"‘Juuling’: The most widespread phenomenon you’ve never heard of" by Beth Teitell Globe Staff November 16, 2017
A new front has opened in the never-ending game of cat and mouse between teenagers and adults — over Juuling, a discreet form of vaping that is the most widespread phenomenon you’ve likely never heard of.
(Blog editors coughs violently at the self-internalized war terminology)
In some high schools, the “Juuling in the bathroom” problem has gotten so intense that administrators are sending home e-mails warning parents about the dangers of e-cigarettes in general — and, in particular, about a brand called Juul, which makes sleek devices that are easily concealed and often mistaken for thumb drives.
What (cough)?
In Newton, an Oct. 31 e-mail to parents showed a cop-show-style evidence photo with a dire caption: “Here is a Juul device disguised as a Sharpie Pen.”
The e-mail also schooled parents who may be unfamiliar with the whole vaping trend. “Electronic cigarettes are devices that utilize stored electricity to heat a liquid into vapors, which are then inhaled by the user,” the letter read. “The liquid can be anything from a flavored water-type mixture to liquid nicotine to THC, the principal active element of marijuana.”
Where did you get this stu .... oh.
The letter warned that recent studies “suggest e-cigarettes are the latest ‘gateway’ to harder drug use.”
A psychologist who sees patients in Boston’s upscale western suburbs told the Globe that every teen he treats now uses a Juul. One patient, a student at a prestigious local private school, secretly used his parents’ credit cards to buy thousands of dollars of Juuls online, and then turned around and sold the devices and flavored pods to other kids at a profit.
It really is a richers paper, and it is nice to see the kids learning capital$m.
He was eventually expelled, said the therapist, who requested anonymity to protect his patients’ privacy.
Oh.
He's now attending UMass?
Beyond the fact it can get them in trouble, many kids think there’s nothing wrong with vaping or using a Juul. But John Ross, a hospitalist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who contributes to the Harvard Health Blog, said long-term safety data on e-cigarettes do not yet exist.
On the positive side, he wrote in a 2016 post, “E-cigarettes are almost certainly less lethal than conventional cigarettes. Now the bad news. Nicotine in e-cigarettes may have several negative health effects. Chronic nicotine exposure may lead to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. . . . Inhaled nicotine increases heart rate and blood pressure. Nicotine is highly addictive in its own right, and it may lead to changes in the brain that increase the risk of addiction to other drugs, especially in young people.”
Then toke up, kids!
A Juul “starter” kit costs $49.99 if you buy it online from the company. It includes a re-chargeable Juul device, a USB charger, a warranty, and a four-pack of the flavored Juul pods. On its website, the company promises a “powerful vapor experience” and says the nicotine in one pod is approximately equivalent to a whole pack of cigarettes, “or 200 puffs.”
A banner across the top of the website clearly states that its products are for those 21 and older, and would-be purchasers are alerted that an adult must sign for delivery.
Juul pods come in kid-friendly flavors, but in a statement e-mailed to the Globe, the company emphasized its position that its products are intended for those 21 and older.
“JUUL Lab’s mission is to eliminate cigarette smoking by offering existing adult smokers with a better alternative to combustible cigarettes,” the statement read. “We strongly condemn the use of our product by minors, and it is in fact illegal to sell our product to minors. No student at any high school should be in the possession of a Juul product.
Even so, kids are managing to score what they need — one high schooler says Juul starter kits can be purchased on the resale market for around $80. Students are Juuling in the boys and girls rooms, hallways, and even in class, where they take a hit and then swallow the vapor or exhale it into their hoodies when the teacher isn’t looking.
One high schooler described why teens like it: “It gives you a head rush,” he said. “The flavors are good. You can do tricks with it. You can ghost it” — breathe the vapor out and then back in. “It looks cool.”
Although many parents have never, or only recently, heard of Juuling, every student approached by a Globe reporter in multiple suburbs not only was familiar with the product, but had a story.
“In history class today, a kid pulled something out of his pocket and a Juul fell out,” said a junior girl in Needham.
When you walk into the bathrooms, she added, you can hear the faint but distinct crackling sound the liquid makes. “It’s usually fairly obvious.”
It was the same deal in Newton. “People are [openly] charging them at school,” said a freshman girl hanging out at Rancatore’s ice cream after school.
“On Snapchat, I’ve seen people Juuling in class,” said her friend.
In Needham, high school principal Aaron Sicotte said the devices are so benign-looking that “we’ve had situations where [a Juul] has fallen out of a bag and a teacher has handed it back to them not knowing what they were giving back.”
