January 28, 2022

ski lift malfuctions

January 28, 2022

Brookside police patrolled social media, threatening town's critics

https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending/police-chief-alabama-town-noted-traffic-trap-resigns/Q4CWIKSLVJA7NBJ77WWPVZZ3HE/

According to AL.com, in a two-year period between 2018 and 2020, Brookside revenues from fines and forfeitures soared more than 640% and now account for 49% of the town’s $1.2 million budget. The main source of income was the speed trap along I-22.

Brookside, a former mining town in north Jefferson County, has only 1,253 residents, AL.com reported. Jones, as police chief, built a force of 10 or more full- and part-time officers with 10 dark vehicles that patrol I-22, the website reported.

A federal lawsuit contended that the left lane tickets written on I-22 by Brookside police were unlawful, WMBA-TV reported.

“Brookside is a poster child for policing for profit,” Carla Crowder, the director of Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, told AL.com. “We are not safer because of it.”

https://www.al.com/news/2022/01/brookside-police-patrolled-social-media-threatening-towns-critics.html


In 2020, she had explained her case this way to the AG’s office: “The person threatened me with an arrest if I did not take down my Facebook pictures and posts of their police officers, stop sending emails to the local politicians, as well as others, and show them (Brookside police) that I understand law enforcement practices.”

Jones is not alone in complaining about Brookside. Stories from people stopped in the ticket-happy town continue to roll down like an avalanche, since AL.com last week published the story of how the tiny town turned to aggressive ticketing to build a ballooning police force that came to provide half the town’s revenue.

Police Chief Mike Jones has since resigned, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth has requested an audit of Brookside’s town and police force, and lawmakers across party lines have called for bills to help curb small-town policing for profit on Alabama Interstates.

The accounts told to AL.com detail harassment and intimidation. They tell, with consistency, of specious tickets and arrests, of retaliation by a police department and by a chief who challenged those who questioned him as he sought to build an empire on the backs of drivers.

https://www.al.com/news/2022/01/police-in-this-tiny-alabama-town-suck-drivers-into-legal-black-hole.html

Ramon Perez came to court last month ready to fight the tickets he’d been handed by Brookside police, including one for rolling through a stop sign and another for driving 48 mph in a 40 zone.

He swore he’d seen the cop from a distance and was careful as he braked.

“I saw him and we looked eye to eye,” the Chelsea business owner said. “There’s no way I was going to run that stop sign.”

When he got to court Dec. 2, he saw scores of people just like him lining up to stand before Judge Jim Wooten, complaining of penny-ante “crimes” and harassment by officers. He saw so many people trying to park in the grassy field outside the municipal building that police had to direct traffic.

January 28, 2022

Student borrowers in shock over 'zero balance' as federal program fulfills elusive promise

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/student-borrowers-in-shock-over-zero-balance-as-federal-program-fulfills-elusive-promise/ar-AATdcEl

The notice from the federal government took Lee Dossett, a doctor in Lexington, Kentucky, by surprise. "Congratulations!" it began.

After a couple of years of denials for a student loan forgiveness program designed for public servants, Dossett, who has worked in the nonprofit sector for 10 years, was told last week that not only was his application re-evaluated, but that the Department of Education had determined he should have his outstanding medical school loans erased altogether — about $75,000 worth.

"I was completely shocked because I had honestly given up on getting it," Dossett said.

But a record number of student borrowers are reaping the same benefit after the Biden administration in October began relaxing stringent rules around Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which launched in 2007 to help teachers, health care workers, military members and other public servants earn debt relief on their federal loans. As of last week, more than 70,000 borrowers qualified for debt forgiveness, amounting to about $5 billion in relief, the Department of Education said.

Before the overhaul, just 16,000 borrowers of about 1.3 million enrolled applicants had their loans' remaining balances expunged through the program, according to federal data.

January 28, 2022

9 long distances shots. shooter not charged yet. Authorities won't name shooter

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/a-good-man-father-to-be-joined-co-worker-on-trip-to-penn-cabin-then-was-shot-dead/ar-AATcV01

'A Good Man': Father-to-Be Joined Co-Worker on Trip to Penn. Cabin, Then Was Shot Dead

Some of the bullets struck his head, relatives alleged on a GoFundMe page that had raised money for his funeral.

Authorities say the man who shot Spencer is a 25-year-old white former co-worker of his.

According to the Spencer's relatives, who spoke to The Philadelphia Inquirer, detectives told them the former co-worker acknowledged shooting Spencer, but said he'd done so in self-defense.

