Women With Troubles - May 2013

Here is a compilation of women with troubles reported in news stories during May 2013. Each name is linked to an Interested-Participant blog entry displaying details.

For a more comprehensive listing, check the Women With Troubles category link.

(CA) Amber Failla, 36,
teacher - Gets probation for performing oral sex on boys between classes,

(CO) Taylor Powers, 21,
college coed - Cited for being naked in public,

(CT) Wilenlia David, 29,
neighbor - Accused of sexual assault of a girl, 13, in a food for sex trade,

(CT) Jessica Motulski, 29,
teacher - Gets 75 days prison for relationship with female student,

(FL) Krystal Harrison, 19,
neighbor - Arrested for domestic battery for biting boyfriend's penis,

(FL) Kaitlyn Hunt, 18,
student - Accused of lesbian relationship with underage girl,

(FL) Katherine Page Landress, 26,
teacher - Accused of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia,

(FL) Olivia Sprauer aka Victoria James, 26,
teacher - Lost job for moonlighting as bikini model,

(FL) Virginia Viscarra, 27,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 16, and then stealing his iPhone,

(GA) Kimela Phillips,
teacher - Accused of drug possession after traffic stop,

(IL) Tammy L. Bond, 45,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 16,

(IL) Dareka Brooks, 22,
alleged prostitute - Accused of stealing piggy bank and iPad from boy, 14,

(IN) Hannah Jo Stuart, 22,
teacher - Accused of sex with boy, 13,

(IN) Tara Tryon, 23,
babysitter - Pleads guilty to molesting 3-year-old. Sentencing in July,

(KS) Cathleen Balman, 40,
teacher - Gets probation for year-long sex abuse of student, 15,

(KS) Eden Bloom, 45,
teacher - Accused of drug possession at school,

(KS) Cecilia Virgen-DeLeon, 31,
neighbor - Alleged secretary for Mexican Mafia,

(KY) Joyce Blanton, 35,
neighbor - Accused of complicity in rape of girl, 13,

(KY) Sheri McNutt, 47,
teacher - Accused of dealing drugs near school,

(LA) Traci Beaucoudray, 34,
teacher - Accused of sexual involvement with a child,

(LA) Cindy Manning, 45,
teacher - Accused of battery on police officer,

(MD) Angeline K. Feazelle, 30,
neighbor - Gets 80 years in prison for sexual abuse of girl, 5,

(MO) Lori A. Layher, 37,
guidance counselor - Gets probation for sexual contact with two boys,

(NC) Tiara Drake, 24,
neighbor - Charged with attempted murder in family poisoning,

(NC) Catherine Elizabeth Entrocaso, 29,
teacher - Arrested for possessing illegal drugs,

(NC) Susan White Garcia, 42,
neighbor - Accused of embezzling $5.3 million from employer,

(NC) Nikki Setzer Icard, 29,
teacher - Accused of indecent liberties with student,

(NE) Michelle Almonte-DeJesus, 27,
neighbor - Gets no jail for engaging in sex with her stepson, 15,

(NE) Amber Modlin, 24,
neighbor - Gets 26 months in federal prison for failing to register as a sex offender,

(NM) Jennifer Vigil, 31,
teacher - Accused of forcing a student to engage in sex,

(NV) Amanda Brennan, 24,
teacher - Accused of pursuing romantic relationship with male student, 15,

(NY) Pamela Efraimov, 39,
bookkeeper - Accused of stealing $200,000 from her employer, a charity,

(NY) Lisa Footer, 44,
teacher - Gets no jail for sex with a male student, 16,

(NY) Tonya Kersey, 31,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 15,

(NY) Ivone Oliviera, 34,
teacher's aide - Accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a disabled student, 18,

(NY) Allison Risoli, 53,
teacher - Accused of changing Regents exam grades for two students,

(OH) Cassandra Holsinger, 28,
teacher - Arrested for sexually assaulting a child under 13 years of age,

(OK) Misti Bynum, 37,
teacher - Arrested for possession of meth and drug paraphernalia,

(PA) Cheryl B. Bremble, 42,
teacher - Guilty of corruption of minor and inappropriate contact with female student,

(PA) Nicole Jacques, 26,
teacher - Guilty of corruption of minor. Sentencing TBD,

(SC) Tiara Monique Garness, 22,
neighbor - Arrested for indecent exposure,

(TX) Kelly Ann Garcia, 29,
teacher - Accused of sex with female student, 16,

(TX) Judy Lynn Langford, 36,
teacher - Gets 5 years in prison for sexual contact with a boy, 16,

(TX) Morgan Marricle, 26,
teacher - Accused of having an inappropriate relationship with student, 14,

(TX) Marlena Mints, 31,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 13,

(TX) Tina Marie Quiser, 44,
teacher - Arrested for improper relationship between educator and student,

