March 30, 2016

Malawi's fearsome chief, terminator of child marriages

Mtakataka, Malawi - The mild-mannered woman who zips around a farmhouse packed with knick-knacks and insists her guests eat a meal before any introductions, presents a character at odds with her fearsome reputation of being Malawi's top marriage terminator.

Thirteen years ago, Theresa Kachindamoto could not have conceived of ever leaving her job of 27 years as a secretary at a city college in Zomba, another district in Southern Malawi.

She had no desire to return home to Monkey Bay, a stunning cluster of mountains in Dedza District around Lake Malawi. Although she had the blood of chiefs - Malawi's traditional authority figures - running through her veins, as the youngest of 12 siblings, a woman, and a mother of five, Kachindamoto never expected to become a senior chief to the more than 100,000 people...

...She was shocked when she saw girls as young as 12 with babies and teenaged husbands, and was soon ordering the people to give up their ways

"I told them: 'Whether you like it or not, I want these marriages to be terminated.'"

Last year, Malawi's parliament passed a law forbidding marriage before the age of 18. But under customary law of the traditional authorities, and the constitution, Malawian children can still marry with parental consent.

A 2012 United Nations survey found that more than half of Malawi's girls were married before the age of 18. It ranked Malawi 8th out of 20 countries thought to have the highest child-marriage rates in the world.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/03/malawi-fearsome-chief-terminator-child-marriages-160316081809603.html

March 29, 2016

Marco Muzzo sentenced to 10 years in prison for Vaughan crash that killed 4

Source: Yahoo via CBC.ca

Convicted impaired driver Marco Muzzo has been sentenced to 10 years in prison today in connection to a Vaughan, Ont., crash that killed four people and seriously injured two others. Muzzo, 29, pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm. Ontario Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst is expected to announce Muzzo's sentence in Newmarket.

"I'm tortured by the grief I caused," Muzzo told the court at his sentencing hearing on Feb. 24.

The crash on Sept. 27, 2015, killed three young Neville-Lake children, Daniel, 9, Harrison, 5, Milly, 2, and their grandfather, Gary Neville, 65. Two other extended family members, the children's grandmother and her mother, were injured in the crash.

"You killed all my babies," Jennifer Neville-Lake, mother of the three children, said in her victim impact statement on Feb. 23. "I miss my kids. I miss my dad."

...Muzzo's family owns the drywall company Marel Contractors and is worth nearly $1.8 billion, according to Canadian Business magazine.

Read more: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/marco-muzzo-sentenced-tuesday-vaughan-050000872.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw

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Thank god the "affluenza" defense wasn't in play...

March 23, 2016

Former Henrico teacher charged with letting students smoke weed in class

GLEN ALLEN, Va. (WRIC) — A former Henrico teacher is in trouble with the law for allegedly letting students get stoned in class.

Police say 23-year-old Domonic Leuzzi was doing more than just teaching shop class. They claim he was enabling students to do a little higher learning.

“Domonic Leuzzi was actually allowing students to smoke marijuana in his classroom,” said Henrico County Police Lieutenant Chris Eley.

Up until recently, Leuzzi was a shop teacher at the Academy of Virginia Randolph, a high school for academically and behaviorally challenged kids.

There is a sign in front of the school that reads it’s supposed to be a drug-free zone. But according to investigators, Leuzzi let some students feel free to light up.

“We got a call from the administration of Henrico County Public Schools saying they received information from students that a teacher was allowing them to smoke marijuana in a class,” explains Lieutenant Eley.

Now, the 23-year-old teacher faces three charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Court records show at least three teens allegedly smoked weed under Mr. Leuzzi’s watch.

http://wric.com/2016/03/23/former-henrico-teacher-charged-with-letting-students-smoke-weed-in-class/

What an asshole...

March 10, 2016

Islamic State defector brings 'goldmine' of details on 22,000 supporters

Source: Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A disillusioned former member of Islamic State has passed a stolen memory stick of documents identifying 22,000 supporters in over 50 countries to a British journalist, a leak that could help the West target Islamist fighters planning attacks.

Leaks of such detailed information about Islamic State are rare and give Britain's spies a potential trove of data that could help unmask militants who have threatened more attacks like those that killed 130 people in Paris last November.

