It's 2016..

Wishing you all a safe & prosperous new year. May all your dreams come true!

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Florida: Woman arrested after riding cart in Walmart while having sushi, wine

Living the Dream!

- A Florida woman faces theft and drug paraphernalia charges after driving a motorized shopping cart through Walmart while eating and drinking items from the store.

Josseleen Lopez, 25, allegedly shot up meth and then exhibited odd behavior at a Walmart inLecanto. She had a half empty bottle of wine in her cart and ate sushi, mini muffins, cinnamon rolls, rotisserie chicken, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff's office responded to a call from Walmart on Dec. 22 that Lopez was being held after consuming $32.36 worth of food and wine inside the store.

Deputies found three empty syringes in her possession after arresting Lopez. She told detectives that she had used the syringes earlier to inject crystal meth.

Lopez, who said she was homeless, told a deputy that "she was hungry and did not want to take any of the items outside of the store, but did consume everything she could while inside the store. She further states that she knew what she was doing was wrong, however did it anyway."

What would happen if stores opened on Christmas Day?

Via retailwire.com Why wait until Dec. 26? Throwing the doors open on Christmas Day for returns and sales appears to be the message to retailers, particularly from Millennials.

When LoyaltyOne Consulting asked 1,267 American consumers nationwide in November what they would do if retailers opened for business at 6 p.m. on Christmas, 18 percent of general population respondents (age 18 to 65 and older) said they would take advantage of the extra time to shop.

Among younger Millennials (age 18-24), 30 percent said they would shop on Christmas. Among older millennials (age 25-34), 27 percent said they would leave hearth and home on Dec. 25 to head for the mall.

Conversely, 24 percent of the general population said they would not shop on Christmas, and would be less likely to shop in the future at a store open on Christmas, or recommend such a store to friends and family.

Moreover, 58 percent of the general population said simply that they would never shop on Christmas. The never-shop-on-Christmas score for young Millennials (age 18-24) fell to 53 percent; for older Millennials (age 25-34), it was 52 percent.

While consumers appear divided on the shop-on-Christmas issue, other answers indicated that some may be open to a day during a holiday when there was less hustle and bustle:

Ninety-four percent of all shoppers surveyed said they expect retailers to take extra measures to keep checkout lines moving during the holiday rush;

Eighty percent of shoppers said they blame the retailer if they have to wait because of another customer's coupons, returns or customer service problems — except in the Millennial demographic, where four out of ten said they resent the other customer, not the store, for making them wait;

Eighty-nine percent of all shoppers said they expect retailers to take extra measures to keep departments orderly, despite the busy season;

When asked why they avoided stores completely during the holiday season, 36 percent of shoppers said their primary reason is waiting too long at the checkout.

18 Percent Of Shoppers Want To Shop On Christmas Day - COLLOQUY

China unveils two-child policy

(CNN) — It's official. From January 1, 2016 China will allow two children for every couple.

Chinese lawmakers rubber-stamped the new legislation Sunday (December 27, PHT) during a session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which governs the country's laws, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"The state advocates that one couple shall be allowed to have two children," according to the newly revised Law on Population and Family Planning.

This effectively dismantles the remnants of the country's infamous one-child policy that had been eased in recent years.

When news of the planned change to the law broke in October, the ruling Communist Party issued the following statement: "To promote a balanced growth of population, China will continue to uphold the basic national policy of population control and improve its strategy on population development.

"China will fully implement the policy of 'one couple, two children' in a proactive response to the issue of an aging population." (Full Text)

More than 1,000 "unruly" teens shut down Kentucky mall

"unruly" teens?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A suburban Louisville mall reopened Sunday with extra security, a day after closing early when throngs of unruly teens caused disturbances.

The night before, up to 2,000 teens created mayhem at Mall St. Matthews as the shopping center was filled with post-Christmas shoppers, police said.

CBS affiliate WLKY in Louisville reports there has been no confirmation of shots fired inside the mall and no injuries or arrests have been reported.

There were between 40 to 50 officers from various local law enforcement agencies on scene, surrounding the entire mall and trying to break up the large group of young people.

Officers from four police agencies responded to numerous reports of fights, harassment of customers and store employees and other disturbances at the shopping center, said Officer Dennis McDonald, a spokesman for suburban St. Matthews police.

Police first responded to the mall around 7 p.m. in response to numerous unruly youths. According to the SMPD there were several fights inside the mall and they may have spread outside. When the disturbances began some store owners attempted to close, but some patrons refused to leave. Finally, management decided to close the entire mall early.

Several law enforcement agencies converged on the mall along with K-9s and a helicopter.

Things began to settle down around 9:30 p.m.

Most obese man in the world, 978 lbs at his most, dies 2 months after surgery in Mexico

(foxnewslatino) - The Mexican Andres Moreno, considered the most obese man in the world, has died in Ciudad Obregon in the northwestern state of Sonora, just two months after undergoing an operation to lose weight. He was 38.

A message posted by a relative on Moreno's Facebook page said: "Friends and family, I regret to inform you that Andres Moreno has died, I ask you to pray for him."

As reported in local media, family members of the deceased said the Sonora native died from a heart attack and problems of peritonitis.

The Mexican, who reached 978 lbs. at his most obese, underwent last Oct. 28 a surgical procedure known as biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, at Arboledas Hospital's Gastric Bypass Center.

At the time of the operation, the Mexican weighed 711 lbs.

On Nov. 25, Moreno had to have an emergency operation to remove a hernia affecting the intestine, Dr. Jose Castañeda told EFE at the time.

Doctors removed almost 2 feet, 7 inches of Moreno's intestine, because the hernia had "strangled" part of that organ, the doctor said.

Almost a month after the initial operation that allowed him to take his first steps by himself after many years of depending on other people to move him around and take care of him, Moreno had lost close to 66 lbs. and said it had changed his life.

SNAILS CAN CHANGE THEIR SEX BY SIMPLE TOUCH, SAYS STUDY

(i4u.com) - When two males stay together and make a direct contact, they change into female, study reveals

Sex-changing in animals is far more common than what has been originally thought. Clownfish, wrasses, morey eels and gobies were already known for switching their sexes. The latest to enter the list is slipper snail or tropical slipper limpet.

According to a latest research, slipper snail has an incredible ability of changing sex. When two male snails stay together and touch each other, they turn into female. The larger snail changes into female faster than the smaller one. Nevertheless, the end result is snail can change their sexes by a simple touch. (Full Text)

U.S. Christmas Lights Consume More Electricity Than Entire Countries Do in a Year

'Tis the season

OPEC declares war on electric cars

OPEC is predicting that 94% of cars on the road will still be powered by oil-based fuels in 2040.

"Without a technology breakthrough, battery electric vehicles are not expected to gain significant market share in the foreseeable future," the organization said in its annual World Oil Outlook.

The group predicts battery-powered electric cars will capture just 1% of global vehicle sales by 2040.

OPEC says there will be little demand for other alternative-energy vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel and natural gas due to high costs and a lack of refueling stations.

13 union states to raise minimum wage in 2016

(cnbc.com) - If you are among the United States' lowest earners, you could be ringing in the new year with a raise, depending on where you live.

Fourteen cities and counties in seven states — Washington, Oregon, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Montana — agreed to increase the minimum wage to $15 in 2015, according to a report by the National Employment Law Project, a national advocacy organization for employment rights of lower-wage workers.

These increases will take place over the course of several years, giving local businesses time to adjust to the hike.

While not all states will be adjusting rates to the $15 mark, 13 states — Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia — will increase minimum wages in 2016.

These wage increases range from a 35 cents an hour in states like Michigan to a dollar in California, Massachusetts and Nebraska. (Full Text)

McDonald’s tests putting mac and cheese on its menu

NEW YORK – Want some mac and cheese with that Big Mac?

McDonald’s is experimenting with a limited roll-out of mac and cheese, a tried-and-true comfort food that recently appeared on McDonald’s menus.

McDonald’s is offering mac and cheese in only 18 restaurants in the Cleveland area of Ohio, which has quietly served as a test market since the summer.

“We’re always looking for new ways to offer relevant tastes to our customers, so we’re giving mac and cheese a try and gathering valuable feedback from our customers,” said McDonald’s spokeswoman Lisa McComb.

McDonald’s sells mac and cheese Happy Meals for $3. Mac and cheese is the entrée, alongside fries, fruit and milk. The four-ounce portion has less than 200 calories, with five grams of protein and five grams of whole grains, according to the company.

Since November, McDonald’s has also sold mac and cheese separately for $1.75.

McComb said it will be served through February. And after that … who knows?

“We’ll then use the feedback from our customers to see what happens after that,” she said. “It’s premature to draw any conclusions from this test and it wouldn’t be appropriate to speculate on it being offered anywhere else.”

In October, McDonald’s altered its menu by offering all-day breakfast, and in the U.K. it is trying out a thicker, premium burger made to order.

