And chain restaurants are really, really angry about it..
The average American consumes about 3,400 mg of salt per day, and public health advocates have cheered the measure as a smart step to make diners aware of how much sodium they’re ordering. A T.G.I. Friday’s New York cheddar and bacon burger counts 4,280 mg, for example; a Chili’s boneless Buffalo chicken salad has 3,460 mg. The figures come from the companies’ published nutritional information.
It was an unexpected victory for the summer tentpole starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, which received favorable reviews when it opened in May, but is seen as an awards season longshot. So far, most of the advanced buzz in this year’s Oscars race has focused on such indies as “Spotlight,” “Brooklyn” and “Carol” versus the box office goliath “The Martian.”
The MARTIAN was good. But not as good as I expected–even with the ABBA music..
Here is a list of the winners:
Best Film: “Mad Max: Fury Road” Best Director: Ridley Scott, “The Martian” Best Actor: Matt Damon, “The Martian” Best Actress: Brie Larson, “Room” Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone, “Creed” Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Jason Leigh, “The Hateful Eight” Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, “The Hateful Eight” Best Adapted Screenplay: Drew Goddard, “The Martian” Best Animated Feature: “Inside Out” Breakthrough Performance: Abraham Attah, “Beasts of No Nation” and Jacob Tremblay, “Room” Best Directorial Debut: Jonas Carpignano, “Mediterranea” Best Foreign Language Film: “Son of Saul” Best Documentary: “Amy” William K. Everson Film History Award: Cecilia De Mille Presley Best Ensemble: “The Big Short” Spotlight Award: “Sicario” for outstanding collaborative vision NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “Beasts of No Nation” and “Mustang”
It has been a long time since the DRUDGE REPORT posted a story of its own. Today that changed.. the siren was blazing this morning with a headline that Leonardo DiCaprio was raped by a bear.. You had to click on the story to see that it was about a new movie with him as the star–no spoiler warning was given prior to the pronouncement of DiCaprio’s unfortunate scene in the upcoming film REVANANT..
This filed by Matt Drudge today:
The explicit moment from Oscar winning director Alejandro Inarritu has caused maximum controversy in early screenings. Some in the audience escaped to the exits when the Wolf of Wall Street met the Grizzly of Yellowstone
“You’re never going to be normal after you go through something like that. You don’t die for a few weeks and then come back to normal, trust me,” he said. “Something’s going to be missing, something’s going to be gained – you just got to live your life after that. But after surviving something like that, I’m probably never going to feel normal.”
Morgan said he “went to the other side” while he was in his coma and learned that his time on Earth was not quite up.“This is not something I’m making up,” Morgan said. “Do you know what God said to me? He said, ‘Your room ain’t ready. I still got something for you to do.’ And here I am, doing an interview with you.”
People will say what they will and judge how they might. But I will take a step back and just let this idea fester in my own brain, and hopefully yours too.
Did Tracy Morgan talk to God? Since we weren’t there, we will never be able to say. We all have a our own personal view of death and religion, God, and faith. Some of us believe. Some of us don’t. But what happens at the time of death if unknown to us, besides the scientific studies presented to date. When does the body die? That is changing.. When does the mind vanish? When does consciousness end? And does it end..? All questions that, quite frankly, we will ALL know the answers to one day.
A woman has been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly posting a photo on Facebook last week showing a dog muzzled with electrical tape, officials said Monday. The post sparked outrage online, and went viral.
A Facebook user with an account registered to Katie Brown posted a photograph on her Facebook wall Friday of a dog that looks like a chocolate lab with electrical tape wrapped around its mouth and the message, “This is what happens when you dont (sic) shut up!!!”
A teenage schoolgirl was found hanging from a tree after she began suffering from an allergic reaction to WiFi, an inquest has heard.
Tragic Jenny Fry was left with crippling headaches, tiredness and bladder problems brought on by electro-hypersensitivity (EHS).
An inquest into her death heard how the 15-year-old’s mum Debra said her symptoms were caused because she was allergic to wireless internet connections at her school.
Jenny’s body was found hanging from a tree at Brooke Woods, near her home in Chadlington, Oxon., at 4.20pm on June 11.