He described the challenges of catching a student in the act: Because Juul pods come in flavors (including mango and crème brulee), the sweet odor “can almost be attributed to a light perfume,” Sicotte said.
“It can happen so fast,” he added. “A student can step in a bathroom stall or in a hallway and take a quick hit. It’s opening up a whole new set of options that students haven’t had in the past.”
Wellesley High School catches about two kids a month vaping, most using Juuls, according to principal Jamie Chisum. “We have a lot of suspicions about students selling cartridges here too.”
The school is planning an educational night in March for parents, and in the meantime, officials have increased monitoring of bathrooms.
PERVERTS!
In Braintree, Juuling has gotten so popular that two broadcast journalism students made a news-style video about it, complete with a female Juuler whose voice is changed to conceal her identity as she describes where she partakes.
“In the girls bathroom,” she says in a strange techno-voice, “and sometimes in class,
and I blow it into my sweat shirt.”
Like a lot of teenagers, Emily Linskey — the video’s cocreator and on-screen reporter — was surprised to learn that Juuls contain so much nicotine.
“I thought it was a way healthier choice than cigarettes — it won’t give you as much cancer,” she told the Globe. “But finding out that one pod is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes was shocking.”
It is! The doctor on the blog above said so!
WTF is the reporter smoking?
Meanwhile, even as kids are Juuling to be cool, doing it the wrong way can backfire, at least that’s the word from two Needham High athletes.
Seniors confident in their social rank, they sat parked outside the school and criticized freshmen who are so inexperienced they huddle around a Juul and then try to look innocent when someone walks in on the action.
“If you know what you’re doing,” one of the boys said, “you go in a stall.”
A wealthy stall, that is.
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What if you don't speak the language?
"Mass. lawmakers approve bilingual education" by James Vaznis Globe Staff November 15, 2017
In a move to boost the academic performance of more than 90,000 Massachusetts students who lack fluency in English, the state Legislature Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a measure that would allow local schools to teach students in their native tongue.
The House and Senate votes, which came within hours of each other, would effectively overturn a 15-year-old ballot measure that largely requires schools to teach students with language barriers only in English. Massachusetts is one of the few states nationwide with such a law.
Yeah, screw the will of the people when the globalist agenda is at stake and the state is a sanctuary for illegals.
And you wonder why they come here?
Several legislators said English immersion is a one-size-fits-all approach to instruction that doesn’t work for all students, especially new immigrants who arrive in high school with no knowledge of English and have to study advanced concepts in trigonometry and biology in a language they do not understand.
“English language learners,” as students with language barriers are officially called, are one of the fastest growing populations in the state’s public schools, representing nearly 10 percent of all students.
“This is great day for the children in the Commonwealth,” said Senator Sal DiDomenico, an Everett Democrat who sponsored the bill, noting that bilingual education works when done right. “I grew up in the City of Cambridge. I saw the benefits and the great work done by our teachers and the learning happening in the classroom with immigrants from around the world.”
Another elite scum.
Any sexual harassment or domestic abuse there?
The bill now heads to Governor Charlie Baker for his signature, but it remains unclear if he will support the measure.
“The governor will carefully review any legislation that reaches his desk,” said Brendan Moss, a spokesman, in a statement.
The bill, however, passed by veto-proof margins. Just one member of the House — Representative James Lyons, an Andover Republican, voted against it, while the Senate approved it unanimously.
The votes cap off years of lobbying by advocates of linguistic minorities who have long argued that the English-only approach was not working for many students. Across the state, English language learners as a group have among the lowest graduation rates and standardized test scores, although many immigrants eventually flourish academically and graduate as valedictorians.
When voters passed the ballot question 15 years ago, supporters argued that students would learn English faster if they were fully immersed in the language in all their classes. Teachers are allowed to use a student’s native language only sparingly to check for understanding. The law does allow for some limited use of bilingual education, such as programs that allow English-speaking students and non-native speakers to learn one another’s languages.
Advocates of bilingual education hailed Wednesday’s passage of the new legislation.
“We are very excited about this change for our students and their families,” said Helen Solorzano, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages, in a statement. “Teachers have long recognized that many English learners were falling through the cracks under the current system. With the passage of the . . . bill, we will be able to tailor programs to help all our students succeed academically.”
Who is going to pay for all this?
But Rosalie Porter, a Western Massachusetts resident who fought for passage of the English-only law, said she thinks it is a mistake to bring bilingual education back.
“I don’t have a good feeling about it,” said Porter, who is chairwoman of ProEnglish, a Washington, D.C., organization that advocates for laws that make English the official language. “The reason we got so much support for getting rid of bilingual education programs is because they were a failure.”