Oil above $37 as U.S. supply tightens, still near 11-year low

(Reuters) - Oil edged further above $38 a barrel on Thursday before retreating as it remained within sight of an 11-year low reached this week, as traders put positions in order ahead of an expected week of low liquidity ahead.

U.S. crude has gained support from falling inventories, reduced drilling and the lifting of a ban on most U.S. crude exports, which has pushed U.S. crude to a premium to global benchmark Brent for the first time in about a year. CL-LCO1=R

Brent LCOc1 settled up 53 cents at $37.89 a barrel as of 11:48 a.m. EST. It fell to $35.98, an 11-year low, on Tuesday. U.S. crude CLc1 settled up 60 cents at $38.10 after gaining more than 8 percent this week.

"Some traders playing spot on the downside are getting out and calling it a year," said Tariq Zahir, managing partner at Tyche Capital Advisors.

U.S. crude futures have seen support from fundamentals including the lifting of a four-decade ban on crude exports.

"The lifting of the ban on U.S. exports will provide some underlying support for U.S. crude. Oil demand in 2015 was exceptionally high and at current prices, demand is going to remain strong next year," said Olivier Jakob, analyst at Petromatrix.

"For now, there is still an ample supply of crude and a huge amount in storage." (Full Text)

Paranoia: Walmart Desperate to Keep Further Documents Revealing Employee Surveillance Tactics From Being Made Public

(Gawker) - Last month, Bloomberg Businessweek published a big story on how Walmart tracks its employees to most effectively anticipate dissent and undermine potential organizers. The piece draws largely on documents produced in the course of discovery for a case before the National Labor Relations Board. (Walmart is accused of illegally firing labor activists.) Now, Walmart alleges, labor group OUR Walmart “intentionally disclosed documents marked and designated confidential.” The documents, according to Walmart, were protected by judicial order.

In its initial story, Bloomberg reported that OUR Walmart had provided the documents, which included “more than 1,000 pages of e-mails, reports, playbooks, charts, and graphs, as well as testimony from its head of labor relations at the time,” only “after the judge concluded the case in mid-October.”

Walmart filed a motion against OUR Walmart and the United Food and Commercial Workers union, with which OUR Walmart was until recently affiliated, on December 9th asking the NLRB not only to enter a “cease-and-decist” order but also, “absent some exculpatory explanation,” order the labor group to return the documents. According to Bloomberg, Walmart is also asking that the NLRB prevent OUR Walmart from “using, referencing, or relying on” the documents in future cases.

“We couldn’t imagine that Walmart would be happy about light being shined on these kind of tactics they’re using against their employees,” said OUR Walmart co-director Dan Schlademan. Whatever documents were marked confidential were marked so for the managers to whom they were originally addressed, he added.

“Walmart is trying to bully its way to bar any future documents” from being disclosed, Schlademan said. (Full Story)

Trump's doctor: Trump 'will be healthiest individual ever elected' president

- Washington (CNN) Donald Trump on Monday released a letter from his physician stating that the 69-year-old Republican presidential candidate's latest medical examination "showed only positive results."

Trump's physician of 25 years, Dr. Harold Bornstein, said Trump "has had no significant medical problems" and called the candidate's blood pressure and lab results "astonishingly excellent" in a signed statement Trump released publicly on Monday.

"If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency," Bornstein, an internal medicine and gastroenterology specialist who works at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, wrote in the letter dated December 4. (Full Story)

Russia is bracing for $30 oil in 2016

(cnnmoney) - Russia is planning for oil prices to drop to $30 per barrel in 2016.

The country's top finance official, Anton Siluanov, said the government must be prepared for prices to fall further in 2016 as the global glut grows and new supply -- for example from Iran -- enters the market.

"Everything indicates that low oil prices are likely to dominate next year. And it is possible that at some periods [the oil price] will be $30 per barrel," Siluanov was quoted as saying by Russian state-run news agencies.

That would spell more pain for Russia. Oil and gas exports make up almost half of government revenue.

Oil futures were trading at their lowest level in nearly seven years on Monday, sliding below $35 per barrel. (Full Story)

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Related: Copper, aluminum and steel collapse to crisis levels

Gas prices drop in time for holiday travel season

Money For Nothing: Finland Considers Monthly Payments For All As Social Welfare Alternative

(Forbes.com) - What if, instead of a series of complicated bureaucracies issuing welfare checks, food stamps, and tax credits, social benefits were distributed to everyone without regard to income or employment status?

That’s exactly what the government of Finland is contemplating. The Finnish government is investigating whether it might make good financial sense to make a tax-free monthly payment of about 800 euros ($871.86 US) to all adults in the country, regardless of income, employment status or qualification for other kinds of benefits. Those other benefits would largely be eliminated.

It’s far from being a done deal: at this point, it’s only a preliminary study. The study is being conducted by Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, which operates under the supervision of Finland’s Parliament.

The study began in October at the request of the Finnish government. It’s a collaborative effort between the Research Department at Kela; University of Helsinki; University of Tampere; University of Eastern Finland; University of Turku; Sitra Innovation Fund Tänk (a Finnish think tank); and VATT Institute for Economic Research. The project is headed by Professor Olli Kangas, director of research at Kela.

The purpose of the study is to find new ways to improve the current system, including making it more efficient. The study, which has been referred to as “a universal basic income experiment,” has as a primary goal, incentivizing going back to work; some in the present government believe that the current system serves as a disincentive to look for work. Finland’s unemployment rate is awhopping 9.5%, about twice the rate in the United States (which currently sits around 5.0%). (Full Text)

​Walmart's China syndrome: The loss of U.S. jobs

(CBSNews) - One of the economic themes of the last few decades has been the hollowing out of the American manufacturing sector. But how has that happened, and how is the world's largest retailer playing a part?

A new study from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute takes a look at what it calls "the Walmart effect," by which it means the giant retailer's growing trade deficit with China. With Walmart (WMT) importing more cheap goods from China than it exports to that country, the retailer's actions may be implicated in an estimated loss of at least 400,000 U.S. jobs from 2001 to 2013, the study finds.

The issue isn't on Walmart's shoulders alone, of course, given that the total U.S. goods trade deficit with China amounted to $324.2 billion in 2013, of which Walmart represents a fraction of the imbalance. But with Walmart pledging to ramp up purchasing of U.S.-made goods in an effort to boost American manufacturing employment, the report raises questions about how far that pledge can go to offset a much bigger trade issue, and whether it's possible for American companies to bring back some of those lost jobs.

"Walmart has been making increasingly extensive claims it will support 'Made in America' efforts," said Robert E. Scott, the director of trade and manufacturing policy research at EPI. "Frankly the numbers are just tiny compared with reasonable estimates of the jobs displaced by Walmart's China trade."

Walmart, for its part, said in a statement that the EPI study is a "flawed economic analysis that assumes that imports equal job losses and does not take into consideration that countless jobs are added through the global supply chain, distribution and logistics, among other areas of the business."

Its pledge to buy American-made products will create 250,000 direct manufacturing jobs in the U.S., the retailer said, citing data from Boston Consulting Group.

Manufacturing jobs are the secret sauce to creating a strong middle class, especially among workers who lack college degrees. Employers paid workers in manufacturing jobs an average of almost $34 an hour in wages and benefits at the end of 2013, or a premium of almost 9 percent compared with all other jobs, according to the Manufacturing Institute, an affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers.

But American manufacturing jobs have been gutted during the past four decades, falling from a high point in 1977 when the sector represented 22 percent of nonfarm payroll jobs to about 9 percent today, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Importing cheap goods from China is legal, of course, and Walmart shareholders could argue that the company is acting in the best interests of investors and its own employees: if it failed to take advantage of changes in global trade, then it could find itself displaced in a competitive retailing market. And many of those Chinese-made goods are produced by U.S. corporations with factories there.

Behind Walmart and other retailers' imports of Chinese goods is another, perhaps bigger, issue: the trade policies of both the U.S. and China. (Full Text)

Majority of U.S. renters are older than 40, according to study

(denverpost) WASHINGTON — The majority of U.S. renters are now older than 40, a fundamental shift over the past decade that reflects the lasting damage of the housing crash and an aging population.

This finding in a report released Wednesday by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies overturns the assumption that the rental boom is only the result of twenty-somethings flocking to hip urban centers.

Single-family houses are a growing share of rentals. And affordability problems are mounting as rents rise faster than wages, while apartment construction increasingly targets tenants with six-figure incomes.

Nearly 51 percent of renters have celebrated their 40th birthday, according to the report's analysis of Census Bureau data. That amounts to 22.4 million households.

A decade ago when the housing bubble peaked in 2005, 47 percent of renters — or 16.4 million households — were older than 40. Their share was 43 percent in 1995.

The increase in older renters corresponds with a surge in foreclosures after the housing bubble popped. Since the 2008 financial triggered by the housing bust, there have been roughly 6 million completed foreclosures, according to CoreLogic, a property data firm.

