It’s a tweet that ultimately fell on deaf ears: “#ServicioPublico Infalgan solution of 10 Mg for injection is needed for Vanessa Chacón.” S ent from San Rafael del Piñal, a small town in Venezuela near the border with Colombia, the tweet was sent on behalf of Chacón, 22, who needed the medicine to survive a severe coronary condition.  Unfortunately, it’s simply not available there — and isn’t likely to be anytime soon.

Think for a second of the utter horror that many are now feeling in this nation.. Several hundred tweets—at this point—are being posted daily asking for the same help. Oil prices dropped.. an economy crashed.. This nation seems to be teetering on the brink of destruction..

The ECONOMIST is summing up what it calls mismanagement and an oil slump as the main culprits for the decaying social fabric of the nation.. The publication reports,

About this, at least, Mr Rondón is correct. Sixteen years after Hugo Chávez took power in Venezuela, and two years after he died, his “Bolivarian Revolution” faces the gravest threats yet to its survival. The regime is running out of money to import necessities and pay its debts. There are shortages of basic goods, from milk and flour to shampoo and disposable nappies. Queues, often of several hundred people, form each day outside supermarkets. Ten patients of the University Hospital in Caracas died over the Christmas period because of a shortage of heart valves.

Another aspect of the trouble in the nation: Education is at risk of becoming meaningless there as the LATIN AMERICAN HERALD TRIBUNE writes in an editorial:

If something has been evident during 16 years of “socialism of the 21st century” is that education has stopped being a priority, unless the State finds it useful to get its ideology into the heads of citizens.
Evidence of this contempt for education is there for everyone to see: schools and educational centers have collapsed; professors and teachers are poorly paid and poorly prepared; curricular changes eliminated basic subjects, distorted reality and introduced indoctrinating concepts and materials; evaluations and automatic promotions were eliminated, among others.

Meanwhile: Bonds are tumbling.. 

And as mentioned above: The pharmacy shelves are empty and barren..

Welcome to America: Grandfather visiting ALABAMA from India stopped by cops for walking on the street,bodyslammed and left partially paralyzed..

The crime of yoga pants? A Montana legislative panel moved to kill an indecent exposure bill Wednesday after the lawmaker who introduced it said he thinks yoga pants should be illegal…

Massive hurricanes used to strike New England. Now scientists are worried that will happen again

Monster hurricanes once plagued New England.. new predictions today that the history of horror may repeat itself.. While Europe was going through the Middle Ages, America’s East Coast was being pummeled by hurricanes at least as intense as Katrina every 40 years or so.. Such storms would be catastrophic if they hit the northeast U.S. today, according to lead author Jeff Donnelly of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution… 

Is this simply a plant of a story to mentally prep us for something they know is coming?

Two completely alternate views of the current measles and vaccine controversy.. One from WIRED on anti-vaxxers in Silicon Valley; another from TRUTHOUT on Merck itself..

WIRED magazine argues the case: How to get Silicon Valley anti-vaxxers to change their minds.. But quick the alternate argument was presented in TRUTHOUT with a piece written by ALEX JAMES, who says the dangers presented by recent revelations about MERCK are much more troubling than anti-vaxxers.

NBC expands 'SNL 40th Anniversary Special' to more than three hours

NBC is already making a big deal of the 40th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” — and now it’s making it a little bigger.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE 40th anniversary special will be more than three hours long.. Which I think is well worth it. The show, for all its troubles through time, has given us memorable pop culture moments.. sadly most cast members were forgettable. 

Maybe it was because it was when I was younger and dumber, but I think some of the best humor on the show came from the 92-94 seasons and then the 97-2004 years.. The most recent few have showcased how the program is quickly losing its influence as the power of television wanes..

NBC expands 'SNL 40th Anniversary Special' to more than three hours

Seems like the entire state of Pennsylvania forgot about the crime of children being molested, having their dignity and innocence stolen, and have a head coach who couldn’t care less.. A new poll shows that a vast majority of Pennsylvanians want the Joe Paterno statue to return to Penn State..

