Doctor Predicts Women Will Have More Sex With Robots Than With Men By 2050

[From article]
Woman could be swapping human partners for robots in less than 10 years as the trend for sex with cyborgs continues to increase.
Futurologist Dr Ian Pearson has compiled a report on the future of sex - where he suggests that sleeping with robots will be as common for women as watching porn is today.
Sex with robots isn't exactly new though - and there are already a wide range of mechanical partners for humans out there.
Footage, shared by Super Deluxe , was filmed in the Real Doll factory, and throws new light on the industry standard sex toys.
Thanks to new developments, the pleasure aids have undergone a renaissance recently, with more than ever turning to them in lieu of human company when they have intimate thoughts.
[. . .]
But Dr Pearson claims in his report that robot sex may become so popular that it will overtake human intercourse - and will be fully-fledged by 2050.
In the report, commissioned by Bondara, Dr Pearson claims: "A lot of people will still have reservations about sex with robots at first but gradually as they get used to them, as the AI (artificial intelligence) and mechanical behaviour and their feel improves, and they start to become friends with strong emotional bonds, that squeamishness will gradually evaporate."
But the report also claims people may also fall in love with these machines - which is referred to as Robophilia.
Many people have voiced concerns over this growing trend fearing the robots could soon replace human interaction.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/women-more-sex-robots-men-8312068

Women will have more sex with robots than men by 2025 with 'robophilia' set to relegate romance
19:30, 29 JUN 2016
UPDATED 18:27, 30 JUN 2016
BY KELLY-ANN MILLS , RACHEL BISHOP

New Book About Facebook, Reveals Unusual Employment Rules

Martinez reveals how Zuckerberg declared ‘total war’ on Google in 2011 when it launched Google Plus, its ill-fated rival social network in his new book Chaos Monkeys.

[From article]
Facebook has long been accused of being a sexist workplace and letting founder Mark Zuckerberg rule with an iron fist in a velvet perk-filled glove.
But as far as one ex-employee is concerned, the glove is now definitely off.
Antonio Garcia Martinez, a former Facebook advertising manager who was fired two years ago, claims that working at the social network was like being in a cult akin to North Korea with Zuckerberg its unquestioned leader.
Female employees were told not to wear clothing that might be ‘distracting’ to male workers,
Human resource managers gave a speech during initiation for new employees in which they told women that there was a dress code which they had to stick to.
They also pulled women aside and ‘read them the riot act’ if their skirts were too short.
Men do not appear to have been given the same treatment according to Martinez' new tell-all book, ‘Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley’, published by Harper Collins



Martinez takes the title from a term used in the tech world for a tool used by computer developers to identify problems before they crop up.
But for Martinez, there were problems aplenty at Facebook, not least the KGB-like internal police force called ‘The Sec’ which monitored everything that staff did.
Facebook has long faced allegations its workplace culture is sexist and still mirrors the Frat House style environment that harks back to social media's early days.
Facemash, for example, was a crude ‘hot or not’ style game that went viral in Harvard, where Zuckerberg studied.
Since then former employees have claimed that little has changed and that it is more like Mad Men when it comes to equal rights.
Martinez, who was sacked by Facebook in 2013 after two years working on targeted advertisements, describes how new employees went through a series of talks to induct them into the company’s way of thinking.
The author recalls being told by Chamath Palihapitiya, one of the stars of Facebook: ‘Look, we’re not here to f*** around. You’re at Facebook now and we’ve got lots to do’.
After 20 minutes more of lecturing he finished off with another missive: ‘Just f*****g do it’.
But 'doing it' had its limits.
Martinez says that Facebook's Human Resources told them that the policy on asking co-workers out was that you got one try and if they said no you had to leave it.
‘Next was a warning to the womenfolk,' writes the author.
‘Our male HR authority, with occasional backup from his female counterpart, launched into a speech about avoiding clothing that ‘distracted’ coworkers.
‘I’d later learn that manager did in fact pull aside female employees and read them the riot act. One such example happened in (advertising) when an intern who looked about 16 coming in regularly in booty shorts.’
Such attitudes toward women got senior staff into trouble with Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer at Facebook and one of the few female boardroom executives.
On one occasion, she was evaluating a presentation of a new tool that used pictures of cats instead of users’ pictures.
When Sandberg asked why they were all cats, the product manager Dan Rubenstein said: ‘Well, you know, kittens and cats are like pu…’
Sandberg did not need to hear the word ‘pussy’ and replied: ‘Got it!’ followed by a sharp intake of breath,
She said: ‘If there were women on that team they’d NEVER EVER choose those photos as demo pics. I think you should change them immediately’.
Rubenstein duly scribbled in his notepad: ‘CHANGE PUSSY PHOTOS NOW!’
Martinez, a former Goldman Sachs trader who had an on-off relationship with the mother of his three children, has his own chauvinistic issues.
He writes: ‘Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of s**t.
‘They have their self-regarding entitlement feminism and ceaselessly vaunt their independence but the reality is, come the epidemic plague or foreign invasion, they'd become precisely the sort of useless baggage you'd trade for a box of shotgun shells or a jerry can of diesel’.
Martinez admits that he once tried to have sex in a closet on the Facebook campus after getting drunk in the bar on site called ‘Shady Lady’.
He admits that he had his ‘fair share of scares’ with women nearly getting pregnant after having unprotected sex with many women.
Martinez writes: ‘I was on season four of the show where a tear-filled woman X shows up two weeks after the shag saying she had ‘missed her period’ (sort of in the same way I'd say I ‘missed my bus’).
‘Nothing had ever come of it and after the third showing you just wanted to say: ‘Look, woman, unless you've got a screaming infant in your arms and it looks like me, we have nothing to talk about’.
In another passage about his pre-Facebook says Martinez says that trying to attract venture capital funding with an ongoing lawsuit against was like ‘walking into a singles bar with a T-shirt announcing: ‘I’m HIV positive’’.
The day that an employee joined Facebook is called their ‘Faceversary’ and is marked by celebrations akin to how Christians celebrate the day they are baptized.Martinez says that working for Facebook is like being in a cult with Zuckerberg as its leader who is followed by ‘true believers’ who have a Messianic zeal to get everyone in the world onto the social network.
It was essentially treated as a second birthday and everyone would congratulate you and give you balloons.
The day people leave Facebook is considered their ‘death’ and they would post a picture of their battered ID card as their Facebook profile to show they were going out the door.
In Facebook’s first office, one conference room was called Ping and the one next door was called Pong.
When Facebook moved to its sprawling campus in Menlo Park signs were put up which read: ‘Our work is never done’, ‘Embracing change isn’t enough’, ‘Make it faster’, The journey 1% finished’ and ‘What would you do if you weren’t afraid?’
Zuckerberg’s office became known as ‘The Aquarium’ because of its all glass walls while Sandberg’s conference room became dubbed ‘Only Good News’, apparently because that is all she wanted to hear.
Staff were expected to work 20 hour plus days, Martinez claims, and eat all their meals at the cafeteria, which developed to cater for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Not every initiative was a success though and when Zuckerberg asked staff to paint the walls of their new office he was furious because after two days the place was covered with obscene drawings.
Martinez says the gist of the email Zuckerberg sent round to staff was that ‘I trusted you to create art and what you f*****g did was vandalize the place’.
According to Martinez Zuckerberg was obsessed with secrecy. When one employee leaked details about a new product launch Zuckerberg responded by sending a chilling email round to every single worker with the subject line: ‘Please resign’.
The email was designed to cause alarm to anyone who received it - in this case the whole company.
Zuckerberg was so angry at the employee who leaked details about the new product that he 'excoriated' the individual in the message - attacking the person for his or her 'base moral nature' and how he/she had 'betrayed the team'.
The book says: 'The moral to this story, a parable of a prodigal son but with an unforgiving father, was clear: F*** with Facebook and security guards would be hustling you out the door like a rowdy drunk at a late night Taco Bell'.
[. . .]
Zuckerberg made decisions that affected Facebook's 1.6 billion users based on 'gut feel' and 'whatever historical politics were at play' rather than a considered judgement, Martinez claims.
[. . .]
A lot of the change appears to be the work of Sandberg, who arrived in 2008 having previously been at Google and been mentored by former Federal Reserve chairman Larry Summers while studying at Harvard.
She instituted what Martinez calls the ‘Supreme Court of Sheryl’, or a system for improving targeted advertising that she controlled.
The book says: ‘She clearly knew her boss inside and out. Here was a boss who excelled in the role of gatekeeper and shepherd to difficult and powerful men, whether that role was chief of staff for prickly US Treasury Secretary Larry Summer, or COO of and for Zuck’.
One of Sandberg’s tricks for hiring the right staff was to make them think they were missing an unmissable opportunity.
[. . .]
A colleague told Martinez: ‘She basically convinced me by saying: ‘Look, I either hire you now and you come work for Facebook, or a year from now I’ll hire you to work for the guy whose job I’m offering to you right now’. And that’s what convinced me’.
Martinez reveals how Zuckerberg declared ‘total war’ on Google in 2011 when it launched Google Plus, its ill-fated rival social network.
Martinez claims that this hit Zuckerberg like a ‘bomb’ and that he put the entire company on Lockdown, meaning that they were not able to leave the building.
In a speech in front of the entire company Zuckerberg quoted Cato the Elder, one of his favourite philosophers, and told that Carthage must be destroyed, referring to Google.
According to Martinez: ‘Everyone walked out of there ready to invade Poland if need be’
[. . .]
The Facebook Analog Research Laboratory turned Zuckerberg’s catchphrase into posters in bold type with a Roman centurion’s helmet which were put up all over the campus
When it became clear that Google had been inflating the figures for how many people were using Google Plus and it was not a threat.
Martinez is not the first former Facebook employee to highlight its workplace culture.
In ‘The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network’ Katherine Loose claimed that it was deeply sexist and stuck in a 1950s mentality.
She wrote that female workers at the social network were propositioned for threesomes or given crude insults like ‘I want to put my teeth in your a**’.
Lower ranking employees who were invariably female were banned from a conference unless they worked as coat checkers whilst there.
In the book she compared Zuckerberg to Napoleon and branded a ‘little emperor’ who created a company where his staff could ‘idol worship’ him.
Loose was employee no.51 and worked her way up from customer relations to a senior marketing role before becoming the speechwriter for Zuckerberg.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3666501/Mark-Zuckerberg-s-hostile-emails-Sheryl-Sandberg-s-Good-News-conference-room-s-wanted-hear-Dress-codes-no-booty-shorts-women-Life-Facebook-exposed.html