(TX) Nikki Marlise Scherwitz, 25,
teacher - Accused of having sex with student, 16,

(UT) Gaile Kristine Supp, 24,
teacher - Accused of sexually abusing a female student, 17,

(VA) Kathleen Cawthorne, 33,
teacher - Gets 4 months jail for indecent liberties with student,

(VA) Laurie Millard, 49,
teacher - Accused of assaulting students. No details reported,

(VT) Giovanna Yaranga, 44,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 17,

(WI) Shannon Cardinal, 44,
teacher - Guilty of sex assault of boy, 15. Sentencing TBD,

(WI) Megan Garland, 28,
teacher - Accused of sex assault of boy, 14,

(WI) Colleen Lewandowski, 27,
school volunteer - Accused of sex with 16-year-old boy,

(WV) Jennifer Bennett, 36,
teacher - Guilty of trading sexually explicit photos with a male student, 16,

(WY) Meg Lanker-Simons,
student activist - Faked an online threat of rape against herself and blamed it on conservatives,

(WY) Britney Rosenfield, 25,
neighbor - Gets six to 14 years prison for sex with boy, 12.

* * *
(Great Britain) Laura Fernee, 33,
neighbor - Claims she lost job because she is too pretty.

Thanks to the tipsters.

More Babies Wanted



Cardinal Joachim Meisner
(Cologne, Germany)

A leading German Catholic cardinal says the government should encourage women to stay at home and breed - rather than bring immigrants into the country to solve its demographic problems.

The problem of dilution of the existing population with large numbers of immigrant women pumping out youngsters is not exclusively a German problem.

Last I checked, the replacement reproduction rate of U.S. families is about 2, while government-funded immigrant families are reproducing like if they never heard of contraception nor the practice of simply pulling it out before fertilization. I also read somewhere that Russia's President Putin is offering incentives for Russian women to have more kids.

Cardinal Meisner is merely voicing the obvious.

Texas Teacher Accused of Sexual Relations with Female Student

(Houston, Texas) A 29-year-old English teacher at Hastings High School, Kelly Ann Garcia, has been accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student.

Garcia faces counts of indecency with a child and sexual assault of a child.

The teen began to brag about her sexual encounters with other students and one of them reported what they heard to an administrator. The assistant principal then began to investigate and called the teen in for questioning.

The teen confirmed the allegations, but her interactions with Garcia did not end. The teacher continued sneaking around with the teen even while the investigation was ongoing, Alief ISD police said.

The teen’s father caught the two at the park together on May 21, but Garcia sped off when he tried to confront her.

Garcia was booked and released on $60,000 bond.

Amelia Earhart Mystery



Possible wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane on ocean floor
From Discovery News:

A grainy sonar image captured off an uninhabited tropical island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati might represent the remains of the Electra, the two-engine aircraft legendary aviator Amelia Earhart was piloting when she vanished on July 2, 1937 in a record attempt to fly around the world at the equator.

Released by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has long been investigating Earhart's last, fateful flight, the images show an "anomaly" resting at the depth of about 600 feet in the waters off Nikumaroro island, some 350 miles southeast of Earhart's target destination, Howland Island.

Heh.

Florida Woman, 27, and Boy, 16

(Delray Beach, Florida) A 27-year-old Palm Beach Gardens woman, Virginia Viscarra, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy and stealing his iPhone.

Viscarra faces to counts of sexual assault and a charge of grand theft.

It wasn’t until the teen, after having sex with her at least twice, got angry with Viscarra and told her that he was actually 16, a minor, and not 18.

However, Viscarra allegedly told police she continued seeing the teen and met in Delray Beach on Monday. She rented a hotel room at the Renaissance Inn for her, the teen and his brother, where they smoked marijuana and then Viscarra and the teen had sex, the affidavit says.

That’s also when someone allegedly stole Viscarra’s iPad and she, in exchange, stole the teen’s iPhone.

Details on booking are unavailable.

Three Blank Expressions




Went to the store to pick up some odds and ends. At the register I was greeted by the cashier and her two high-school-age friends, all three yakking. They immediately clammed up when I approached, producing an awkward moment.

The cashier totaled up my purchases and declared, "That'll be fourteen fifty-seven." I figured I'd alleviate the accidentally icy situation by asking what I thought was an absolutely ridiculous question, "Isn't that when Columbus discovered the New World? In 1457?"

Three blank expressions, for a moment, then the cashier said, "I don't have any idea." Her friends were equally oblivious and, looking straight at me, shrugged.

Figuring I could help them, I said, "Sure. In fact there's a verse that goes 'Columbus sailed the ocean blue and … yada … yada … discovered America in 1457.' Isn't that right?"

Three blank expressions.

A great story



A Jewish man who gambles on the neddies!  From my ingrained Presbyterian perspective I would have thought Jews had more sense than that.  On the other hand I suppose there are ways in which life is a gamble for Jews.