However, prominent pathologist Cyril Wecht, an adviser to the grieving family, believes many of the bullets entered Spencer's body from behind.

"My initial thought is that it's absurd to talk about self-defense with nine gunshot wounds," Wecht told the Inquirer.

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10448161/Modern-day-lynching-Jamaican-immigrant-killed-invited-white-workers-PA-cabin.html


The family of a Jamaican immigrant who was killed while at a white co-worker's Pennsylvania cabin has hired a renowned medical expert who says it appears he was 'hunted down.'

Peter Bernardo Spencer, 29, of Pittsburgh, was shot nine times - with two of the bullet wounds to his buttocks and one through the neck - after being the only black man invited on a hunting trip with four other people to rural Rockland Township on December 12.

As family continues to wait for answers from local police, they have hired a private investigator and medical examiner to look into the case.

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Peter Bernardo Spencer, 29, was found dead with nine bullet wounds after being the only black man invited to a white co-worker's Pennsylvania cabin
Private medical examiner Dr. Cyril Wecht said: 'It's like looking at someone who got hunted down, which is absolutely horrifying'
The suspect, who has only been identified as a 25-year-old white man, has admitted to the shooting but claimed self-defense, according to the family
Authorities have refused to name the suspect or the other people who were at the cabin until the investigation is complete
Spencer's younger brother Tehilah called the killing a 'modern-day lynching'
Investigators say they are awaiting data and lab results but the Spencer's family attorney Paul Jubas claims that the family is being 'stonewalled'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10448161/Modern-day-lynching-Jamaican-immigrant-killed-invited-white-workers-PA-cabin.html

January 27, 2022

In one small prairie town, two warring visions of America

But ask around Benson, stroll its three-block business district, and some would tell a different story: The Swift County Monitor-News, the tiny newspaper that’s reported the news here since 1886, is not telling the truth. The vaccine is untested, they say, dangerous. And some will go further: People, they’ll tell you, are being killed by COVID-19 vaccinations.

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Stores closed. Little farms were bought up by more successful farmers. Swift County’s population has dropped about 30 percent since 1960, and now has about 10,000 residents. Meanwhile, a county that was 98% white in 1990 has seen a stream of new minority residents, particularly Latinos. The county is now 87% white - far whiter than much of America, but far more diverse than a generation ago.

Today, longtime locals can sometimes feel unmoored.

“There are a lot of people coming through that I don’t recognize,” said Terri Collins, Benson’s cheerful mayor, whose family has been in Benson for five generations. “I used to know all of my neighbors and now that’s different. And I don’t know what to blame for that.”


https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-minnesota-only-on-ap-

Jason Wolter, rear, prays at the dinner table with his wife, Tracy, from left, daughter, Bella, 17, and son, Zeb, 9, at their home in Benson, Minn., Monday, Nov. 29, 2021. Wolter knows that plenty of people would write him off as just another conspiracy monger. He also worries his conservative opinions color what he believes. "There are times when I've thought: 'Well, what if all my angst over this is misplaced?'" he says. "Maybe everyone else is right?" But he worries more about America: "This is a dark time." (AP Photo/David Goldman)


Al Saunders stands beneath a Trump campaign sign in his farm's tool shed in Benson, Minn., Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021. Trump's cries that he loved America resonated in an area where new approaches to teaching U.S. history, with an increased focus on race, were confounding. So in a county where Obama won with 55% of the vote in 2008, Trump won with 64% percent in 2020. "We've seen a shift here in Swift County," said Saunders. "But you won't see that in the newspaper." (AP Photo/David Goldman)

January 27, 2022

"Fat don't fly"... ski jumping is "one of the most eating-disorder plagued sports"

Olympic champion Lundby laments ski jumping's weight issues

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Over the last few months, Lundby has emerged as an advocate for change in a sport that has historically had athletes develop eating disorders as teenagers, all in a quest to be as light as possible to squeeze a few more meters out of their flights through the air.

USA Nordic executive director Billy Demong, a five-time Olympian in Nordic combined, said ski jumping is “one of the most eating-disorder plagued sports” because of the desire to keep pounds off.

“Fat don’t fly, things like that. That’s not something I’m ever going to let a coach say, but the athletes talk to each other and they see it on TV,” Demong said earlier this season during training in Lake Placid, New York. “Some guys took it too far, back in the day, in my era from 2000 to 2005 is when it was really bad.