EXCLUSIVE: ‘I trusted you to create art and what you f***ing did was vandalize!' Mark Zuckerberg’s hostile emails…Sheryl Sandberg’s 'only good news' room… Dress codes (no booty shorts) for women. Life at Facebook exposed!
FIRED Facebook advertising manager Antonio Garcia Martinez has written a tell-all book about his time at the social network
Zuckerberg fired off angry email after he asked staff to paint the walls and the place was covered with obscene drawings
When one employee leaked details about a new product launch Zuckerberg sent a chilling email to every worker. Subject: ‘Please resign!’
Staff who stepped out of line were monitored by a 'KGB-like' internal police force called ‘The Sec'
'F*** with Facebook and security guards would be hustling you out the door like a rowdy drunk at a late night Taco Bell,' Martinez writes
He claims female employees had a strict dress code so as not to distract men - who had no code at all
The day that an employee joined Facebook is called their ‘Faceversary’ and is marked by celebrations akin to Baptisms
By DANIEL BATES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 07:55 EST, 30 June 2016 | UPDATED: 12:00 EST, 30 June 2016

Google My Activity Page Reveals What Google Knows About You

[From article]

Google has launched a new site that shows absolutely everything it knows about its users. And there’s an awful lot of it.
The new My Activity page collects all of the data that Google has generated by watching its customers as they move around the web. And depending on your settings that could include a comprehensive list of the websites you’ve visited and the things you’ve done with your phone.
Google has long allowed its users to see the kinds of information that is being generated as people use the company’s products,including letting people listen in on automated recordings that it has made of its users. But the new page collects them together in a more accessible – and potentially more terrifying – way than ever before.
The page shows a full catalogue of pages visited, things searched and other activity, grouped by time. It also lets people look at the same timeline through filters – looking at specific dates, which go all the way into the past, and specific products like Google search, YouTube or Android.
When users open up the page for the first time, pop-ups make the case for why it has been launched and why Google collects quite so much data. You can use the site to “rediscover the things you’ve searched for, visited and watched on Google services” and help “delete specific items or entire topics”.
All of the information that’s used is how Google uses its ads services. By tracking people around the internet it can tailor those ads – but people can use the same site to opt out from the tracking entirely, or just delete information that they would rather wasn’t used for advertising.
Users aren’t automatically opted into the interest-based advertising tools, despite heavily rolling out the feature. The site asks people instead to turn it on – encouraging people to do so because it makes adverting more helpful and muting any specific ads that people don’t want to see.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/google-my-activity-shows-everything-that-company-knows-about-its-users-and-there-s-a-lot-a7109256.html

Google My Activity shows everything that company knows about its users – and there’s a lot
The new site collects every website you’ve been on, everything you’ve searched and many of the things you’ve done with your phone
Andrew Griffin
@_andrew_griffin
June 30, 2016

Supreme Court of Japan Approves Surveillance of Muslims at Work and Play

Supreme Court Of Japan

Under some system of collective reasoning, it could be argued that if the United States could incarcerate Japanese descendants living in the United States during World War II, then Japan is 
justified watching Muslims during the undeclared World War III. I mean, you know, like, you know, the government in Japan is just watching them. They are not doing anything to them. Unlike in Cambridge, MA where police, crime families, Harvard University campus police and building superintendents not only watch a 70-year-old white man, they also harass him every day. They disturb his sleep, provoking, insulting, ridiculing, humiliating him while they see what he will do. Unlike the Japanese government and Muslims the US government uses psychologists for intense behavior conditioning, evaluations and testing all contrary to law. The US government has its priorities. Watch and attack weak, vulnerable persons. Leave dangerous violent repeat criminals alone. Vulnerable persons will not harm police or crime family associates or the men and women sent to do the daily dirty work. 

[From article]
Japan's Supreme Court has upheld the government's blanket surveillance of the country's Muslim community.
The court struck down the second appeal by Japanese Muslim plaintiffs against what they perceive as an unconstitutional invasion of their privacy and freedom of religion.
A 2010 leak of 114 police files revealed nationwide surveillance of Japanese Muslims. The files revealed that Muslim places of worship, halal restaurants and Islam-related organisations across the capital, Tokyo, were being monitored.
Within a few weeks of the leak, the data had been downloaded 10,000 times in 20 different countries from a file-sharing website.
A group of 17 Japanese Muslims, mostly from Middle Eastern and North African countries, decided to sue the Japanese government for infringing on their constitutional rights.
Mohamed Fujita, a native of Japan who converted to Islam over 20 years ago, is one of the 17 plaintiffs fighting the surveillance.
He told Al Jazeera: "They made us terrorist suspects, we never did anything wrong - on the contrary."
The Supreme Court finally dismissed the case after two appeals on 31 May.
The plaintiffs were awarded ¥90 million ($880,000) as compensation due to violation of their privacy by the leak.
However, the presiding judges did not make a judgment on police profiling and surveillance tactics which a lower court had upheld as "necessary and inevitable" to guard against international terrorism.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/muslims-japan-government-surveillance-top-court-green-lit-islamaphobia-a7109761.html

Japan's top court has approved blanket surveillance of the country's Muslims
'They made us terrorist suspects, we never did anything wrong,' says Japanese Muslim, Mohammed Fujita
Matt Payton
Wednesday 29 June 2016

Minnesota Gentleman, 35, Accused of Decapitating Facebook Friend, 20, Who Was Accused of Raping Girlfriend of Accused Decapitator

Thoresen from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, has been charged with second degree murder after he supposedly beheaded 20-year-old David A. Haiman (pictured). Thoresen's girlfriend told police he raped her.