But Lucas won’t read that, or your comment below, because he also admitted in the interview that he has “assiduously avoided the Internet since 2000 — no Facebook, no Twitter, no e-mail even.” The first of the oft-derided Star Wars prequel movies, The Phantom Menace, was released in 1999, so that was probably indeed a good time to bail out.
It’s true.
Just imagine..
No cats.. no Janet Jackson nipplegate memes.. no Facebook.. no early Twitter.. no blogs..
“ U.S. NEWS Why in hell are exorcisms still so popular?
THE CONVERSATION 30 NOV 2015 AT 06:48 ET Share on Facebook Share on Twitter The Rev. Bob Larson performs an exorcism (KNXV) Don’t miss stories. Follow Raw Story!
Shop ▾ At Texas State University, I teach an honors course called “Demonology, Possession, and Exorcism.” It’s not a gut course. My students produce research papers on topics that range from the role of sleep paralysis in reports of demonic attacks to contemporary murder cases in which defendants have claimed supernatural forces compelled them to commit crimes.
In fact, talk of demons isn’t unusual in Texas. The first day of class, when we watched a clip of an alleged exorcism at an Austin Starbucks, many of my students said that they’d seen similar scenes in the towns where they’d grown up.
In 2014, an exorcism took place outside of a Starbucks in Austin, Texas. A few students even admitted their parents were nervous that they’d signed up for the class. Maybe these parents worried their kids would become possessed, or that studying possession in the classroom might make demons seem less plausible. (Perhaps it was a mix of both.)
Either way, these parents aren’t a superstitious minority: a poll conducted in 2012 found that 57% of Americans believe in demonic possession. Nonetheless, demons (invisible, malevolent spirits) and exorcism (the techniques used to cast these spirits out of people, objects or places) are often thought of as relics of the past, beliefs and practices that are incompatible with modernity. It’s an assumption based in a sociological theory that dates back to the 19th century called the secularization narrative. Scholars such as Max Weber predicted that over time, science would inevitably supersede belief in “mysterious forces.”
But while the influence of institutionalized churches has waned, few sociologists today would claim that science is eliminating belief in the supernatural. In fact, in the 40 years since the blockbuster film The Exorcist premiered, belief in the demonic remains as popular as ever, with many churches scrambling to adapt.
Exorcism’s golden age
So why has exorcism made a comeback? It may be that belief in the demonic is cyclical. Historian of religion David Frankfurter notes that conspiracy theories involving evil entities like demons and witches tend to flare up when local religious communities are confronted with outside forces such as globalization and modernity. Attributing misfortune and social change to hidden evil forces, Frankfurter suggests, is a natural human reaction; the demonic provides a context that can make sense of unfamiliar or complex problems.”
The golden age! When exorcisms take place outside Starbucks and the Pope lays hands on people to rid them of demons.. The golden age indeed.
The paranormal’s golden age is potentially here as well. When mainstream news focuses like a laser beam on devilish subject matter and strange lights in the sky. It’s a good time to be alive. And if you believe exorcisms are the true manifestation of evil, then to appears to be a prime time to be a demonic entity.
I missed this story a few days ago, but it’s important. The United States government is being sued by a woman for the return of ‘lost’ footage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy..
Reporting from the UK GAURDIAN:
A woman whose grandfather shot a home video of the assassination of presidentJohn F Kennedy that has since been misplaced is suing the US government, demanding the film be returned or that she be paid $10m in compensation.
Gayle Nix Jackson filed the lawsuit in federal court on Saturday, one day before the 52nd anniversary of Kennedy’s death. The film was shot by her grandfather Orville Nix and shows the assassination in Dealey plaza in Dallas on 22 November 1963.
Jackson’s lawsuit claims the film is as important as the assassination footage captured by Abraham Zapruder with his movie camera. The federal government settled with Zapruder’s heirs in 1999 to purchase the film for $16m.
The claim states: “According to the Warren Commission, the Nix film is nearly as important as the Zapruder film, yet the public is mainly unaware of its significance.”
The Warren Commission conducted the government’s investigation of the shooting.