Many of these are former owners who have transitioned to renting.

"Middle-aged households in particular bore a big brunt of the housing crash," said Christopher Herbert, managing director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Herbert also noted sharp increases in the number of renters between the ages of 55 and 69 during the past 10 years.

During that same period, the United States has added a total of 9 million renters — including younger millennials recent out of college.

But demand has outpaced supply and caused prices to rise. Rents increased 7 percent between 2001 and 2014 after adjusting for inflation, while incomes fell 9 percent, the report said.

The result is that a larger number of Americans must devote more than 30 percent of their income to rent, a level that the government considers to be financially burdensome. Over the past decade, that number has jumped from 14.8 million to 21.3 million, or 49 percent of all renters.

Even people with decent incomes between $30,000 and $44,999 can't keep up with the rent in the wealthiest markets. More than 70 percent of renters at this income level are classified as financially burdened in Washington, DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and Miami.

"We've gotten ourselves into a deep hole — and it's not going to be easy to get out of it," Herbert said. "We expect the affordability problem will persist." (Full Text)

Ohio Man Charged With Using Internet to Threaten Lives of US Military

(voiceofamerica) The Justice Department indicted an Ohio man Tuesday on charges of using social media to solicit the murders of U.S. military members.

Terrence McNeil was arrested last month and faces as many as 75 years in prison if he is convicted.

"We owe it to our servicemen and women to protect their safety at home after they fought abroad to protect our freedom," U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach said Tuesday. "The defendant is charged with urging harm to our men and women in uniform and will now answer for those threats."

McNeil is accused of using three different popular social media sites - Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr - to boast of his support for Islamic State. He also used Tumblr to publish the names, photographs, and addresses of 100 purported U.S. military personnel, including one who he says killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

McNeil allegedly encouraged other extremists to behead the Americans in their own homes and stab them to death in the streets, claiming the United States is at war with Islam.

The Justice Department says while it aggressively defends the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right of free speech, McNeil went "far beyond free speech." (Full Text)

Kentucky: Police: Boy killed in knife attack in bedroom; town puzzled

Kentucky should control their borders..

VERSAILLES, Ky. (AP) — A kindergartner was killed in his bed before dawn Monday morning, when a stranger from Indiana broke into his home, grabbed a large kitchen knife and stabbed the boy multiple times, police said.

Police, neighbors and family in this small Kentucky town are left puzzling over how a man from 200 miles away ended up in the 6-year-old boy's bedroom, and what might have motived him to stab the child repeatedly.

"Babies aren't supposed to have anything like this happen to them," said the boy's aunt, Melissa Pujol. "You can't make sense of it. You just have to try to get through it. We're just trying to get through it."

Logan Tipton was a happy child, always smiling, she said. He loved to play football.

Ronald Exantus, 32, of Indianapolis, is accused of breaking into the house where the boy lived with his parents and siblings in Versailles, near Lexington in Kentucky's thoroughbred and bourbon country.

The police citation alleges that Exantus entered the home and wandered around before the attack. Then he went to an upstairs bedroom where the boy was asleep and stabbed him multiple times in the head, the citation alleges.

Exantus has been charged with murder and first-degree burglary.

"We're all kind of bumping our heads again a wall; it's mind-boggling," said Versailles police Lt. Michael Fortney. "It's very, very tragic. It's a child who had no opportunity to defend himself."

Two of the boy's sisters suffered non-life-threatening cuts in the attack, and the suspect was held by the boy's father until police arrived, the arrest citation said. The boy's family told police they have never seen Exantus before.

"The family did all that they could," Pujol said.

Fortney said police have found nothing to connect Exantus to the family or to the town. (Full Text)

Bernie Sanders is Declaring War on Walmart

CHANGE!

Sen. Bernie Sanders is no fan of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and there are many reasons for that:
The company doesn't provide benefits for most of its employees, and about $2.66 billion of taxpayer money goes to Wal-Mart employees in the form of food stamps and government healthcare each year.

Wal-Mart lost a class-action lawsuit alleging wage theft by making employees work through unpaid breaks and meal times, among other things.

Some have accused Wal-Mart of paying off foreign officials so they won't reveal the terrible conditions under which people labor in their overseas factories.

Not to mention the family in charge of the retail chain is incredibly rich.

This isn't the first time Sanders has spoken out against Wal-Mart. When the company announced that it would raise its bottom wage to $10.00 an hour by 2016, Sanders remained unimpressed.

“While this is a step forward and a response to grassroots activism across the country, this is nowhere near enough," he said in a press release. "Wal-Mart should raise their minimum wage to at least $10.10 an hour now and move it to $15.00 over the next several years. Struggling working families should not have to subsidize the wealthiest family in the country. Wal-Mart also should end its vehemently anti-union activities.”

Sanders called what Wal-Mart pays its employees "starvation wages." Sanders also recently distributed a Bloomberg Businessweek article about how Wal-Mart spied on its employees when there was concern that a large group of them might have been organizing a Black Friday strike, which could have been costly for the company.

In the Bloomberg article, Wal-Mart declined to comment and cited the ongoing case. This was the statement sent via email:

“We are firmly committed to the safety and security of our 2.2 million associates as well as the 260 million customers we serve each week. It’s important to remember that Walmart is the largest company in the world with 11,500 stores in 28 countries. Unfortunately, there are occasions when outside groups attempt to deliberately disrupt our business and on behalf of our customers and associates we take action accordingly.”

All of that said, Wal-Mart will still let you buy Bernie Sanders books and films in its online store.

It’s Beginnning To Look A Lot Like Hanukkah!

(Chron) - Hanukkah is a wonderful celebration capturing the attention and imagination of more Jews than any other Jewish celebration of the year. Historically, Hanukkah celebrates the re-taking of Jerusalem from Syrian control and the ancient Temple from the hands of a priestly aristocracy committed to Hellenizing Jewish ritual. All of this by a small band of Jewish traditionalists known as the “Maccabees.” According to ancient tradition, the first act in re-claiming the Temple was to re-kindle the 7-branch menorah. Unfortunately, the Maccabees discovered there was only enough oil for one night. The miracle of Hanukkah was the oil lasted for eight days giving way to the current 8-day celebration.

Beginning Sunday evening, December 6, 2015, the first candle of Hanukkah will be lit in Jewish homes worldwide. Then, for each of the next 8 evenings an additional candle will be lit. The holiday will culminate with the lighting of eight candles on the evening of December 13. The lighting of candles are accompanied by songs and Hanukkah goodies such as sufganiyot(jelly-filled donuts).

Hanukkah, also referred to as the “Festival Of Lights”, is more than just a story or great victory. The word “Hanukkah” means dedication. The Maccabees fight was not just against a foreign army but a dedication to religious freedom. This celebration of “Light” stands in marked contrast to the darkness of threats against those who don’t conform to the religious beliefs or practices of others. Though Hanukkah is particularly Jewish, its message is universal.

One of the scriptural readings during Hanukkah is taken from the book of Zechariah, who writes, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit alone, says God, [shall all people live in peace].” (Full Text)

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Related:
Hanukkah: Still Meaningful as Ever

Man hugged girl, 7, at soccer practice, then killed her

(detroitfreepress) 12/04/2015 Emma Watson Nowling took a quick break from soccer practice Thursday night to greet a man walking by the sidelines.

“Little Emma went up and gave the guy a hug,” Emma's soccer coach, Mario Scicluna, said.

Later that night, that man, Timothy Nelson Obeshaw, shot 7-year-old Emma and her mother, 37-year-old Sharon Elizabeth Watson, in the parking of the Taylor Sportsplex before turning his 9mm pistol on himself, according to Taylor police. Authorities described Obeshaw as a family friend.

Emma died from her injuries. Watson is in serious condition at a local hospital, police said.

Police said family members described the 57-year-old Obeshaw — who had lived with Watson and her boyfriend at their home in Belleville before recently moving to a home in Taylor — as mentally unstable. A motive, though, remains unclear, according to police.

"Police found evidence that Obeshaw believed someone was trying to perform mind control on him," according to a news release from the Taylor Police Department.

Police said the girl and her mother were at the Sportsplex for soccer practice. Obeshaw was there, too, and "there was what appeared to be friendly interaction between the three at the start of practice," the release says. (Full Text)

Impeachment Proceedings Opened Against Brazil’s President

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The speaker of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, accepted on Wednesday a request to open impeachment proceedings against the country’s leader, President Dilma Rousseff. Cunha stated that there was evidence that the President had violated Brazil’s fiscal laws and manipulated government finances.

Although both Cunha and government officials deny any discussions, the speaker’s decision comes after weeks of covert negotiations between him and the Workers Party (PT) Congressional representatives to back each other up in Congressional investigations of wrongdoing. While several impeachment requests have been filed against Rousseff, Cunha himself has been accused of corruption and is being investigated by the lower house’s ethics committee.