[From article]

A 35-year-old man has been accused of decapitating a friend who allegedly raped his girlfriend.
Joseph C. Thoresen from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, has been charged with second degree murder after he supposedly beheaded 20-year-old David A. Haiman.
He was arrested after he ambushed the victim, attacked him and then brutally slayed him, prosecutors say.
Thoresen's girlfriend told police he was upset when she told him she'd been raped in the apartment they shared.
Haiman showed up at their apartment after Thoresen invited him over.
The suspect's girlfriend then started kicking and punching her alleged sex attacker.
Thoresen also hit Haiman and said he should not have raped 'my girl', the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
The trio then left the apartment to go and smoke marijuana with other people. They are then believed to have met up with another friend to take methamphetamine.
Police say they then drove around in the woods before pulling over.
Thoresen and Haiman were standing in front of the vehicle, when Thoresen allegedly hit Haiman with a baseball bat.
According to a police report he then stabbed him in the back and abdomen.
Thoresen then took the machete, decapitated Haiman and threw the head in the woods.
Haiman was reported missing on Saturday. Police first found his torso on Sunday morning, and then his head about an hour later.
The pair were listed as friends on Facebook before the attack.
Haiman first came to the attention of authorities early last week when he didn't show up to work.
His missing vehicle was spotted late Friday night, with Thoresen in the passenger seat.
The driver took off but was caught several miles later. Thoresen was briefly detained at the scene, the Star Tribune reported.
The driver told the officer that Thoresen was threatening him with a knife during the pursuit.
He also claimed Thoresen confessed to decapitating Haiman and stealing his car.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3666637/Minnesota-man-decapitated-friend-accused-raping-girlfriend-machete-dumped-body-woods.html

Minnesota man 'decapitated friend accused of raping his girlfriend with a machete and dumped his body in the woods'
Joseph Thoresen, of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, is facing murder charges
He is accused of beheading 20-year-old friend David A. Haiman
Suspect was allegedly upset after his girlfriend told him she'd been raped
She claimed Haiman had attacked her inside the apartment they shared
Thoresen allegedly invited Haiman to their home and attacked him
Pair and his girlfriend then went out and smoked marijuana with friends
As they were driving home, Thoresen is said to have hit Haiman with a bat
He stabbed him twice, chopped of his head, and threw it away, cops say
By WILLS ROBINSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 14:50 EST, 29 June 2016 | UPDATED: 15:36 EST, 29 June 2016

Cheap Flights Coming To New York City

[From article]

New Yorkers can soon fly on a budget.
Starting in November, Allegiant air will be selling one-way flights from Newark, NJ, to Cincinnati; Knoxville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga.; and Asheville, NC, for as low as $39. Meanwhile, Wow airlines is offering one-way trips from Newark to Iceland starting at $99, and to London, Paris, Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany, for $149.
Although Allegiant travels to 117 domestic cities, only those four nonstop routes will be available from Newark at the start.
“We think we provide something really unique. At Newark, we’ll be the first,” Lukas Johnson, Allegiant’s vice president of planning, told USA Today. He’s referring to the “ultra low-cost carrier” budget airlines like Spirit and Frontier, which fly out of La Guardia Airport.
Though like those other carriers, budget airline customers should be prepared to pay for extras like carry-on luggage and assigned seats.
If you pay with a credit card, for example, you’ll get an $8 surcharge. Many budget carriers maintain their low cost by flying into smaller regional airports with lower landing fees — like Ogdensburg, NY.

http://nypost.com/2016/06/29/39-domestic-flights-are-coming-to-nyc/

$39 domestic flights are coming to NYC
By Christian Gollayan
New York Post
June 29, 2016 | 3:33pm

Miami Brother And Sister Busted With $24 million Cash Money From Marijuana Sales

Cash Money and Gun

[From article]

Police made quite the discovery when raiding a home in Miami Lakes on Tuesday: over $24 million from a suspected marijuana trafficker, the largest money seizure in the department's history.
Authorities found the money stuffed in dozens of five-gallon buckets located in a hidden attic compartment inside the home,
[. . .]
Luis Hernandez-Gonzalez, 44, was taken into custody on several drug and firearms charges stemming from an investigation by the Miami-Dade police and the Drug Enforcement Agency. His sister, Salma Hernandez, 32, was also arrested.
Both siblings appeared in court Wednesday, with Hernandez-Gonzalez ordered held on more than $4 million bond. His sister was given a $12,500 bond,

[. . .]


Cash Money Containers

Police said Hernandez-Gonzalez, who runs The Blossom Experience store in Miami-Dade, was involved in trafficking marijuana to Tennessee along with two other men. He had been the target of an investigation dating back to 2010, speaking with informants about the drug trade, according to police.
The store’s website proclaims its expertise in indoor gardening needs and lists items including lights and fans. The business was raided as part of the operation, with officers finding drugs and $180,000 in a safe.
Hernandez-Gonzalez was recorded on various phone calls giving advice on how to care for the plants. After his arrest, Hernandez-Gonzalez allegedly admitted to helping customers grow the drug.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Siblings-Arrested-After-Drug-Bust-Largest-Money-Seizure-in-Miami-Dade-Police-History-384888001.html

Siblings Arrested After $24M Drug Bust, Largest Money Seizure in Miami-Dade Police History
Authorities found the money stuffed in dozens of five-gallon buckets located in a hidden attic compartment inside the home
Published June 29, 2016

Italian Police Arrest Camorra Leaders In Naples for Inflated Bread Prices

All bread suppliers in the northern neighbourhoods of Naples (pictured) have been forced to buy their products from bakeries controlled by the Camorra mafia, police claim.

[From article]

In Italy's southern city of Naples, if you want to buy or sell bread, there's only one supplier to go to - and you'd better not refuse.
So claim Italian police who on Monday said they arrested 24 people suspected of belonging to a mafia group which has controlled the market for bread in the city for years.
From supermarkets to street vendors, all bread suppliers in the northern neighbourhoods of Naples have been forced to buy their products from bakeries controlled by the Camorra mafia - or else face the consequences.

Officers bring Francesco Danese out of the police station in Naples. Surveillance and wire taps led to Monday's arrests on alleged charges ranging from mafia association and racketeering to murder.

The mobsters forced stores to buy their bakeries' bread, with prices considerably higher than market prices, said Lt. Col. Giuseppe Furciniti, commander of the organized crime unit in Naples of the national financial police corps.
Most merchants bought the Camorra-linked bread, Furciniti said. 'Only a few dared not to,' knowing if they spurned the Camorra, they risked seeing their shops burned or suffer other damage, he said.
With wholesale prices hiked by as much as 30 euro cents a kilogram, the profits went to clan coffers, authorities said. Since most of the neighborhood shops sold the Camorra-linked bread, consumers also saw bread prices rise.
Extortion is one mainstay of the Naples-based syndicate. Besides demanding 'protection money' the Camorra often demands that businesses buy wares from certain suppliers.
'This time it was bread, other times it has been buffalo mozzarella,' the prized, creamy cheese, Furciniti said.

Ciro Perfetto is escorted out of the Naples police station after a police operation on the Lo Russo crime clan.

Since the arrest of Camorra boss Carlo Lo Russo in April in the French Riviera city of Nice, investigators have been looking into his family and relatives.
Surveillance and wire taps led to Monday's arrests on alleged charges ranging from mafia association, drug trafficking and racketeering to weapons possession and murder.
The Italian mafia consists of three main groups: the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, the Camorra in Naples and the 'Ndrangheta in southwest Calabria.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3662292/Not-just-crumbs-Naples-mobsters-extort-high-price-bread.html

They do love making dough! Police arrest 24 in crackdown on Naples Mafia forcing shopkeepers to buy BREAD at inflated prices
Police arrested 24 people suspected of controlling the bread market
They said Camorra mafia forced vendors to buy bread from their bakeries
Those who refused 'risked having their shops burned down or vandalised'
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and AFP and TED THORNHILL FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:11 EST, 27 June 2016 | UPDATED: 07:58 EST, 28 June 2016

Volkswagen Corp. Agrees To Pay $14.7 billion After False Computer Data Revealed; More Criminal And Civil Liability Pending

Daniel Carder (pictured) conducted a $50,000 study at West Virginia University that set off the scandal.