The footage was sold by Nix with an understanding that it would be returned 25 years later. It never was.. it was sold to UPI. UPI turned it over to the government. The public is unaware of this video, focusing more on the famed Zapruder film..
This video of Orville Nix is interesting.. take a look-see.. and go with the flow. And question more than you do.
This was posted to Art Bell’s Facebook page tonight.. Those following know he had a recent shooting incident take place on his property during a live show.. It would be conjecture to say any such similar event has occurred but it would appear something serious may have occurred..
Last night during his program he mentioned that he thought there was an intruder on his property before the show.. No further mention was made after his initial comment prior to interviewing Michio Kaku..
These are must haves .. I’m going to be attempting some tofu for the first time coming up this week. In fact I’m a little nervous in the service about it..
Perhaps turkey week isn’t the best time to promote a healthy plant based diet, but here goes nothing.. Take a read to the link mentioned. So far as I journey deeper into a vegan lifestyle, everything on the list is true.. And then some. Later I’ll find some good resources for people who want to maintain their health standards when they go from meat based to plant based.. After two solid weeks of being meet free I’m feeling detoxed and fresh, but had some moments where I upped certain vitamins to eliminate any possibility of deficiency.
The ultimate goal is to get your health through food. In our age it’s possible by weeding out he false prophets of GMO and fad foods..
There is a dilemma facing me this week. Thanksgiving. Will I eat turkey or not? I’m leaning towards the chance I’ll have one little morsel of tasty dark meat. Maybe. We will see. I can’t predict that at this time.
DREAD CENTRAL gives us a list of the top movies for the winter season–horror with cold and chill as the background theme of the flick. The list here..
I disagree–you heard that right–with virtually the entire list.
The biggest problem is the lack of inclusion of my all time favorite snow/cold related movie: STORM OF THE CENTURY, by Stephen King. It’s the amazing near day-long experience, one that’s perfect for a night stuck in because of snow or a day held up because of closings.. Andre Linoge walking the streets of a town during a blizzard, looking for what he wants to go away. That’s scary. The list from DREAD CENTRAL, to me at least, not scary.
I am sure you have your favorite too.. Mine will always be the STORM..
KABC in Los Angeles, the big Cumulus station that recently picked up the MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT Art Bell stream, is offering up 12 hours of programming Thanksgiving that features the best of Art Bell’s radio program.
Perhaps even better news, the programming isn’t being picked at random or a computer, it’s from Bell himself.
BELL said, “We are thrilled to be back on the great 790 KABC, where we had great success. My loyal fans will love that I’m personally hand picking the best 12 hours of out-of-this-world radio.”
Operations Dir. DREW HAYES added, “This ART BELL special goes great with turkey and stuffing, and is the perfect program for families at home or traveling, to enjoy and be spellbound together.”
Iraqi forces prevented a major Islamic State (previously ISIS/ISIL) attack as they found and disabled 18 booby-trapped dolls with explosives inside just north of the capital Baghdad. The plot targeted Shia Muslims going on an upcoming religious pilgrimage.
This from RT:
The diabolical plan was to scatter all the dolls alongside the road between Baghdad and Karbala during the Arbaeen pilgrimage, which is a Shia Muslim annual religious observance.
Millions of Shia Muslims walk the path every year. In 2014, there was a new record number of pilgrims, totaling 17.5 million people.
I attempt to recoil from news like this. On one hand, if it’s true, it’s depravity at its finest. And on the other side of the coin, it could always be state propaganda from someone who is trying to compel people with morality into a position of war theater.
Regardless, as a whole, there is something chilling about the perversion of children in this world–the suffering of children.. the theft of childhood.. the insanity of adults who warp the mind of the youth and make their pain on this planet great. The biggest crime a human can commit to anyone–I really believe–is to steal their innocence or their virtue..
Putting bombs in dolls is low.. But nothing new on this sickening planet.. There are times when the bad seems to outweigh the good. It is difficult but true to keep in mind: There are amazing people across this planet and of billions, mostly people who just want to enjoy their short lives..
Islamic State militants are reportedly moving to the dark web as a way to protect their identities and content, after hundreds of websites and twitter accounts were taken down by hacktivists in the wake of last week’s Paris attacks.