While Cunha said his decision was purely ‘technical’, political analysts note that the congressman made his decision after PT party representative, members of the ethics committee, voted to continue the Chamber’s investigation of Cunha. “It was a difficult decision. I did not become speaker of the Chamber of Deputies with the objective of approving impeachment proceedings against the president,” said Cunha to reporters on Wednesday.

Hours after the announcement President Rousseff hit back. In a televised address to the nation, the President said to have received ‘with indignation the decision’. “I’ve committed no illicit act, there is no suspicion hanging over me of any misuse of public money,” the president said.

“I don’t have any foreign bank accounts; I have not has not concealed from public knowledge the existence of personal property,” she said alluding to accusations that Cunha received millions in bribes from the Petrobras scandal and hid the money in Swiss bank accounts which were opened by family members.

For Neil Shearing, Chief Emerging Markets Economist for Capital Economics, although the announcement is hardly a surprise, impeachment is not likely. “There is a big difference between opening impeachment proceedings and actually removing the president from office. Our sense is that President Rousseff will muster enough votes to hold off the challenge,” stated Shearing.

Shearing says that although political turbulence is the last thing the Brazilian economy needs now, impeachment proceedings are also not likely to significantly affect the market. “While investors should be braced for volatility when markets open tomorrow, this isn’t necessarily a disaster for financial markets that is might seem.”

Finally, says Shearing, even the worst-case scenario – President Rousseff is impeached – would not necessarily be market-negative. “Ms. Rousseff is about as unpopular with investors as she is with the Brazilian public. Her government’s fiscal adjustment program – which is by far the most important policy challenge – has been derailed in Congress, partly (but not entirely) because she has become so divisive.”

A special committee comprised of members of all parties in the Chamber of Deputies will now decide on the merits of the case. If 2/3 of votes are favorable to impeachment, the case moves to the Senate. The Senate then holds a ninety-day trial after which a 2/3 majority in the Upper House is needed to formally remove the President from office.

- See more at: riotimesonline.com

California: San Bernardino shooting: At least 14 people killed

false flag...

San Bernardino, California (CNN)The hunt for one to three suspects was taking place near a San Bernardino, California, center for people with developmental disabilities, where at least 14 people were killed Wednesday, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters.

Fourteen other people were wounded in the shooting, Burguan said.

SWAT teams and the bomb squad were working to clear the buildings where the shootings took place.

• The suspects were armed with long guns, Burguan told reporters. "These were people that came prepared. ... They were armed with long guns, not hand guns," he told reporters. Most of the victims were "centrally located in one area of the facility," Burguan said. Police didn't exchange gunfire with the shooters, he added.

• The shootings were in the conference center at the Inland Regional Center, the center's executive director, Lavinia Johnson, told CNN. She believes the county's Department of Public Health was having a holiday party there. Johnson said the fire alarm went off in her building, and people began to evacuate but then the order came to stay in place. Later police came and took people out of their offices.

Are your holiday lights killing your WiFi?

(washingtonpost.com) 12/01/2015 - Holiday lights are meant to add some cheer to your day, but a British regulator has pointed out that they may have an unwanted side effect: interference with your WiFi network.

On Tuesday, Ofcom -- an agency similar to the Federal Communications Commission -- named holiday lights as one of many electronic devices that can trip up your Internet connection. The agency has released a new app to check for interference that, alas, is only available in Britain.

How do lights affect a WiFi network? Apparently the wiring in the lights can add to the radio frequency interference in your home, which in turn could confound the signals from your router. Lights aren't the only culprit, however — the same is true of many other devices. Microwaves, older Bluetooth devices, baby monitors and cordless phones all get a mention in a Cisco white paper from 2007 outlining common reasons for WiFi interference. Many Internet providers see complaints spike around the holidays, since networks can get congested when you're all gathered for a family meal — but lights may be a contributing factor. The Irish Times reported a similar problem last year, saying that blinking lights are particularly bad for interference.

That doesn't mean there's any need to be less festive than you normally are. A string of lights won't crash your network. All Ofcom is letting us know is that having more things, such as lights, plugged into your outlets could contribute to some WiFi slowdown, and more ostentatious displays could certainly add to interference that's already in your home.

If you're really curious about how your lights are affecting your network, you could conduct your own home science experiment and see how your network performs with your lights on or off. Another option is to move them as far away from your router as is practical. That way you can still watch "White Christmas" on Netflix in seasonally appropriate lighting.

That may help solve whatever immediate, decor-related WiFi issues you may have. But you can follow similar tips to keep your network running smoothly throughout the whole year, as well. Moving electronics away from your router is also a good idea, if you find that you're dropping your connection or losing speed.

Also, if you don't have a password on your home network, you may want to consider creating one for security and speed. Your neighbors may be hanging out on your network without your knowledge. Adding a password nips that behavior in the bud.

Another option is to change the channel on your router. As with a radio, your router can broadcast over multiple channels, and switching this can help you avoid interference. That's particularly useful if your problem is other people's WiFi networks, as is often the case in apartments or other close-quarter living situations. Since most people stick with the defaults, chances are most people around you on are the same channel. You can change this by heading to your router's settings from any machine connected to the network, which you can find by typing your router's IP address into the part of your browser where you normally type in Web addresses.

Most routers have similar addresses -- some variation on 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1 -- but you can find out for sure by doing a little digging on your PC or Mac. (Source)

Investigators Fear Kansas Father May Have Beaten 7-Year-Old Son to Death, Fed Him to Pigs

(ktla.com) - Investigators in Kansas said they suspect a father fed his 7-year-old to pigs after beating him to death.

According to local television station KCTV, Michael A. Jones, 44, was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated battery and child abuse. His bond was set at $10 million.

Police were called to a home on Wednesday after receiving a report that Jones was attacking his wife and firing a gun at her. During the investigation, officers received a tip telling them to check for the decomposed body of a missing 7-year-old boy.

On the second day of the investigation, human remains were discovered near a barn on the property.

Two women who used to babysit the couple’s children told KCTV that the living conditions in the home were deplorable. One of the former babysitters told investigators she fears that the child was fed to pigs after being beaten to death.

The pigs were added to the barn this fall and the 7-year-old went missing sometime between May 1 and Sept. 28, according to KCTV.

An anonymous police source told the station investigators are looking into the possibility that the remains resulted from the child being fed to the pigs.

Jones was expected to make his first appearance in Wyandotte County District Court on Monday. (FULL TEXT)

Burkina Faso Elects 1st New Leader in Decades

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — A former prime minister who has served in several high-ranking government positions emerged early Tuesday as the winner of the presidential election here, the first time the nation has had a new leader in nearly three decades.

The former prime minister, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, resoundingly won the vote in nearly 75 percent of precincts throughout the country and was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The election, which took place Sunday, represented the first free and competitive vote in Burkina Faso in decades. About three million people cast ballots, many of them celebrating as they crowded into polling stations to choose a leader after 27 years under President Blaise Compaoré.

Supporters gathered at the headquarters of Mr. Kaboré’s party to watch results on a large-screen television. Several of Mr. Kaboré’s more than one dozen competitors, including Zéphirin Diabré, a leading contender, showed up to concede and congratulate him. Celebrations were expected to be cut short; a curfew for early Tuesday morning was in place.

Mr. Compaoré was toppled in October 2014 after protests against his attempts to change the nation’s Constitution and extend his time in office. A security regiment loyal to Mr. Compaoré staged a brief coup in September and has since been disbanded. (Full Text)

Black Friday crowds thin in subdued start to U.S. holiday shopping

- America's annual Black Friday shopping extravaganza was short on fireworks this year as U.S. retailers' discounts on electronics, clothing and other holiday gifts failed to draw big crowds to stores and shopping malls.

Major retail stocks including Best Buy and Wal-Mart closed lower while Target, picked out by one analyst for its promotion strategy, saw its shares tick up.

Bargain hunters found relatively little competition compared with previous years. Some had already shopped Thursday evening, reflecting a new normal of U.S. holiday shopping, where stores open up with deals on Thanksgiving itself, rather than waiting until Black Friday.


- Retailers "have taken the sense of urgency out for consumers by spreading their promotions throughout the year and what we are seeing is a result of that," said Jeff Simpson, director of the retail practice at Deloitte. Traffic in stores was light on Friday, while Thursday missed his expectations, he said.

As much as 20 percent of holiday shopping is expected to be done over the Thanksgiving weekend this year, analysts said. But the four days are not considered a strong indicator for the entire season. A slow start last year led to deeper promotions and a shopping rush in the final ten days of December.

Steve Bratspies, chief merchandising officer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), told Reuters he was not surprised that a store would see thinner crowds on Friday after it kicked off Black Friday deals on Thursday night.

Suntrust Robinson Humphrey analysts were more blunt, calling Thursday a "bust". "Members of our team who went to the malls first had no problem finding parking or navigating stores," he wrote in a note.