[From article]
Volkswagen has agreed to pay out $14.7 billion over its emissions-cheating diesel-powered cars in one of the largest consumer class-action settlements in US history.
The settlement filed in federal court calls for the German auto giant to pay each owner up to $10,000 in cash, and either buy back or fix the 'clean diesel' cars designed to trick air-quality tests.
The company has agreed to spend a maximum of $10.03billion compensating owners. Volkswagen will pay an environmental penalty of $2.7billion and spend another $2billion on promoting eco-friendly cars.
The payout will affect owners of 2009 to 2015 diesel models of Volkswagen Jettas, Passats, Golfs and Beetles. The TDI Audi A3 is also included.
The $2.0 billion will go towards 'creating infrastructure for and promoting public awareness of zero emission vehicles,' the court filing showed.
The huge settlement, which still needs to be approved by a federal judge in San Francisco, could affect some 480,000 owners of Volkswagens and Audis with 2.0-liter diesel engines.
Volkswagen agreed to buy back the emissions-cheating vehicles at their market prices before the scandal broke.
For qualifying Jetta Sedans, owners can receive $12,475, while some Audi models will fetch more than $44,000.
The owners also have the option of letting Volkswagen modify the cars to meet US pollution standards.
In either case, the owners would also get a cash settlement ranging from $5,100 to $10,000 depending on the vehicle.
While the deal only covers a small portion of the 11million cars around the world that have been fitted with the cheating software, law professor David Uhlmann told the NYTimes it was a 'remarkable deal' for VW owners in the US.
Daniel Carder conducted a $50,000 study at West Virginia University in 2012 to 2013 that produced early evidence that Volkswagen was cheating on US. vehicle emissions tests.
The study found one vehicle with 15 to 35 times the reported emissions levels, setting off a scandal that reverberated throughout the auto industry.
Volkswagen admitted in September that it had installed software in the vehicles that tricked US emissions tests into showing the cars met environmental standards.
The device switched off after testing, enabling the vehicles to spew up to 40 times the permitted amounts of nitrogen oxides.
At a press conference in December, company chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said he would not name any individuals involved, but added: 'We are talking here not about a one-off mistake but a chain of errors.'
Volkswagen has set aside $17.9 billion to cover costs from the scandal including the legal risks.
Despite the settlement, however, Volkswagen faces more troubles in the United States.
The company faces fines from US regulators that may run to tens of billions of dollars while a criminal investigation over the scandal is also pending.
Volkswagen has yet to face similar charges over its 3.0 liter diesel cars with emissions-cheating devices, in addition to lawsuits and charges in other countries around the world.
Tuesday's settlement filed with Judge Charles Breyer would settle claims from the US government as well as a large number of plaintiffs including owners, lessees, and dealers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3664121/VW-agrees-14-7-bn-payout-US-emissions-probe.html

Volkswagen agrees to $14.7 BILLION payout over emissions-cheating cars in the US in largest-ever settlement by an auto company
Company agreed to pay $10b to compensate owners, $2.7b in fines and $2b to promote zero-emission cars
VW agreed to either fix the cars installed with cheating software, or buy them back from owners at rates before the scandal
Qualifying owners can also receive cash compensation from $5.1k to $10k
Settlement still needs to be approved by a federal judge in San Francisco
Could affect 480k owners of Volkswagens, Audis with 2.0L diesel engines
VW faces a slew of other investigations, lawsuits both in US and worldwide
By AFP and JESSICA CHIA FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 08:47 EST, 28 June 2016 | UPDATED: 13:13 EST, 28 June 2016

Port Authority Of NY and NJ Police Catch Toll Cheats Who Owe $200,000 On George Washington Bridge

George Washington Bridge Between New York and New Jersey

[From article]

Port Authority cops cracked down on toll cheats at the George Washington Bridge on Tuesday, busting six drivers who owe more than a total $200,000 in unpaid tolls and penalties, police said.
The alleged deadbeat drivers were caught between 4 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. trying to sneak from New Jersey to Manhattan by using such tricks as defaced or missing license plates to avoid paying the toll.
The biggest alleged toll cheat was Jerome Daly, 58, of Teaneck, NJ, who owes $79,423 in unpaid tolls and penalties. That sum includes $16,423 in unpaid tolls and $63,000 in penalties for 1,260 infractions.
“Cheats put additional stress on the transportation network without providing the resources needed to maintain it,” said Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye.
“Today’s crackdown sends a clear message that if you don’t pay your share, you will be held accountable.”
Also busted was Carlos Acosta, 34, of Ridgefield Park, NJ, who drives for Krenz Express LLC, a Garfield trucking firm.
He allegedly owes $3,672 to the Port Authority, representing $2,272 in unpaid tolls and $1,400 more in penalties for 28 past violation. He was driving a tractor trailer with a defaced license plate.

http://nypost.com/2016/06/28/george-washington-toll-cheats-owe-more-than-200k/

George Washington toll cheats owe more than $200K
By Philip Messing
New York Post
June 28, 2016 | 11:01pm

New York Mayor Blames Billionaires For "The Problems in This Country"

George Soros, billionaire. Is he the cause of the nation's problems?

[From article]
The world is on fire, America is deeply divided and deeper in debt, and many city schools are failure factories — but Bill de Blasio has the answer.
“I think billionaires are a lot of the cause of the problems in this country,” he declares.
It has been said that to a hammer, everything is a nail. So it is with New York’s Leftist-in-Chief, whose warped worldview is shaped by resentment of other people’s money.
He’s got a giant chip on his shoulder about wealth and doesn’t like it when the rich resist his agenda. How dare they spend their money to oppose him!
From there it follows that their politics are illegitimate, and that he has every right to use the power of his office to defeat them. And despite state and federal investigations into whether he sold favors to some of those very same wealthy people, he’s absolutely convinced he’s done nothing wrong.
Those are the main takeaways from the mayor’sbreathtaking remarks to journalist Harry Siegel. His report of the 40-minute chat in de Blasio’s office begins with Siegel noticing a box of vinyl records on the floor, led by The Clash’s 1980 ­album, “Sandinista!”
Hmmm, so the old Warren Wilhelm Jr. changed his name (twice) and put on a suit, but he’s still a Sandinista at heart.
[. . .]
And so de Blasio orders end runs around campaign laws because he’s trying to make the city “more fair.” Or, as he put it after engineering a second consecutive rent freeze for more than 1 million privately-owned apartments, “We are turning the tide to keep this a city for everyone.”
The socialists of yore would confiscate those apartments. The new ones just dictate the terms the owners must follow, as if the laws of economics, or the tides, can be repealed.
The existing impression that de Blasio is consumed with class warfare is reinforced time and again in the interview, as he returns ­repeatedly to his bogeymen — rich opponents.
“When I came into office,” he tells Siegel, “I had every reason to believe, given what I talked about in the campaign and given the many, many voices that spoke up against my agenda that happened to have a lot of money and power, we would soon experience a lot of very strong opposition.”
It began, he claims, “in the spring of 2014 when a number of hedge-fund figures funded an advertising campaign against me in terms of charter schools. So that very real concern that we would experience a kind of moneyed opposition that previous mayors have not was quickly proven real.”
Let’s unpack that lie wrapped in a justification. De Blasio won 75 percent of the 2013 vote, and there was no organized opposition, moneyed or otherwise.
[. . .]
And there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy in his fund-raising. The mayor and his team raised millions for their slush-funds by soliciting donations from the very rich he so obviously detests.
Perhaps his remarks will be a wake-up call to his donors, who serve as useful idiots to his agenda. Of course, the businesses and developers who ponied up the cash wanted a favor in return, and the crux of the investigations is whether the mayor committed crimes in the process.
At least until the probes are resolved, New Yorkers are captive to a mayor who thinks the city would be nirvana if he had no opposition. He wants the city and state to be “like California, where Democrats have consolidated power” and hungers for “the maximum Democratic leadership and the maximum progressive policy.”
Here’s the truth. The People’s Republic of New York is already a one-party town, yet nirvana has never seemed more distant.

http://nypost.com/2016/06/28/rather-than-solve-problems-de-blasio-keeps-blaming-billionaires/

Rather than solve problems, de Blasio keeps blaming billionaires
By Michael Goodwin
New York Post
June 28, 2016 | 10:39pm

History and False Beliefs, The War of 1812, PBS Feature

"The warriors and the soldiers who survived the War of 1812 went home, grew old and died. In the end what lived on was a story about history; how its glories are enshrined in the heart of a nation. How its failures are forgotten, how its inconvenient truths are twisted to suit or ignored forever." From PBS's The War of 1812.

In this brief history of the war of 1812, the producers explain how the nations of the United States, Canada, but also native Americans have a distinctly conflicting view of this war. In this two hour feature one learns the origins of the phrase, "Don't give up the ship." Why the USS Constitution is called Old Ironsides. How the Star Spangled Banner was created, and the country and western version of history in the song by Johnny Horton, The Battle of New Orleans. Little of what Americans believe is true. But many hold their beliefs strongly. H. L. Mencken calls this the human condition. 

http://www.pbs.org/show/war-1812/



Battle of New Orleans, In 1814

https://youtu.be/50_iRIcxsz0

Unhealthy Relationships Bad For Health. Better To Be Alone

As the saying goes about some relationships, "It is better to have loved and lost." (Mr. Wisdom Heehee.)