I often read about the ‘Inuit reports that the earth has wobbled,’ or shifted.. rumors online say that we just aren’t where we used to be. That the sun sets somewhere else..that the moon isn’t looking right in the sky anymore.
Scientists, when they actually talk about it, dismiss it all.. They use reason and logic to say most of these rumors are false..
The website ALL NEWS PIPELINE has been a mainstay in the conspiracy world online for years.. I read it with interest. I take it all with massive grains of salt but often sprinkle on some pepper to ignite my imagination.
What are they hiding? There are a variety of theories, including HAARP and the geoengineering and weather manipulation causing the atmospheric chaos being seen today. Some believe we are feeling the effects of the much-talked about Planet X. There is also the IduitElder warning of the “Earth shifting,” which in light of reports that came pouring in to the ANP comment section yesterday on this article, has many wondering if we are witnessing a magnetic pole shift could be the real culprit behind climate change and if this is the real reason for the government gag orders, the secrecy, and the refusal to provide Congress with the data they have issued a subpoena for.
ALL NEWS PIPELINE is a bit tough to read. Old style HTML coupled with lots of exclamation points and words..
But the gist is clear: The Earth’s position has changed, they say..
I read with MORE interest, the comments section. Such as this comment from someone named June:
Since the late 1990’s, myself and others have noticed that the Sun has shifted into it’s Fall position before it should. This past summer, the Sun shifted into the Fall position on August 3. This is not normal. So it is not the Sun that is shifting, it is the earth. I’ve read that the magnetic north pole has moved. And since it has, so has the magnetic south pole. I live in NE Ohio, right below Lake Erie
Someone else said,
Sometimes I look up and wonder if I’m on the same planet. Looks like alien skies. It’s amazing and disturbing because I know it’s not supposed to look like that.
A user named JJ offered up reason:
My husband is a logger and I used his compass. Here in south Kentucky, north is north if I can trust this compass
There is a ton of information to consider, sift through.. but compel reason in your mind before just buying into climate conspiracy craziness or lunar lunacy.
And with that said, I will only offer up this last thing. I have noticed some oddities, too. Some strange … skies.
Over the past several years I have noticed what, well I just can’t describe it really, a certain shift in where the sun in the sky was compared to where it is now. And not just the seasonal changes the sun takes on.. I have some photographs taken this exact time of year in the past. When I see where the sunset was then compared to where it’s setting now, the exact date years later, it’s different. This summer, I noted a part of my house got sunlight that never quite had sunlight in the past.
Am I going crazy? Is this all really happening? I had thought my tin foil hat was secure, but perhaps some loosening has occurred on the skull grip over the past few years.. SOS to the Inuits.. were you right?
Cigales Electroniques with Vocodecks, RE-Play & Rawtor at Le Bizen (Paris)
Concrete Invites Drumcode: Adam Beyer, Alan Fitzpatrick, Joel Mull at Concrete (Paris)
Demonstration by Collectif du Droit des Femmes (Paris)
Feast of Christ the King celebrations (Rome/Worldwide)
Al-Jihad, One Day One Juz (Indonesia)
Five Finger Death Punch (Milan)
University Pastoral Day (Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanon)
And this:
Anonymous also said the Islamic State group is planning an assault at the WWE Survivor Series event scheduled to take place in the Philips Arena in Atlanta Sunday at 7.30 p.m. EST, as well as attacks at multiple events in Paris
The USGS recorded 17 Oklahoma earthquakes since the 4.7, including a 4.0 magnitude near Crescent, and the 4.1 magnitude near Medford.
The quakes recorded as low as 2.6 magnitude (two Thursday near Cherokee and Medford), but also include six recorded earlier today:
- 2.7 magnitude 6:07 a.m. about 9 miles south-southwest of Cherokee
- 2.8 magnitude 9:42 a.m. about 15 miles north-northwest of Fairview
- 3.1 magnitude 3:11 p.m. about 15 miles east of Cherokee
- 3.2 magnitude 2:06 a.m. about 18 miles north-northwest of Fairview
- 3.5 magnitude 12:12 a.m. about 9 miles southwest of Cherokee
- 3.5 magnitude 5:22 a.m. about 9 miles southwest of Cherokee.
