June 2, 2013

George Zimmerman's attorneys apologize for mischaracterizing evidence

Source: NBC News

By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News

Attorneys for George Zimmerman apologized Sunday for mischaracterizing evidence they said boosted their theory that Trayvon Martin was the aggressor in his fatal meeting with their client last year.

Lawyer Mark O’Mara said during a hearing last Tuesday that the defense had obtained video footage of three fights, including one in which he said two of Martin’s friends "were beating up a homeless guy."

But Zimmerman's defense team corrected that statement on Sunday, saying O'Mara had unintentionally "misstated the nature" of the footage.

In a statement posted on Zimmerman’s website, the defense lawyers said the footage actually showed "two homeless guys fighting each other over a bike."


More at the link

Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/02/18702011-george-zimmermans-attorneys-apologize-for-mischaracterizing-evidence?lite

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I think all the games are winding down and nothing good for Zimmerman is going to come of it.

June 2, 2013

Florida police use Taser to subdue, capture escaped llama

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., June 2 (UPI) -- Police in Tallahassee, Fla., said they had to use a Taser to capture a 6-foot-tall llama that had escaped from its owner's pen and spit in officers' faces.

Leon County Sheriff's Office deputies said they began hearing reports of a llama on the loose running through Killearn Lakes and on Bannerman Road at about 11 p.m. Friday night.

"There was some sightings, but we were never able to get our hands on it," said Deputy Tony Drzewiecki, of the sheriff's department.

<snip>

"I've been doing this 20 years and they said there is going to be a lot of excitement in this job, but no one ever told me I would get spit in the face by a llama and trampled by one," Drzewiecki said.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2013/06/02/Florida-police-use-Taser-to-subdue-capture-escaped-llama/UPI-64851370183259/#ixzz2V6JeB3wx


I am shocked they didn't shoot it.

June 2, 2013

Ex-Congressman Weiner gaining ground in New York mayoral race

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/28/us-usa-politics-newyork-mayor-idUSBRE94M18920130528

http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130528&t=2&i=735980573&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE94R1HWR00

(Reuters) - Disgraced former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner is gaining ground on his Democratic rivals in the race for New York City Mayor, according to a new poll.

Weiner, who resigned from office two years ago in a sexting scandal, had the support of 19 percent of Democrats in a Marist poll released on Tuesday. That puts him six points behind early frontrunner City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who had support of 25 percent of Democrats.

A separate poll released on May 22, the day that Weiner formally declared his candidacy, had shown Quinn, who would be the city's first female and lesbian mayor, with a wider 10 point lead.

<snip>

More than half of registered voters said Weiner deserves a second chance, while nearly 40 percent said Weiner does not have the character to be mayor, the poll found.

<snip>



(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Scott Malone and Nick Zieminski)

June 2, 2013

Berlin company specializes in autistic IT experts

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, June 2, 2013 8:42 EDT

When German software giant SAP said last month it plans to employ hundreds of autistic people as IT experts, the news was welcomed especially at a small Berlin computer consulting firm.

The pioneering company, Auticon, already employs 17 people who live with autism, the disorder characterised by difficulties with social interactions and exceptional abilities in specific fields.

“Many people say that if a company like SAP said it makes sense… it’s very good for us,” said its chief Dirk Mueller-Remus. “That means it’s something serious, solid.”

<snip>

Its goal is that by 2020, people with autism will make up one percent of its worldwide workforce of 65,000.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/02/berlin-company-specialises-in-autistic-it-experts/

June 2, 2013

Vinegar cancer test saves lives, India study finds

MUMBAI, India—<snip>

Doctors reported the results Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago. Experts called the outcome "amazing" and said this quick, cheap test could save tens of thousands of lives each year in developing countries by spotting early signs of cancer, allowing treatment before it's too late.

<snip>

Pap smears and tests for HPV, a virus that causes most cervical cancers, have slashed cases and deaths in the United States. But poor countries can't afford those screening tools.

This study tried a test that costs very little and can be done by local people with just two weeks of training and no fancy lab equipment. They swab the cervix with diluted vinegar, which can make abnormal cells briefly change color.

This low-tech visual exam cut the cervical cancer death rate by 31 percent, the study found. It could prevent 22,000 deaths in India and 72,600 worldwide each year, researchers estimate.


Read more: Vinegar cancer test saves lives, India study finds - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/healthcare/ci_23372863/vinegar-cancer-test-saves-lives-india-study-finds#ixzz2V4BChTdS

June 2, 2013

Rupert Murdoch is now an old man on a lonely throne

By Peter Preston, The Observer
Sunday, June 2, 2013 7:37 EDT

In his 80s, with no clear successor, the media mogul and his spun-off newpaper operation are in a precarious position

Matthew Parris went to the Orwell prizegiving the other day and suddenly saw red. Chris Mullin MP was giving a speech lauding fine investigative journalism – like that of this year’s winner, Andrew Norfolk of the Times – which he firmly asserted was achieved “despite” the efforts of newspaper proprietors. “What sneery, snivelling, ignorant, leftie rubbish,” wrote Parris.

“Who does he think pays for Norfolk’s investigations, or for my columns? Does he know nothing about the losses being clocked up by quality newspapers all over the world? … Does he realise how precarious now is the whole future of daily newspapers in Britain?” Call it, on second thoughts, a Rupert red mist.