[From article]
It's been the punchline of many a best man's speech over the years but now it's official.
Experts say it is better to be single than be involved in a poor-quality relationship.
A study found that being trapped in an unhappy partnership is so damaging to a person's health, they would be better off alone.
What's more, it gets worse the longer you are together, the researchers concluded.
Happily, they found that the reverse is also true – that being in a high-quality relationship benefits your physical and mental health.
The research team from the University of Buffalo in New York studied the relationships of young people from rural Iowa.
The subjects were from two-parent, married families, but the majority were not married.
With growing numbers of people now choosing to put off marriage in favour of more casual relationships, the scientists wanted to look at the impact this had on their health.
They asked the participants about the quality of their relationships, questioning how committed they were, how they dealt with criticism, and the support and affection they gave and received.
The team also asked how the partners behaved outside of the relationship – including whether they engage in risky behaviour.
Ashley Barr, assistant professor in the university's department of sociology, said the research showed that the longer people are in high-quality relationships – or, alternatively, the faster they got out of low-quality partnerships – the better their health.
'Health benefits begin to accrue relatively quickly with high-quality relationships and supportive contexts,' she said.
'And then we see detrimental effects from low-quality relationships - particularly, those low-quality relationships that last a long time.'
Professor Barr added: 'The findings suggest that it's better for health to be single than to be in a low-quality relationship.
'It's not being in a relationship that matters; it's being in a long-term, high-quality relationship that's beneficial.
'Low-quality relationships are detrimental to health. The findings suggest that it's better for health to be single than to be in a low-quality relationship.'
Dr Barr said relationships tended to change the older people became.
'It's rare today for young adults to enter a romantic relationship and stay in that relationship without ever changing partners or relationship characteristics.
'We now have two studies that found similar patterns and similar implications for those changes.'
The study was published in the Journal of Family Psychology.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3662028/Good-news-singletons-s-better-health-trapped-unhappy-relationship.html

Good news for singletons! It's better for your health to be alone than trapped in an unhappy relationship
Study looked at young people from two-parent families in America
Found poor relationships negatively affected physical and mental health
Scientists say quality of a relationship is what is important not act itself
By KATE PICKLES FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 06:29 EST, 27 June 2016 | UPDATED: 07:26 EST, 27 June 2016

Missouri Lottery Winner Builds State of The Art Emergency Services Department For Town That Saved His Father's Life Twice

The community's lottery millionaires are humble about what they did to make it happen.

[From article]
A town in Missouri is celebrating having a new state-of-the-art fire facility that was paid for in a most unusual way.
Mark Hill, from Camden Point in northern Platte County, ended up donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the project after winning $200 million in the Powerball Lottery in November 2012.
Mark donated a portion of his winnings to construct the new firehouse after the emergency services saved his father's life, twice.
'My wife and I were able to pay them back,' a humble Mark said to KMBC.
The building, which took more than a year to build, houses both the ambulance service and the community's fire trucks.
Since the windfall almost four years ago, the selfless family has adopted two more children, bought some new cars, built a bigger house and taken several vacations, but the new firehouse is by far their biggest project and they insist they are not looking for praise.
'If my wife and I could have built this without anybody knowing that her and I were building it, that's exactly what we would have done,' he said.
The building is built to last with the majority constructed entirely from concrete.
The rooms are energy efficient as a result of Mark's meticulous planning with the fire district, architects and contractors.


Payback: The Hills have decided to spend their lottery windfall on project that would benefit their community including a new fire station.

'We took our time to put things together so this would be something that we would be proud of and also that would be a great asset to the community,' Camden Point Fire Chief Walt Stubbs said.
The fire station will be manned 24-7 which is something of a luxury in a town with just 500 people.
Camden Point is wedged into hills in a rural area about 30 miles north of Kansas City. Its downtown has a series of mostly empty brick buildings.
The new fire house will be the home of the town's ambulances and fire trucks, and includes a training room. The building will be dedicated on July 16.
The firehouse is one of many civic projects the Hills have decided to fund for their local community.
They've also paid for a new ball field and donated $50,000 towards the sewage treatment plant enabling residents to do away with personal septic tanks.
The fire station has direct access to highways, and the ball field will be set further away traffic.
The Hills also donated a scholarship fund to nearby North Platte High School in Dearborn, where they both graduated.
City officials estimated these works would have taken around 25 years to complete if the city had to rely on its existing tax base.
Mayor Kevin Boydston said: 'I've said all along that these lottery winnings could not have gone to a better couple. They are giving back to the community, just like they said they would.'
The projects are not surprising considering the down-to-earth family's reaction to their win.
Rather than moving to an exclusive resort or investing in a fleet of Maseratis the family have stayed in their modest family home with husband Mark meeting his friends for coffee in the local convenience store, as normal, every day.
The only big purchase they've made since netting the staggering amount was on a simple pick-up truck.
Before the 2012 win, the Hills were a simple, working-class family with three grown sons and a ten-year-old daughter, Jaiden, who they adopted from China.
'They are very conservative people,' said Walt Stubbs, a friend and former high school classmate of the Hills. 'They are doing some really nice things for the community and they've taken care of their family.'
The couple, who are in their mid-50s, told reporters at a news conference after winning the lottery they would stay in the area and give a lot of the money away. Mark quit his job as a mechanic, while wife Cindy, was out of work at the time.
'I'm real proud of them,' said Shirley Hill, Mark's mother. 'They have stayed grounded. That's their nature.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3662478/Powerball-winner-builds-state-art-fire-station-tiny-
town-500-saved-father-s-life-twice.html

Powerball winner builds state-of-the-art fire station for tiny town of 500 because they saved his father's life twiceMark and Cindy Hill won half of a $587 million payout
The couple claim there have been no big life changes yet 

Mark still meets friends for coffee each day at a local convenience store
Instead of large purchases, the Hills opted to give back to their local community in Camden, Missouri
The town now has a new firehouse, ball field and sewage treatment plant thanks to the lucky family
By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 12:04 EST, 27 June 2016 | UPDATED: 16:11 EST, 27 June 2016

Three New York City Gentlemen Charged With Gang Rape of Three Women, On Separate Occasions

Fernando Sandel was one of three men who appeared in Manhattan criminal court Monday (pictured) to face accusations of gang raping three women. He was arrested in August last year at 26 years old.

Isaiah Rivera (above), Joey Cruz (below) and Fernando Sandel are accused of raping three women who had posted online ads offering sex in exchange for money and had made plans to meet with an interested party.

[From article]

Three men appeared in Manhattan court Monday after being charged with gang-raping three different women on three separate occasions in a horrific strings of attacks.
Isaiah Rivera, Joey Cruz and Fernando Sandel were arrested in August 2015 for raping the women and stealing their money, phones or other valuables, police said at the time.
One of the women was forced onto the roof of the building and the other two were sprayed in the face with a debilitating substance such as Mace, the New York Times reported.
All three attacks happened between June and August last year across Manhattan and the Bronx, with one of them located at the Grand Hyatt hotel on East 42nd Street and another near Gramercy Park, according to authorities.
Police first arrested Sandel, then 26, in August last year while officers kept searching for Rivera, then 31, and Cruz, then 26.
They found the remaining two suspects and detained them two days later, authorities said at the time.
Sandel, Rivera and Cruz all appeared at Manhattan criminal court Monday.
The three women had posted ads online offering sex in exchange for money and had planned to meet with an interested party, the New York Times reported.
The first attack happened on June 28, 2015, police said, when a 20-year-old woman made arrangements to meet up in the South Bronx with a man who had responded to her online ad.
Three men showed up and forced her to the roof of the building before raping her and stealing her money, according to authorities.
The woman was treated at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center and released, CBS reported at the time.
The second rape occurred on August 3, police said, after another woman, who was 34 years old, arranged to meet up with a man at the Grand Hyatt hotel.
There, authorities said, the man sprayed her in the face with an unidentified substance before throwing her on the bed.
Two other men entered the room, tied her up, raped her and stole her handbag and her cellphone, police said.
The woman also received treatment at St Luke’s Hospital before being released, CBS wrote.
The third attack happened the next day, after a 32-year-old woman planned to met up with a man at her apartment near Gramercy Park, according to authorities.
The man arrived and sprayed her with Mace, then two men entered and all three tied her up, raped her and stole her laptop, her cellphone and her bracelet, police said.
The woman was treated at a local hospital.
Police would not specify which man was accused of arranging the dates and which were accused of showing up later on, the New York Post wrote after the arrests last year.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3663114/Isaiah-Rivera-Joey-Cruz-Fernando-Sandel-appear-court-face-gang-rape-charges.html