Remember the good ole’ days when people who said gas well fracking would cause earthquakes were called loons and conspiracy theorists? Environmentalist wackos and alarmists who didn’t deserve press? I remember those days… Happy to have been one of the few who raised alarms.
And now with this many earthquakes in the state that once had so little, this news:
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission announced Friday plans to shut off four disposal wells within 3 miles of the earthquake activity near Crescent on Thursday. Two quakes were recorded, one of which was a magnitude 4.0.
The plan also called for a 50 percent volume reduction at seven Arbuckle disposal wells. Operators at other nearby wells also were put on notice to be prepared for possible changes in operation.
As it currently stands, no indications from Yahoo have suggested the company is re-thinking its Alibaba spin-off plan.
One Yahoo investor told us that the board and Yahoo’s management team appears not to be thinking about this as owners of the company — and therefore stewards of shareholder capital — but as a management team that simply wants to keep itself in place.
In other words, this investor sees Yahoo’s board in something resembling self-preservation mode rather than acting in the best interests of the company over the long term.
Mayer is also facing the consequences of her own rule.. The company is in no better shape now financially than it was before she took over. The acquisition of Tumblr seemed strange at the time it occurred and now even more so.. remember the amount of people who flocked off of the social network then?
As I said then, I will say again. The fact Yahoo! buys something is a virtual online death sentence .. eventually. And just because so many people use Tumblr? Doesn’t mean much. Lots of people used and loved Geocities too.. Nothing is forever. With Marissa Mayer, less things are forever faster..
Time is ticking. The boardroom is waiting. Will bedlam hit the board? Or will Mayer live to slay another day?
The problem: Nothing I posted recently is visible. There is a post dated July 19 2015 that features a short video called THE COFFER. I deleted this video. But it will not go away.. and by staying there it seems to be blocking all new content from being visible. Nothing posted after July of this year is even visible, something I just noticed in the last 24 hours.
Can anyone help me with this?
Send me a message on Tumblr if you use it or email me at bsmolock@gmail.com if you know a solution.. Otherwise I am befuddled. Dumbfounded.. confused.
Prime Minister Charles Michel said the decision to raise the threat level was taken “based on quite precise information about the risk of an attack like the one that happened in Paris … where several individuals with arms and explosives launch actions, perhaps even in several places at the same time.”
Facebook says it will begin to experiment with new tools that will help people better manage these complicated relationships. The tools will be designed to give users the option to digitally distance themselves from their former loved ones without having to take drastic measures.
And this: There’s a red dwarf about 35 light-years from here that’s spewing powerful, life crushing solar flares into space. These types of stellar objects are fairly common, leading to speculation that our galaxy is less habitable than we thought.
I don’t know if I buy into the argument that the universe is teaming with life.. And likewise don’t buy that there’s none.
But what if–what if!–we really are the only planet in the entire universe that has life! What if it’s us.. Just us. And accidental mishap causing a creation of life and eventually creatures who love and hate. Perhaps the idea we are alone is a million times more frightening than the prospects we are not..
As politicians rush to curb refugee intake, research reveals 80% of people indicted over alleged Isis ties have been US citizens, and none came from Syria..
Saudi Arabia’s justice system is based on Sharia Islamic law and its judges are clerics from the kingdom’s ultra conservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam. In the Wahhabi interpretation of Sharia, religious crimes including blasphemy and apostasy incur the death penalty.
DEVELOPING: Mali special forces storming besieged Bamako hotel; 3 hostages reported killed, about 20 freed; Gunmen reportedly let go those who could recite Koran;
The website BLOODY DISGUSTING today reminded me of something I completely forgot about from my youth.. the Freddy Kreuger 1-900 number..
Like Brad Miska, I never called when I was a kid. I remember my cousins and I watching these commercials late at night and thinking about doing it.. but that was the 20th century. The time of TOLL calls and no internet.. such a strange and different time compared to now.
Francis unequivocally recognized the Islamist ideology behind the attacks, denouncing the use of God’s name to justify the brutal attacks as “blasphemy.”
Commenting on Sunday’s Scripture readings, the Pope said that Jesus’ preaching about the end of the world contains “apocalyptic elements, like war, famine, and cosmic catastrophes.”