The Macy's store at Water Tower Place mall on a rainy Chicago morning saw thin crowds in the early hours of Friday. Later in the morning, more than 1,000 protesters clogged Chicago's Magnificent Mile shopping corridor.

Nia Darrell, a 23-year-old student, was shopping for coats and handbags at the store with two friends.

"I shopped online yesterday and picked up most of what I wanted," she said." I'm out because Black Friday is more like a tradition, but the discounts are similar even online this year."

While Black Friday may be losing some appeal in the United States, British shoppers have taken to the concept enthusiastically, with reports of large crowds at big stores and malls in the UK.

Shares of Target Corp (TGT.N) gained 0.4 percent, but J.C. Penney (JCP.N) wad down 0.7 percent, and Macy's and Best Buy lost about 1 percent. Wal-Mart dipped 0.6 percent, while Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) was down 0.3 percent.

A broad retail index .DJUSGT was down 0.15 percent in abbreviated trading.

Traffic was better at some retailers. Analysts at Cowen & Co said Target stood out with its "innovative promotions," and teen retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEO.N) saw more traffic due to store-wide discounts of 40 percent.

Read more at - Reuters.com

Thanksgiving not popular for all Americans, especially the original inhabitants

But, Black Thursday!

(usatoday) - As millions of Americans sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving today, some Native Americans are pushing back, urging the country to remember the implications of white settlement on indigenous cultures.

As they have for decades, hundreds of people participated in a “National Day of Mourning” in Plymouth, Mass. on Thursday afternoon near where the first Thanksgiving is thought to have taken place. Not everyone wants to hear that message while gorging on turkey and filling Facebook with thanks for friends, families and good lives.

“Sometimes we’re told to go back where we came from, which is pretty ironic,” said Mahtowin Munro, co-leader of United American Indians of New England, which organizes the annual protest march.

Some of the frustration centers around what some Native Americans see as their relegation to supporting players at that first celebration, rather than people with long-existing culture, knowledge and government. History puts the first thanksgiving in 1621 at Plymouth, between Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe.

"They are depicted as nameless, faceless, generic “Indians” who merely shared a meal with the intrepid Pilgrims. The real story is much deeper, richer, and more nuanced,” says the National Museum of the American Indian, which this year released a guide for teachers covering Thanksgiving. "For the English, interaction with the Wampanoags enabled their colony’s survival. Although the English were interlopers, the Wampanoags shared their land, food, and knowledge of the environment.”

The museum suggests that teachers help students understand that Native Americans haven’t vanished from American life, even through many were forcibly resettled from their traditional lands onto reservations in far less desirable areas, to make room for European-style farming and villages.

Munro said her objection to Thanksgiving is the cultural whitewashing that allows most Americans to ignore what happened to the native population. She said most people are taught a “fantasy history” that ignores or downplays the widespread slaughter of her people and the theft of their traditional lands, the damming of their rivers, and the deliberate slaughter of bison. For them, the Thanksgiving holiday remains an affront.

“As indigenous people, we’ve been taught by our elders to give thanks every day,” she said. "We are a people who have survived genocide. People able to gather with our families is very important to us.” (Full Text)

Is The U.K. Seriously Afraid Of Russia?

(Forbes.com) British Prime Minister David Cameron made his case to Parliament for an extra 12 billion pounds ($18 billion) in defense spending on Monday, looking for extra cash to fight…Russia.

Heavy equipment is being revved up in the fight against terrorism and Russian submarines, apparently, while the more useful police forces there brace for more cuts. Cameron is clearly opting to side with Washington’s view that Syria will be taken care of by American foreign policy, not Russian. The latest Russia threat news comes a day before a Turkish F-16 fighter jet shot down a Sukhoi SU-24 for invading its airspace near Syria. Russia is running bombing raids of Islamic State and other anti-government forces in the country. As a result of the shoot-down, the Russia political risk dial got cranked to 10 on Tuesday.

The Market Vectors Russia (RSX) exchange traded fund reacted by falling 2.7%. Russian bond spreads rose by around 9 basis points. The move was not significant, despite being the biggest expansion in spreads over Treasurys today.

Whereas just a week ago it looked like Russia would be a welcome force in the fight against jihadis in Syria, it now looks like the Western powers prefer to isolate Russia instead, with Cameron singling them out in the need for more defense spending. This does not bode well for sanction removal or relief to the Ukraine crisis, as Russia could lash out against the West as it weighs the possible narratives working against it, both real and imagined.

Investors are taking as much note of Russian relations with the West as the foreign policy wonks.

It used to be that sovereign risk contributed over half of the risk factors in emerging markets. Economic and cyclical factors were the next largest components. But over the last three years, political risk has rapidly become an issue with Europe being the star performer. Sentiment drives short-term trades on stocks and bonds. Electoral events are becoming more radicalized, political parties are becoming more strident, and nationalism is gaining momentum in Europe. Recent events in Syria point to the difficulties of combining national and international interests.

Maine Wants To Ban Soda, Sweets From Food Stamp Sales

- Maine would like to stop poor people from using food stamps to buy candy and soda, the latest gambit in Republican Gov. Paul LePage's ongoing crusade to make safety net programs a little less giving.

States don't have the power to change rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so Maine is asking the federal government for a waiver.

"If we’re going to spend millions on nutrition education for food stamp recipients, we should stop giving them money to buy candy and soda," Mary Mayhew, commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, said in a press release. The waiver request essentially resurrects Republican legislation that failed to pass the Maine Legislature this year.

"Maine is facing an obesity epidemic, especially among its low-income population, and we should be solving that problem rather than enabling it," Mayhew said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees food stamps, did not immediately comment on Maine's request. The agency has rejected a handful of similar requests from other states over the past several years.

Mayhew's agency said in a statement that 88 percent of Maine's SNAP recipients also receive Medicaid benefits, and that Medicaid has spent more than $1.5 million on obesity-related medical claims in Maine over the past year.

Food stamp recipients do tend to be heavier than the general population, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, though their diets are hardly different from everyone else's. More than 45 million Americans receive monthly SNAP benefits, which can be redeemed at grocery stores for any type of food except hot prepared meals.

The USDA has pointed out that restricting benefits to "healthy" foods would be difficult because no clear standard exists for declaring which items count as healthy. Would a ban on soda, for example, encompass other sugar-sweetened beverages? Cranberry juice, for instance, has more sugar than Coca-Cola. And banning SNAP purchases of certain products wouldn't stop SNAP recipients from using their own money for those products.

Maine's request comes not long after the state imposed an asset test on some SNAP recipients, with LePage saying hardworking Mainers are tired of seeing jet skis in their welfare-abusing neighbors' hards. The state has also instituted drug screening for beneficiaries of the much smaller Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. (Full Text)

Putin says seeks global anti-terrorism fight after 19 killed in Mali attack

(Reuters) 11/22/15 - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he wanted global cooperation to combat terrorism after Islamist militants killed 19 people, including six Russians, in an attack on a luxury hotel in Mali

Friday's assault came a week after militants killed 130 people in gun and bomb attacks in Paris claimed by Islamic State, and three weeks after a Russian airliner was downed over Egypt by what Moscow and Western governments say was a bomb, killing all 224 people aboard.

The bloodshed at the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali, a former French colony, evoked the problems French troops and U.N. peacekeepers face in restoring security and order in a West African state that has battled rebels and militants in its weakly-governed desert north for years.

Jihadist groups Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the attack, which ended when Malian commandos stormed the building and rescued 170 people, many of them foreigners.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said two militants were killed in the commando operation.

His government increased security at strategic points around Bamako at the start of a declared 10-day state of emergency.

"Mali will not shut down because of this attack. Paris and New York were not shut down and Mali won't be. Terrorism will not win," Keita said during a visit to the hotel on Saturday.

Six employees of Russian regional airline Volga-Dnepr were killed, Russia's foreign ministry said, while six others were rescued.

Putin sent a telegram of condolences to Keita and said "the widest international cooperation" was needed to confront global terrorism, according to a statement by the Kremlin.

On Tuesday, Putin pledged to hunt down militants responsible for blowing up the airliner, as well as intensified air strikes against militants in Syria, after the Kremlin concluded a bomb had destroyed the plane.

Putin and French President Francois Hollande also spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed to boost coordination of their military actions in fighting jihadist militants in Syria.

Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned the "cruel and savage" attack, whose dead included three Chinese executives of a state-run railway firm.

"China will strengthen cooperation with the international community, resolutely crack down on violent terrorist operations that devastate innocent lives and safeguard world peace and security," the Beijing Foreign Ministry quoted Xi as saying in a statement on its website.

American public health specialist Anita Datar was killed and Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said two Belgians died. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he was not aware of any French nationals killed.

An Israeli national was also killed, Israeli media said. There was no confirmation from the foreign ministry.