Three accused gang rapists appear in court charged with horrific string of attacks at a Grand Hyatt hotel and across Manhattan and the Bronx
Isaiah Rivera, Joey Cruz and Fernando Sandel appeared in court Monday
All three were arrested in August 2015 and accused of gang raping women
Three attacks happened between June and August last year, police said
One woman was forced onto the roof of the building and two others were sprayed in the face with a debilitating substance, according to authorities
One of the rapes happened at the Grand Hyatt hotel on East 42nd Street and another took place near Gramercy Park, police said
By CLEMENCE MICHALLON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 19:22 EST, 27 June 2016 | UPDATED: 19:32 EST, 27 June 2016

Terrorists Attack Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey 28-50 Reported Dead, Scores Injured

[From article]
-- At least 28 people have been killed and 60 wounded in a terror attack on Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Turkey, Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin said early Wednesday. Three bombers were also killed, the governor said. Another report, from semi-official news agency Anadolu, said six of the wounded are in critical condition. A total of 49 ambulances were sent to the site.
-- There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.
-- Traveler Joe Durand told CNN from the airport that "Police are not letting anyone in ... Hundreds of people are flooding away from airport... People are trying to get away. They're not saying much -- just the look on their face is enough, shock, some of them bleeding..."
"People are walking away bleeding, with bandages on their head."
[. . .]
Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag earlier said one terrorist "first opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated himself" at the airport entrance.
-- In total three bombs exploded, the governor said.
-- One of them was located just outside a terminal on the pavement, while the other was at the security gate at the entrance to the airport, Bozdag told CNN.
-- A video posted to Twitter shows a view from a camera inside an airport terminal. A few dozen people are walking around when a bright flash and fireball erupt in the background.
-- A Turkish official told CNN that police fired shots at suspects near the international terminal in an effort to neutralize them.
-- Videos posted on social media show travelers sitting on the airport floor. A man shouts, "Get down! Get down!" Someone cries as a gunshot rings out.
[. . .]
Ataturk Airport is "one of the most secure airports in the world," CNN senior law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes says. But the airport has been "very overwhelmed for several decades with terrorism from PKK."
-- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has put in place a ground stop for any U.S. flights that were scheduled to fly to Istanbul and any flights leaving Istanbul for the United States, CNN's Rene Marsh reports.
-- The Ataturk airport is closed until Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time (noon ET), according to airport spokesman Erhan Ustundag. Incoming flights were diverted to Izmir, Ankara and other cities.
-- The U.S. embassy in Ankara is sending consular officers to the airport to account for any potential U.S. victims. But there are no indications of any American casualties at this point, a senior State Department official told CNN's Elise Labott.
-- The attacks happened on a warm summer night at the airport, east of Istanbul, that is the 11th busiest in the world in terms of passenger traffic. CNN's Ali Veshi says it is a modern, sophisticated airport. "There are all of the major European and American boutiques there," said Velshi, who has traveled through Turkey many times. "... You see people of all shapes and colors, in all sorts of dress. If you want to target the cosmopolitan nature of Istanbul, this is possibly the most cosmopolitan, heavily populated part. You can target tourist areas, but this is the part where the world comes together."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/28/europe/turkey-istanbul-airport-attacks/index.html

Istanbul airport explosions: 28 dead, 60 injured, Turkish official says
By Gul Tuysuz, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 6:29 PM ET, Tue June 28, 2016

Chicago Woman Stabbed to Death On Subway, Bystanders Filmed Incident, Suspect in Custody

Jessica Hampton, 25

[From article]
The family of a young woman stabbed to death on a Red Line train was furious photos and video of her murder were posted to social media, but no one stopped the man who took her life.
“My sister was beautiful, gifted young lady. She didn’t deserve to go the way she did,” said Lorel Hampton.
She and her mother were grieving over the loss of her 25-year-old sister, Jessica Hampton, who was stabbed to death on board a CTA Red Line train Thursday afternoon on the South Side.
Lorel and her mother were furious about images of the brutal attack going viral on social media.
“This is not a game. This is not a show,” Lorel said.
Crisis responder Dawn Valenti said it’s “very hurtful” for the Hamptons, because they saw photos and videos of the murder before they knew the victim was Jessica.
“This family was watching that video yesterday. They were looking at the pictures on Facebook that people were spreading, not knowing until 9 o’clock last night that that in fact was their loved one that they were looking at,” she said.
After seeing the video themselves, they also questioned why no one acted to help Jessica.
“Everybody that was there taking pictures, and shooting videos and stuff didn’t try to help her,” Lorel said.
Valenti acknowledged passengers might have tried to help during the attack. That’s what witnesses told CBS outside the scene Thursday, saying they backed off after seeing the knife.
Police have said the murder apparently stemmed from a domestic dispute. The man who stabbed Jessica was taken into custody shortly after the attack, but has not yet been charged.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/06/24/murder-victims-family-outraged-after-red-line-stabbing-goes-viral/

Murder Victim’s Family Outraged After Red Line Stabbing Goes Viral
June 24, 2016 4:40 PM
CBS News Chicago IL

Christian Church In Malmo, Sweden, Statue of Saint In Bologna, Italy Defiled By Muslims

Europe got another taste of the cultural enrichment it is currently importing when a Muslim man screaming “Allahu Akbar” smashed up a Christian church in Sweden, while the statue of a Saint in Italy was defaced with the same words scrawled in graffiti.

[From article]
According to Fria Tider, the man broke into St. Paul’s Church in central Malmö Sunday night and smashed window panes.
Police received a call at 3am from locals to report the crime and when they arrived the man immediately tried to attack the officers with a stick, before police were forced to use pepper spray to overpower him.
“Police suspect that the man went to the attack on the church because it is a symbol of the Christian faith,” states the report, noting that there some reports the man also shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the crime.
Skåne police say they are investigating the incident as a “hate crime,” although given Sweden’s ultra-liberal treatment of its Muslim population, don’t expect the culprit to receive a very harsh punishment.
Meanwhile, in the italian city of Bologna, the statue of San Petronio, the patron saint of the city, was vandalized by graffiti that read “Allah Akbar” on Saturday night.
The perpetrator has not been caught although authorities are looking at surveillance camera footage in an effort to identify the individual.

http://www.infowars.com/cultural-enrichment-muslim-smashes-up-swedish-church-italian-saint-defaced-with-allahu-akbar-graffiti/

CULTURAL ENRICHMENT: MUSLIM SMASHES UP SWEDISH CHURCH, ITALIAN SAINT DEFACED WITH “ALLAHU AKBAR” GRAFFITI
European "multiculturalism" continues to work wonders
Paul Joseph Watson

JUNE 27, 2016

Italian Police Capture Super Boss of 'Ndrangheta After Two Decades On The Run

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote in a tweet: 'Thank you to the judges and the forces of order. Viva l'Italia'.

[From article]

One of Italy's most wanted mafia bosses has been arrested today after two decades on the run, fleeing a life sentence for murder, it has emerged.
Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, was captured in the early hours of the morning in an apartment in a remote part of the southern region of Calabria, home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate.
Fazzalari was one of the country's most wanted 'Ndrangheta fugitives along with 'superboss' Matteo Messina Denaro.


Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, has been arrested today after two decades on the run, fleeing a life sentence for murder, it has emerged.

On the run since 1996, he was convicted in absentia in 1999 of mafia association, kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons and a double homicide linked to a bloody 1989-91 feud which left 32 people dead in his home town of Taurianova.
His arrest was hailed by the government as a significant victory for the state in its battle against what is now considered Italy's most powerful mafia group.
'Thank you to the judges and the forces of order. Viva l'Italia,' Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote in a tweet.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described Fazzalari as 'one of the most important fugitives and a leading underworld figure.'
He added: 'This shows that you cannot run from justice. These are the kind of victories that encourage and support us in the difficult but winnable fight against organised crime.'
Notoriously ruthless, the 'Ndrangheta has surpassed Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra thanks to the wealth it has amassed as the principal importer and wholesaler of cocaine produced in Latin America and smuggled into Europe via north Africa and southern Italy.
That trade is worth billions and previous police operations have indicated that the 'Ndrangheta has well-established links with Colombian producer cartels, Mexican crime gangs and mafia families in New York and other parts of North America.
The organisation is made up of numerous village and family-based clans based in Calabria, the rural, mountainous and under-developed 'toe' of Italy's boot.