“In those days,” Francis repeated, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”
The November 18 notice is billed as a “Security Message for U.S. Citizens” regarding a potential for terrorist attacks, and arrived punctually into the email boxes of all Americans registered with the embassy, including that of Breitbart News.
Along with the Vatican, the State Department singles out the Duomo (cathedral) and La Scala opera house in Milan. It goes on to note that general venues “such as churches, synagogues, restaurants, theatres, and hotels” in both Rome and Milan are possible targets as well.
The embassy notice says: “Terrorist groups may possibly utilize similar methods used in the recent Paris attacks,” meaning bombs and assault rifles.
If we make it through December we’ll be (hopefully) fine..
I think.
This end of the world talk.. well, we have heard it before for sure. Countless times after all..
And each time a religious figure pointed out that “Jesus may come today,” it was tomorrow..
The earth has been through very ghastly days before. People have faced down villains of dramatic proportions. It would seem that those days are again coming.
Ignoring religious connotations, I will only say this: It would appear there is something strange in the air of late.. Something that seems foreboding. I have felt this tingle since the late summer. Back then, September was rumored to be the ‘end times’ for the planet. Then, I highly dismissed those claims and wrote articles on here protesting the very inclusion with such rumors into your lives.
But since that time, things have increasingly become more tense.
Chinese vs US.. Russia vs US.. Russia vs ISIS.. ISIS vs rebels.. Rebels vs Assad. China vs ISIS.. Saudis vs Assad. US vs… ?
The plotline is written.. the table is set. The deck chairs feel arranged. And yes, it would seem like the chess game of world war is being played. Pawns in a larger picture are now picked and we are just moved away from … what?
One more time.
If we make it through December we’ll be (hopefully) fine..
Developing
CONFIRMED: Abdelhamid Abaaoud killed during anti-terrorist op in Saint-Denis
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Who’ll love the devil?… Who’ll song his song?… Who will love the devil and his song?… I’ll love the devil!… I’ll sing his song!… I will love the devil and his song!… Who’ll love the devil?… Who’ll kiss his tongue?… Who will kiss the devil on his tongue?… I’ll love the devil!… I’ll kiss his tongue!… I will kiss the devil on his tongue!… Who’ll love the devil?… Who’ll sing his song?… I WILL LOVE THE DEVIL AND SING HIS SONG!…
These were the words being sung as the Paris terror attack began in the packed concert hall in France.. The band was from the United States called Eagles of Metal Death. The song is ‘Kiss the devil.’
Mothers of ISIS.. abandoned by their children.. now all they have is each other.
SHOCK ACT OF PROTEST
Trade union leader sets himself on FIRE to protest the looming sale of Mongolian coal mines to Chinese companies ..
Before doing it, he said: “The government no longer supports our company, families of the workers are forced to starve, this is why I will burn myself for the people of Mongolia and our children”
A split second later, the speaker appears to burst into flame. In the terrifying moment that follows, screams can be heard as his companions rip off their jackets and immediately start beating the engulfing flames from the man, who has fallen, agonizing, to the floor. The blaze was finally suppressed with a fire extinguisher.
France has invoked an EU treaty collective defense article requesting military help from its European partners in response to the terror attacks in Paris. EU officials say the mutual defense article is being used for the first time.
The assistance would come from 28 European partners under Article 42.7 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty
It’s called the mutual defense clause..
And now it’s going to be put to the test
DOGS OF WAR
x x x
A 7-year-old police dog named Diesel was killed by the attackers during the raid, according to police. The dog was a German shepherd sniffer dog.
The police also tweeted, “Assault and explosives search dogs are indispensable in the missions of the operators of the raid” with a photo showing an unidentified police dog.
Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin had a markedly warmer exchange at the G20 in Turkey this week than in other recent encounters, and both sides indicated a willingness to do more to work together.
Hanover Police Chief Volker Kluwe told local broadcaster NDR that officials received “a concrete tip that an explosives attack was planned against this international match in the stadium.” A high-level European security official said the evacuation, which took place shortly before the match was due to begin, was related to the Paris attacks.