Oh, that has been forgotten because it was so long ago. Now you have to buy the political dogma, who cares about facts, prior results, etc, etc, etc. You have to believe in the illusion; otherwise, it all falls apart.
Then it is back to the Globe's applause.
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(FLIP)
"The man running against Roy Moore is pitching a New South in Alabama" by Annie Linskey Globe Staff November 16, 2017
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Doug Jones already has a place in Alabama’s layered and, at times, traumatic history. His name appears in the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for prosecuting two members of the Ku Klux Klan who murdered four black girls in a church bombing.
The exhibit on the 1963 bombing, which he pursued more than three decades after the fact, is titled: “Birmingham: The World Is Watching.”
Now it feels as if the world is watching again as Jones takes on another long-shot mission: campaigning for a US Senate seat as a Democrat in a state that President Trump won with 62 percent of the vote.
His chances of becoming the first Democrat in a quarter-century to capture a Senate seat from Alabama have dramatically improved since accusations emerged against iconoclast Republican Roy Moore in the last week of inappropriate sexual behavior with teenage girls.
Those allegations mean Moore is soaking up nearly all of the national attention leading up to the Dec. 12 special election to fill the Senate seat that was held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Many Senate Republicans have cut ties with Moore, saying they do not want him in the Senate. If he wins, some are saying they would try to expel him.
Jones, meanwhile, is buoyed not only by the salacious allegations against Moore, who has long been divisive, but also by his own strong standing as a law-and-order candidate with some cross-over appeal to Republicans.
Translation: the vote has been rigged, the narrative is being applied, and to hell with you.
The Democrat is betting that the voters, especially the younger generation living in the suburbs, have changed with the times and are willing to turn away from the state’s past and its legacy of divisive leaders such as segregationist Governor George Wallace, who ran for president three times from 1964 to 1972.
OMG, they are dragging him out of the grave.
Can you get anymore pathetic or desperate?
His message to them evokes the concept of a New South willing to exorcise racist “demons” — a word Jones uses.
They were exercised about 35 years ago, actually. Atlanta is the most cosmopolitan and diverse city in America.
Jones, 63, has a family story that straddles the two major industries that created Birmingham: One grandfather was a coal miner, the other a steel worker. He stayed in state for college and law school and then spent a year early in his career in Washington working on the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee for Democratic Senator Howell Heflin of Alabama. There he cemented a relationship with young Delaware Senator Joe Biden, who has stumped for Jones.
Jones is running what can best be described as a stealth campaign.....
Didn't work for Hitlery, and the Globe puke then flogs the Birmingham church bombing, the KKK, and even goes so far back as to cite the Civil War!!!!
--more--"
Related:
‘Come Meet a Black Person’ says the invitation to a Georgia networking event
Race was like two months ago. The agenda has been driven to gender now, sorry.
Wrongfully Convicted Man Freed After 45 Years
That was the photo on page A2, and it turned out to be too good to be true.
"Berklee president confirms another misconduct case" by Kay Lazar Globe Staff November 16, 2017
And up comes the breakfast.
She grew up in Taiwan, where stepping forward to accuse a professor of sexually inappropriate behavior — of forcing her to hug him before each piano lesson, and demanding she remove her jacket so he could scrutinize her dress — was not something young women do.
But after escalating e-mails from her piano teacher, Bruce Thomas, seeking a closer relationship, the Berklee College of Music junior reported him to school officials in the fall of 2015. She brought all of Thomas’s often bizarre late-night messages as evidence.
Still, it would take Berklee officials another year — despite mounting evidence brought to administrators of similar behavior by Thomas toward at least four other Asian students — to fire the 35-year veteran of the school.
Berklee president Roger Brown, in an interview Wednesday, acknowledged that Thomas was one of 11 faculty members terminated since 2004 for sexual misconduct. Brown defended how administrators at the famed music school have handled allegations of sexual impropriety.
The PR problem must be massive if he is granting interviews to the Globe.
Wednesday night, Brown sent a message to thousands of Berklee alumni noting the “impassioned and vigorous dialogue on campus” regarding sexual misconduct and predicted “it is likely that more details of abuse will emerge in the media.” He encouraged alumni who experienced sexual misconduct while at Berklee, or knew of someone who had, to report it to the college.
It's called DAMAGE CONTROL!
Brown and his administration have been under fire since the Globe reported last week that at least three faculty members had been quietly let go after students accused them of assault or harassment.
