June 12, 2015

are u suggesting he get a selfish stick?

June 12, 2015

Marco Rubio wants to cut safety nets for the poor. But a billionaire saved him from his financial me

Poor Judgment
Marco Rubio wants to cut safety nets for the poor. But he wouldn’t have survived his own financial mistakes without a billionaire’s help.

When he entered public life in 2000, he had little to his name and a mountain of debt. “[H]e reported a net worth of zero, about $150,000 in student loan debt, and $30,000 in what he called assorted credit and retail debt,” notes the New York Times in a much-read story on his financial troubles. Despite this, however, he’s been profligate with money. In 2003, after a brief period of “belt-tightening,” he purchased his mother-in-law’s home for $175,000 with no money down. Two years later, after earning a six-figure salary with a high-profile law firm, he purchased a $135,000 home in Tallahassee, Florida, again, with no money down. And then, by the end of 2005, “the Rubios completed the purchase of a new home, twice the size of their previous one, for $550,000.”

The end result of all of this was even greater debt and tremendous new financial liabilities. Rubio left the Florida House of Representatives in 2008 with a net worth of $8,351 and $115,000 in student debt. In 2013, he reported two mortgages and at least $450,000 in liabilities. This year, he sold his home in Tallahassee, losing $18,000 in the deal. Even as Rubio spent far more than he earned, he railed against federal spending. Here’s the Times:

“We have a country,” he said in 2013, “that borrows too much money.” In 2010, he diagnosed the problem this way: “If you allow politicians to spend money, they’ll do it.”

___((

Part of this is better behavior and a larger, more steady income. But part of it is Rubio’s billionaire benefactor, Norman Braman, who has financed his campaigns and subsidized his finances. And although no one will confirm Braman’s total assistance to the Rubio family, it appears to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Here’s the Times with more:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/06/marco_rubio_s_personal_finances_aren_t_the_problem_what_is_troubling_is.html

June 12, 2015

Husband catches ‘upskirting’ suspect red-handed in Walmart

http://wtvr.com/2015/06/10/photo-shows-man-taking-photo-up-womans-dress-at-walmart/


HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A photo obtained by WTVR CBS 6 News allegedly showed John Wiggins, 55, using a cellphone camera to snap photos up a woman’s dress at the Walmart in Short Pump. That picture was taken by the husband of another woman who claimed she was also one of Wiggins’s victims.

Henrico Police arrested Wiggins after he allegedly violated two women by using his smart phone to snap pictures under their skirts on Sunday, May 31. Officers said one victim became very uneasy when he bumped into her in the middle of the store and pretended to drop something in the store.

---!-!!!!

So how did it happen? The woman said Wiggins dropped a box of pasta on the floor as a distraction – and as an excuse for him to reach down to get closer to the floor and into the perfect spot to snap a pic.

“It started in the shampoo department and that’s when it happened the first time,” she explained. “I just turned the aisle and he looked directly at me and I felt his guilt.”

After the ordeal, the woman said her husband decided to follow Wiggins around Walmart to try to catch him in the act.

That’s when he snapped the photo of a woman in a green and blue striped dress wearing flip-flops reaching for an item in the spice section. That photo also captured the suspect squatting down to lower what appears to be a cellphone under her dress.

http://wtvr.com/2015/06/10/photo-shows-man-taking-photo-up-womans-dress-at-walmart/

June 11, 2015

Do You Feel Wealthier??

-- A rising stock market and climbing home priceshave boosted Americans' net worth to a new high.

The Federal Reserve says the value of Americans' stock holdings, real estate and other assets rose to $84.9 trillion in the first three months of this year. That's up from $83.3 trillion in the final three months of last year.