While no explosives were immediately located, the appearance of another suspected plot to wreak havoc at a crowded public event underscored the formidable challenge facing European nations as they seek to detect and prevent terrorist attacks.
Remember this year when that horrid live shooting occurred where a newscaster died? A show was called off then, too..
With all major disasters and terror attacks in recent memory, there is either a show about it before it occurs or pulled after it happens.
Life imitating art? Art being ahead of the curve? Or a sign we’re in a controlled matrix with nothing but predictable endings all around. Maybe that’s extreme.
My Facebook page is lit up this evening by people on both sides of the fence.. declaring their opinions.. illuminating their profile pictures in French colors.. signing petitions for and against the refugee influx..
One person even humorously posted the Tom Petty song dealing with such topics..
Wikileaks released audiotapes on Monday purporting to reveal that appointees of the Bush and Obama administrations corruptly misappropriated funds intended to encourage the hiring of disabled people.
The tapes are intended to provide evidence that billions of dollars meant for disabled people went instead to defence contractors and other major corporations without large proportions of disabled employees.
The accusations centre on a government programme called AbilityOne, which awards about $3 billion annually in government contracts. Most of that money is distributed by SourceAmerica, a non-profit.
CBS NEWS reports: Several experts in immigration and constitutional law told CBS News that states are not empowered to reject immigrants granted refugee status by the United States.
Immigration law is federal.. This is becoming a controversial and delicate issue now is all states where governors are either attempting to stop, or increase the flow of Syrian refugees..
“Separately, Fox News has learned that four credible, ISIS-linked social media accounts began sharing messages 72 hours before the Paris attack, including images of weapons, the Eiffel tower, as well as blessings for the attackers’ mission. A military intelligence source says the social media traffic is now seen as evidence the three teams had gone operational.”
The Russian plane crash in Sinai, Egypt, was caused by a terrorist attack as traces of explosives have been found in the wreckage of the plane, Federal Security Service director Aleksandr Bortnikov told President Vladimir Putin.
It took a bit for it to happen but Russia has now come to the table of terrorism concerning the plane crash, something other nations did before them.. Meanwhile Russian missiles are currently firing from the Mediterranean into Syria..
It just feels all pieces are now in place on the chess board of World War III ..
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has called for an ‘immediate halt’ to the intake of migrants into France following the deadly jihadist attacks on Paris which left 129 people dead.
Le Pen’s National Front (FN) party said in a statement that one of the attackers, known only as Ahmed al-Mohammed, had arrived in Greece last month 'among the mass of migrants who flow into Europe each day.’
The statement, issued three weeks ahead of regional elections in France, added: 'As a precaution, Marine Le Pen calls for the immediate halt of all intake of migrants in France.’
France is in turmoil.. A national change in psyche.. The president of France today declared that his nation was at war and the parliament stood up and sang their national anthem..
Caitlyn Jenner, who as Bruce Jenner was a Drake Relays champion in 1976, was in Des Moines visiting the university campus with her reality show producers. Although a Republican, she asked for a ticket to the debate. The request went all the way up to CBS News President David Rhodes.
“Our person told her person that we don’t have any tickets left, which happens to be factual.” Rhodes said.
(Jenner told The Times that she did not get into the debate hall but that she was able to watch it on television with students on the Drake University campus. She said she still planned to vote Republican. “They didn’t convince me,” she said.)
The UK GUARDIAN is beginning a series of special reports about the poorest places in the United States.. they begin in the state of Kentucky, a coal town named Beattysville, that they label America’s poorest white town.. abandoned by coal and swallowed by drugs. That headline gave me the interest needed to go forward–interest because the place I was born and raised, the coal region of Pennsylvania, has also seen the same insanity.. poverty rising and drug abuse gaining..
Karen Jennings patted her heavily made up face, put on a sardonic smile and said she thought she looked good after all she’d been through.
“I was an alcoholic first. I got drunk and fell in the creek and broke my back. Then I got hooked on the painkillers,” the 59-year-old grandmother said.
Over the years, Jennings’ back healed but her addiction to powerful opioids remained. After the prescriptions dried up, she was drawn to the underground drug trade that defines eastern Kentucky today as coal, oil and timber once did.