A man calling himself Abu Hamed, a former member of Islamic State who became disillusioned with its leaders, passed the files to Britain's Sky News on a memory stick he said he had stolen from the head of the group's internal security force.

On it were enrolment forms containing the names of Islamic State supporters and of their relatives, telephone numbers, and other details such as the subjects' areas of expertise and who had recommended them.

One of the files, marked "Martyrs", detailed a group of IS members who were willing and trained to carry out suicide attacks, Sky said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/tv-channel-says-obtains-details-22-000-islamic-082041671.html?nf=1#

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Reverse-Snowden....

(assuming of course his cache of info is legit)

March 10, 2016

Why can't McDonald's look like this in our country?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2016/03/10/mcdonald_s_on_paris_champs_elysees_gets_an_upscale_makeover.html

March 9, 2016

Labour urged to expel Trotskyist Gerry Downing over 9/11 views

Source: BBC News

Jeremy Corbyn is facing calls from David Cameron and a Labour MP to expel a far left activist over his views on 9/11 and so-called Islamic State. The prime minister quoted a blog by Gerry Downing, which said the 9/11 suicide bombers "must never be condemned".

Mr Downing said he had been quoted out of context by the prime minister. He said he had been explaining the motivation of the 9/11 bombers, "not agreeing with what they were doing".

He added: "I don't support the politics of Isis, they are vile barbarians. But I don't support American imperialist bombing either."

Mr Downing, a former bus driver and member of the tiny Socialist Fight group, says on Twitter his ambition is "to end capitalism on the planet by socialist revolution".

He was expelled by the Labour Party last August over views expressed on his Twitter feed and blog but was re-instated in November after an appeal.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-35768969

March 9, 2016

Why didn't we have school plays like this when I was a kid??

https://twitter.com/SouthernAssBoi/status/706600207530635264

https://twitter.com/SouthernAssBoi/status/706600555016114176

March 8, 2016

MEANWHILE, in Houston.....

Highway 290 shut down following crash, naked woman on freeway

HOUSTON (KTRK) --A bizarre rush hour crash shut down Highway 290 at Huffmeister Road Monday morning. After a wreck, a woman stripped down and got on top of the cab of a big rig.

That woman refused to come down for about two hours. Firefighters and police officers finally coaxed her into a ladder truck basket at about 11am.

"I just hope that her being naked, and being belligerent doesn't take over the situation, and that they can just get her some help," said Keaton Gray, one of many eyewitnesses glued to the unexpected sight.

The outbound lanes of 290 were shut down for a couple of hours. The inbound side was shut down for about 20 minutes while they got her down.

http://abc13.com/traffic/live-video-naked-woman-on-truck-shuts-down-freeway/1234280/

http://www.inquisitr.com/2864142/naked-woman-climbs-on-18-wheeler-truck-dances-nude-and-shuts-down-highway-video/

http://www.click2houston.com/news/naked-woman-dancing-on-top-of-big-rig-snarls-hwy-290-traffic

March 1, 2016

Facebook VP detained over company's standoff with police

A Facebook executive in Brazil has been detained after authorities said the company failed to comply with a court order.

The court order asked Facebook to provide data from WhatsApp, a messaging app it owns, in connection with a criminal investigation into drug trafficking.

Police in São Paulo took Diego Dzodan, Facebook's VP for Latin America, in for questioning on Tuesday morning. He is still in custody, Facebook said.

Dzodan joined the company last June, according to his LinkedIn profile. His Facebook and LinkedIn profiles also list him as the VP for Latin America at Instagram, which is also owned by Facebook (FB, Tech30).

Dzodan's detainment comes four months after authorities first obtained a court order, according to a spokeswoman for Brazilian Federal Police in the state of Sergipe.

Authorities in Sergipe said they needed Facebook's help in a case where the suspects used Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to communicate and plan their crimes. Gmail was another platform, according to the spokeswoman.

According to the authorities, the judge issued the order three times and started fining Facebook 50,000 reals ($12,600) daily for noncompliance two months ago. Last month, the fine increased to 1 million reals ($253,000) per day. A warrant was issued for Dzodan on February 7.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/01/technology/facebook-brazil/index.html


What a shame -- And in Glenn Greenwald's backyard, too... I have no doubt our fearless Mr. Greenwald will get right on this outrage once he finishes writing his Hillary smear piece for today...