"We're talking 6-foot guys that we're like 105 to 110 pounds. Wildly light. Some guys could do it and somebody else would starve themselves the wrong way and they would end up in the hospital."

https://www.newser.com/article/f2c3f587eb00018e20e50b3d01591639/olympic-champion-lundby-laments-ski-jumpings-weight-issues.html

The International Ski Federation has attempted to prod athletes make wise choices when managing their weight.

If jumpers have a body mass index of 21 or more, they can have skis as long as 145% of their height. The more ski surface they have, the farther they fly. But FIS requires jumpers to use shorter skis if their BMI falls below 21, which is considered a relatively healthy number for men and women.

One of the sport’s greats, Finland’s Matti Nykanen, was listed at 5-foot-8 and 120 pounds for the 2010 Olympics; his BMI would be an “underweight” 18.5 with those numbers. Four years later, Sara Takanashi of Japan was all of 5 feet tall and barely 100 pounds but a “healthy” BMI of 19.

https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-sports-health-lifestyle-2020-tokyo-olympics-ff567561c7ba0d0792fd38f88ff125b8

January 27, 2022

Sinema's fav is 8% with dems, 44% with repubs in AZ

https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1484227488989466632

January 27, 2022

Hugh Hefner was a MONSTER. But he was treated as a cool dude on 80s TV, a model for all men

Secrets of Playboy's Hugh Hefner Allegations Are Graphic
And Playboy 'strongly supports' all the accusers


(NEWSER) – A new 10-part docuseries paints Hugh Hefner as a rapist who drugged women at his Playboy mansion—and Playboy says it supports those accusing Hef of sexual misconduct. "We trust and validate women and their stories, and we strongly support the individuals who have come forward to share their experiences," it posted in an open letter over the weekend. "The Hefner family is no longer associated with Playboy, and today’s Playboy is not Hugh Hefner’s Playboy. Today, our organization is run by a workforce that is more than 80% female, and together we are building upon the aspects of our legacy that have made a positive impact, including serving as a platform for free expression and a convener of safe conversations on sex, inclusion and freedom." More on A&E's Secrets of Playboy:


**** graphic stuff at link, not posted here***

"Protections" in place: Hefner allegedly hid cameras around the Playboy mansion and threatened to release photos and videos of "depraved" sex acts if anyone spoke out against him. Madison says Hefner blackmailed her with photos and that was why she stayed with him for so long. Hef's widow and fellow former Girls Next Door star, Crystal Hefner, confirmed that she found "thousands" of such photos after his death and destroyed them all, People reports.

https://www.newser.com/story/316123/playboy-strongly-supports-hugh-hefner-accusers.html

January 27, 2022

Minnie Mouse to wear pantsuit in honor of Women's History Month

https://twitter.com/DisneyParis_EN/status/1485927791895920644

January 27, 2022

Man gets 2 years in prison for stealing plants CA state parks, had run to South Africa to do same

Man gets 2 years in prison for stealing plants worth $150,000 from California state parks

I posted about the plant stealer last year. update

Dudleya caespitosa is a succulent plant known by several common names, including sea lettuce.



https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/Dudleya-succulent-plants-stolen-California-16806384.php

A man was sentenced to two years in federal prison last week for attempting to export at least $150,000 worth of wild succulents that he poached from native habitats in Northern California state parks, the United States Justice Department said.


On Oct. 11, 2018, Byungsu Kim, 46, and co-defendants Youngin Back, 47, and Bong Jun Kim, 46, traveled by car from Los Angeles International Airport to Crescent City, Calif., with plans to harvest wild plants and smuggle them to South Korea, the department said in a statement Jan. 20. Throughout October 2018, they pulled plants from the ground at DeMartin State Beach in Klamath, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park in Crescent City and Russian Gulch State Park in Mendocino County, the department said. The Dudleya plants — a type of succulent with a pretty rose shape that grows along coastal cliffs — were then brought to a nursery operated by Kim in Vista, a town near San Diego.

Because growing Dudleyas in nurseries takes years, smugglers are known to harvest wild, living plants from the ground in Northern California and export them overseas where they are sold on the black market.


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Byungsu Kim and Back reportedly fled to Mexico on foot in May 2019 through the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing after learning of pending federal charges against them. With his fraudulent passport, Kim flew with Back from Mexico to China, and ultimately to South Korea, the department said.

Kim surfaced in South Africa in October 2019, where he was arrested for illegally collecting plants from protected areas for export to South Korea. After pleading guilty to the criminal charges in South Africa and spending a year in custody, he was extradited to the United States in October 2020, where he has been in federal custody since.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-california-state-parks-succulents-south-korea-20190602-clplzzlytfepvlsputjl2hgca4-story.html