Jennings spoke with startling frankness about her part in a plague gripping the isolated, fading towns dotting this part of Appalachia. Frontier communities steeped in the myth of self-reliance are now blighted by addiction to opioids – “hillbilly heroin” to those who use them. It’s a dependency bound up with economic despair and financed in part by the same welfare system that is staving off economic collapse across much of eastern Kentucky. It’s a crisis that crosses generations.
More from the same woman who was profiled for the article:
It was at the local food bank that Jennings spilled out her story.
“There are lots of ways of getting drugs. The elderly sell their prescriptions to make up money to buy food. There are doctors and pharmacies that just want to make money out of it,” she said. “I was the manager of a fast food place. I used to buy from the customers. People could come in for a hamburger and do a drug transaction with me and no one would ever notice.”
Even as Jennings related the toll of drug abuse – the part it played in destroying at least some of her five marriages, the overdose that nearly cost her life and the letter she wrote to her doctor begging for the help that finally wrenched her off the pills – she spoke as if one step removed from the experience.
On the death of coal:
People in eastern Kentucky still call it “coal country”, even though the decline continued largely unabated and the number of jobs in the industry fell with the passing of each presidency. There were 31,000 under Bill Clinton but fewer than 14,000 by the time George W Bush left power.
The number of people employed in mining in eastern Kentucky has fallen by half since Barack Obama came to power, although the long history of decline has been conveniently set aside in the clamour to blame the current president. The more cautious critics say Obama is anti-coal because of his environment policies. But a no less popular view in the region is that it is part of president Obama’s war on white people.
The employer:
The largest employer in the county is now the school system. There are five times as many healthcare workers in eastern Kentucky as miners. “Coal country” is today little more than a cultural identity.
The office of Ed Courier’s Sturgeon Mining Company is on the high street. Its few remaining mines involve people digging coal out of hillsides. “I’ve been in the coal business since ’78 and the last five years I’ve been trying to get out of the coal business. There’s no future for it here,” he said
You may be from a town next profiled by the UK media.. you may be a part of the great unraveling of American society.. the “Great society” turning into the land of the addiction…..
It’s now. It’s real. And you cannot deny it..
Now we just have to wonder if anything will actually fix it.
If you think about it, the majority of victims last night are music fans,“ he said in a Saturday phone interview with Irish radio host Dave Fanning. "This is the first direct hit on music that we’ve had in this so-called War on Terror. And it’s very upsetting. These are our people. … The cold-blooded effect of this slaughter is deeply disturbing and that’s what I can’t get out of my head
I went to an auction today.. a bit of an emotional roller coaster sort of began and ended at the right time in my life.. at the moment when I understand things better than before.. at a point where I can forgive, forget, and focus nostalgic memories when needed for perspective.
To give a quick history.. the school was once for all women. It changed to a Catholic high school later.. it housed my antics… and the diocese of Allentown PA chose to close the school in 2007..
Years later–this year–North Schuylkill, the district the vacant building resides in, bought it .. some considered it sold for pennies on the dollar. Others felt it was an investment gone wrong.
Today there was a public auction.. and a Betsy Ross piano was included. I just about walked away bidding on this for $1 … My failure become notable when I got into a bidding war with a fellow piano lover.. I gave up after the price went too high ($120, however.. perhaps not too high for a baby grand) .. Nonetheless, before I left the building, I had one last shot to dish out a song.. And what better one to choose than the Cardinal Brennan high school Alma Mater..
I am proudly boasting and will always relish in this fact: I was the final person who had the chance to blast out the school alma mater on a piano in this building. Forever. It will never happen again. The ghosts of the past perhaps had one last chance to sing their praise.. or maybe those ghosts have been gone for a long time anyway.
We sing our praise to alma mater the school we all love. We raise heart and voice in joyous acclaim. We cherish you and all you teach us. Blue and gold your colors our fame. We will be true to the ideals that are strong heritage. From on high you reign our true beacon light; Now let’s sing out in happy chorus. Praise to our dear school, Cardinal Brennan High!
Nonetheless, that is this video.. that is this song.. That’s the show, folks. School is out. Forever.