Anyway, this is no ordinary Jew.  He is Stephen Pollard, Editor of the [British] Jewish Chronicle and a conservative. He spotted some good odds on a horse race and made an "investment", thus earning himself many hours of pleasant anticipation.

BUT: The bookie (gambling firm) he deals with tried to shaft him, reducing his odds from the previously agreed figure, which their small print allows them to do.

Pollard did not cave in.  He sent several polite emails and letters to the bookies concerned (William Hill) -- but got nowhere.  So he took to Twitter and the rest is history.  I found it a very entertaining read.  Find it here.  I think that anybody who has been pushed around by large uncaring organizations (All of us?) will be grateful to Pollard for teaching one of them a condign lesson.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

New York Woman Accused of Raping Boy

(Rome, New York) A 31-year-old local woman, Tonya Kersey, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Kersey faces a charge of third-degree felony rape.

Authorities say that Kersey had sex with a 15 year old boy in April.

She was arraigned in Rome City Court and sent to the Oneida County Jail in lieu of $2,500 bail.

The case now gets handed over to the Oneida County District Attorney's Office for Grand Jury action.

The victim has been offered counseling through the Child Advocacy Center.

Details on the criminal offense are unavailable.

Sterilize the Poor Proposed



Gina Rinehart
A message from the richest person in Australia.

Conservative billionaire Gina Rinehart called for the sterilization of the poor today, arguing that the only way to alleviate poverty is to stop the "underclasses" from multiplying.[…]

"Our nation faces a grave economic crisis as the combination of a strong Australian dollar and falling commodity prices sap our ability to compete globally," she explained. "The only logical solution to this crisis is to strengthen the quality of our most precious resource: human capital.

"I believe that any couple making less than $100,000 a year should be forcibly sterilized through a vasectomy or fallopian tubal ligation. Those earning more than $100,000 a year should be encouraged to have as many as 10 or 12 children.

Rich folks aren't normal.

Carolina Teacher Popped for Drugs

(Wilmington, North Carolina) A 29-year-old teacher at New Hanover High School, Catherine Elizabeth Entrocaso, has been arrested for illegal possession of drugs.

Entrocaso was allegedly found in possession of 13 Adderall pills in a non-prescription bottle, without a prescription label, according to the warrant.

“There is an investigation into the incident by the district,” New Hanover County Schools Spokeswoman Valita Quattlebaum said.

Entrocaso has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation, Quattlebaulm said.

Entrocaso was booked into custody at the New Hanover County Detention Facility with bond set at $10,000.

Extremism versus stability

We are accustomed in political discussions to describe both ends of the political spectrum as "extremists".  But what are the extremes?  In the case of the Left it is easy:  Communism.  But what is an extreme conservative?  The Left are sure that it is someone like Adolf Hitler but the logic of conservative commitment to individual liberty and suspicion of government makes libertarianism a much likelier extreme form of conservatism.

So which is right?  And why the diametrically opposite interpretations of what extreme conservatism is?  Conservatives presumably know what they believe so why do Leftists persist in attributing  to conservatives something  that conservatives completely disagree with?

It is of course propaganda and the usual Leftist specialty of abuse but even propaganda has to have some element of truth behind it or it will mostly not persuade.  I will look at that grain of truth shortly.

At this point I am going to skip forward a little, however, and say where I think people go wrong.  I don't think there IS any such thing as extreme conservatism. Libertarians believe in a lot of stuff that conservatives reject.  But I do believe that there is such a thing as extreme Leftism.  How come?

I think that the whole polarity of politics is misconceived.  The contest is not between Left and Right but rather between stability and irritability/anger.  Conservatives are the sheet anchor of society. They ensure that there is some continuity and predictability in our lives.  They are the anchor that prevents us all from being blown onto the shoals of arrogant stupidity in the manner of Pol Pot and many others.

For various reasons most people in society have gripes about it.  Even conservatives can usually give you a long list of things that they would wish otherwise in the world about them.

But some of the discontented are REALLY discontented -- discontented to the point of anger -- and among them there is a really dangerous group:  Those who "know" how to fix everything.

So the political contest ranges across a spectrum from valuing stability to various degrees of revolutionary motivation.

But can there be an extreme of valuing stability?  In theory yes but I have yet to hear of ANY conservative-dominated government that lacked an active legislative agenda.  BOTH sides of politics  have changes they want to legislate for.  Conservatives don't want stability at any price any more than they want change that threatens stability.  So as far as I can see, ALL conservatives want change PLUS stability.  And mostly they get that.

Fighting that anchor that keeps society going on a fairly even keel, however, there is the Left  -- who want every conceivable sort of change.  Some just want more social welfare legislation and some want the whole society turned upside down by violent revolution.  And the latter are indeed extremists.