Fazzalari was captured in the early hours of the morning in an apartment in a remote part of the southern region of Calabria, home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate. (file picture of Calabria)

The name 'Ndrangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty and the organisation's secretive culture and brutal enforcement of codes of silence have made it very difficult to penetrate.
A series of arrests in late 2014 and early 2015 confirmed that the organisation had expanded its Italian operations outside Calabria by buying up dozens of legitimate business across the wealthier north of the country, largely to launder cocaine profits.
Those arrests also providing an unprecedented glimpse into the group's shadowy culture with police secretly filming a quasi-religious initiation ceremony in which new 'wise brothers' swear an 'oath of poison' in which they vow to kill themselves rather than betray a fellow clan member.
There are dozens of 'NDrangheta fugitives still at large despite regular arrests in Italy and around the world.
One alleged don, Rocco Zito, 87, was shot dead in Canada in January, Switzerland arrested 15 convicted 'Ndrangheta fugitives in March and last month the owner of a popular pizzeria in the Dutch seaside town of Scheveningen was unmasked as convicted Calabrian drugs smuggler Rocco Gasperini, 73.
Two mobsters who stayed in their homeland were arrested in January 'living like animals' in a Calabrian mountain bunker with a cache of sub-machine guns, rifles and pistols.
Giuseppe Ferraro and Giuseppe Crea were hiding from gangster enemies as well as the authorities.
In 2013 one of their associates, Francesco Raccosta, was killed by being fed alive to hungry pigs in revenge for his assassination of a rival boss. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3660760/Italy-s-wanted-Mafia-boss-wanted-links-bloody-feud-left-32-dead-arrested-remote-hideaway-TWO-DECADES-run.html

Italy’s most wanted Mafia boss wanted over links to a bloody feud that left 32 dead is arrested in remote hideaway after TWO DECADES on the run
Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, was captured in a remote region of Calabria in Italy
The area is home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate
He had been on the run since 1996 and faces a life sentence for murder
Convicted of kidnapping and murder linked to a feud in his home town
By JULIAN ROBINSON FOR MAILONLINE and AFP
PUBLISHED: 07:58 EST, 26 June 2016 | UPDATED: 10:36 EST, 26 June 2016

Updated: Secret Service Officer Publishes Book About Clinton White House

Posted June 6, 2016 8:51 PM ET; Last updated June 27, 2016 9:05 PM ET



[Updated June 27, 2016 9:05 PM ET]
[From article]
In a book set to be released on Tuesday, former Secret Service officer Gary J. Byrne details his time in the White House serving former president Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton.
Byrne claims within the pages of the book that Bill Clinton had a 'jogging list' and would have Secret Service 'take the names of attractive women he saw while out exercising'.
In Byrne's new book, 'Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate', the former White House security makes no apologies for his criticisms of the Clintons.
In the 'jogging list', a detail exposed by Byrne, the former president Clinton would allegedly see women who were dressed in nightclub attire or exercise gear, who showed up at the southeast gate.
'The agents... would get the women's names, and run them to see who they were.
'If the women wouldn't cooperate, they would be ushered out of the jogging group.
'Agents... insinuated that this list was used by President Clinton to try to meet these women,' Byrne writes.
Byrne also accuses Bill Clinton of having as many as three mistresses at one time, which included former Vice President Walter Mondale's daughter, Eleanor.
Byrne claims in the book he once discovered the pair 'making out on the Map Room table'.
He writes the Clinton administration was fraught with immoral ethical standards.
'There were some drug issues. Some people would come in to work in the morning, and they were barely walking, they would drop stuff off at the office, and go to the restroom where they would come out minutes later happy as a clown,' he writes, alluding to the use of cocaine.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3660782/New-book-written-former-Secret-Service-agent-
claims-Bill-Clinton-picked-women-jogging-staffers-snorted-cocaine-claims-cheery.html

Bill Clinton picked up women while jogging as staffers snorted cocaine at work, former Secret Service officer claims in new tell-all book
A new book has revealed secrets of the former Clinton administration
Gary J. Byrne has written about Bill Clinton's alleged infidelity and an alleged 'jogging list' of beautiful women the former president kept
He also wrote that staffers snorted cocaine in the bathrooms to stay happy
Byrne was a uniformed Secret Service officer who was posted in the West Wing of the White House for several years of Bill Clinton's presidency
Critics have said that Byrne would not have had the kind of access to the Clintons as he claims and his accounts differ from his testimony years ago
By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 08:36 EST, 26 June 2016 | UPDATED: 08:49 EST, 27 June 2016

* * *

[Posted June 6, 2016 8:51 PM ET]


The New York Post’s cover on June 6, 2016

[From review]
Hillary Clinton has a “Jekyll and Hyde” personality that left White House staffers scared stiff of her explosive — and even physical — outbursts, an ex-Secret Service officer claims in a scathing new tell-all.
Gary Byrne, who was posted outside the Oval Office when Bill Clinton was president, portrays Hillary as too “erratic, uncontrollable and occasionally violent” to become leader of the free world, according to advance promotional materials exclusively obtained by Page Six.
The allegations from Byrne, a 29-year veteran of the military and federal law enforcement, threaten to derail her campaign days before she is expected to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.
He describes Hillary Clinton as acting friendly one moment, then raging the next.

Gary Byrne with Hillary and Bill Clinton

Photo: Provided by Gary Byrne

“What I saw in the 1990s sickened me,” he writes in the intro of the book, “Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses his Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate.”
The book claims she repeatedly screamed obscenities at her husband, Secret Service personnel and White House staffers — all of whom lived in terror of her next tirade.
Secret Service agents had discussions about the possibility that they would have to protect Bill from his wife’s physical attacks, Byrne writes, and the couple had one “violent encounter” the morning of a key presidential address to the nation.
Meanwhile, a paranoid Hillary Clinton tried to have the Secret Service banned from the White House and once tried to ditch her security detail, Byrne says.
“Hillary Clinton is now poised to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, but she simply lacks the integrity and temperament to serve in the office,” he writes.
“From the bottom of my soul I know this to be true. And with Hillary’s latest rise, I realize that her own leadership style — volcanic, impulsive, enabled by sycophants, and disdainful of the rules set for everyone else — hasn’t changed a bit.”
The book isn’t set for release until June 28, but pre-orders have sent it to No. 1 on Amazon’s best-seller list.
[. . .]
Byrne — who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury that investigated Bill Clinton’s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky — claims in the book that he interrupted the president’s sexual shenanigans in the White House.
Byrne says he walked into a room where the president was “involved inappropriately with a woman” who was neither his wife nor Lewinsky.
And he says he once threw out a White House towel stained with a woman’s lipstick — and the president’s “bodily fluids.”
Byrne describes arriving for work one day in 1995 following a loud fight between the Clintons the night before.
The dust-up, he says, left a light blue vase “smashed to bits” and Bill sporting a “real, live, put-a-steak-on-it black eye.”
Byrne’s book amplifies earlier allegations of mistreatment of Secret Service personnel by Hillary Clinton — including in 2014’s “First Family Detail” by former Washington Post reporter Ronald Kessler and last year’s “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House,” which also detailed a fight between Bill and Hillary over the Lewinsky affair.
[. . .]
[Trump] spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson [said,]
“I don’t recall Mr. Trump ever screaming at the Secret Service, calling them pigs, throwing vases across the room and clawing the face of his spouse, which Hillary Clinton has been reported to do,”

http://pagesix.com/2016/06/05/tell-all-book-reveals-hillarys-erratic-uncontrollable-ways-in-the-white-house/

Bombshell book reveals how Hillary terrified White House staff
By Emily Smith
New York Post
June 5, 2016 | 9:54pm

Female Applicants Who Included A Photo In Revealing Clothing 19 Times More Likely To Secure An Interview.

New research suggests that female applicants who included a photo of themselves in revealing clothing were 19 times more likely to secure an interview.

