuters: fmr. PM Silvio Berlusconi says Italy may be forced to leave the euro zone.

Reuters: Egypt opposition protests against Islamist-backed constitution.

Reuters: “Chavez is life!”—adulation in overdrive on Venezuelan (state-controlled) media.

CSM: China hasn’t started a mil. war w. Taiwan—as has been feared since the 1940s—but a passport battle last mo.—a “fiery pupl-and-ink response that could burn a hole in goodwill between the nations.”

CSM: Ireland announces abortion law reforms, leaving no one satisfied.

AP: NBC’s Richard Engel and crew escape abduction in Syria; more than a dozen pro-regime gunmen dragged them from their car.

ABC News: al Qaeda-allied terrorist group gives ‘petulant’ U.S. recruit a timeout—publicly admonishing him and apologizing to its comrades.

Any siblings of Sandy Hook victims may face survivor’s guilt—“magical thinking,” experts warn.

“We are our first responders.”: TX district’s ‘Guardian Plan’ in spotlight: in 2007, David Thweatt’s schools became the first to let teachers carry guns.

AP: opaque Instagram ad policy change riles users; in the new TOS posted Mon., the pop. photo-sharing svc. that Facebook bought this year said it may use shared photos in ads.

NBC, FOX-8: the National Rifle Association’s main Facebook page wasn’t accessible Mon.; its Twitter account, quiet three days after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary.

They put up a response today: “The National Rifle Association of America is made up of 4 million moms and dads, sons and daughters – and we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown. Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting. The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again. The NRA is planning to hold a major news conference in the Washington, D.C., area on Friday, December 21.”

Obit

AIDS activist Spencer Cox, 44, dies of HIV/AIDS-related causes.  The co-founder of ACT-UP and TAG was featured in David France’s recent documentary ‘How to Survive a Plague’.  Cox helped spearhead research on lifesaving protease inhibitors.

2012.12.17

Reuters, Yenagoa: gunmen kidnap 6 Hyundai Heavy workers in Nigeria; police say 4 of them are foreigners, 2 for S. Korea’s HH Industries in southerly oil-producing Bayelsa state.  The 83-yr.-old mother of Fin. Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was kidnapped on 12.09 in Delta state but was freed 5 days later after a military search.

Reuters, Dubai: Bahrain breaks up protests in Manama, arrests campaigner, say activists.

Reuters: thousands of Hungarian students rally against state financing cuts.

Reuters, Pristina: 5 men jailed in Kosovo for 54 yrs. for murder and attempted murder in a case stemming from a deadly pol. score after Kosovo’s 1998-99 war.

AP: Syrian vice pres. says army can’t win; calls for negotiated settlement to ‘save the country from ruin.’

Reuters, Washington: Intel Corp. wins patent appeal against Negotiated Data Solutions (N-Data); court says Intel licensed patents fm. National Semiconductor in 1976.

Crime reporter Chris Redford second employee to be fired at KTBS for defending self online (personal FB attack).

ABC OTUS News poll (and who takes these polls?): most Americans back high-capacity clip ban(s).

Dawn Hochsprung reportedly confronted the Sandy Hook shooter head-on, ‘saved a lot of lives.’

Actor Morgan Freeman denies posting a message that blames media for sensationalizing the Newtown massacre.

HBO: Martin Scorsese to direct Bill Clinton documentary.

Obit

Senator and veteran Daniel Inouye (D-HI), 88, dies of respiratory complications.  His wife of 57 years, Margaret “Maggie” Awamura Inouye, died of cancer on March 13, 2006.

2012.12.16

More media coverage on gun violence, more blame on more things, and not just on the NRA.  Add to that generic newspapers becoming explicitly anti-Republican, no longer hiding the “both sides” pseudo-balance.  Not much of the news of shootings is supposed to be of anyone’s business, theirs or mine, but the press press on behalf of bias and credit anyway.  And nothing says opportunism like the Westboro Baptist Church going to Connecticut to say God hates the victims/families.  And then Anonymous went after their website.