Hundreds of students walked out of class on Monday and attended a forum, led by Brown, at which he acknowledged that the problem was greater still, involving at least 11 faculty members over the past 13 years.
As the scandal continues to unfold, Brown said Wednesday that the school will seek guidance from a nationally renowned consultant on federal sexual abuse and harassment laws to help Berklee figure out its next steps.
Maybe HE SHOULD BE FIRED, huh?
In the interview, Brown declined to disclose the names of the 11 terminated faculty members — one of several demands made by students during Monday’s emotional forum — but acknowledged the three already identified by the Globe in last week’s article.
Then he is STILL PROTECTING THEM and this WHOLE UPROAR regarding sexual harassment is not really changing a damn thing, huh? It's being used as a political cudgel, that's all.
Your cause, your movement, your concerns, have been coopted by the same cla$$ of people that harass you, ladies!! WOW!
“If we terminate someone and release their name, their impulse is to blame the person” who reported them, increasing the chances the student’s name would be revealed, Brown said.
Yeah, he's protecting everyone's privacy (as the total surveillance state collects all data).
The Globe’s story last week noted that some cases of alleged sexual abuse at Berklee were quietly resolved with financial settlements that included confidentiality agreements, barring all sides from discussing the cases.
With all due respect to the victims, your acceptance of such things constitutes consent. You've discredited yourself!
Brown said that in the cases of the 11 faculty members fired for sexual misconduct, none received more than the amount promised in their employment contracts, which often ran three or more years.
“In most cases they were paid less, or sometimes a lot less,” he said.
Brown declined to elaborate further on the financial settlements offered to the faculty’s victims.
At Berklee, men predominate in sheer numbers, accounting for 68 percent of students and faculty, according to the school. That imbalance was cited during the Monday forum by faculty and students as contributing to a culture that, they said, has long tolerated sexual misconduct.
For the Asian woman who stepped forward to report Thomas’s behavior, the anxiety was as much about her family as it was the overwhelming male presence on campus.
“My family was against me reporting him, because it’s really a cultural thing,” said the woman, who graduated in May and asked to remain anonymous for fear of professional repercussions. “They think I have no chance to win this because he is an old American teacher and I am no one, so he can take revenge.”
In a series of e-mails and Facebook postings to the woman, Thomas wrote of his longing to see her after she stopped taking his classes, and noted that he was searching for her at various local concerts. The woman shared those e-mails and Facebook postings with the Globe.
After the woman reported Thomas in the fall of 2015, the college issued a written warning to him, according to Berklee. He had already received a verbal warning about his behavior toward another women, the college says.
She said she became aware of at least two other Asian women who had fended off similar behavior from the piano teacher. She said that in the spring of 2016, she brought copies to Berklee officials of e-mails he sent to those women. But she said Berklee officials told her they could not take action unless those two other women, who were too fearful to speak out, agreed to step forward.
Then in July 2016, another Asian woman complained to Berklee about Thomas’s aggressive and increasingly strange behavior.
Oh, he had a thing for the young Asian girls, huh?
Whatta sickie!
Finally, in November, he was fired, according to the termination letter.
Brown defended his administrators’ actions, saying the woman must have misunderstood what Berklee officials told her when she brought evidence of Thomas’s misconduct toward two more students in 2016.
OMFG, did he just BLAME the VICTIM?
“If the message was interpreted that we can’t do anything if they do not come forward, that’s not true,” Brown said.
“We said, can you encourage someone to come forward, but we can do investigations whether someone comes forward or not.”
With all due respect, he's full of shit.
Berklee enrolls students from 151 countries, according to Brown. After the Globe’s story last week, one faculty member said she had heard from nearly four dozen students about concerns for foreign students.
“My students are telling me the vast majority of students who are preyed upon [by faculty] are international students who are afraid of losing their scholarship and student visas” if they speak out, said the faculty member who asked that she not be identified for fear of professional reprisals. “I didn’t hear this from one student, I heard this over, and over, and over, again.”
But he was in love, ah-hunh!
--more--"
************
Notice how love of money is never considered an addiction?
"GOP senator says he won’t support tax bill" by Alan Rappeport and Thomas Kaplan New York Times November 15, 2017
WASHINGTON — Democrats attacked Republicans for inserting a repeal of the health care law’s requirement that most people have health insurance into the tax bill and for imposing a 2025 expiration date for individual tax cuts, while making the corporate tax cuts permanent.
Repealing the health law’s individual mandate allows Republicans to save more than $300 billion over 10 years under their plan. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 13 million fewer people would be insured after a decade without the mandate and health insurance premiums would rise by about 10 percent.
Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, chairman of the finance committee, downplayed the move to make the individual tax cuts temporary, not mentioning that change in an opening statement in which he defended his party’s right to undo the mandate. He later suggested that Republicans would be unlikely to resist if Democrats wanted to help them make the cuts permanent after they expire.
First of all, it looks like that Sachs guy was right after all. This bill is turning into the greatest heist of loot in history.
The second thing is the disingenuousness of Hatch. Sure looks like he will be retiring if he is pushing that line.
Hatch and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, raised their voices and spoke over each other as they clashed over the injection of health care into the tax debate, with Hatch at one point demanding that his leadership of the committee be respected.
Good. One of these days I would like to see them start throwing fists. Then we would know it is no longer phony-bulloney smoke, sound, fury, and illusion.
The third day of debate over the tax bill in the Senate Finance Committee comes before an expected vote by the panel Friday. The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill after Thanksgiving while the full House is expected to vote on its bill Thursday.
Another Senate panel, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, voted Wednesday to approve legislation that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling.
That legislation is to be merged with the tax bill, which Republicans are planning to pass using special procedures that protect against a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Under that strategy, the drilling measure would share the protection from a filibuster.
Oh, I see!! They are going to lump all the things they couldn't get on their own into this.
Allowing drilling in the wildlife refuge, known as ANWR, is a longtime goal of the energy committee’s chairwoman, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska.
This summer, Murkowski was among the Republicans to vote against repealing the health care law, making her a closely watched figure as the Senate plunges back into a debate over health care.
Asked Wednesday about the repeal of the individual mandate, she showed no eagerness to discuss the subject. “My whole focus this week, you’re going to be shocked to know, has been ANWR,” she said.
With President Trump having returned from Asia on Tuesday night, the administration has been actively pressing members of Congress to put any differences aside and get behind the bill.....
More on that below.
--more--"
Related: BC janitor who put five kids through college among those who would suffer under GOP tax plan
He's on page B12, and much less of a concern than the endowments of the elite that were featured on the front page yesterday.
Also see:
Former model accuses Al Franken of kissing, groping her during USO tour
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
"The trial is in its 11th week. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen are charged with running a bribery scheme between 2006 and 2013 in which Menendez lobbied government officials on Melgen’s behalf in exchange for luxury vacations and flights on Melgen’s private plane....."
Obviously, he is not Roy Moore despite the underaged hookers.
I say go ahead with the verdict.
Over on the House side:
"Handful of House Democrats introduce impeachment articles against Trump" by Kevin Freking Associated Press November 15, 2017
WASHINGTON — A half-dozen Democrats on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against President Trump, accusing him of obstruction of justice and other offenses, in an effort that stands little chance in the Republican-led House.
Indeed, the large majority of Democrats seem intent on having nothing to do with the effort either, as lawmakers await the results of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Democratic leaders have argued that the impeachment campaign riles up Trump’s GOP base, a critical bloc in next year’s midterm elections.
The five articles accused the president of obstruction of justice related to the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and other offenses.
What this does it get them ready to go after the 2018 midterms when the rigged vote will deliver Congre$$ back into the hands of the Democrats (don't worry, the tax bill will be law by then).
‘‘We have taken this action because of great concerns for the country and our Constitution and our national security and our democracy,’’ Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, said at a news conference to announce the effort.
Cohen said he understands that Republicans hold the majority in the House and are unlikely to allow hearings on the impeachment articles. He said the group will hold occasional briefings to explain each of the five articles of impeachment and where they believe Trump ran afoul of the law or committed misdeeds that warrant impeachment.
Well, they are holding them regarding Trump's nuclear authority, so..... ????
The obstruction of justice allegation stems from Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, which the lawmakers say was designed to delay and impede an investigation.
What about Comey, who was a liar, leaker, and protector of the Clintons?
The articles of impeachment also charge that Trump has accepted without the consent of Congress emoluments from foreign states and from the US government. Finally, the articles of impeachment allege he has undermined the federal judiciary and the freedom of the press.
The emoluments never mattered until now!
Cohen and other leaders of the impeachment effort disagreed that their effort could hurt Democrats in next year’s congressional elections. ‘‘I think the Democratic base needs to be activated. The Democratic base needs to know there are members of Congress willing to stand up against this president,’’ Cohen said.
When are you going to stand up to Israel, Steve?
Other representatives who have signed on to the resolution are Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, Al Green of Texas, Marcia Fudge of Ohio, Adriano Espaillat of New York, and John Yarmuth of Kentucky....