FLEEING IN TERROR

The attack began at 7 a.m. on Friday when gunmen killed guards at the entrance of the hotel and barged inside. (FULL TEXT)

More Mexican immigrants leaving U.S. than entering: Pew

CHICAGO (Reuters) - More Mexicans are leaving the United States than entering it according to a report released on Thursday, at a time when some Republicans, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, have taken a hard line on illegal immigration.

Most Mexicans leaving the United States are doing so voluntarily to reunite with their family or to start one, the report by the Pew Research Center showed.

From 2009 to 2014, more than one million Mexicans and their families left the United States for Mexico, while more than 865,000 entered the United States, Pew said. The figures include unauthorized immigrants.

An increasing share of Mexicans says life north of the border is neither better nor worse than life in Mexico, Pew said.

The overall flow of Mexican immigrants between the two countries is at its smallest since the 1990s, Pew said. (Full Text)

Modern men tend to overeat like cavemen as a way of showing off to women say researchers

Happy International Men's Day!

(Washingtonpost) - Maybe it's due to our evolution from the era of cavemen when the strongest and fastest hunters would have the biggest bounty to eat. Or maybe it's just another example of the male perception of what women like gone awry.

Cornell University researchers have found that men tend to eat significantly more — nearly double — when in the presence of the fairer sex and that this excess may be "motivated by a hardwired male urge to demonstrate prowess."

The study, published this month in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science, involved observing diners at an all-you-can eat Italian buffet. Men who were dining with at least one woman consumed 93 percent more pizza (the equivalent of 1.44 more slices) and 86 percent more salad than those who were exclusively in the company of other men.

"The findings suggest that men tend to overeat to show off," lead author Kevin Kniffin, a visiting assistant professor in applied economics and management, said. "Instead of a feat of strength, it's a feat of eating."

The authors theorized that the overconsumption may be an unconscious way to signal their biological fitness — something that might have made sense in the distant past but that doesn't make as much sense in a wealthy, modern day society obsessed with slim, fit bodies.

There's been a lot of previous work into the role of sexual selection in eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia among women which presumes males tend to select mates who are slim. But there's been significantly less on what's known as "disordered eating" — such as binge eating contests that reward people for eating as many hot dogs or steaks as possible — in men and what drives this.

"Analogous to the view that women 'eat lightly' in order to respond to men's mating preferences, the intersexual or mate-choice hypothesis that we test presumes that men 'eat heavily' in response to women's mating preferences," the researchers wrote. They explained:

Heroes who might have been warriors, princes, or knights in earlier tales are described today as CEOs, oil magnates, and corporate raiders. The common thread of these roles is that they each occupy a relatively high position in their respective social contexts. In our case, just as no one would expect an evolutionary basis per se for why women should prefer men who are adept at balancing a firm’s quarterly earnings to exceed Wall Street expectations, the hypothesis that women will tend to prefer men who can eat conspicuously or competitively does not need a direct evolutionary basis beyond the fact that eating represents an avenue through which men can distinguish themselves as relatively superior.

But what do the women dining with these men think?

The study found that women eating with men reported that they felt rushed during the meal and that they were the ones who ate too much — even though researchers found there was no evidence they overdid it. (Source)

Spain ‘issues arrest warrant’ for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu over 2010 Gaza flotilla attack

(independent.co.uk) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seven other former and current government officials are at risk of arrest if they set foot in Spain, after a Spanish judge effectively issued an arrest warrant for the group, it has been reported.

According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, Spanish national court judge Jose de la Mata ordered the police and civil guard to notify him if Mr Netanyahu and the six other individuals enter the country, as their actions could see a case against them regarding the Freedom Flotilla attack of 2010 reopened.

The other men named in the issue are former defence minister Ehud Barak, former foreign minister Avigdor Leiberman, former minister of strategic affairs Moshe Yaalon, former interior minister Eli Yishai, minister without portfolio Benny Begin and vice admiral maron Eliezer, who was in charge of the operation.

The case – which was put on hold by Judge de la Mata last year – was brought against the men following an attack by Israeli security forces against the Freedom Flotilla aid ships in 2010, which was trying to reach Gaza.

It concerns the Mavi Marmara ship, the main civilian vessel in a fleet of six that were attempting to break an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. The six ships were carrying around 500 passengers, humanitarian aid and construction materials. The Israeli Defence Force stormed the ship in a raid that left nine human rights activists dead. A tenth activist died later that month due to wounds sustained in the raid.

The Israeli Prime Minister and other officials now face charges in the case, should it be reopened.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nachshon told the Jerusalem Post: “We consider it to be a provocation. We are working with the Spanish authorities to get it cancelled. We hope it will be over soon.” (FULL TEXT)

These Retailers Are the Worst Offenders Pushing Thanksgiving Day Store Hours

If you hate Thanksgiving shopping, here's where to focus your anger.

(Time) If there’s one clear trend in the 2015 retail holiday season landscape, it’s that most stores seem to have come to the realization that it’s dumb to keep opening earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving Day.

Once upon a time, Black Friday sales actually started on Friday—perhaps as early as 4 a.m., but hey, at least it was technically Friday. Then some store opened the door to midnight openings on Thanksgiving night, which was followed up the next year with sales that launched at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and so on, until retailers like Macy’s and Target were opening at 6 p.m. and Best Buy and Toys R Us decided they needed to open an hour earlier, at the prime Thanksgiving dinner hour of 5 p.m. Michael's has been opening on Thanksgiving at 4 p.m.—because, you know, it’s unconscionable that people might be deprived of crafts and all on the afternoon of a national holiday.

But the so-called “Black Thursday” trend, which has drawn boycott threats and online campaigns among people who want to protect Thanksgiving as a sacred day for family time unencumbered by rampant consumerism, has mostly plateaued this year. All of the retailers mentioned above are opening on Thanksgiving Day at the same times they did on the holiday last year, rather than expanding holiday store hours like they have in the past. Taking the backlash a step further, the outdoor specialty store REI is staying closed on Black Friday and Thanksgiving alike, and Staples decided to remain shut on Thanksgiving, after being open on the holiday in prior years.

Then again, if you’re agitated that stores insist on encroaching on Thanksgiving, it’s not much of a victory that most big-box retailers will still be open at a time traditionally reserved for pumpkin pie, touch football, and perhaps a nap on the couch. What’s more, some major retailers (notably, the ones below) are continuing on with their traditions for having especially long store hours on the holiday.

Kmart: 6 A.M. Opening
The bulk of Kmart’s Black Friday doorbuster specials will go on sale in stores at 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving evening, including select Star Wars toys for 50% off, Procter Silex kitchen appliances for $3 (normally $10), 6-foot Dakota Spruce artificial Christmas trees for $15 (list price: $50), and poinsettias for just 89¢ (normally $2.99 and up). But stores will actually be open starting at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. A separate round of deals for early birds kicks off then, including 50% off Christmas decorations, classic board games for $2.99 (normally $5.99 and up), and 88¢ for 2-liter Pepsi beverages.

If you’re upset that Kmart will be open all day on Thanksgiving starting at the wholly unnecessary hour of 6 a.m., you’ll be even more disappointed with the way the retailer is apparently treating its workers. As Think Progress reported very recently, “In a survey of 40 self-identified Kmart employees in 18 states conducted by Coworker.org and shared with ThinkProgress, 95 percent said they still don’t know their schedules for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, and 70 percent say their managers haven’t even told them what the store’s hours will be.”

Meijer: 6 A.M. Opening
A different series of deals is launching on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the Saturday that follows at retailer Meijer. The particulars of each day’s sale haven’t been released yet, but we do know that each day stores will open at 6 a.m., including Thanksgiving Day.

Dollar General: 7 A.M. Opening
According to the ad leaked to TheBlackFriday.com, Dollar General stores will feature deals like $1 outdoor mini holiday lights, $7 jeans, $1 cans of Campbell’s Chunky soup, and $34 portable DVD players starting at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning.

J.C. Penney: 3 P.M. Opening
Unlike competitors like Macy’s and Target, which are sticking with the same Thanksgiving hours as last year, J.C. Penney feels compelled to open at 3 p.m., two hours earlier than in 2014—and smack in the heart of what many consider the optimal time to commence Thanksgiving feasts.

Walmart: Open 24/7, including Thanksgiving
This year, Walmart has downplayed Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day deals, opting instead to post longer-lasting sales that start earlier in the season (most are live now) and stick around for weeks. Most of its Thanksgiving-Black Friday specials are in fact available online at 12:01 a.m.on Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving), and the in-store doorbusters won’t be launched until 6 p.m. that day. This would all seem to negate any reason for shoppers to hit Walmart during the middle of the day on Thanksgiving—thereby also eliminating any reason for Walmart to be open then. Nonetheless, as usual, most Walmarts are open 24/7, even on holidays like Thanksgiving. (Walmart is closed on Christmas, though, and stores generally shut down at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve.) (Source)

Paris False Flag: Evidence Emerges That It Was The French Government

IT'S A CONSPIRACY I TELL YOU!!