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wor— uh, no; you’re obsessed.  With equipment similar to the WDC sniper shootings, a modified military weapon was used (Bushwhacker Caliber .223 Remington; and two 9 mm.—Glock and SIG Sauer).  Of course, none of this sits right.  We’re filled with crooks.  Mental illness + unloved (or believing so) makes death, no matter the weapon.  A dangerous weapon is a dangerous weapon.  Nothing is improved with more ignorance, raising more questions on the rights of man.

I don’t mean to sound cruel, but when do anti-gun people get real about personal responsibility?  Hypocritical, many of them own guns for the true purpose of owning guns: self-defense, period.  Shooting six and seven-year-olds is not self-defense.  Your heart is also not in the right place if you start wanting to ban things in response.  Modern problems occur in ‘modern society,’ where you’re basically told to become ignorant and/or apathetic in any given number of avenues.  Instead, why don’t you blame the love lost, the illness, the dependency-laden anti-depressants that show up in a number of these cases; when someone suddenly comes off them, they tend to have a psychotic break.

It is not anti-social to say that ‘modern society’ is—beyond full of risk—full of crap.  How many hundreds of years have guns existed?  There’s nothing anyone can do to stop the past.  Don’t add to the tragedy another one or a different one by giving into any of the insanity, any kind of insanity.  Keep your composure, be your true self, and remember that being free requires the ability to disagree without being jailed in life—denied the truth, the inability to move.

AP: Marcos Gurrola, 42, of Garden Grove Calif., fired ~50 shots in the parking lot of a crowded southern Ca. shopping mall, sending shoppers sprinting for safety; he was cooperative when Orange County bicycle officers took him into custody at ~4:30 p.m.  This occurred the day after the CT shooting.

AP, Cedar Lake, IN: northern Indiana man, Von. I. Meyer, 60, who allegedly threatened to “kill as many people as he could” at an elem. school near his home was arrested Fri. by officers who later found 47 guns and ammo hidden throughout his home.

Egyptians hand Islamists narrow win on constitution; mistrust runs deep.

Reuters: grenades injure one in Nairobi’s “Little Mogadishu.”

AP: Conservative LDP returns with landslide in Japan.

AP: rocket still centerpiece as N. Koreans mourn Kim Jong-il—one year after his death.

Agents visit Conn. gun shops after school massacre.

Episode(s) of Family Guy, American Dad pulled after rampage.

Washington Post: John Kerry, Chuck Hagel likely Cabinet nominees.

2012.12.15

Steve Tyler’s (Aerosmith) rasp (damaged vocal cords) explained in one song: I’m BAACK in the saddle again!  I’m BAAAAACK.

Violence flares in Cairo as Egyptians vote.

Japan heads to polls, conservative LDP seen returning to power.

Day 7, explanation: Nelson Mandela undergoes successful gallstone surgery.

Iran PR: their officials also ‘horrified’ by the CT shooting.  Before they bomb us.

Gun control petition clears White House response threshold.

AP, AL: police kill suspects in separate shootings, 75 mi. apart; AK-47(s) used.

(Now might be the time to not fly…:)

Nigerian governor, ex-security head die in air crash.

Singer Jenni Rivera dies in plane crash.

Sci./Tech…really?:

Porcupine quills inspire new type of hypodermic needle.

C2C: Woman had premonition of the CT shooting the day before—saw the news as ‘old news.’

SNL opened with a children’s choir, singing 'Silent Night'.

2012.12.14

Adam Lanza, 20, of NJ, ID’d as the suspect responsible for the Newton, CT Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 children and 6 adults today; killing himself, Lanza also reportedly killed his mother at another scene (the house), bringing the total to 28.  Police question his older brother, Ryan, 24.  And the gun control ‘debate’ erupts on Twitter.  Update: ages of the children were 6 and 7.

Reuters: suicide car bombing kills 2 in the centre of Mogadishu; blast appears to target an African Union peacekeepers’ convoy, police and residents said.

Reuters: Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman resigns after being charged w. fraud and breach of trust.

Reuters: Islamists clash w. opponents ahead of Egypt vote, using clubs, swords and stones.

N. Korea stages mass rally of soldiers/civilians to glorify the country’s young ruler over satellite rocket launch.

Reuters: Russia retaliates against U.S. rights bill, signed into law by Obama, by moving closer to banning Americans that violate ‘human rights.’