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Yeah, they are really flogging Russia today, and quite frankly I am sick of the steaming swirlies being served up by the JYT (we've lost Poland?) and WaCompost (front lines now in Germany?).
What a bunch of hypocritical conspiracy clowns, huh?
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!
They have lost ability to provide the narratives that undergird their lies and they are crying about it!
They are squealing like stuck pigs and I'm crying tears of joy, folks!
So when does the U.S. start to look like Zimbabwe?
**********
"Police: ‘Miracle’ more weren’t shot by rifle-toting man" Associated Press November 16, 2017
CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — It’s a ‘‘miracle’’ more people weren’t hurt when a man dressed in camouflage, wearing body armor, and armed with two rifles sprayed a retail store with bullets, wounding one man, before being tackled by police, authorities said Wednesday.
Police in Cheektowaga, near Buffalo, said the gunfire erupted around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday outside a Dollar General store. The gunman fired repeatedly at the store’s entrance from outside while several customers and employees were inside, police Chief David Zack said.
When police arrived, witnesses pointed out the gunman, who attempted to run away after being hit by a bystander’s vehicle before being tackled by officers.
Police identified the suspect as Travis Green, 29, of Buffalo. His mother said her son and his wife had recently broken up.
A pump-action, AR-15-style rifle was used to fire at least 20 rounds during the shooting, police said Wednesday.....
They want to ban the AR-15s in light of las Vegas.
What coincidental timing, huh?
--more--"
Miracle? Or more staged and scripted BS to nudge the agenda along?
Related:
"The gunman, identified by the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office as Kevin Janson Neal, killed his wife, shot neighbors, attacked an elementary school and drove through the small rural community, firing at motorists Tuesday morning. He killed a total of five people and injured 10, including seven children, before he was killed by the police. One child who was shot at the school was in critical condition Wednesday; other children suffered less serious injuries from flying debris. Phil Johnston, assistant sheriff of Tehama County, told reporters Wednesday that investigators had reviewed video from the school’s security system that showed the gunman walking the hallways and entering a restroom, but appearing to get frustrated that the classroom doors were locked. The school went on lockdown at the sound of gunfire, Johnston said. Johnston said that before the shooting, the sheriff’s office had Neal was under surveillance by police, but....."
Another Sandy Hook scam, but why way back on A9?
Is it because it involves domestic violence, much more of a danger to women then the grab-ass fest I read every day?
I must be crazy, right?
"Employees of a Hawaii psychiatric hospital will be placed on unpaid leave for 30 days while authorities investigate how a patient who was tried and acquited on a murder charge escaped and flew to California over the weekend....."
Was after he tried to swim?
**********
Forget the small arms fire:
"Trump gives himself high marks on foreign policy, Asia trip" by Michael D. Shear November 16, 2017
Why has the news org byline of New York Times has been scrubbed?
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday boasted that nearly 10 months of his “America First” foreign policy has restored strength and respect to the United States on the world stage after years of what he deemed failed leadership under his predecessors.
Hours after returning home from a 12-day, five-country excursion to Asia with few concrete announcements, Trump nonetheless declared the trip a success in uniting the world against North Korea and insisting on reciprocal trade from Asian nations.
The NYT has obviously declared it a failure.
“America’s renewed confidence and standing in the world has never been stronger than it is right now,” he said. “This is exactly what the world saw: a strong, proud, and confident America.”
In the personification of him?
Announced with little notice and delivered in the early afternoon from the Diplomatic Room of the White House, the president’s speech was designed to offer a sweeping and positive assessment of his own performance as the nation’s commander in chief and top diplomat.
Implying narcissism?
“America is back,” he said.
That assertion flies in the face of critics who say Trump has abandoned the United States’ status as a global superpower by retreating from trade agreements and backing out of the Paris climate accord. The president’s political rivals accuse him of straining relationships with allies in NATO and elsewhere while embracing despots, including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
But Trump used his Wednesday speech to rebut that charge, noting his efforts to rally Arab nations to fight terror financing during a trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the spring.
Yeah, remember that and look at the region now!
The president boasts his tough talk with NATO allies has led those longtime partners to increase their commitments to the common defense of the alliance, a demand that Trump had been making since he was a candidate.
In talking about his own foreign policy achievements, Trump has often bragged about the personal relationships he has forged with his counterparts in China, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
It was okay when other presidents did it. It was considered a foundation of their diplomatic report, remember?
But in Wednesday’s speech, Trump tried to highlight what his advisers believe were three successes during the just-concluded trip to South Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines: uniting opposition to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions; strengthening economic alliances; and insisting on fair trade.