‘Poverty Pay’ Leads Wal-Mart Employees to Steal Lunches From Co-Workers

(Via truthdig.com) 11/14/2015 Wal-Mart’s workers are so poor they’re skipping lunch, sharing the food of others or stealing from co-workers, some of them said as they announced a 15-day fast aimed at raising the company’s wages.

On Friday, more than 100 Wal-Mart employees involved in the workers organization Our Walmart began a fast to draw attention to the company’s “poverty pay.” Roughly 1,000 of their supporters joined them, and some took their fast to the doorstep of company heiress Alice Walton’s New York City apartment.

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart announced it would raise wages for about half a million of its employees to $9 an hour, $1.75 above the federally mandated minimum wage. The company said it would further increase the workers’ pay to $10 an hour next year.

The protesters say that’s still not enough to support them and demand to be paid $15 an hour and be given full-time schedules. The fasters are calling their protest the Fast for 15.

The Guardian reports:

  Tyfani Faulkner, a former Walmart customer service manager from Sacramento, California, who worked for company for about five years, will be one of those fasting in protest.

“Every day there are associates who go to work with no lunch, or an unhealthy lunch, because that’s all they can afford. I have seen instances where some would eat another associate’s lunch from the refrigerator because they have nothing to eat,” said Faulkner.

“One of the things I remember most from working at Walmart was my friends and I emptying our pockets to scrape together one meal we all could share for lunch. One of my coworkers put in a dollar, another two dollars, and with my two, we could together buy chicken from Walmart’s deli to split between us. That was lunch; I don’t know if they had dinner.”

Read more here.

N.M. man gets 18 years for using semen in squirt gun for attack on kids

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for spraying children with a squirt gun loaded with his semen.

Kevin Jaramillo, 35, pleaded no contest to charges stemming from two indictments, including child abuse without great bodily harm, criminal sexual contact and sexual exploitation, in an Albuquerque, New Mexico, courtroom Friday.

Under the plea agreement, Jaramillo must serve 18 years. Jaramillo initially faced going to prison for more than 57 years.

Jaramillo approached numerous children around Albuquerque in March 2014 to film them getting squirted with the water gun.

They say his victims ranged in age from 9 to 18.

Robert Cooper, Jaramillo's attorney, indicated there was some discussions with his client whether to accept the plea.

"I do think it's a unique legal issue whether sperm being squirted is child abuse," he told Second Judicial District Judge Stan Whitaker. "It's one of the things we talked about."

Jaramillo apologized to his victims in court, blaming his behavior on drugs, alcohol and mental illness.

The father of one victim said Jaramillo took away his daughter's innocence. (Full Text)

Paris terrorist attacks leave more than 140 dead, and France reeling

(washingtonpost.com) PARIS — France declared a state of emergency and secured its borders Friday night after attackers unleashed a coordinated wave of explosions, gunfire and hostage-taking in Paris that left over 140 people dead and generated scenes of horror and carnage.

Taken together, the assaults represented the deadliest day of attacks in France since World War II and one of the worst terrorist strikes on Western soil since Sept. 11, 2001. At sites across Paris — a soccer stadium, restaurants, a concert hall — the attackers carried out suicide bombings, hurled grenades and shot hostages dead in a frenzy of violence that paralyzed the city. Late into the night and early Saturday morning, heavily armed security forces flooded the streets while panicked residents and tourists sought safety indoors.

Friday was the second time this year that the City of Light has been a scene of mass murder; in January, Islamist gunmen attacked the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, leaving a total of 17 dead. The latest violence will only heighten the tension on a continent that is already on edge from the accumulated strain of a historic migration crisis, growing Islamist extremism and increasingly polarized politics.

World leaders rushed to condemn the attacks, and French President François Hollande vowed revenge, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

“We are going to lead a war which will be pitiless,” Hollande said outside the Bataclan concert hall, scene of the most bloodshed. “Because when terrorists are capable of committing such atrocities, they must be certain that they are facing a determined France, a united France, a France that is together and does not let itself be moved, even if today we express infinite sorrow.”

The attacks were quickly celebrated online by backers of the Islamic State and other extremist groups. The scale and sophistication of the attacks will be likely to prompt questions about how the planning for such an operation evaded the scrutiny of French intelligence services. (FULL TEXT)

Walmart workers group plans 15-day protest leading to Black Friday

#retailproblems

(Reuters) - A Wal-Mart Stores Inc worker group that has pushed the retailer to raise pay and benefits is launching a 15-day protest leading up to Black Friday to rekindle the fight for a $15.00 per hour minimum wage and more opportunities to work full time.

The retailer has been a major target of the national movement to increase wages, and its decision earlier this year to raise wages to $9.00 an hour has rippled through the retail industry. Walmart has said the wage increase was not a response to the protests but an effort to improve conditions.

The new protest will test the organizing abilities of workers since OUR Walmart, the Organization United for Respect at Walmart, split in two in September.

The group organizing the protests ahead of Black Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day in the United States, is led by a former United Food and Commercial Workers International Union employee but no longer has the union's financial backing.

Roughly 1,000 people across all 50 states will participate, and more than 100 workers will fast and organize outside stores, offices and executive homes, according to the group, which has led nation-wide protests on Black Friday in previous years.

Tyfani Faulkner, an OUR Walmart member and former Walmart customer service manager in Sacramento, California, said she will fast for all 15 days and that some participants will do a liquid fast or might not fast all days.

The company, which has spent $1 billion this year on the wage increase to $9 an hour, will raise that number to $10 for current employees by February next year. Department store managers, which currently make $13 an hour, will receive a increase to $15 next year.

“False attacks and media stunts from the unions have become an annual tradition this time of year," the company said in a statement, adding that it will continue to invest $2.7 billion in wages going into next year.

The company said last month that raising worker wages would hurt profits, contributing to three-quarters of an expected 6 percent to 12 percent drop in earnings per share next year. (Full Text)

Obesity Rises Despite All Efforts to Fight It, U.S. Health Officials Say

(nytimes.com) WASHINGTON — Despite years of efforts to reduce obesity in America, including a major push by Michelle Obama, federal health officials reported Thursday that the share of Americans who were obese had not declined in recent years, and had edged up slightly.

About 38 percent of American adults were obese in 2013 and 2014, up from 35 percent in 2011 and 2012. Researchers said the increase was small enough that it was not statistically significant. But to many in public health, it was surprising and disheartening.

“The trend is very unfortunate and very disappointing,” said Marion Nestle, a professor in the department of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “Everybody was hoping that with the decline in sugar and soda consumption, that we’d start seeing a leveling off of adult obesity.”

And compared with a decade ago, the increase was significant: In 2003 and 2004, about 32 percent of adults were obese, said the report’s lead author, Cynthia L. Ogden.

Health experts had hoped that gradual improvements in the American diet in recent years might have moved the needle on obesity. Consumption of full-calorie soda has dropped by a quarter since the late 1990s, and there is evidence that calorie intake has dropped for adults and children. Obesity began rising in the 1980s, but the rate flattened in the 2000s, and declinesamong young children in some cities had lifted expectations that the epidemic might be easing.

Obesity among young people was unchanged in 2013 and 2014 from the previous period, the report found. Seventeen percent of Americans ages 2 to 19 were obese, the same as in 2003 and 2004. Experts pointed out that far more work had been done to fight obesity in children, including changes in school lunches and the removal of sugar-sweetened beverages from some school systems.

The figures are from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the gold standard for federal health data, released every two years. For smaller slices of the American population — for example, women or blacks — researchers used four years of data, from 2011 through 2014, for the most reliable results.

Some of the most striking numbers were among minorities. About 57 percent of black women were obese from 2011 to 2014, the highest rate of any demographic. Next highest were Hispanic women, at 46 percent, and Hispanic men, at 39 percent. About 36 percent of white women were obese, and 34 percent of white men. The prevalence of obesity was lowest among Asians, who had a combined rate of about 12 percent. (FULL TEXT)

Heil Hitler: Kansas racial supremacist sentenced to death for three murders

(Reuters) - A judge on Tuesday issued the death penalty for the white supremacist convicted of shooting to death three people at two Jewish centers in Kansas last year.

Johnson County District Court Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan sentenced Frazier Glenn Cross, 74, to die by lethal injection.

A jury in early September convicted Cross, a former senior member of the Ku Klux Klan, of the murders and recommended that he be put to death. Cross also was convicted of three counts of attempted murder for shooting at three other people.

The jury found Cross guilty of killing Reat Underwood, 14, and his grandfather, William Corporon, 69, outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, and Terri LaManno, 53, outside a Jewish retirement home, both in Overland Park, Kansas.

After the judge announced his decision, Cross gave the "Heil Hitler" salute and was forcibly removed from the courtroom.