AP: questions swirl as Nelson Mandela remains hospitalized.

I didn’t go to the darts dressed as Jesus—I went as me, Nathan Grindal told The Sun (U.K.), after being kicked out of the Cash Converters Players Championships in Somerset for merely watching, looking something like the modern depiction of Jesus Christ (not like the actual man that lived).  It was all very weird and distressing.

Reuters, San Francisco: U.S. govt. says wiretap lawsuit should not proceed because it would ‘force the disclosure of state secrets.’  That’s what they always say.

CSM: Chuck Hagel, fmr. NE Sen. w. a strong independent streak now widely seen as the front-runner for the job of secy. of Defense.

‘New’ ‘Obama-care’ hurdle: few states are willing to adopt a key component of the law: running dozens of health exchanges.  PaulK: If our government is "for the people", why then do they often exempt themselves from the laws they pass?

California judge admonished for his comments at a hearing for a convicted rapist: ‘the victim’s body shuts down, prevents rape.’

Yahoo! News: Montreal may require dogs to be bilingual.  According to Animal Planet, trained dogs are only able to learn about 160 words overall.

The Matrix: Debunked.  Physicists are testing to see if universe is a computer simulation.

AP: Danish historian finds unknown Hans Christian Anderson six-page fairy tale, entitled ‘Tallow Candle’.  Apparently done seven years bef. his 1830 debut, the short story is an attempt by Anderson at the age of 18, that tells the tale of how a tallow candle seeks help from a tinder box to be able to ignite itself.  Anderson was known for writing travel journals, not just poetry and dozens of novels.

Entertainment & whatever

Daily Show ‘news’: Jon Stewart bans Hugh Grant; Wyatt Cenac to leave.

Female pilots in Star Wars—discharged from a Return of the Jedi battle.

WFMJ, OH: 300-lb. pig found in totaled car, unscathed.

Movie

MiB 3: it shows that the third movie in line usually isn’t as good as either of the first two.  Josh Brolin emulates Tommy Lee Jones well, but the plot of the movie doesn’t carry much depth.  We’re introduced to a quirky, cute time traveler, but quirkiness needs creative/strong plot and dialogue.  You do get to see J’s (Will Smith) father.

2012.12.13

Obladi, oblada, life goes on bra… Lala how the life goes on—Beatles.

Reuters/D. Chance: for North Korea, next step is a nuclear test.  S. Korea estimates its rocket program to be $2.8-$3.2 bn., since 1998.

Reuters: Morocco police arrest protestor who impersonated king.

AP: European court condemns CIA in landmark ruling over Rendition.

AP: killed Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko worked for U.K. spies—lawyer.

2 shot in Philly following train argument bet. Bulls, 76ers fans.

Reuters, Lansing: as first-term Repub. Gov. Rick Snyder signs a not-so-friendly bill in the union-friendly state of MI, some credit freshman Patrick Colbeck for its passage.

AP, Colorado Springs: Feds vow to prosecute those who sell mustangs for slaughter.

Cape Elizabeth, ME: marijuana-laced cookies taken by a student to a HS sicken some classmates.  System superintendent Meredith Nadeau says it’s unclear if all the students who at the cookies were aware of the spiking.

Aspirin, the 2,000-yr.-old wonder drug: 75-mg. a day of the anti-inflammatory may cut Alzheimer’s risk by 55%.

Attention on Brominated vegetable oil after S. Kavanagh, 15, MS, started an online petition to get PepsiCo to change their formula.  The so-called vegetable oil is known for promoting neurological problems, and is used in PepsiCo’s Gatorade and Mountain Dew; Coca-Cola’s Powerade, Fanta Orange and Fresca; and Squirt and Sunkist Peach Soda, by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

The festive and cheerful Christmas tree is a monster when it comes to its DNA, say scientists, as results of the Norway spruce conifer genome project are being revealed.  The world changed for conifer genetics, said David Neale of UCA-Davis.  It’s entering the modern era.  Sweden is following suit to the efforts of the U.S. and Canada.

