Month: April 2015

The Motley Fool – by Sean Williams

When it comes to the polarizing debate of whether or not marijuana should be decriminalized, a slight majority of the American public continues to be in favor of legalizing the drug.

Gallup’s 2014 poll showed that 51% of its respondents were in favor of legalizing marijuana, down from 58% in the year prior, but still decisively ahead of the 47% opposed to its legalization. For added context, in 2004, just 10 years prior, 64% of respondents were opposed to legalizing marijuana, while roughly a third were in favor of decriminalizing it. Similar results were observed in the General Social Survey’s in-person interviews on marijuana, which are conducted every two years. In the GSS poll, 52% were in favor of legalization, while 42% opposed it.   Continue reading “President Obama Crushes the Marijuana Movement With 15 Words”

Continue reading “Happy Patriots Day”

RT

Kids in low-income households lag behind their peers from wealthier families when it comes to standardized testing. Their brain anatomy could be a factor, with the research exposing a “cost to not living in a supportive environment.”

The researchers compared students’ scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) with brain scans of the most highly developed part of the human brain – the layer often referred to as “gray matter.” The cerebral cortex is responsible for thinking, perceiving, producing and understanding language.    Continue reading “Family income affects brain anatomy, test scores – MIT study”

RT

A rescue operation is under way after a boat carrying an estimated 700 migrants capsized in Libyan waters, 120 miles south off Lampedusa.

Twenty-eight people have been reported rescued, while a number of bodies have been washed ashore in Libya.

The migrants reportedly fell overboard when they ran to draw the attention of a passing vessel. The boat is said to have capsized at midnight.   Continue reading “700 feared dead as migrant boat capsizes off Libya”

Mail.com

CAIRO (AP) — Islamic State militants in Libya shot and beheaded groups of captive Ethiopian Christians, a video purportedly from the extremists showed Sunday. The attack widens the circle of nations affected by the group’s atrocities while showing its growth beyond a self-declared “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq.

The release of the 29-minute video comes a day after Afghanistan’s president blamed the extremists for a suicide attack in his country that killed at least 35 people — and underscores the chaos gripping Libya after its 2011 civil war and the killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.   Continue reading “IS video purports to show killing of Ethiopians in Libya”

Mail.com

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Three people were shot and injured Saturday night at a cookout on the Delaware State University campus, officials said, and authorities are searching for the shooter.

The shooting happened at about 8 p.m. at a university-sanctioned fraternity and sorority event, DSU spokesman Carlos Holmes said. Three people were taken to Kent General Hospital in Dover with injuries that were not life-threatening, Holmes told The Associated Press.   Continue reading “Officials: 3 shot, injured at Delaware State cookout”

Earth Justice – by David Guest

From the perpetually busy “We Are Not Making This Up Department” here at the Florida Earthjustice office, we bring you an odd news item: It seems that opponents who don’t want the state to buy Everglades conservation land from Big Sugar actually hired actors to pretend to be protesters outside a government meeting.

The actor-protesters were exposed when a political group called Progress Florida released a screen shot of a local acting association’s “help wanted” posting on Facebook, offering $75 a day for folks to pose as protesters. The ad called for “Background Talent” and spelled out the job:   Continue reading “Caught in the Act: Anti-Conservation Forces Hire Actors for Fake Everglades Protest”

Hudson Reporter – by Art Schwartz

Harmony Foundation in Secaucus is one of six Medicinal Marijuana Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) authorized in March 2011 to grow and dispense the herb in New Jersey – two each in the northern, central and southern regions of the state.

Yet, here it is almost four years later, and the facility at 600 Meadowlands Parkway is still vacant. In fact, a peek inside the glass doors reveals a gutted interior, waiting for construction work. What gives?   Continue reading “Medical marijuana coming to Hudson County”

AOL – by JESSICA GRESKO

The last man to shoot an American president now spends most of the year in a house overlooking the 13th hole of a golf course in a gated community.

He likes taking walks, plays guitar and paints, eats at Wendy’s and drives around in a Toyota. Often, as if to avoid detection, he puts on a hat or visor before going out.

John Hinckley Jr. lives much of the year like any average Joe: shopping, eating out, watching movies.   Continue reading “Reagan shooter finds rejection, indifference in future home”

Washington Post – by Spencer S. Hsu

The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.

Of 28 examiners with the FBI Laboratory’s microscopic hair comparison unit, 26 overstated forensic matches in ways that favored prosecutors in more than 95 percent of the 268 trials reviewed so far, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Innocence Project, which are assisting the government with the country’s largest post-conviction review of questioned forensic evidence.   Continue reading “FBI overstated forensic hair matches in nearly all trials before 2000”

The Real Agenda – by LUIS R. MIRANDA

Human Rights Watch, an advocacy organization for human rights reported today that Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank are using Palestinian minors as laborers in agriculture fields, a practice that is contrary to international law.

In a 74-page report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that Israeli settlements, mostly in the Jordan Valley, employ children as young as 11 years old, mainly in agricultural work for which they typically receive very low wages.   Continue reading “Jewish Settlers Use Palestinian Children As Labor force”

Human Wrongs Watch

United Nations officials gathered at the UN Crime Congress under way in Doha, Qatar, on 18 April 2015 called on Member States to take action and implement the new international standards on the elimination of violence against children adopted late last year, stressing that such violence continues to have a devastating effect on children, families, and society as a whole.*   Continue reading “UN Urges States to Act on New Standards to Eliminate Devastating Violence against Children”

Breitbart – by Warner Todd Huston

PBS’ Sesame Street has lent one of its most popular characters to the Department of U.S. Health and Human Services to urge parents to vaccinate their children.

After a winter filled with deadly outbreaks of Ebola and dangerous outbreaks of Measles, an extended discussion on the efficacy of vaccinating children arose that brought regular Americans, doctors, and even celebrities to the national debate.   Continue reading “New Sesame Street Video Features Elmo Saying ‘Get Vaccinated’”

Natural News – by Ethan A. Huff

A Michigan woman will spend at least two years in prison for firing a 9mm handgun at employees inside a Grand Rapids McDonald’s restaurant last February. After receiving a McDonald’s cheeseburger that apparently didn’t contain the bacon she claims to have ordered, Shaneka Monique Torres, 30, decided to fire a bullet through the drive-thru window in what media reports are calling a crazy case of “bacon rage.”   Continue reading “McDonald’s customer fires bullets through drive-thru window in deadly junk food induced tantrum”

Activist Post – by Catherine J. Frompovich

Smart Meter (SM) technology is something most consumers may not be familiar with. However, just because the ‘smart’ label is attached to a technology, that doesn’t imply the technology is in the best interest of consumers’ overall health.

Think again, especially when it comes to new ‘smart’ electric, gas, or water meters that are AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) SMs, which can do a few things consumers really may not be aware of and which really are NOT very smart safety-wise.   Continue reading “Smart Meters Unveiled”