So there is no sharp Left/Right dividing line  -- just a continuum from strong support for stability amid change to a complete disrespect and disregard for stability among extreme advocates of change.

It is possible that there is somebody somewhere in the world who values stability so much that he/she want NO change in the world about them at all.  If so, I have never met such a person.  Everybody has gripes and change is a constant.  The only question is whether we can manage change without great disruptions to our everyday lives.  Conservatives think we can and should.  Leftists basically don't care about that.  For them change is the goal with stability hardly considered.

Now let me skip back to a question I raised earlier.  I think we are now in a better position to answer that question.  The question is why do conservatives and Leftists disagree over what extreme conservatism or extreme Rightism is?  And the answer is now obvious.  If it does not exist, no wonder people disagree over what it is.  The theoretical inference would be that an extreme conservative wants ZERO change: he/she wants stability alone.  But, as I have noted, such people appear not to exist and if they do exist they are surely too few to matter.

But what about the Leftist conviction that society is riddled by people like Hitler:  "Racists" and "Nazis".  Leftists never cease describing those they disagree with that way.  Even a moderate and compromising Christian gentleman such as GWB was constantly accused of being a Nazi.

Again our conception of stability versus extremism helps answer that -- particularly if you add in a dash of history.  Take the "racist" allegation:

Before WWII, everybody was racist in the sense that they believed that racial differences are real and that some of those differences are more desirable than others.  Both conservatives and Leftists agreed on that.  And if they are safe to say it, many conservatives still think that.  I do.

But, exactly as I have pointed out above, Leftists went a lot further than that. They carried their views to an  extreme.  They did not care how many applecarts they upset.  They wanted either to breed out the inferior races (American progressives) or to exterminate them (Hitler).  Where conservatives just accepted a complex reality of long standing, Leftists KNEW what had to be done about it and so hurt a lot of people and did a lot of damage in the process.

When their old friend Hitler lost the war, however, Leftists had a desperate need to disavow all he stood for and so threw their whole rhetoric into reverse gear.  They were still obsessed in their minds by race and racial differences but denied their previous destructive intentions towards other races.  And to accentuate that, they went into paroxysms of rage whenever they discovered that conservatives still had THEIR prewar attitudes.  Leftist attitudes had flipped but since they had opposed Hitler and Leftism generally, conservatives long saw no need to denounce their prewar views.

So in a sense Leftists are right to see that Hitler and conservatives have something in common -- a willingness to admit racial differences -- but are very wrong in their implicit claim that conservatives would carry such views to any kind of extreme.  Extremes are for the Left  -- not just theoretically but as a matter of historical fact.  So they are now as extremely anti-racist as they were once pro-racist.  Conservatives by contrast just jog along trying to keep a firm hold on reality

So Leftists take some generally accepted idea and carry it to extremes, hoping to be seen as great champions by doing so.  Their extremism is a "look at me" phenomenon, a claim on especially great virtue.  Antisemitism is a good example of that.  Before WWII antisemitism was virtually universal.  Nobody liked the Jews and some degree of discrimination against them was normal and accepted.  Not allowing Jews in your club was the commonest form  of that.

So Leftists took antisemitism to extremes and became the leading critics of Jewry, culminating in the holocaust, which was the work of the National Socialist German Worker's Party. Leftists transformed minor discrimination into mass murder.

When Hitler lost the war, however, antisemitism suddenly had bad associations so Leftists abandoned it forthwith and became, for a while, great champions of Israel. Democrat President Truman recognized the state of Israel within minutes of its being proclaimed and the Soviet Union was only three days behind him.  Popular sentiment had changed so Leftists became energetic champions of the new sentiment



The document above signed by Truman gives a vivid contrast to what his Democrat predecessor BEFORE the war did.  FDR is of course well known for sending a shipload of German Jewish refugees  back to Hitler, rather than allowing them to disembark when they arrived at Miami -- JR.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Sterile Operating Room Flatulence



It's believed that most people are unaware of the dangers associated with doctors and nurses farting in the operating room.

“It all started with an enquiry from a nurse,” Dr Karl Kruszelnicki told listeners to his science phone-in show on the Triple J radio station in Brisbane. “She wanted to know whether she was contaminating the operating theatre she worked in by quietly farting in the sterile environment during operations, and I realised that I didn't know. But I was determined to find out.”

Dr Kruszelnicki then described the method by which he had established whether human flatus was germ-laden, or merely malodorous. “I contacted Luke Tennent, a microbiologist in Canberra, and together we devised an experiment. He asked a colleague to break wind directly onto two Petri dishes from a distance of 5 centimetres, first fully clothed, then with his trousers down. Then he observed what happened. Overnight, the second Petri dish sprouted visible lumps of two types of bacteria that are usually found only in the gut and on the skin. But the flatus which had passed through clothing caused no bacteria to sprout, which suggests that clothing acts as a filter.

