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#

---

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...

February 29, 2016

Jesse Ventura: I’ll Run for President If Bernie Loses

Minneapolis — Jesse Ventura told The Daily Beast he will run for president if Bernie Sanders does not win the Democratic nomination.

Ventura was elected the governor of Minnesota as an independent in 1998 after serving as a Navy SEAL and professional wrestler. Ventura said his campaign was so successful at showing an outsider could be elected that Trump and Sanders are “ripping him off.” He bets he can do it again if Sanders loses and the election is Hillary Clinton vs. Trump.

“They’re setting the groundwork for me because if Bernie loses, by the time we get to June, how sick are the people going to be of all these people,” he said while dressed in a Jimmy Hendrix shirt under a blazer and SEALs beanie.

“See I’m an independent and I despise the two parties,” Ventura, who speaks as if he is prepared to tackle you, continued. “I love what Trump’s doing to the Republicans. He’s got them in complete disarray. In fact, it looks like the WWE when you watch their debates.”

“I support the revolution of what’s happening here,” Ventura said after telling a local that he worked for most “level-headed” news outlet (RT America). “There’s three things where I stand with Bernie on more so than Trump. Number one is campaign is finance reform,” two is “the war,” and three is ending the War on Drugs.

Ventura’s main cause of concern with Trump is his hawkish nature, suggesting that the man who claims he will “bomb the shit out of ISIS” will get the U.S. stuck in more quagmires.

https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/704432727152566272


Yeah, might as well... This primary season can't get any crazier!

February 29, 2016

Bill O’Reilly Loses Custody of Children In New York Court Ruling

A New York appeals court held last week that Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s school-age children don’t want to live with him anymore, and should live exclusively with their mother, O’Reilly’s ex-wife Maureen McPhilmy.

The lengthy decision affirms the holding of a Nassau County Supreme Court justice last year that the children, now aged 13 and 17, should live full-time with their mother (the former couple had been splitting residential custody). As we reported at the time, O’Reilly appealed that ruling, thereby delaying its enforcement (and, of course, extending his multi-front battle against McPhilmy and her new family).

The Appellate Division issued its 1,400-word opinion on February 24, a little over a month after attorneys for O’Reilly and McPhilmy—known in court documents as Anonymous 2011-1 and Anonymous 2011-2—presented oral arguments at the division’s courthouse in Brooklyn Heights. According to the opinion, the court’s four justices unanimously ruled in McPhilmy’s favor based upon “the clearly stated preferences of the children”:

The preference of McPhilmy and O’Reilly’s 17-year-old daughter is not particularly difficult to guess: As we noted last year, she told a court-appointed forensic examiner that she witnessed O’Reilly drag her mother down a staircase by the neck. (According to court transcripts obtained by Gawker, she also viewed O’Reilly as a temperamental, absentee parent who was uninterested in developing a relationship with her.) At a January 22 hearing, the children’s court-appointed lawyer, Barbara Kopman, told the appellate court that both the daughter and son strongly preferred living with their mother over their father. (Gawker was able to attend but not record the court session, which was open to the public.)

http://gawker.com/bill-o-reilly-loses-custody-of-children-in-new-york-cou-1761303124?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow


And Fox still won't ever fire him!

February 29, 2016

"Stockholm Syndrome" talking points refuse to die(!)

Why do so many black Americans support Hillary Clinton? Stockholm Syndrome. They are faithful battered wives. They are yoked to Hillary by co-dependency: “I’ve stuck by you and suffered to do so for so long that you owe me, and I have faith that you will reward me later if I help you reach your goal now.”

In their minds they have no such guarantee from Bernie Sanders (and of course from Hillary such a guarantee is an illusion). It is clear that Bernie Sanders has been successful without being dependent on them up to now. So (again, in their minds) he owes them nothing, and thus cannot be counted on to reward them after the election for their support during it.

What this sad diminished thinking shows is a lack of confident independence, an inability to reason that the best estimator of Bernie Sanders’ future trustworthiness is the consistency of his commitment to their fundamental cause for over half a century.

One has to acknowledge the detestable brilliance of the Wall Street and 1%-ist strategy of political purchase: own Hillary and Obama who in turn have enchained so many proletarian minds to their identity-politics personality cults: Pied Pipers leading their trusting conga lines into the Wall Street abattoir.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/29/the-cult-of-hillary-the-ultimate-junk-bond/


Wow...Just wow...

I'm officially done with CounterPunch if this is what passes for nuanced political commentary.