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)