More on Carr's death: Just hours before his death he had moderated a "Times Talks" conversation with Edward Snowden, director Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald about the documentary "Citizenfour," which chronicles Snowden's leak of National Security Agency documents. Carr, engaged as always, drew them out with pointed questions and wry observations to speak candidly about the film.

Yep. Getting creepy.

More on Carr's death: Just hours before his death he had moderated a "Times Talks" conversation with Edward Snowden, director Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald about the documentary "Citizenfour," which chronicles Snowden's leak of National Security Agency documents. Carr, engaged as always, drew them out with pointed questions and wry observations to speak candidly about the film.

Islamic State fighters reportedly seized most of a western Iraqi town on Thursday, in fighting taking place mere miles from an air base where hundreds of U.S. Marines are training Iraqis.

Islamic State fighters reportedly seized most of a western Iraqi town on Thursday, in fighting taking place mere miles from an air base where hundreds of U.S. Marines are training Iraqis.

Musingsinhtx is referring to this just posted tonight.. 

And to answer: Indeed I did hear Clyde Lewis—I also sent him the link tonight through Twitter of the most recent two deaths, and he spoke about it on his show only moments ago..

The ‘brain drain’ he is talking about is interesting.. He compared it to the way the Dirty War was fought in Argentina.

There’s one thing about Clyde Lewis that I love.. he makes me think differently than any other host or program out there.

Are reporters suddenly in danger?

Yesterday Bob Simon of CBS was killed in a car crash..

Ned Colt, NBC News Journalist, Dies in Boston at 58 

 David Carr, Media Columnist for The Times, Is Dead at 58

Bob Hager, the man you may know very well for commentary on aviation on NBC NEWS, was unhurt after a head-on crash today..

A friend of mine is live-Facebooking her theater viewing of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY tonight..

For the first time, Facebook has become NSFW..

A few other thoughts from the news world on the movie:

A FIFTY SHADES OF INSANITY weekend:
FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY described as ‘domestic violence dressed up as erotica’
Family groups fury..
SUPERMAN with sex..

Art Bell resigning the night? Without his bumper music, his show WILL NOT go on

It is really, really, really hard being an Art Bell fan on days like today..

Art Bell resigning the night? Without his bumper music, his show WILL NOT go on

This is Craig Stephen Hicks, 46.. He surrendered to police after allegedly killing 23-year-old Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, in their home.. 

Disgusting to say the least..

There is worldwide anger on social media with accusations that American media is busy ignoring this hate crime..

One fact worth noting:

Some reports point to a possible parking dispute as the catalyst, although Hicks also appeared to harbor vehemently anti-religious views, not only toward Islam but toward all faiths. His Facebook page includes a post denouncing both Christianity and Islam. In January, Hicks posted a photo of what he claimed was his .38-caliber revolver.

Parking anger.. And hatred of all religions..

I suppose another killing in the name of no god.

This is why we should never look at the world as black and white .. We miss the beauty of uncertainly and the simplicity of shades of gray.

'SNL' celebrates 4 decades of being 'Live, from New York!'

This gives the chance for me to tell my readers this: Follow snlbound, she may be profiled on the 60th anniversary special.

'SNL' celebrates 4 decades of being 'Live, from New York!'

Sex toy injuries rocket after release of Fifty Shades of Grey - Telegraph

Injuries involving sex toys has doubled in the US since 2007, according to new figures, with a particular jump since the release of Fifty Shades of Grey

I can only imagine ER visits after the newest film is released..

Sex toy injuries rocket after release of Fifty Shades of Grey - Telegraph

Horror behind the walls: PA family finds disturbing discovery in house

This is a story from my local area—but worthy of some attention from fans of the macabre or slightly paranormal..

In Auburn, PA, a tiny little hamlet in Schuylkill County, a secret existed behind the walls of a quaint house..

FOX 43 ran a story about the Bretzius and their discovery of a disturbing secret behind their walls: It was insulated with dead animals..

WNEP interviewed the family .. as expected, Kaiji Bretzius was a little shocked and horrified by what was hidden in their home..

We were shocked, horrified, and disgusted

Fair to say that would be the emotional of us would experience if faced with the same circumstances, no?

