Year: 2017

Business Insider – by Michelle Mark

A former South Carolina police officer who faces sentencing next week for fatally shooting an unarmed black man is citing recent testimony from Attorney General Jeff Sessions as an example of how a person’s apparently evolving memories are attributable to stress, not lies.

Michael Slager pleaded guilty last May to committing federal civil rights violations when he fired eight rounds into the back of 50-year-old Walter Scott as the South Carolina man fled a traffic stop in April 2015. Scott’s death attracted national attention after a bystander’s video of the incident went viral, inflaming the ongoing debate over racial bias and excessive force in policing.   Continue reading “The ex-cop who killed Walter Scott is using his ‘Swiss cheese memory’ as a defense — and citing Jeff Sessions’ own memory lapses as an example”

Yahoo News – by Kevin R. James

Choosing to deter North Korea is to engage in a gamble: you avoid the costs of a preventive war today when North Korea is relatively weak, but you run the risk of an accidental nuclear war later when North Korea is vastly more powerful. Using plausible estimates of the probability of accidental nuclear war derived from the U.S.-Soviet experience during the Cold War, I find that gambling on deterrence will lead to 7.5 million U.S.-South Korean-Japanese deaths on average (under optimistic assumptions) while a preventive war now will lead to 1.4 million deaths (under pessimistic assumptions). So, not only is deterrence a gamble, it is a reckless and foolish one.  Preventive war is the wise and prudent response to North Korea’s nuclear threat.   Continue reading “Holy Propaganda Bat Man – North Korea: Why War Is the Only Option Now”

NBC News

Matt Lauer, the anchor of “Today” for two decades, was fired by NBC News after a detailed complaint about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.

“Today” co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb announced Lauer’s firing Wednesday, telling viewers at the top of the show that they were processing his departure but didn’t yet know all of the details.   Continue reading “NBC News fires ‘Today’ anchor Matt Lauer after sexual misconduct review”

Fox News

A federal jury found Ahmed Abu Khattala guilty Tuesday on just four of 18 charges related to the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, precluding him from facing the death penalty.

Khattala, 46, was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, one count of maliciously destroying U.S. property and placing lives in danger, and one count of using and carrying a semiautomatic weapon during the attack. He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison for the firearms offense and could still receive a life sentence.   Continue reading “Benghazi suspect convicted on four lesser counts, does not face death penalty”

Yahoo News – by Kate Sheridan, Newsweek

Commercial bone treats can be hazardous to a dog’s health, the Food and Drug Administration has warned—and sometimes they can even be lethal. The agency updated their website this month to include new reports of illnesses and deaths associated with these processed bone treats.

Nearly 70 dogs have gotten sick from processed and packaged bones and 15 have died, according to the FDA’s website. That figure is nearly double the last reported death toll linked with the treats; a 2015 version of the page indicated that eight dogs had died. Dogs have vomited, choked and had stomach issues after chewing on them, according to the agency. Some bones have also looked moldy or have splintered when a dog began to chew.  Continue reading “These Dog Bones Are Deadly, FDA Warns”

Yahoo News

RENO, Nevada (AP) — A gunman with a hostage opened fire from the eighth floor of a luxury high-rise condominium in Nevada onto the streets below, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

The man died Tuesday after a SWAT team descended on him while he was barricaded at the Montage, Reno police Deputy Chief Tom Robinson told reporters. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he was killed by police gunfire or his own. No one else, including the hostage, was hurt.   Continue reading “Nevada high-rise suspected gunman dead, hostage safe”

Daily Mail

A surgeon accused of burning his initials onto patients’ livers will face trial for actual bodily harm.

Consultant Simon Bramhall, 53, is charged with branding one man and one woman’s livers with ‘SB’ during transplant surgery in 2013.

The alleged incidents took place while he worked at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where he was a liver, spleen and pancreatic surgeon for 12 years.  Continue reading “Transplant surgeon accused of branding his initials on patients’ livers”

New York Daily News – by Glenn Blain

ALBANY — A city Human Resources Administration worker and his wife were charged Tuesday with stealing more than $225,000 in government welfare benefits.

State investigators said Omar Jaata, a 42-year-old Bronx resident and an HRA employee since 2010, used his position to create multiple bogus accounts and obtain nearly $143,000 in food stamp benefits.   Continue reading “HRA worker, his wife busted for swiping more than $225G in welfare benefits”

The Hill – by Brett Samuels

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that the United States and Canada will co-host a meeting focused on finding a non-military solution to the situation in North Korea after Pyongyang fired its latest ballistic missile.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced the international meeting in a statement after the ballistic missile launch, saying that diplomatic options with North Korea “remain viable and open, for now.”   Continue reading “US, Canada to hold global meeting after North Korean missile launch”

Bloomberg – by Thomas Mulier

A Swiss maker of hamburger buns for McDonald’s Corp. said it’s struggling to run a Chicago bakery after it lost a third of its workers in a clampdown on 800 immigrants without sufficient documentation.

About 35 percent of the workers at Cloverhill Bakery had to be replaced, according to Zurich-based Aryzta AG. The company, which makes baked goods for fast-food chains and supermarkets, said the employees were supplied by a job-placement agency that faced federal audits earlier this year.   Continue reading “Chicago Immigration Raid Leaves Swiss Baker Scrambling to Restaff”

PRI – by Adam Wernick

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have signed an agreement to build an 800-mile natural gas pipeline in Alaska, but economic hurdles could prevent its construction.

Ever since the Trans-Alaska Pipeline went into service in 1977, the industry has talked about constructing a parallel line to tap the region’s vast reserves of natural gas. President Trump has added to that talk by promoting a preliminary deal with China during his recent visit with President Xi. Alaska and China would split the $43 billion tab to finance and build the pipeline and terminals, and China would guarantee the purchase of the gas.  Continue reading “Trump pushes natural gas deal between China and Alaska, but obstacles remain”

BuzzFeed

Michigan Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat and the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, settled a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 with a former employee who alleged she was fired because she would not “succumb to [his] sexual advances.”

Documents from the complaint obtained by BuzzFeed News include four signed affidavits, three of which are notarized, from former staff members who allege that Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, repeatedly made sexual advances to female staff that included requests for sex acts, contacting and transporting other women with whom they believed Conyers was having affairs, caressing their hands sexually, and rubbing their legs and backs in public. Four people involved with the case verified the documents are authentic.
Continue reading “She Said A Powerful Congressman Harassed Her. Here’s Why You Didn’t Hear Her Story.”