Movie

Sound of My Voice (2011): a woman with a criminal past that claims to be from the future leads a cult that requires its participants to be blindfolded and handcuffed during travel to the compound development—a development that’s claimed to be a safe haven for a pending civil war.  A journalist investigates, using a pair of glasses with camera and a transmitter, and his girlfriend plays along.  His transmitter gets lodged; with the recording method ruined, his evidence can now only be of the empirical sort.

… Without giving away the ending, the movie is no doubt one that’s hard to forget—one without big fireball explosions.

Well-acted, well-written, with a daring script (got 6.6/10 on IMDb; people want more from it), this movie is a classic with a fitting title that focuses more on the honest art and less on the sci-fi.  Grade: A-.

» read the full review

2012.12.12

Girlfriend says OR mall shooter never acted angry or violent.
Jacob Tyler Roberts, 22, said he was giving up everything he owns because he’s “moving to Hawaii.”

A hateful left and unions that ram stuff down your throat want more.

Jimmy Hoffa, Jr.: We’re gonna have a civil war in this state, because this was done against the will… let the people of Michigan decide what’s right for Michigan.

Another guy: it will undo a hundred years of labor; there will be blood.

Steven Krauder was punched in the face several times.  After obscenities and cheering of that, selective coverage.

2012.12.11

Reuters: Mali interim pres. to appoint new PM within 24 hrs.

Reuters: missing witness at Berlusconi sex trial shows up in Mexico.

A CIA agent said to be the inspiration for Zero Dark Thirty hasn’t been faring so well at work, reports say.

WV gas pipeline explosion melts road.

Maine.gov/dhhs/mecde: whooping cough cases surge; 664 confirmed and probable through 12.06 compared to 194 last year during the same period.

PDS: solar-powered BigBelly trash cans installed on the Eastern Promednade.

Maine Port Authority awarded a $150K grant to pay for cargo vessel design work—an “articulated tug-barge.”

Mayor Michael Brennan names day after Mark Curdo; according to Curdo, this year’s WCYY “Markathon” raised $37,341, benefitting Maine’s Center for Grieving Children.

2012.12.10

Reuters, posts to “unfree” countries: Mauritania and Maldives, which both permit citizens who renounce Islam to be sentenced to death, were on Monday elected as VPs of the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2013.

Reuters: Egypt’s Islamist pres. gives army temporary power to arrest civilians.

Reuters: Azerbaijan police crackdown on opposition protest; 30 activists arrested.

ABC News: we stole all secrets from U.S. drone—Iran.

Afghan women rights advocate Nadia Sediqqi shot dead 5 months after predecessor killed.

Romanian president weighs options for PM after vote.

Reuters: Syrian rebels hope arms will flow to new fighter command, expect help from Gulf Arab states; 40K+ have been killed in the uprising.

Scientists create brain cells from human urine.

CBS News: pot officially legal in CO.

New Star Trek movie trailer raises questions.

2012.12.09

Reuters: as Tibetan self-immolations rise sharply, Beijing tightens grip.

Reuters: Egypt’s opposition rejects the Islamist President’s constitutional referendum.

Business Insider: Microsoft’s nightmare scenario is actually starting to take hold.  PC sales are down 8%, yr.-to-yr; Apple dominates with 4.9 mn. iMacs sold, and 14 mn. iPads sold last Q., ahead of top-PC maker Lenovo’s 13.7 mn. shipped.  #2: employees may start switching (more); #3: Windows 8 has failed to stop the iPad.  BI is not sure whether (#4) loyal developers start to leave the MS platform.  The death of Microsoft Office (#6), has not happened, though.

Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Rafael Chávez faces new cancer battle, surgery in Cuba.

AP: plane of singer Jenni Rivera missing in Mexico after taking off in Monterrey.

Reuters: actor Gerard Depardieu seeks Belgian residency-mayor.  And to seek shelter from a series of tax hikes by Socialist Pres. Francois Hollande on ‘the wealthy.’

A Media and a President with no standards

Media storm over ‘how dare you—it’s Kate Middleton’ (anyone else, Zzzz) promotes the suicide (hanging) of the nurse that took the call, and what next?  Media storm, pointing the finger at the Australian DJs that… did their job.  Aus. Broadcasting Corp., much like our Amer. Broadcasting Corp., the same trash.

