Year: 2017

Mail.com

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s protracted war killed a record number of civilians during the first six months of this year, according to a U.N. report released Monday, which blamed the majority of the deaths on bombings by insurgents.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the “horrifying” figure of 1,662 people killed between January and June of this year “can never fully convey the sheer human suffering of the people of Afghanistan.”  Continue reading “UN reports rise in Afghan war deaths, blames insurgents”

Mail.com

BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — For all the uncertainty over the fate of a health care overhaul in Washington, tens of thousands of Montana’s working poor are already in a double quandary: Even if Congress leaves Medicaid expansion mostly intact, the future of the state’s program remains uncertain.

Gov. Steve Bullock, who counts Medicaid expansion as a key achievement in his first term, has less than two years to justify its continuation. The program is scheduled to end in 2019 if state lawmakers decline to renew it during the legislative session that starts in January of that year.   Continue reading “Montana faces double quandary over Medicaid expansion”

Mail.com

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A Jordanian soldier was sentenced Monday to life in prison after being convicted of killing three U.S. military trainers last year, but some said questions lingered about his motive for the shooting at a Jordanian air base.

Jordan has ruled out terrorism in the November shooting in which the convoy of the U.S. Army Green Berets came under fire at the base entrance. The defendant has said he felt no animosity toward Americans and opened fire because he believed the base was coming under attack.   Continue reading “Jordanian soldier gets life term for killing 3 US troops”

The Denver Channel – by Lance Hernandez

CONIFER, COLO. — Clem Smith says he was homeless for six years, but he doesn’t consider himself homeless anymore, because he lives in a motor home with its own address.

The RV is parked on property, in Conifer, that he purchased in March with an inheritance from his mother’s estate.

Of the $214,000 inheritance, he spent $125,000 for the property and put the rest into improvements for a power connection, water well, septic drawings, septic engineering and road engineering.   Continue reading “Formerly homeless man booted off his own, newly purchased mountain property”

AlterNet – by Phillip Smith

With the support of state law enforcement, a Massachusetts Democratic state representative has filed a drug war bill that would send violators to prison for a mandatory minimum two years (five years for a second offense) and allow police to seize their vehicles—all without the presence of any actual drugs.

Sponsored by Rep. Stephan Hay (D-Fitchburg), the measure, House Bill 1266, makes it a crime to have a hidden compartment in one’s vehicle or to try to add one—and it presumes that any hidden compartment in a vehicle is for “for the purpose of transporting or distributing controlled substances” and related contraband, such as cash or weapons. As the bill specifies in its asset forfeiture section:   Continue reading “Outrageous Massachusetts Drug Bill Would Send You to Prison and Steal Your Car—No Drugs Needed”

CBS News

WASHINGTON — Newly-released dashcam video from March appears to show Sgt. Zachary LaHood sickened by what his department says was carbon monoxide seeping into his Ford Explorer police cruiser.

“I almost hit the road twice and feel like I’m gonna get sick,” LaHood can be heard saying in the video.

“And I remember swerving to what I thought was a bus, I was going to go head-in to a bus or a, maybe it was a garbage truck, I think it was a bus,” he said in an interview.  Continue reading “Ford Explorers blamed for alleged carbon monoxide leaks that sickened cops”

AOL

Electric cars, an underground “hyperloop” and a manned mission to Mars are all A-OK for inventor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But there’s one technology he’s still holding out on: artificial intelligence.

That’s why he encouraged U.S. governors to get out in front of the industry and do some proactive regulating.

Musk met with state governors at the National Governors Association to talk about different kinds of emerging technology. In addition to A.I., Musk talked about solar energy, space travel and self-driving cars.   Continue reading “Elon Musk likes most technology, but he wants one sector regulated”

LA Times

Martin Landau, the Oscar-winning veteran who appeared in classic films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest” and starred in the “Mission: Impossible” television series in the 1960s, has died. He was 89.

Landau died Saturday at UCLA Medical Center, where he experienced “unexpected complications” during a short hospitalization, his publicist confirmed.   Continue reading “Oscar-winner Martin Landau, who starred in ‘Ed Wood,’ ‘North By Northwest’ and ‘Entourage,’ dies at 89”

Daily Mail

An Australian woman was dressed in her pyjamas when American police gunned her down, harrowing new details surrounding her death have revealed.

Justine Damond, who also uses the name Justine Ruszczyk, was at home on Saturday night when she called 911 to report a noise and a possible assault in an alley in South Minneapolis, Minnesota.

While police did not have body cameras switched on during the shooting, sources with knowledge of the incident claim the officers arrived at the alley at 11.30pm on Saturday night.   Continue reading “Australian woman, 40, shot dead by police in the US after calling 911”

Variety – by Pat Saperstein

George A. Romero, who launched the zombie film genre with his 1968 “Night of the Living Dead,” died on Sunday, Variety has confirmed. He was 77.

The director died in his sleep following a battle with lung cancer, according to a statement from his manager Chris Roe.   Continue reading “George A. Romero, ‘Night of the Living Dead’ Director, Dies at 77”

Town Hall – by Jennifer Van Laar

This year California legislators passed the largest gas tax increase in decades, a move which will hit the middle class the hardest. When middle class taxpayers got upset, Gov. Brown hit back, calling them “freeloaders” and invoking the “everyone has to pitch in for society!” talking points.

Maybe they’d have more money if they weren’t spending it on things people don’t rely on the government to provide.    Continue reading “California Doesn’t Have Money to Fix Roads, But Drops Millions on Gun Violence Research”

The Hill – by Julia Manchester

Olympic gold medalist and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner is the latest celebrity to reveal she has considered launching a run for Senate, telling radio host John Catsimatidis she is in the process of determining her future in activism and politics.

“I have considered it. I like the political side of it,” Jenner, who is a Republican, told Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York.
Continue reading “Caitlyn Jenner weighs run for Senate”

Sunday Express

The dogs, which are test tube bred in a lab, have twice the muscle mass of their natural counterparts and are considerably stronger and faster.

The canine genome has been especially difficult to engineer and replicate – but its close similarity to the human genome means it has long been the prize of geneticists.

Now the Chinese success has led to fears the same technology could be used to create weaponised super-humans – typifed in Marvel Comics by Captain America and his foes.

Continue reading “China unveils gene technology to create SUPERHUMANS with hyper-muscular test-tube dogs”

AZ Central

U.S. Sen. John McCain on Friday underwent a medical procedure at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix to remove a blood clot from above his left eye, the 80-year-old Arizona Republican’s office announced Saturday afternoon.

McCain’s recovery from the procedure will cause him to be absent from the Senate next week, forcing an unexpected delay in Senate Republicans’ efforts to pass their controversial health-care legislation.   Continue reading “Sen. John McCain undergoes surgery for blood clot, delaying key health-care vote”