[From article]
Most women will agonise over making sure their CV is up to scratch - but the secret to securing a job interview may be as simple as wearing a low-cut dress, a study found.
New research suggests that female applicants who included a photo of themselves in revealing clothing were 19 times more likely to secure an interview.
The study, which is to be revealed at a body image conference in London on Tuesday, was conducted in Paris and covered the chances of earning a job interview for sales and accounting positions.
Carried out by Dr Sevag Kertechian, a researcher at Paris-Sorbonne University, the study was intended to discover just what impact clothing could have on the recruitment process.
Using two similar looking women with near identical experience on their CVs, they each applied for 100 roles wearing conservative clothing and another 100 roles pictured in a more revealing outfit. The study took place over a three year period.
Out of the 200 roles that were applied for, the submissions which were accompanied by a low-cut dress received 62 more interview offers than their more conservatively dressed counterparts.
[. . .]
Dr Kertechian said: ‘Our results showed interesting trends as low-cut dresses significantly influenced the choice of the recruiters, even for accounting positions.
‘Regardless of the job, whether customer-facing saleswoman or office-based accountant, the candidate with the low cut clothing received more positive answers.
‘The results were quite shocking and negative but not necessarily surprising – they show we need to conduct more research.’
Among the academics presenting their work at the conference will be Dr Amy Slater, whose study found young girls reported heightened body dissatisfaction after playing a children’s internet ‘makeover’ game for just 10 minutes.
Academics, clinicians, practitioners and policy makers involved in research and the provision of care for people with appearance-related concerns will gather at the conference in order to gain a greater insight into the research currently being carried out and share ideas with others working in the field.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3662663/Low-cut-dresses-BOOST-women-s-chance-job-interviews.html

Is this the depressing secret to success? Women wearing low-cut tops are almost TWENTY times more likely to land a job interview
The study was carried out by researchers at a French university in Paris
Found applicants boosted their applications with a low-cut photo
More 'revealing' outfits were 19 times more likely to lead to an interview
By ALEXANDER WARD FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:37 EST, 27 June 2016 | UPDATED: 16:58 EST, 27 June 2016

Texas Police Shoot Dead Mother After She Killed Her Two Daughters

Madison (above) worked as a babysitter, while Taylor (below) was a student at Lone Star College.

[From article]
Taylor Sheats who was gunned down along with her sister, Madison, by her own mother on Friday was to have been married today.
Daily Mail Online has learned that Taylor, 22, had planned to marry her fiancé, her boyfriend of four years, Juan Sebastian Lugo in a small ceremony today.
The couple then planned to have a larger wedding ceremony after her graduation from college.
Instead, her grieving fiancé's sister, Maria, was left to post a tribute to the dead girl on what should have been the start of her married life.[. . .]
The heartbreaking development comes as new details have emerged of the horrific events that took place in a quiet family neighborhood in Katy, Texas, last week when Christy Byrd Sheats, 42, killed her daughters, shooting them down in the street outside the family home when an argument spilled over into violence.
Now Daily Mail Online has learned that husband, Jason, 45, only narrowly escaped becoming his wife's third victim when a neighbor opened her door to him allowing him to run to safety.
The neighbor, who asked not to be named, told of how she opened her door on hearing gunshots only to be confronted with the image of Christy pointing her gun directly at her husband, Jason.
She revealed: 'She went to shoot but had run out of bullets. When she went to reload Jason ran into our house and said "Call 911."'
Recalling the horrific events that took place in the quiet, family oriented neighborhood last week, the neighbor said: 'Christy had stabbed the girls before she shot them.
'I looked out and I saw her standing over one of the girls with the gun pointed at her and she shot her as she lay on the ground.'


Christy Sheats (pictured) was killed by a responding police officer after she refused to drop her pistol.

Visibly distressed by what she had witnessed the woman described Madison, 17, and Taylor, 22, as 'good girls' but said that there had been 'issues' with Christy for a long time.
She said: 'She should never have had a gun – Jason is a nice man but there were issues with her.'
Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office on Monday released further details about the events of Friday afternoon and the circumstances leading up to the fatal shootings.
A deputy from Ford Bend County Sheriff’s Office and an officer from nearby Fulshear responded to the shooting at about 5pm to be confronted with the horrendous scene of both Madison and Taylor lying, dead and dying, in the road – Christy Sheats was still holding the gun – a .38 caliber handgun - and refused to put it down.
The Fulshear police officer fired a single shot and killed her.
Investigators have now learned that it was Christy who called her family together earlier that day for a family meeting inside their home.
Jason and daughters Madison and Taylor joined Christy in the living room. It was during that meeting that Christy held up a gun and shot both girls.
The girls and their father managed to get out of the house but Madison collapsed and died on the street outside.
Her father ran to the end of the cul-de-sac as his wife followed behind, chasing Taylor and shooting her another time.
Jason managed to escape suffering the same fate when a neighbor opened her door to him, saving his life.
Meanwhile his wife had returned to the family home, reloaded and returned to the street to shoot Taylor where she lay.[. . .]
The Sheriff’s Office has revealed that they responded to 14 calls to the Sheats’s residence since January 2012.
Some calls were alarm issues, they said. They refused to give details of the other calls citing legal reasons.
Neighbor Geno Hernandez, 42, recalled the Sheats as 'good neighbors' and revealed that Taylor had been away at college and was only visiting her parents and sister to celebrate her father's birthday that Friday.
He said: 'I watched the girls grow up here since they were about 10 years old – they used to play out on the street here. Taylor was into softball.
'They were friends with my son. Jason and the girls were always friendly, they'd always wave when they went past but Christy kept to herself.
'When we were having barbeques in the street she would never take part. I don't know whey they separated when they did but she had only quite recently moved back.
'You just kind of got the impression with her [Christy] it was all about her – all the selfies and what have you. She was very into herself.'
The mom, who was shot dead by a police officer after fatally wounding her daughters, had a history of mental illness and altercations. She and Jason, 45, had only recently reunited after a separation.
Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Caitilin Espinosa told People that officers had been to the Sheats' home 'for previous altercations'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3662730/Daughter-gunned-mother-Texas-shooting-marry-fiance-today.html

EXCLUSIVE: Daughter gunned down by mom in Texas was due to marry today - and her mother STABBED both her daughters before shooting them and trying to kill her husband
Christy Sheats shot both her daughters - Madison, 17, and Taylor, 22, to death at her home in Katy, Texas on Friday
Mother, 42, was shot dead by police as she reloaded and appeared to be about to shoot again
Taylor had been due to marry her fiance, Juan Sebastian Lugo, today in a small ceremony, to be followed with a larger celebration later
Lugo's sister paid tribute to Madison and Taylor, saying they were 'the sweetest, most wholesome and caring girls in my life'
Fresh details have emerged of the horror of the shooting in town just outside Houston on day of Christy's husband Jason's birthday
Neighbor tells Daily Mail Online both girls had been stabbed before they were shot and that husband only escaped when wife went to reload
Jason, 45, is sole survivor of shooting by his wife, who had history of mental illness and with whom he had just been reconciled
Sheriff's department says she used five-shot .38 caliber handgun, shot both daughters, went inside, reloaded and shot Taylor again
By LAURA COLLINS IN KATY, TEXAS, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 13:58 EST, 27 June 2016 | UPDATED: 17:36 EST, 27 June 2016

Sarah Palin Praises UK Voters For Leaving European Union

Sarah Palin

[From article]
Sarah Palin has congratulated the UK on voting to leave the European Union and has urged the United States to emulate the spirit of their transatlantic ally and leave the United Nations.
The former Governor of Alaska posted a picture of Margaret Thatcher to Facebook and quoted the former prime minister and conservative hero writing, 'liberty is fundamental'.
Praising the 'smart' British for their leap into the dark with the so-called Brexit, Palin declared voters in the UK had turned away from the 'apocalyptic One World Government'.
Palin then appeared to erroneously compare the European Union - a political and economic union of 28-nation states - to the United Nations - which is diplomatic body of 193-nations set up to promote global peace after World War Two.
She demanded the United States extricate itself from the UN, which 'dissolves a nation's self determination and sovereignty.'

Indeed, it has been a tumultuous week in the UK, to say the least, but Sarah Palin is reassuring those who voted to leave the EU that they made the right choice.
The UK voted to leave the European Union by 51 per cent and will begin the process of separating itself from the politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe.
The decision, the first of its kind in the UK, has caused turmoil in the country and rocked the stock market nationally.
It has also caused rifts in the UK between migrants, who as members of the EU have free movement among the country, and British nationals.
With a picture of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a quote reading 'liberty is fundamental', Palin offered her thoughts on the UK's decision to leave to EU.
'Congratulations, smart Brits. Good on you for ignoring all the fear mongering from special interest globalists who tend to aim for that apocalyptic One World Government that dissolves a nation’s self-determination and sovereignty… the EU being a One World Government mini-me,' she wrote.
Palin is alluding to the United Nations when she mentions the 'one world government'.
She believes the UN has put 'shackles' on the U.S.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3661016/Sarah-Palin-congratulates-UK-European-Union-Brexit-urges-U-S-follow-suit-abandon-UN.html

Sarah Palin congratulates the UK on Brexit and urges the U.S. to 'follow suit' and abandon the UN
Sarah Palin took to Facebook to praise those who voted for the Brexit
On Friday she posted a picture of Margaret Thatcher and a quote
She said America should follow suit and vote to leave the United Nations
By KALHAN ROSENBLATT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 13:55 EST, 26 June 2016 | UPDATED: 19:26 EST, 26 June 2016