January 9, 2015

woman who abandoned the dog with his stuff in a suitcase comes forward and explains what happened

As the first picture of Fin Rayner, from Aberdeenshire, emerged, the 39-year-old mother claims she left the dog behind after the sale of him fell through.





Ms Rayner claims she had arrived at Ayr train station planning to buy the dog for £400 after replying to an advert on listings website Gumtree.

But when she got to the station with her nine-year-old daughter Rhiannon Strachan, she found Kai - whose real name is Pluto - did not look like the dog in the advert.

The mother-of-three told the Daily Record: 'I went to buy a dog but the dog was not the same as the picture advertised.'

'The guy rushed out with a food chest and lead on the dog. But I could see there was something up because he was very skinny.

'I said I wanted to take the dog for a walk, so he asked me for £150 as a deposit in case I didn't come back. Then I saw him tearing off in his car. I phoned and said "You better come back for your dog". He never turned up.'

She added: 'I got into the station and the dog wasn't settling. He was pulling on the lead and peeing everywhere.

'I thought that it wasn't my dog - I didn't want him.'

The mother claims she then panicked as she had to get the last train to Aberdeen





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2903448/Pictured-Woman-left-Kai-Shar-Pei-tied-outside-train-station-claims-did-WRONG.html

January 8, 2015

do military acadenies just benefit the elite and perpetuate inequity?

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/lets-abolish-west-point-military-academies-serve-no-one-squander-millions-tax

Let’s Abolish West Point: Military Academies Serve No One, Squander Millions of Tax Dollars

The service academies once had a purpose: when they were founded in the 19th century (the Air Force split off from Army after World War II), college was classics and religion for gentlemen, so it made sense to have technical training institutes for people who would be in charge of increasingly technical warfare. All the service academies have now to justify their cost and their pretensions, it seems, is their once-illustrious history, and the club of “tradition,” which they wield mercilessly against students who dare question why things are as they are.

Who benefits from these strange historical holdovers? Not the taxpayers who fund them. The service academies are the vanity projects of the brass who went there. Their interest is in looking good (it’s good for their careers) and in keeping the tax dollars flowing. All official information taxpayers get about the service academies comes from the brass who run them and who use them as their private country clubs — at taxpayer expense. Military subordinates (which includes the students) are legally unable to offer conflicting views. The result is that the service academies are feel-good hype factories that operate with virtually no accountability and little oversight, the very definition of government bloat on autopilot.

Oh, yes—there’s one more group of people who defend these places to the death: the parents of the young military members who attend them. Why wouldn’t they? Having their children admitted is a government-sponsored guarantee of a golden ticket to life: college at taxpayer expense with no student debts, the highest salary of any set of graduates, and guaranteed employment and (no-Obamacare-necessary) health benefits for at least five years, frequently well beyond. And no, most people in the military aren’t remotely likely to be shot at.

January 8, 2015

Meet 'Handsome African American Man' and Other Stock Images on Jeb Bush's Website

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/meet-handsome-african-american-man-and-other-stock-images-jeb-bushs-website

Meet 'Handsome African American Man' and Other Stock Images on Jeb Bush's Websi

Meet 'Handsome African American Man' and Other Stock Images on Jeb Bush's Website
The 2016 hopeful should know that stock photos can't vote for him.

Having resigned from a series of corporate and nonprofit boards, Jeb Bush is gearing up to run for president. But Bush has a problem: he spent the last seven years out of office getting rich, not developing a fan base.

This means that when he launched his new political action committee, Right To Rise PAC, he didn't have any supporters to put on it. Yet when you go to the front page of the website, you see this:


Click to enlarge.
Who are these people? We hunted down the sources of some of the images.

The black man on the top right is “Handsome African American Man,” a stock photo you can find at Getty Images.

The two children on the fence are “American Cowboy,” which you can find here at iStock.

The smiling girl in the blue shirt in the center is “Teenage girl with wind in her hair”; find her here also at iStock.

The gentleman in the glasses above Bush is “World War II Veteran POW.” Here he is on iStock.

January 8, 2015

Dennis Miller called Hillary a "chunky white chick" while speaking glowingly of Jeb, Walker

On his radio program today. No mention of Jeb Bush or Scott Walter's body or skin color

January 8, 2015

Steubenville rapist weeps as he is released from two yrs in jail

Steubenville rapist WEEPS in court as he's released after two years in juvenile detention for the rape of a 16-year-old girl
Ohio high school football player Trent Mays who was convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl was released today after two years of juvenile detention
A statement from attorney Adam Neeman says Mays earned his release and is now 'eager to prove himself'
Mays and teammate Ma'Lik Richmond, were both found delinquent in the 2012 rape but Richmond was released one year earlier



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2900435/Ohio-high-school-rape-convict-released-custody.html#ixzz3OCNot2Xl

January 8, 2015

the moment a mudslide knocks a house off its foundation

Heavy rain and flooding has led to a muddy start to 2015 in some areas of Washington State.

Power outages and mudslides are threatening the safety of homes in western areas, and residents in the cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam have been advised to evacuate.

Officials say that at least three homes in Hoquiam have been knocked off their foundations due to mudslides, while a landslide has forced a major highway to close.

Video of a home being knocked off of its foundation shows how damaging the storm has been.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1756246/watch-mudslide-knocks-washington-home-right-off-foundation/

January 7, 2015

NY times: In memory of Cabu, Wolinski, Charb and Tignous.

January 7, 2015

New Yorkers are enjoying their freedom from tickets.. parking as they please, brown paper bag drinks

Tuesday morning’s alternate-side parking period found 25 cars on the wrong side of one block in Park Slope, Brooklyn, still occupying the spaces they were required to leave an hour earlier, without a single ticket in sight. None of this appeared to faze the street sweeper moving down the block — or the police cruiser just behind it, which did not stop.

At New York City housing projects from the Bronx to Staten Island, residents said they had seen fewer officers patrolling their hallways and streets, leaving some people relieved and others frightened for their safety.


And on Burnside Avenue in the Bronx on Tuesday morning, Leyni Soto relished sipping from a Red Bull in a brown paper bag. When he did the same thing two months ago, an officer asked him what was in the bag.

But this time was different. “They slowed down their pace, they looked at me, they looked at the bag and they kept going,” said Mr. Soto, 28, an assistant manager of a cellphone store. “It felt really good.”

-------------

Already, the city’s drivers have collectively enjoyed a minor windfall in parking tickets not written. As a cable contractor in New York City, Gary Jeffers often has no choice but to double-park, resigning himself to a pile of parking tickets. In recent weeks, however, he has been able to double-park for longer without fear of being cited, he said.

“Of course that’s a good thing, because the traffic officers just want your money,” he said on Tuesday morning in Queens. “Now I have the right to park a bit more.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/nyregion/life-in-new-york-city-where-arrests-are-down-and-tickets-are-rarities.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

January 7, 2015

Soldiers on the streets: Military is brought in to protect Eiffel Tower, media offices, places of wo

Soldiers on the streets: Military is brought in to protect Eiffel Tower, media offices, places of worship and public transport links as France responds to terror attack

Soldiers pictured patrolling Paris in combat fatigues with machine guns
Troops deployed to train stations, places of worship, and public spaces
Three gunmen who attacked offices in the city this morning still at large








Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2900755/Soldiers-streets-Military-brought-protect-Eiffel-Tower-media-offices-places-worship-public-transport-links-France-responds-terror-attack.html#ixzz3OAdo9ams

January 7, 2015

The Kiss _ Boehner and Pelosi

John A. Boehner kissed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi not long after he retained his post as speaker of the House on Tuesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/us/congress-returns-boehner.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0