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Mr. Scorpio

Mr. Scorpio's Journal
Mr. Scorpio's Journal
January 22, 2014

The House GOP 2013 Agenda

January 21, 2014

Cake!

January 21, 2014

Florida Man Claims Self-Defense After Hopping A Fence To Shoot, Kill 21-Year-Old In A Hoodie

BY NICOLE FLATOW ON JANUARY 21, 2014 AT 2:57 PM

On Thursday, an Orlando man shot and killed a 21-year-old who was fleeing his yard. He didn’t appear to be stealing anything, according to witness accounts. He didn’t appear to be threatening anybody. But Claudius Smith said he feared he was a burglar, followed him over the fence to a neighboring apartment complex, where he shot him after he said he felt threatened, according to a confession documented in an Orlando Police Department report. Smith even said he feared victim Ricardo Sanes was armed “because his pants were falling down” and his hands were in his hoodie pockets, according to a report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

Now, questions are emerging about whether Smith will also invoke the state’s Stand Your Ground law, which gained notoriety over the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, shot in a Florida residential development while wearing a hoodie. Law enforcement officials don’t seem to believe Stand Your Ground applies. Smith has already been charged with second-degree murder. But that doesn’t stop a judge from granting Stand Your Ground immunity later. In one of the most recent Florida court decisions on Stand Your Ground, an appeals court granted Stand Your Ground immunity to a man who went to his car to get a gun before the fatal incident.

According to statements by Smith’s girlfriend, Angela Kemraj, to police, the incident started when she saw a man in the yard on surveillance cameras and reported it to Smith. She said they saw the individual in dark clothes and a hoodie leaving their yard without anything in his hands, and climbing over the fence to a neighboring apartment complex. Smith then left the apartment and climbed over the fence. Two minutes later, Kemraj said she heard gunshots. Soon after, Smith came back to the apartment and said Sanes tried to rob him, without mentioning the shooting. During initial police questioning, Smith later denied knowledge about the shooting, and only later confessed, claiming he shot in self-defense.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/21/3187451/florida-suspect-says-believed-man-killed-armed-pants-falling/
January 21, 2014

Archeological linguists translate text on ancient Babylonian biscuit


Ancient Babylonian Tax and Sex Biscuit

Archeologists at the Smithsonian Museum's Freer Gallery of Art have completed their studies of text written on a 3,700 year old Babylonian biscuit, discovered near the ancient city of Uruk, capitol of Gigamesh in modern-day Iraq.

Although the archeologists have yet to verify if the biscuit, in fact, once belonged the Amorite ruler, Hammurabi, it was confirmed that the actual text, written in Sumerian, was the first ever known use of an ingredients and nutrition facts label.

Highly prized, the Babylonian biscuits of the time were used to settle tax debts and also to purchase sexual favors for tax collectors in the ancient society. For their favors, Babylonian prostitutes earned the nickname "Ladies of the Biscuit."

Although some of the words were not completely translated, the text is as follows:

INGREDIENTS OF TAX AND SEX BISCUIT: Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Baking Ashur-nirari, Zarmasheruurantishbar (An Emulsifier), Salt, Sacrificial Leavening, Natural Flavoring, Huumari Nuts, Zimult of Hiit, Partially Tiglathianated Olive Oil, Camel Butter, Camel Oil, Camel Milk, Eggs.

Distributed By Itti-Marduk-balatu Bakers of Uruk

To ensure product quality, please keep this biscuit in a cool, dry place, at or below the temperature of a moonless night.

May Contain Milk, Nut And Camel Ingredients.

Serving Size: 2
January 21, 2014

Frozen, the censored version

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