Critics of Trump’s foreign policy have hammered him on all of those fronts.
They argue that the president’s use of childish names for Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, has deepened the possibility of a nuclear crisis, not reduced tensions. And they say Trump’s retreat from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement has robbed the United States of influence in the region.
In fact, Trump ended his Asia trip without appearing to conclude any of the one-on-one trade deals with individual nations that he often said would be the hallmark of his administration.
What about the billions worth of deals he signed in China?
You forget that because of the jet lag?
Despite that, Trump hoped to use the midafternoon speech to galvanize public opinion behind the idea that his leadership on foreign policy is restoring a new sense of optimism about the United States around the world.
--more--"
Related:
China Will Send Envoy to North Korea, Likely to Urge Nuclear Talks
Point, Trump!
Tillerson tells Myanmar leaders to investigate attacks on Rohingya
There they go again, waving kids at you to support the larger geopolitical goals of empire.
So when will the jew$paper start waving around Palestinians, 'eh?
Gunmen kill 19 in southwestern Pakistan
Also see:
"The top US counterterrorism official is leaving the federal government at the end of the year, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said Wednesday. When President Trump took office in January, administration officials asked Nick Rasmussen to stay on as director of the National Counterterrorism Center through the transition. More recently, Rasmussen decided to end his 27 years of government service, including three years as director of the center and more than two years as deputy director. Russ Travers, the deputy director of the counterterrorism center, will be acting chief until Trump nominates a successor. Rasmussen has not publicly disclosed his future plans."
So when is the next false flag inside job anyway?
"The Senate has confirmed President Trump’s choice for Army secretary. Senators voted, 89-6, Wednesday to approve the nomination of Mark Esper, defense giant Raytheon’s top lobbyist, for the Army’s top civilian post. Massachusetts senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren voted against Esper’s nomination. Warren cast her vote out of concern for the number of Pentagon appointees to senior leadership positions coming from the defense industry, a spokesperson said. Trump’s first pick for the job, Vincent Viola, dropped out in early February because of financial entanglements. Mark Green, Trump’s second choice for Army secretary, stepped aside in May amid criticism over his remarks about Muslims and LGBT Americans....."
Look at the bipartisanship, huh?
"As I have written in the past, more than two-thirds of the 400 voters I speak with weekly share a frustration: They are both disappointed in Trump and discouraged by the Democratic Party and its message of “no.” The political extremes are hijacking our narrative. We hear a white supremacist say something hateful and some of us imagine that it reflects racist and hateful views of all Trump supporters. An antifa activist screams that violence is necessary against our authoritarian president, and some imagine that it reflects a liberal will to remove Donald Trump by any means necessary. In reality, we agree on more than you think....."
The rest is crap to reinforce the agenda and push it along. Don't believe a word of it.
Yes, all we need is a hero to save us!!
That would be Charlie Baker, wouldn't it?
I mean, he is pro-woman -- whatever that means in this degenerate state!
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"US restarts nuclear testing facility in Idaho after 23 years" by Keith Ridler Associated Press November 16, 2017
BOISE, Idaho— Federal officials have restarted an eastern Idaho nuclear fuel testing facility amid efforts to boost the nation’s nuclear power generating capacity and possibly reduce concerns about nuclear power safety.
‘‘It went well and as expected.’’
The Energy Department proposed resuming operations at the Transient Reactor Test Facility in 2013 as part of former president Barack Obama’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by generating carbon-free electricity with nuclear power. Nuclear power currently produces about 19 percent of the nation’s energy.
I have been told Trump wanted to wipe away his legacies. WTF?
Energy department officials hope the testing facility will help researchers create fuels that leave behind less nuclear waste, that are harder to turn into weapons, and that are less likely to lead to a reactor core meltdown.
The United States has no permanent nuclear waste repository, which means the waste is often stored at the same sites where it is produced — often near large cities.
Remember that false flag inside job I was asking about?
Accident-tolerant fuels could help to avoid the type of reactor core meltdowns that occurred at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania in 1979 and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan in 2011.
How are things over there anyway?
‘‘Trying to save the nuclear industry is sort of a fool’s errand,’’ said Wendy Wilson, executive director of the Idaho-based Snake River Alliance, a nuclear watchdog group. ‘‘We’re going to spend taxpayer money to save an industry that is dying due to economic reasons.’’
And that can kill us with all its waste!
John Bumgardner, director of the laboratory’s Transient Testing Program, said Wednesday with global warming and a desire for non-carbon sources of energy, nuclear power has become for some an attractive alternative.....