WNEP’s  Jackie de Tore goes on to report more:

The mother of four said they first found animals in the walls back in 2012 and have been removing the items ever since.
The dead animals were all wrapped in old newspapers from the 1930s and 40s.
She said when they got a home inspection before they bought the place in Auburn, the inspector didn’t find a thing.
“We got the radon inspection. We looked for everything. We didn’t know to look for chickens.”
The family said when they bought the house in 2011, it was their dream home because they weren’t going to have to do any work, but now that’s all they’ve been doing.

Insurance isn’t covering the situation since the corpses of the animals were there long before this family bought what they thought would be their dream house.

A dream became a nightmare according to their account. They aren’t sure if all the dead animals are out.. 

Various reports indicate that the animals were most likely placed there because of the old Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of pow-wowing—an American folk and magic belief held by the Dutch in the Keystone state decades ago, taking from even older traditions that link back to Germany.. 

So what a tale! Witch doctors and powwows.. the Dutch. Home ownership. Undoubtedly a perogie and sausage sandwich will show up sooner or later..

But there are some not buying it.

The family has chosen to begin a GO FUND ME campaign to raise more money to get more dead animals from out behind the walls.. but at least a few viewers of WNEP and readers of the article aren’t believing the tale..

A few snippets from a few commentators on the WNEP article:

Get freakin real! Mold? There is NO WAY, NO HOW in the WORLD, mold will be caused from a dried up old carcass from the 1930s-1940s. There’s no moisture there. There wouldn’t even be a smell. Creepy? Yeah. Insurance claim? Come on. Welcome to home ownership. Inspectors can’t find everything. They don’t have x-ray vision.

Another:

GoFundMe? How about this: go after whatever home inspector who didn’t do his job, or the previous owners who didn’t disclose the Dead Animal Insulation. Asking for handouts is so damned cocky.

This:

Someone should do a fundraiser to help remove the bones and spices. Maybe a few of the hunting clubs, wait, wait, I know……….THEY COULD SELL T-SHIRTS………

This one from ‘neighbor’ is interesting:

This was actually my aunt and uncle’s house. They lived there for close to 50 years before it was sold, but they did move in it after the critters would have been put in the walls and I can honestly say that they had no clue that any of this was there. I visited there many times growing up and they raised 4 boys and we never were sick or noticed odd smells. It must have been exposed when the walls were ripped out in construction.

Regardless of a few ‘spicy’ comments—powwow pun certainly intended there—the Go Fund Me campaign is already raising some cash..  The story is also making some national news now that various other ABC and FOX affiliates are picking it up.

One comment the Go Fund Me account perhaps said it best.

Look on the bright side… It’s not haunted

As long as the powwow inspired Dutch medicine man in Pennsylvania got his ancient potions and magic right of course.

Horror behind the walls: PA family finds disturbing discovery in house

Did Bill O’Reilly Cover Up a War Crime in El Salvador? | The Nation

This story from THE NATION sort of compliments another one I read in the WASHINGTON POST today by Chris Cilliza about how no secrets from past stay secrets these days..

Did Bill O’Reilly Cover Up a War Crime in El Salvador? | The Nation

Like besides being creepy as heck and stuff, smart tv's encourage self censorship. Idk I think that's dangerous.

Amazingly good point, thank you for making it. People will now, because of all of these revelations about what SAMSUNG’s products (and others too) can do, they will be a little more fearful walking in their homes.. a little more self-censored. A little less themselves.. Even if people go by that awfully annoying motto “if you have nothing to fear you won’t be worried” nonsense, they will still act different knowing what their living room friend can hear.

I also think this: Red light cameras have led to less people picking their noses at red lights.. Think about it.

Also street light cams have led to quieter streets..

People, when they are being watched, act different. 

I try to be myself no matter where.. But I certainly don’t want a third party knowing me THAT well.. 

Of course, I have a PHILLIPS. But I didn’t read their legal agreement .. I assume I’m being listened to as well. 

Self-censorship is dangerous. Marching to the beat of ‘their’ drum, regardless of who ‘they’ are, is an insult to your character and your own personality. And it’s going to be more commonplace as our technology tracks our every move.