<snip>

There’s a balance-sheet bonne bouche of $2bn and a wiping away of debts that will help News Corp mark two ride briefly high when it goes solo and public – though no longer listed in London – at the end of June. But there will also be no more lush, adjacent pastures of satellite TV or Hollywood blockbusters to assure US shareholder peace when loss-making papers have to be supported. 21st Century Fox won’t be indulging the boss’s little foibles any longer. Once the presses roll, he’s on his own.

<snip>

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/02/rupert-murdoch-is-now-an-old-man-on-a-lonely-throne/

Citizen Murdoch.

June 2, 2013

How to Think About Guns: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast

http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/02/14/how-to-think-about-guns-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/



<snip>

This episode is a straightforward conversation between Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt, keeping in mind recent events like the Newtown, Ct., school massacre and long-standing traditions like the American embrace of guns.

<snip>

whether deterrents like capital punishment and sentence enhancements actually work.

We begin this episode with some basic data. In the U.S., there are roughly 11,000 gun homicides and 20,000 gun suicides a year. (Our podcast “The Suicide Paradox” looked into why we hear so much less about the suicides than the homicides.) What we hear about more than anything are the relatively rare but extremely disturbing mass shootings. From the podcast:

Mother Jones magazine recently built a database of mass shootings – four or more fatalities — over the past 30 years. Not everyone likes this database – it excludes, for instance, all gang shootings and armed robberies. But here are those numbers: since 1982, there have been 62 mass shootings with 513 fatalities, or an average of 2 mass shootings and 16.5 fatalities a year. (Now, remember, keep in mind there are 11,000 gun murders each year in total.) Over just the past 10 years, those numbers are a bit higher – about 3 shootings a year, with 26 fatalities. But 2012 was a very bad year: 7 shootings with 72 fatalities, more than 4 times the average number of victims in a year from mass shootings.

<snip>




So what could diminish gun violence? We’ve asked that question before; good answers are hard to come by. Levitt says mandatory sentence enhancements work. You’ll also hear about Geoffrey Canada‘s book Fist Stick Knife Gun, which might change the way you think about violence in general.

May 30, 2013

Illinois illegally seizes Bees Resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup; Kills remaining Queens

http://www.globalresearch.ca/illinois-illegally-seizes-bees-resistant-to-monsantos-roundup-kills-remaining-queens/5336210

The Illinois Ag Dept. illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News.

Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup’s effects on bees, which he’s raised for 58 years. “They ruined 15 years of my research,” he told Prairie Advocate, by stealing most of his stock.

<snip>
Ingram can prove his bees did not have foulbrood, and planned to do so at a hearing set in April, but the state seized his bees at the end of March. They have not returned them and no one at the Ag Dept. seems to know where his bees are.

The bees could have been destroyed, or they could have been turned over to Monsanto to ascertain why some of his bees are resistant to Roundup. Without the bees as evidence, Ingram simply cannot defend against the phony charges of foulbrood.

<snip>

#t=0s

May 28, 2013

NY high court eyes who can tap Starbucks' tip jars

Source: Houston Chronicle

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press | May 28, 2013 | Updated: May 28, 2013 4:08pm

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Starbucks is defending its tip-sharing policy with its attorney telling New York's top court that baristas and shift supervisors divide up the cash jar weekly because they essentially provide the same customer service.

Attorney Rex Heinke (HYN'-kee) says assistant store managers are excluded because they have an essentially different role and "real power" over the others.

He says Tuesday that the employer's role is to come up with "a reasonable, fair system" and the company does have authority to exclude from tip-sharing even those employees deemed eligible under state law.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/NY-high-court-eyes-who-can-tap-Starbucks-tip-jars-4552087.php

May 21, 2013

Jeffrey Nugent says his brother Ted Nugent is wrong on background checks

Jeffrey Nugent says his brother Ted Nugent is wrong on background checks
By Jeffrey Nugent,May 17, 2013




Jeffrey Nugent is the former president and chief executive of Revlon.

I’m a member of the National Rifle Association and a former Army officer with assignments in the military police, artillery, and operations research and intelligence at the Pentagon.

<snip>

And I agree with Ted that our constitutional right to bear arms should not be undermined. I want all those who are qualified to purchase a gun to be able to do so. But — and here is where I part ways with my brother — not everyone is qualified to own a gun, so expanded background checks should be a legislative priority.

I believe strongly that expanding and improving mandatory background checks will keep a lot of people who aren’t entitled to Second Amendment rights from having easy access to guns. As of today, a convicted felon can find a gun show or a private seller and buy a firearm without a background check. That loophole should be closed. Every gun transaction must include a thorough background check. Why would responsible gun owners want to protect people who threaten not only our safety but our gun rights?

The NRA has it wrong: Irresponsible gun owners are bad for everyone. If you shouldn’t have access to a gun, then there should be no way for you to access a gun! Can anyone argue with that?

<snip>

The tragedy in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, and the gun violence that claims on average eight children per day in the United States, require us to think differently about what the Second Amendment really means.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-05-17/opinions/39329064_1_gun-violence-gun-rights-gun-show