New York Post – by Tina Moore, Larry Celona and Daniel Prendergast

A Brooklyn financier was found naked and dead in his tony Dumbo pad — after a gay bondage hookup went awry, police sources said Tuesday.

Neil Rodney Smith, 57, CEO of the investment firm Infraccess, was discovered lying on his back in bed with a wet towel stuffed in his mouth and a pillow over his face inside the apartment at 1 Main St. around 1:45 p.m. Monday, police sources said.   Continue reading “Financier found dead after gay bondage hookup went bad: cops”

Global Research Center – by International Middle East Media Center

The foreign ministry of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Sunday, demanded the arrest of a Jewish Rabbi, who called on Israeli settlers to poison water used by Palestinians in hundreds of towns and villages across the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian national office for the defense of land and resistance of settlements warned of the dangers and consequences of such calls.   Continue reading “Rabbi Calls for Poisoning of Palestinian Water Supply”

Boing Boing – by Cory Doctorow

A majority of the Rhode Island school districts with “1-1” programs where each student is issued a laptop have a blanket policy of spying on the students and everything they do on their laptops, during, before and after school hours, on or off school premises, without any evidence (or even suspicion ) of wrongdoing.

The schools analogize this to school locker searches, in which students are denied any Fourth Amendment protections. But that (very dubious) principle is being stretched beyond the breaking point, as school lockers are in schools, whereas these laptop searches are being carried out remotely, everywhere, anywhere.   Continue reading “In Rhode Island, students and parents must let schools spy on them day and night through their laptops”

Reason

Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-0 in favor of the Asian-American dance-rock band The Slants, holding that the First Amendment protects the rights of the band’s members to register a trademark in their band’s “offensive” name.

At issue in Matal v. Tam was a federal law prohibiting the registration of any trademark that may “disparage…or bring…into contemp[t] or disrepute” any “persons, living or dead.” The Patent and Trademark Office cited this provision in 2011 when it refused to register a trademark in the name of The Slants, thereby denying the band the same protections that federal law extends to countless other musical acts. Justice Samuel Alito led the Court in striking down the censorious rule. “We now hold that this provision violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment,” Alito wrote. “It offends a bedrock First Amendment principle: Speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend.”   Continue reading “In Major Free Speech Victory, SCOTUS Rules for ‘The Slants’ and Strikes Down Federal Trademark Restriction”

ABC News

A massive fire engulfed a residential high-rise building in London on Wednesday, leaving scores injured and an undetermined amount of people dead.

The London Fire Brigade dispatched at least 40 fire engines, 20 ambulance crews and more than 200 firefighters in an effort to battle the conflagration at the 24-story Grenfell Tower in West London.

A representative for the London Fire Brigade said there had been “a number of fatalities,” but declined to say how many people had died. Authorities said they were still monitoring the stability of the structure, but firefighters had managed to enter the building and had checked as many as 20 floors for remaining people.   Continue reading “Massive fire engulfs London high-rise, leaving ‘a number of fatalities’”

Dissident Voice – by Jonathan Cook

Palestinian leaders have denounced new construction projects they say will further tighten Israel’s grip on occupied East Jerusalem and its holy places, including the incendiary site of Al-Aqsa mosque.

The most elaborate plan is for a cable car intended to bring thousands of visitors an hour to the Western Wall and its Jewish prayer plaza immediately below al-Haram al-Sharif, a compound containing Al-Aqsa and the golden-topped Dome of the Rock.   Continue reading “Israel tells Palestinians: “Al-Aqsa is No Longer Yours””

Algemeiner

JNS.org – A day before embarking on her first trip to Israel as US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley demanded that the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) address its bias against the Jewish state.

“It is essential that this council address its chronic anti-Israel bias if it is to have any credibility,” Haley said Tuesday at the opening of the UNHRC’s 35th session in Geneva.  Continue reading “US Ambassador Nikki Haley Blasts UN Human Rights Body’s ‘Chronic Anti-Israel Bias,’ Ahead of Visit to Jewish State”

TMZ

6:20 PM PT — Jacobs called cops after Gianforte’s alleged attack to report an assault, and is reportedly getting X-rays on his elbow at a local hospital.

Gianforte’s camp just released a statement … they claim Jacobs entered the office without permission and began aggressively asking questions, and when Greg tried to grab the phone pushed in his face, Jacobs “grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground.”   Continue reading “Montana Politician Greg Gianforte Body Slams Reporter”

The Hollywood Reporter

Earlier in the day, Fox News retracted its story insinuating that the DNC staffer was murdered because he leaked emails to WikiLeaks.

Sean Hannity says he will stop discussing the controversial Seth Rich story “for now,” out of respect for his family.
Continue reading “Sean Hannity Backs Off Seth Rich Story “For Now” Out of Respect for His Family”