“Gangnam style”—just under a billion hits on YouTube, explicit lyrics: kill U.S. troops, their family members.  Pres. Obama invites Psy to the holiday concert.  Psy issued an apology for how the lyrics ‘might be’ interpreted (as in, in English).

Obit

Daily Mail: British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore, 89, dies in his home.  The man that wore a monocle did The Sky At Night since 1957.

2012.12.08

Hanukkah (Jewish Festival of Lights) begins at sunset.

Today’s Almanac:

This day in 1776: during the Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington’s retreating army crossed the Delaware River from NJ into PA.

In 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her own conception.

In 1941, U.S. Congress declared war on Japan a day after the then-Nazi-allied Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

In 1962, the first session of the Second Vatican Council was formally adjourned.  Typographers went on a 114-day strike against four major newspapers.

In 1980, John Lennon was shot by a deranged-obsessive fanatic.

World News:

Typhoon that killed 600 makes ‘U-turn,’ threatens Philippines again.

Reuters: North Korea looks set to…delay controversial long-range rocket launch, KCNA (state news agency) said.

ABC News: Egypt terrorist cell leader ‘possibly linked to Benghazi attack’ arrested by Egyptian intel. officers, according to an official close to their agency.

Private meeting: Pakistani Pres. Asif Zardari in U.K., meets Yousufzai, the girl shot by Taliban.

Reuters, Doha: U.N. conference adopts extension of the Kyoto Protocol climate accord; 200 nations ‘strengthen’ weakened by-2020 plan.

AP, Greece: 3 young brothers dead in Greek house fire; grandparents using wooden stove due to high oil prices.

Belfast rally demands return of British flag.

AP: Nelson Mandela, 94, sent to a mil. hospital, receiving medical care consistent for his age, Pres. Jacob Zuma’s spokesman said.  In 2011.01, he was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection.  The history goes back further: Mandela contracted TB during his years in prison, and also had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.

U.S.:

U.S. jobless rate falls to lowest since 2008.12.  People no longer looking v. finally working w. lower pay?

U.S. Air makes merger offer, AMR pilots approve labor deal.

Teens arrested over pipe bomb explosion.

Trending: boy, 7, killed in gun store.

AP, Malibu: rotting whale likely left to nature, as no govt. agency is willing to step up.

FL police: man left baby in pit bull’s care.

PPH: Mercy plans to merge with Maine nonprofit.

Sci./Tech:

Internet governance talks in jeopardy as Arab states, Russia ally.

Software guru McAfee wants to return to U.S.

Catfish taught to hunt pigeons on land.

Ent.:

Toni Braxton is in the hospital, and Hillary Scott is pregnant.

LAPD apologizes to Christopher Wallace’s family for autopsy release.

Rolling Stones to play 12-12-12 benefit concert; Madison Sq. Garden, 7:30 p.m., covered by 34 U.S. TV networks.

Authorities issue felony arrest warrant for comedian Katt Williams over police chase.

Kat Von D, the woman Sandra Bullock’s man left her for, removes tattoo.

Martin Freeman talks favorite Hobbit toy, Season 3 of Sherlock Holmes & meeting Lucy Liu.

Pol.:

Convicted of tax fraud, faces plunging poll numbers, the media baron confirmed to reporters Sat., that Berlusconi try for a fourth term.

Obama: I won’t compromise on taxes.

Fmr. WI gov. aide sentenced in embezzlement case.

SC Gov. Haley responds to Stephen Colbert’s Senate loss in not knowing state’s drink: milk, saying he’d make ‘a great Senator’; Colbert’s loss means somebody else will have to fill the seat of the resigning Jim DeMint.

2012.12.06-07

7.3-mag. quake hits N.E. Japan, near Fukushima, produced 1-m. tsunami.

Reuters: tens of thousands of protesters surge around Egypt’s presidential palace.

Reuters: second bomb this week kills three in Nairobi suburb (predominantly Somali district), says Red Cross.

Reuters: Hamas leader ends long Khaled Meshaal visits Gaza Strip.

AP: charter enshrining Shariah at core of Egypt crisis.