(Blog editor can only shake his head at the insanity of such a proposal, regardless of how you feel regarding global fart mist)
--more--"
So what is the problem with solar?
"While severe storms prompted the flooding, analysts said the devastation may have been exacerbated by the illegal construction of homes on the fringes of Athens. The two towns hit hardest by the floods — Mandra and Nea Peramos — are known to have shoddy infrastructure. In September, the regional authorities allocated European Union funds to build a new irrigation network for Mandra, though the construction had not begun. On Tuesday, authorities in the Aegean island of Symi, known for its colorful neoclassical houses and picturesque harbor, declared a state of emergency after rainstorms pummeled the area. On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared a day of national mourning. “This is a very difficult time for Greece,” he said in a statement....."
Iceberg, right ahead!
It's a “a sure sign of winter in New England,” even if winter is 5 weeks away (sigh).
"A famous Arab singer will stand trial next month in her native Egypt over a video clip in which she advises a concert fan against drinking from the Nile River, officials said Wednesday. The clip shows Sherine Abdel-Wahab, widely known by her first name, saying ‘‘You are better off drinking Evian,’’ a reference to a French brand of mineral water. Sherine now faces a host of charges, including incitement and harming the public interest. The remark, clearly made in jest, set social media ablaze, with some users calling it an insult to Egyptian national pride and others saying the real culprits are those who pollute the river....."
Here, have a Scotch instead -- and don't expect any help from the Iranians.
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"Dartmouth professor accused of groping two women in 2002" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff November 16, 2017
One of the Dartmouth College psychology professors at the center of a criminal investigation into sexual misconduct is accused of groping two women 15 years ago. In one case, college administrators were aware of the accusation, yet soon after gave him a teaching award and promoted him.
That's crazy!
Dartmouth College officials and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office have said very little about the current allegations against professors Todd Heatherton, Paul Whalen, and Bill Kelley. All three are popular and prolific scientists who have brought millions of dollars in research funding to the school. They have been on paid leave this semester, awaiting the outcome of the investigation.
But a former Dartmouth professor and a graduate student have in recent days recounted two separate allegations of inappropriate touching by Heatherton.....
--more--"
Related: Caught in a financial crisis, UMass Boston begins to cut jobs
No, they are not cutting the several politically connected people who have been hired at UMass Boston in recent years, while budget woes forced cutbacks in class offerings and even office supplies. Amid an unprecedented financial crisis, the university has hired at least seven people with connections to state government and politics as administrators with salaries between $81,000 and $222,000 in the past year and a half, records show. The hires include the former head of the state Democratic Party, a former legislative aide, and a former state commissioner of environmental protection....."
Yeah, the budget cuts have come at the expense of students, instead of from the offices of administrators with six-figure salaries.
Turns out government is nothing but a system of political patronage! That's your lesson for today!
At least there hasn't been any sexual harassment there, right?
Now take it off, take it all off (Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!)
You need to dump that zero and get yourself a hero!
"Vermont woman who shot and killed 4 sentenced to life in prison" Associated Press November 16, 2017
BARRE, Vt. — A Vermont woman who shot and killed a state social worker and three of her own relatives as revenge for losing custody of her then 9-year-old daughter was sentenced Wednesday to life without parole.
Vermont Superior Court Judge John Pacht announced the sentence at the end of three-day hearing for 43-year-old Jody Herring.
Herring shot and killed Lara Sobel, a social worker as she was leaving work at the state’s Department for Children and Families in Barre on Aug. 7, 2015. Police later discovered that she also had killed her two cousins, sisters Rhonda and Regina Herring, and an aunt, Julie Falzarano, in their Berlin home.
The shootings rattled the small state of Vermont, which has been among the safest states in the country, and led to fears among social workers, threats against them and changes in security measures at state office buildings.
‘‘The case had consequences far beyond the severe damage it has done to the four individuals who were killed and their extended families,’’ said Matthew Levine, an assistant state attorney general who helped prosecute the case.
--more--"
It looked cathartic to me.
"Canton-bred comedian Bill Burr is being criticized for comments he made on his podcast about Louis C.K., Burr went on to say that he could tell his own “sexual misconduct” stories involving women, adding, with laughter, “. . . It was never any of the young ones. It was always these middle-aged [expletive] women, couple glasses of red wine, oh God, and they’d come at you with their va-va-va-voom energy. . .”
Is that how she got Macron?
Btw, the racist statue needs to be removed and buried in Maine.
Makes me so angry -- but only for a brief moment.
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What is there to left to talk about?
Think I will go get a cup of coffee and call it a day as the darkness descends.