“Our deduction is that the enteric zone in the second Petri dish was caused by the flatus itself, and the splatter ring around that was caused by the sheer velocity of the fart, which blew skin bacteria from the cheeks and blasted it onto the dish. It seems, therefore, that flatus can cause infection if the emitter is naked, but not if he or she is clothed.

So, a good rule of thumb is "Don't fart while naked." Heh.

Tip: GruntDoc

Colorado Cookies - New Rocky Mountain High



Children love them.

"We are seeing increases in exposure to marijuana in young pediatric patients, and they have more severe symptoms than we typically associate with marijuana," said lead researcher Dr. George Sam Wang, a medical toxicology fellow at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver.

Some of the symptoms recorded included unusual drowsiness, unstable balance to more serious cases in which one 5-year-old boy had trouble breathing.

Eight children were hospitalized, two in the intensive care unit, though all recovered within a few days, Wang said. By contrast, in four years preceding the policy change, the Denver-area hospital had no such cases.

Empirically, the ingestion of marijuana produces a condition colloquially called "the munchies" which increases the desire to eat more cookies, compounding the intoxication.

Regarding children consuming marijuana cookies and cakes and candies, I contend the problem is just beginning. Get ready for a generation of very forgetful youngsters.

Failing Armed Robbery 101



Jeremy Lovitt and Gabriel Gonzales
(Stockton, California) Brandishing handguns, 23-year-old Jeremy Lovitt and 19-year-old Gabriel Gonzales barged into a Burger King last Thursday, jumped the counter and forced a worker to empty the cash register.

Outside, their idling getaway car awaited.

As Lovitt and Gonzales were focused on the the robbery, an employee ran out of the business, jumped into the suspects' awaiting getaway car and drove away, said police.

When Lovitt and Gonzales ran out of the store, their vehicle was nowhere to be found. The pair were then forced to flee on foot into a nearby field and were caught shortly thereafter with the money from the robbery, police said.

Lovitt and Gonzales were arrested at the scene.

I bet these guys feel stupid. Also, imagine the razzing they'll get in the joint.

"What!!!? Someone stole your getaway car? You idiots!"

Heh.

A pansy President?





Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

21st Century American Exceptionalism



Purloined with much appreciation.

Devilish Driving Lessons



(Hobart, Tasmania)

A MAN who set up a video camera to capture paranormal activity in his kitchen instead recorded evidence of his partner engaging in a sexual relationship with his 16-year-old son, the Supreme Court heard today.

A 28-year-old woman -- who cannot be named for legal reasons -- pleaded guilty to five counts of having sexual intercourse with a young person.

Crown Prosecutor Jackie Hartnett told the court in October last year the woman had gone to her stepson's room to discuss his driving lessons.

Although the pair had previously had a strained relationship, tickling led to kissing and then to intercourse, the prosecutor said.

So, the man was looking to record the paranormal and instead recorded parent abnormal. Heh.

In the end, the woman was sentenced to six months in jail.

Tip: John Ray

Carolina Woman in Thong



Tiara Monique Garness
(Myrtle Beach, South Carolina)

The thong bikini-wearing Tiara Monique Garness, 22, of High Point, N.C., was arrested at 5 a.m. Friday on charges of indecent exposure.

Cops in South Carolina busted a 22-year-old woman for wearing a thong bikini on the beach. Tiara Monique Garness was arrested and charged with indecent exposure because the skimpy swimsuit didn't cover her buttocks.

Police claim they twice warned her to cover up and took action when she ignored them. Garness, of High Point, N.C., was arrested at 5 a.m. Friday in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Tip: Charley Nestor

ONLY IN AMERICA

10) Only in America ...could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000.00 a plate campaign fund-raising event.

9) Only in America ...could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they have a black President, a black Attorney General, and roughly 18% of the federal workforce is black while only 12% of the population is black.

8) Only in America ...could they have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner (the head of the Treasury Department) and Charles Rangel (who once ran the Ways and Means Committee), BOTH turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.

7) Only in America ...can they have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.

6) Only in America ...would they make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while they discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just 'magically' become American citizens.

5) Only in America ...could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country's Constitution be thought of as "extremists."

4) Only in   America ...could you need to present a driver's license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.

3) Only  in America ...could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when  the return on equity invested in a major U.S. oil company ( Marathon Oil) is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).

2) Only in America ...could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a Trillion dollars more than it has per year - for total spending of $7-Million PER MINUTE, and complain that it doesn't have nearly enough money.

1 ) Only in America ...could the rich people - who pay 86% of all income taxes be accused of not paying their "fair share" by people who don't pay any income taxes at all.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Memorial Day 2013



In memory of those who didn't come back.

Mexican Mafia Secretary Busted

(Salina, Kansas)

Authorities have arrested a purported "secretary" for the Mexican Mafia who allegedly helped funnel information through Los Angeles County jails -- from her home in Kansas.