AP: Egypt dealys early voting in disputed referendum.

Ghana extends voting to Saturday after technical hitch.

Reuters, Caracas: Chávez returns from Cuba after treatment.

With morale already low, IBM is making a change that appears to favor layoffs.

U.K. hostpital nurse who took prank call for Kate Middleton found dead.  Update: Jacintha Saldanha, 46, who died early Fri., was fm. India.

Online extortion: fake FBI message, ransom demand is costing victims millions a year.

ABC News: first day of legal marijuana use in WA marred by attempted robbery, two deaths at pot-growing facility just s. of Seattle.

AZ family claims other half of $588 mn. Powerball jackpot.

Ex.-FL Gov. Charlie Crist becomes a Democrat.

Barely-paid Goldline insiders spark govt. investigation on ‘overpriced’ gold; this time it’s not Anthony Weiner.

Prisoner gets stuck trying to break out of jail.

Burglar calls 911 to save himself from gun-wielding homeowner.

Loaded pistol found in package of frozen meat.

Sci./Tech, Ent.:

$700K in gold dust missing from Pfizer lab.

Altering genes in mosquitoes ‘vs.’ dengue?

Firm hopes to sell $1.5 bn. trips to the moon.

Stephen King talks to students; they try to find out what scares him: “Spiders, snakes … my mother-in-law,” the writer said with a grin.

Autopsy report released on Notorious B.I.G. 15 yrs. after his death.
Related March story: Greg Kading echoed what he told to another outlet in Complex magazine, who he believes killed Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace, and how much was paid.  Poochie lay in wait outside the Petersen Automotive Museum.  As soon as he became aware of where Biggie was sitting in his car, he drove up, and he shot him. … It comes down to how you define ‘solved.’  Both law enforcement agencies—the Las Vegas Police Department and the L.A.P.D.—have drawn the conclusions that Tupac was killed by Orlando Anderson and Biggie Smalls was killed by Wardell ‘Poochie’ Fouse. … Both shooters are dead...That’s all the justice that these cases will see.  Kading, who wrote Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations, also said why the investigations will never be officially solved.  The D.A.’s office in Los Angeles has a policy: They don’t prosecute murders based on the testimony of one witness, which is now just the girlfriend.  The shelving of the case(s) made him frustrated enough to quit.

What may get the govt. to crack down on me: the mere mention of Ajai Dittmar

Locked out of her Facebook page, opinion(s) on the LA sinkhole, and TX Brine’s PR skills.

2012.12.05

‘Socialism,’ ‘capitalism’ and ‘touché’ year’s most looked-up words.  (And people still don’t get them.)

Philippines, AP: death toll from Typhoon Bopha hits 284; Compostela Valley the worst-hit province, at 151+ dead.

Media reports: mag-5.5 quake hits Iran; 5 dead.

Scientists working to predict next supervolcanic eruption.

AP: 2 Aussie radio DJs apologized today after impersonating the queen and Prince Charles in a prank call, getting a London hospital to tell them all about Middleton’s condition.

Coverage of internet sensation, video: brother of man living on the street approaches him with boots.  Not homeless, but choosing the lifestyleHe has a history of turning down services, said Barbara Brancaccio of the Homeless Service in NYC.  People have pooled money for an apartment Jeffrey Hillman chose not to use.

Actor Angus T. Jones, who plays the 19-yr.-old kid on Two and a Half Men, apologizes for a series of interviews at which he said you can’t be a Christian and be on a show like that.  You can’t.  You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that.  I know I can’t.

Obit

Legendary jazz artist and pianist Dave Brubeck (Take Five), 91, dies one day before his 92nd.  He appeared on the cover of time magazine in 1954, and his 1959 album Time Out, after rising to No. 2 on the charts, became the first jazz LP to sell a million copies.

Besse Cooper, 116, considered the world’s oldest person, has died in a Georgia nursing home.

2012.12.04

Frankie Muniz (Malcom In the Middle), 27, is recovering after having a mini stroke; was driving a motorcycle when he said he knew something wasn’t right.

2012.12.02-03

He’s gone.  Rick Santelli, “I can’t even talk about it anymore!” storms off set.

Science journal urged to retract Monsanto GM study.