On the way out, Cross said, "One day my spirit will rise from the grave and you'll know I was right. I'm a happy man."

Cross said in court on Tuesday, as he did during the trial, that he wanted to kill Jews because he believes they control the media, financial institutions and the government.

"Jews are destroying the white race," he said, calling himself a patriot. None of those he killed were Jewish.

In court statements before the sentencing, several relatives of victims denounced Cross for his views and spoke of their painful losses. Cross, a military veteran, sat at a court table in a wheel chair, sometimes glancing up at those who spoke at the podium.

Will Corporon, son of William Corporon, glared at Cross as he talked.

"You are a coward," he said. "You are not a patriot. You are a disgrace to the uniform you wore."

Cross, representing himself in court, said on Tuesday he should be released because he was justified in trying to kill Jews.

"I wanted to kill Jews, not Christians and I do regret it," Cross said. During the trial he faulted the victims for associating with Jews by going to Jewish centers.

Melinda Corporon, wife of William Corporon, told Cross he has never known love.

“We are here today to make sure this voice of evil is silenced permanently,” she said.

Kansas restored the death penalty in 1994; no one has been executed in the state since 1965. (Source)

Police chiefs urge stores to cancel Black Friday as Asda abandons flash sale

Big brands such as Tesco, John Lewis, Morrison’s, Argos and Sainsbury’s have confirmed they will be taking part in Black Friday

(Telegraph.co.uk) November/10/2015 - Police chiefs have urged stores to cancel Black Friday after Asda became the first retailer in the UK to abandon the one-day sales event.

Britain’s leading retailers faced criticism from shoppers, MPs and the police after last year’s flash sale descended into chaos.

The websites for Tesco, John Lewis, Currys and Argos all crashed and officers were called to supermarkets across the UK as shoppers fought for discounted products.

Asda, credited with introducing the event to the UK in 2013, announced it would not be part of Black Friday 2015 due to “shopper fatigue”.

The store, owned by Walmart, said customer feedback was behind its decision to invest in £26 million of savings for consumers across the season rather than a one-off day of sales.

But big brands such as Tesco, John Lewis, Morrisons, Argos and Sainsbury’s have confirmed they will be taking part in Black Friday, which falls on November 27.

And the National Police Chiefs’ Council's Business and Retail Crime unit has written to retailers, urging store managers to reconsider the disorder that comes with a one-day sale.

Deputy Chief Constable Sue Fish, from the NPCC, called to extend the sales period to a week-long event and cancel the Friday pandemonium.

“The police will intervene if necessary to protect public order and safety,” she said. “But we should be the service of last resort, not a substitute for carefully-considered in-store security plans.

“Having to deploy officers to deal with the fallout of highly-marketed but under-staffed sales in shops diverts valuable resources from other areas of policing and is in most cases avoidable through advance planning.

"I would encourage marketing departments to make store security staff and any business crime partnerships they may be members of aware of any changes in opening times designed to extend sales periods.

“I would also encourage stores to consider, as I know some retailers are, extending the Black Friday period to commence on November 23 rather than just the Friday of that week, thereby allowing Christmas shoppers an extended opportunity to avail themselves of the bargains.

“I have written to retailers to reinforce these points.”

In a call for a nationwide boycott earlier this year, two MPs argued that Black Friday should never happen again in Britain.

The event in 2014 led to "scenes of disorder" and placed "unnecessarily high demands" on police resources, according to Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland and Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley.

In January, they urged support from the rest of the Commons, tabling a motion that criticised retailers that "chose to adopt the American retail custom”. (FULL TEXT)

The continuing Soviet collapse

(Reuters.com) 11/09/2015 It’s commonly believed that Russia is diving head-first into an ever-deeper authoritarianism. The ideology is no longer Marxism Leninism: instead, it’s an amalgam of resurgent imperialism, Eurasian exceptionalism and a deepening, and popular, hatred of the United States and Europe.

It’s not common, yet, to see Ukraine, with which Russia wages a frozen, part covert, semi-war, as on the same trajectory. But, like Russia, it’s strengthening what’s become known as the “power vertical” — a post-Soviet system of governance in which the formal institutions are subverted. Despite democratic trappings, the central structure is severely hierarchical, with effective power vested in the presidency and the presidential administration.

Two leading political scientists, one Russian and one Ukrainian, have produced important essays on the current situation in their respective states. Both speak to the despair engendered in both liberal-minded Russians and a broader swathe of Ukrainians over the failure of the projects and promises of democracy. In Ukraine, that disillusionment is both sharper and wider, as the hope of a more democratic and “European-style” politics diminishes. Instead, there is political infighting, continuing control by the wealthy oligarchs, unchecked corruption and fears of renewed warfare.

In the first essay, Mikhail Minakov, president of the Foundation for Good Politics in Kiev, writes that Ukraine remains in thrall to wealthy oligarchs, despite a democratic façade. He believes that in spite of the 2014 Maidan Square revolution that toppled Moscow ally President Victor Yanukovych, the system remains configured for continued authoritarian rule. The barely concealed struggle between Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and current President Petro Poroshenko; the shadowy control the oligarchs exercise on politics and on the judiciary; the supine state of the opposition parties – all leave the way open, Minakov believes, for a strengthening of the presidential-dominated “power vertical.

Regional elections last week were poorly attended, and showed continuing low support for Poroshenko in eastern — mainly Russian-speaking — regions of the country. In September, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt made an unusually pointed charge, in a speech to business executives in the ultra-corrupted port of Odessa, that the Prosecutor-General’s Office in Kiev was an “obstacle” to anticorruption reforms. The office had failed to “successfully fight internal corruption… rather than supporting Ukraine’s reforms and working to root out corruption, corrupt actors within the Prosecutor-General’s Office are making things worse by openly and aggressively undermining reform,” he said.

Anders Aslund, the most prominent economic expert on Ukraine, has estimated the loss to the country’s GDP over 2014 and 2015 as 16 percent. That number is comprised of 7 percent in lost production in Eastern Ukraine, 6 percent from Russian trade sanctions and 3 percent in lost foreign investment. He has called, repeatedly, for urgent Western assistance.

Ukraine has, however, been of immense use to Russian President Vladimir Putin — according to the Russian commentator Andrei Kolesnikov, a former deputy editor of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta. In an essay he says that “following the annexation of (the Ukrainian province of) Crimea in March 2014, the Russian public has embraced an increasingly conservative and nationalistic ideology… and have thrown their support behind the commander of the fortress, President Vladimir Putin.”

Kolesnikov shows that hostility to both Europe and the United States has increased steeply since the invasion of Crimea — a rise similar to the increase in inflation over the same period. Over that period, too, those seeing Josef Stalin (architect behind the death of many millions) as playing a “positive” role also grew strongly — an opinion shared, at the beginning of this year, by just over half the respondents to a Levada Center poll. The Russian Orthodox Church has resumed its role as an important but faithful supporter of the Russian ruler. Both “ideology and the Russian Orthodox Church,” writes Kolesnikov, “‘sanctify’ this political system, which closely resembles a corporate state… the state legally enshrines concepts such as “foreign agent” and “undesirable nongovernmental organization” among others, which gives it plenty of tools to exert complete control over real civil society.”

Both Minakov and Kolesnikov argue that change can come. “Sooner or later,” writes the Russian, “both those on top and those on the bottom will create the demand for a pragmatically formulated, liberal economic ideology.” For the moment, however, the strongly nationalistic and militaristic trend in Russia and the weakness of, and disillusion with, the Ukrainian government, combine to make change in a benign direction highly unlikely.

Together, these two states made up over two thirds of the population of the Soviet Union. With much smaller Belarus to Ukraine’s north, these were the core of the Soviet state, the Russians seeing the other two — with some condescension — as both little brothers and big buffers against an always-feared (and often suffered) Western invasion. Ukraine’s efforts to claw its way to the West represents, for Putin, an inadmissible lèse majesté, a move he has sought with present success to kill by weakening the country to the point where its very statehood is put at risk.

In Vladimir Nabokov’s story “Conversation Piece 1945,” a former White Guard colonel, anti-communist and Christian, says that in spite of his views, he puts Stalin on a par with Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great as a mighty leader. “Today, in every word that comes out of Russia, I feel the power, I feel the splendor of Old Mother Russia. She is again a country of soldiers, of religion and true Slavs.” Such views, writes Kolesnikov, “can still be heard in Moscow’s conservative quarters, corporate backrooms, luxury apartments.” It is the privileging of power and national glory over peaceful co-existence: the need to subdue those within its boundaries who rebel against the national imperative.

Both the EU and the United States encouraged Ukraine to “come west, young nation.” That they may not have thought through the consequence of the invitation doesn’t relieve their responsibility to deal with it.

Ukraine will need very large financial assistance for some years if it’s not to slip deeper into a corrupt authoritarianism — and from there, it would be only a step back to return to the embrace of “Old Mother Russia.” (Full Text)