Cecilia Virgen-DeLeon, 31, was taken into custody about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday in Salina, a town of about 50,000 in the heart of the state, L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Francis Hardiman said in a phone interview outside of nearby Abilene.

The so-called secretaries of organized crime groups often use fraudulent cellphone accounts to help push information -- about drug movements, hits and other matters -- to shot-callers inside the jails, Hardiman said.

Since she is reportedly a Mexican Mafia functionary, one must wonder if Ms. Virgen-DeLeon is legally in the U.S.

As an aside, how about those eyebrows? Quite the fashion statement, eh?

Israeli electric car firm failing too

Is the end nigh for Better Place? Within the next few days, a meeting will take place at Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO), Better Place's main investor, on the electric car venture's future, and whether or not it will continue will depend upon its ability to continue raising cash.

In that regard, Idan Ofer, who controls Israel Corp., recently approached potential investors.

Better Place said in response to the report, "In the past few months Better Place has continued its many efforts to maintain its activity. No other decision has yet been reached on the matter."

Market sources estimated recently that Better Place would need at least another four years, and investment of another $500 million, to reach operating breakeven. This estimate is based upon annual investment of some $120 million in the venture, which recently underwent a streamlining program including layoffs and shutting down of activities.

As far as is known, it has enough cash to last until August 2013, and it seeks creative solutions for raising capital. Sources inform "Globes" that it has again examined the possibility of raising equity from Israeli institutions.

From its founding in 2007 up until the end of 2012, Better Place ran up a loss of $812 million.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Moscow Gay Pride



(Moscow, Russia) From RIA Novosti:

Several dozens of LGBT activists and their opponents were detained in the Russian capital on Saturday during a string of gay pride events in the city’s center, Moscow police said.

The majority were held during an attempted gay pride rally in front of the City Hall, which refused earlier to sanction the event.

Several gay rights activists were also held by the State Duma’s building when attempting to stage consecutive solitary pickets, which require no official permits.

Police reported in the afternoon that least 30 people were detained in downtown Moscow.

It appears that diversity and tolerance are not big themes in Russian life.

Carolina Woman Accused of Theft from Employer

(Carteret County, North Carolina) Susan White Garcia, a 42-year-old local woman, has been accused of stealing $5.3 million from her employer, Big Rock Sports LLC.

Garcia faces eight felony counts of obtaining property by false pretense.

Due to the high volume of sales by Big Rock Sports LLC and Garcia’s efforts to conceal the wrongdoing, the unlawful use of the company cards went on for several years, authorities said.

The alleged fraud occurred over a period from 2007 to 2012.

The State Bureau of Investigation has conducted the investigation with assistance from the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office.

Details on booking are unavailable.

Boy Scouts Welcomes Openly-Gay Boys



The Boy Scouts of America has jettisoned its policy outlawing membership of openly-gay boys.

Presumably, a progressive series of new merit badges will be required. Also, it's likely not unreasonable to anticipate that the Boy Scouts will be marching in gay pride parades from now on.

After you read this kid's story, you'll think twice about what you post on Facebook. (And that's the problem.)

Meet Cameron D'Ambrosio. He's 18 and lives in a small town outside Boston. He wants to be a rapper and calls himself "Cammy Dee" in his YouTube videos.

Oh, and he's been locked up without bail for weeks -- facing terrorism charges and 20 years in prison -- all for something he posted on Facebook.

On May 1st, Cam was skipping school and messing around online. He posted some lyrics that included a vague reference to the Boston Marathon Bombing and called the Whitehouse a "federal house of horror." Shortly after that he was arrested and charged with Communicating a Terrorist Threat, a felony that carries 20 years in prison.

The post contained no specific threat of violence against any person or group of people, and in the context of the rest of the lyrics and Cams' rap persona, it was clearly nothing more than a metaphor. A search of Cam's house found NO evidence that he was planning any violence, but a judge still ordered him held without bail for the next 3 months, pending trial.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Mexican Smoke



Maybe the EPA should issue a statement.

Smoke drifts north toward the Texas Gulf Coast from Mexico in these images provided by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which obtained them from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Agricultural fires in Mexico and Central America contribute to the smoke plume.

The mention of Mexican smoke reminds me of Cheech and Chong.

Wisconsin Woman Accused of Sex with Boy, 16

(Milwaukee, Wisconsin) A 27-year-old local woman, Colleen Lewandowski, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy.

Lewandowski faces three counts of misdemeanor sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old boy.

According to the criminal complaint, the boy told police Lewandowski used to assist at wrestling practices and meets last school year, and that he saw her again at a match in February, when he was no longer on the team. She told him about her marital problems and began communicating with him on Facebook, and then texting, the boy told police.