AP: Palestinian pres. returns triumphantly from U.N.; supporters cheer at rally over “his people’s” new acceptance to the United Nations.

Egypt’s top court suspended all its work indefinitely due to ‘psychological…pressures’ from Islamist protests.

Taliban suicide bombers attack U.S. Air base in eastern Afghanistan.

Reuters: Kosovo demands investigation into ex-U.N. prosecutor Carla del Ponte.

Reuters: Pier Luigi Bersani wins big in Italian ‘centre-left’ primary.

Reuters: Nationalist strains echo on Japan campaign trail—analysis.

German Chancellor ged up w. Greece: “A lot of what the Greek leadership has promised wasn’t lived up to.”

Tim Geithner vows: no ‘fiscal cliff’ agreement w/o raising taxes on “the rich.”

PA Repub. lawmaker announces he’s gay—becomes first openly gay State Repr.

U.S. Navy bids farewell to ‘Big E’, a ship used during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Sci., Ent.:

Asperger’s dropped from revised diagnosis & statistics manual.

A new Timeline given for Stonehenge.

U.N. climate ‘scientist’: Sandy no coincidence.

Stevie Wonder cancels Israel concert over public pressure; “I am, and have always been against war.”

Audiences give Killing Them Softly, the new movie starring Brad Pitt as a killer, an ‘F’.

Father captures dolphin biting 8-yr.-old girl, attempting to feed it, at Sea World.

2012.12.01

Iran unveils pearl-cyan blue submarine warships.
Launched from Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz, the Sina 7 and two Ghadir-class subs represent the first wave “indigenously built” warships, Iran said.

Reuters: Tunisian troops fire tear gas in air, at protesters; thousands clashed over economic hardship.

North Korea announces new rocket launch in Dec.

Reuters: after Israeli army kills Gazan, Hamas complains to Egypt, responsible for the 11.21 truce agreement.

Reuters, Egypt: Mursi calls 12.15 referendum on constitution, and urged a natl. dialogue on the “concerns of the nation.”

Reuters: German Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirms support for Israel after U.N. vote.

Enrique Pena Nieto sworn in as new Mexican president amid protests, 12-mo. hiatus.

AP: Congo rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda complete Goma pullout.

AP: Kuwait’s pol. rifts highlighted by parliamentary elections boycott.

AP: Syrian Internet largely restored after blackout.

Reuters: detained Italian Il Giornale newspaper editor Alessandro Sallusti re-arrested after he “escapes” to push for press freedom; under house arrest, he got 14 mos. for a “libellous” article in 2007.

JK Rowling among ‘press victims’ in UK that want all of a judge’s recommendations fully implemented on regulating the country’s newspapers.

AP: Curacao police have new leads in est. $11.5 mn. gold heist—70 bars fm. a fishing boat.

U.S.:

Early Sat. morning, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25, shot and killed girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, 22; their 3-mo.-old is safe in the care of a relative.

WY police: man killed father in Fri. murder-suicide; no names released, of the suspect or the two killed with the “edged weapon.”

AP: after two storms already, northern California braces for another.

Obama pushing stimulus in ‘fiscal cliff’ deal—over a quarter of a trillion dollars.

Reuters Exclusive: News Corp. to name Robert Thomson as Publishing Co. CEO next week, say sources.

AP: bus carrying 32 lodges into Miami International Airport 8'6" entrance, as driver got lost; 2 elderly people dead; 3 others critically injured.

U.S. Judge refuses to order anti-Islam film taken off YouTube.

19 Hostess execs. will receive bonuses while 18K are/were laid off.

U.S. birthrate at record low—lowest since nos. taken in 1920.

MO couple wins half of $587 mn. Powerball lottery.

RI founder Roger Williams’s shorthand code fm. the 17th century cracked—nearly 250 pages; a 22-yr.-old math major fm. Belmont, MA used letter-frequency analysis.

Maine leads on…pot: in the next session, CO, ME and Wash. will consider marijuana bill.  Marijuana is federally classified as a type-1 drug, alongside heroin, even though pot is virtually non-addictive.

Disclaimer:
Even though there are aims for accuracy here, only trust original sources.
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