Stock portfolios rose $487 billion, home values by $503 billion.
http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Do-You-Feel-Wealthier-307020421.html?device=tablet&c=y

June 11, 2015

Turkish officer sentenced to plant trees for pepper-spray attack on woman in red

Fatih Zengin, whose spraying of pepper spray in the face of Ceyda Sungur came to symbolise 2013 park protests, must look after trees for six months

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/10/turkish-policeman-sentenced-plant-trees-teargas-attack-woman-in-red-ceyda-sungur

June 11, 2015

Man Awarded $35K After Cops Mistook the salt from Saltine Crackers for Crack Rocks

Man Awarded $35K After Cops Mistook Saltine Crackers for Crack Rocks
Cops looked inside an empty package of crackers, and convinced themselves it was crack.

Deptford, New Jersey — Wenonah resident John Cokos recently settled a lawsuit against the Gloucester County police department for $35,000. The lawsuit comes after an arrest for drug possession because the officer claimed that hiscrackers were crack rocks.

According to NJ.com, the incident occurred in November of 2011 when Cokos was stopped by police because they saw him walking down the street with a video camera. When the police approached him, he began to record them with the camera, which allegedly made them angry.

The police told Cokos that there were burglaries in the area and that walking down the street with a camera made him appear suspicious, according to the lawsuit.


Cokos refused to obey the officers when they asked him to stop recording, as he had a legal right to do, at which point the cops became enraged and began to assault the man. They then searched his belongings, where they found an empty package of saltine crackers that had crumbs in it. The police claimed that the cracker crumbs were crack rocks, and arrested Cokos for drug possession.
http://www.alternet.org/man-awarded-35k-after-cops-mistook-crackers-crack-rocks

June 11, 2015

7000 items added per day to unclaimed baggage store

From guns and religious portraits to bridal gowns and iPads: Inside the 40,000-sq-ft Alabama lost luggage store offering 80% discounts (and where 7,000 new items are added EVERY DAY)
Scottsboro's Unclaimed Baggage Centre sells items found in lost luggage
The giant depot houses everything from clothes to artwork to electronics
All items, which were not reclaimed after 3 months, are sold at a discount
















Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3118337/From-guns-religious-portraits-bridal-gowns-iPads-Inside-40-000-sq-ft-Alabama-lost-luggage-store-offering-80-discounts-7-000-new-items-added-DAY.html#ixzz3ci8NRWw9

June 10, 2015

the debt project - portraits of people with significant debt

http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2015/06/10/brittany_powell_the_debt_project_a_look_at_people_who_are_dealing_with_significant.html

http://thedebtproject.net/

June 10, 2015

Nobel laureate says "girls" in labs harm science

LONDON (AP) — A Nobel Prize-winning British scientist apologized Wednesday for saying the "trouble with girls" working in laboratories is that it leads to romantic entanglements and harms science.

But Tim Hunt stood by his assertion that mixed-gender labs are "disruptive."
Hunt, 72, made the comments at the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, according to audience members.

Connie St Louis of London's City University tweeted that Hunt said when women work alongside men in labs, "you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry."

Hunt, a biochemist who was joint recipient of the 2001 Nobel for physiology or medicine, said he was just trying to be humorous. He told BBC radio on Wednesday that he was "really, really sorry I caused any offense."
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Nobel-laureate-stirs-storm-with-comments-on-6318175.php

June 10, 2015

photo of students lining up for school janitor to sign their yearbook goes viral

You might not think that a school janitor would get rock star treatment from students, but that is exactly how the kids at Alan Shephard Elementary School in Bourbonnais, IL think of Steve Weidner. He is the school's custodian, and has been there for more than 15 years.

He was out on the playground on June 2, while students were spending some time before school let out to sign each others yearbooks.

The kids started lining up to have "Mr. Steve" sign their yearbooks. So many of the children wanted him to sign their books that someone got him a chair, and a line of children formed to the left. The line for his signature was so long that it wound around the playground.

The school tells News 10 that "Mr. Steve" is very popular with the students, and he looks out for them. They say he was touched and amazed by the show of affection from the students.

The photo was posted on the social sharing site Reddit, where it quickly got to the top of the site's front page, getting thousands of upvotes and comments.
http://media.graytvinc.com/images/Steve+Weidner+Janitor.jpg