In March, they began a sexual relationship, and the boy spent about eight nights at Lewandowski's residence; her husband had moved out and was staying with a friend, the boy said she told him.

A court appearance is scheduled for August 1.

"Misdemeanor sexual intercourse?" Heh.

Kentucky Couple Charged in Rape Case

(Laurel County, Kentucky) A 35-year-old local woman, Joyce Blanton, has been arrested for complicity to commit rape for allowing her live-in boyfriend, Franklin Brown, to impregnate a 13-year-old girl living in the same home.

Brown, 45, has been arrested on three counts of first-degree rape.

According to Laurel County Sheriff's Office spokesman Gilbert Acciardo, an anonymous complaint prompted an investigation regarding a 13-year-old being pregnant.

Investigators determined that a 14-year-old, mildly mentally disabled girl, was 71/2 months pregnant.

The girl has been removed from the home by Cabinet for Health and Family Services and was placed in the custody of a relative.

Blanton and Brown were booked into custody at the Laurel County Correctional Center.

Kentucky Teacher Busted for Selling Oxycodone

(Montgomery County, Kentucky) A 47-year-old substitute teacher at Montgomery County High School, Sheri MacNutt, has been accused of selling drugs near school.

MacNutt faces a charge of trafficking a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school.

She was subbing at the Montgomery County High School's vocational school Thursday. The sheriff says they got information she was going to sell oxycodone near the school.

"The suspect picked the location so [the informant] went with it," says Sheriff Shortridge.

The transaction allegedly happened on Sheri's lunch break, just a stone's throw from the high school at the Clay Community Center. Little did the substitute teacher know that her extracurricular activities were being monitored.

Sheri MacNutt's husband, Randy MacNutt, was also implicated in the drug operation. Details on booking are unavailable.

Kansas Teacher Gets No Jail in Student Sex Case - Update

(Clearwater, Kansas) Yesterday, 40-year-old former Clearwater Middle School teacher Cathleen Balman was sentenced to probation for sexually abusing a 15-year-old student.

District Judge Terry Pullman decided Balman was a good candidate for probation and a treatment program.

After granting her probation, Pullman said told Balman that if she does re-offend, he will revoke her probation and order her to serve a 34-month prison sentence that will run consecutively to any new sentence she may receive.

“I hope that this is a one-time occurrence,” he said.

Balman was ordered to have no contact with non-relatives under the age of 18 and to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
Kansas Teacher Admits Indecent Liberties with Boy - Update
[Previous 2/20/13 post]
(Clearwater, Kansas) Former language arts teacher at Clearwater Middle School, Cathleen Balman, has pleaded guilty to engaging in a year-long indecent relationship with a 15-year-old boy.

Balman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of indecent liberties with a child.

Her trial on three counts of indecent liberties with a child was scheduled to start Wednesday.

Two of the charges were dismissed as part of the plea bargain.

Sentencing has been scheduled for April 19.

* * * * *
Kansas Teacher Accused of Indecent Liberties
[Previous 11/1/11 post]
(Clearwater, Kansas) A 42-year-old teacher at Clearwater Middle School, Cathleen Balman, has been accused of engaging in a year-long indecent relationship with a 15-year-old male student.

Balman faces three counts of indecent liberties with a child.

Lt. Jeff Weible with the Exploited and Missing Child Unit said they began investigating Balman in September.

Investigators found text messages and pictures exchanged between a 15 year-old boy and his former teacher.

"As we gathered more information through our investigation we began to see that there was a realtionship as well," Weible said. The relationship lasted "at least a year" he said.

Balman was booked and released on $250,000 bond.

Carolina Naked

(Charlotte, North Carolina) Reported earlier this month, traffic became snarled when naked women and children walked down the road.

Police say a women in her 20s was walking with her mother in her 40s and a toddler and newborn baby down Providence Road, prompting traffic delays.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Capt. Rod Farley said the women told officers the Lord had told them to walk down the street naked.

Hallelujah!

Virginia Teacher Accused of Assaulting Students

(Locust Grove, Virginia) A 49-year-old substitute teacher at Locust Grove Middle School, Laurie Millard, has been accused of assaulting students in a sixth-grade math class.

Millard faces counts of assault, battery, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Millard allegedly assaulted the students in a class earlier this month at Locust Grove Middle School, according to Orange County Police.

It's not clear what Millard is accused of doing to the students. The school district would not release additional information, and no further details were provided by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Details on booking are unavailable.

China-Japan Dispute



Chinese Yuan-class Submarine
(Sasebo Naval Base, Japan)

Foreign submarines have been spotted unusually close to Japanese turf three times this month, raising concerns that China is escalating a territorial dispute and flexing its sea might.

The subs were spotted just outside Japan’s territorial waters off the coast of Okinawa and the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima. Japanese officials have either declined to comment on the vessels’ nationality or said it is not yet known; Japanese media are reporting they are Chinese.

The submarines did not infringe on Japan’s sovereignty but were traveling in a zone where it has economic rights – and were close enough to draw Tokyo’s ire. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told legislators last week — before the latest incident Sunday — that the use of force is an option. He said the country involved “needs to understand to never take such action.”

Heh.

Six Beheaded and 'Crucified' in Saudi Arabia

On Tuesday, six men were executed in Saudi Arabia for various offenses.

Five Yemeni men were beheaded and “crucified” this morning in the city of Jizan, while a Saudi Arabian man was executed in the south-western city of Abha.

The beheadings and “crucifixions” took place in front of the University of Jizan where students are taking exams. Pictures emerged on social media appearing to show five decapitated bodies hanging from a horizontal pole with their heads wrapped in bags.

In Saudi Arabia, the practice of “crucifixion” refers to the court-ordered public display of the body after execution, along with the separated head if beheaded. It takes place in a public square to allegedly act as a deterrent.

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry today said the five men executed in Jizan were found guilty of forming an armed gang, armed robbery and the murder of a Saudi Arabian man. It is unclear if all five were convicted of the murder. Meanwhile, the sixth execution was carried out in Abha, where the Interior Ministry reported that a Saudi Arabian man was executed for murder.

Notably, it's feared that the number of executions reported is misleading since some are believed to be performed in secret.

Calling all conservative educators (you know who you are)

I put up 9 blogs 6 days a week so it should be obvious that I can't give each one the attention that I think it deserves.  Despite that they all get a good audience as blogs go.

I have long felt, however, that some of them would benefit from having a co-blogger.  And that has recently been shown to be right.  I turned over the day-to-day running of  GUN WATCH to Dean Weingarten about 6 months ago.  He has put a lot of effort into it and now gets TREBLE the readership that I used to get.

So I live in hopes that something similar could be achieved with EDUCATION WATCH.  It gets about 300 pageviews every day, which may not seem much but which puts it in the top 1% of blogs.  A newly started blog would be lucky to average 10 pageviews each day.

So if you are a teacher at some level or are otherwise particularly interested in education, this may be a good chance for you to make your voice heard on a regular basis.  Email me  here

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

London Terror - Soldier Slaughtered in Street



Weapons in bloody hands, perpetrator rants
(London, England)

Clutching a bloodied meat cleaver, the man suspected of executing a soldier on a crowded street declared: 'you and your kids will be next'.

In a chilling rant captured on camera, the knife-wielding man declared: 'The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers.'

The man who launched the terrifying diatribe in Woolwich, south-east London, is believed to be Michael Adebolajo, who has been identified on Twitter and web forums as one of the two people arrested.

In the video obtained by ITV News he added: 'Remove your governments - they don't care about you. You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start bursting our guns? You think politicians are going to die?[…]

Throughout the frenzied attack the two killers shouted ‘Allah Akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is great’ – then demanded horrified witnesses film them as they ranted over the crumpled body.

The two black men in their 20s, waited calmly for armed police to arrive before charging at officers brandishing a rusty revolver, knives and meat cleavers.

When the old pistol was shot towards police it backfired and blew the thumb off one of the men.

Moments later they were cut down in a hail of bullets believed to be fired by a woman marksman. Last night both men were being treated in hospital for their wounds and will face questioning.

More….

Carolina Woman Accused in Cheese Attack



Tiara Drake
(Battleboro, North Carolina) A local woman, Tiara Drake, has been accused of trying to poison her family with tainted cheese.

Drake faces five counts of attempted first-degree murder.

A statement from the Nash County Sheriff's Office said 24-year-old Tiara Drake wanted some of a relative's cheese on Friday, but the woman refused to share.

The sheriff's office said Drake awakened before the rest of the family the next morning and used detergent, window cleaner and a household cleanser to poison the cheese. The rest of the family made breakfast with the cheese and began eating it before one of them determined it was tainted.

Drake was booked into custody with bond set at $50,000.

Virginia Teacher Sentenced for Sex with Student - Update

(Rustburg, Virginia)

Campbell County Circuit Court Judge John T. Cook sentenced Kathleen Cawthorne, 33, of Rustburg on May 16 to a total of 11 years for one count of indecent liberties with a child and three counts of electronic solicitation of a minor.

He suspended the time to be served to four months.

Cawthorne will also be on supervised probation for three years and must register as a sex offender.

Cawthorne’s probation officer had testified that Cawthorne was bipolar with facets of hypersexuality which is probably the reason her sentence went from 11 years to four months.

Just think, if Cawthorne was lucky enough to also suffer from the heartbreak of psoriasis, she might have been sentenced to no jail at all.

* * * * *
Virginia Teacher Guilty of Sex with Student - Update
[Previous 1/18/13 post]
(Rustburg, Virginia)

A former Campbell County teacher who had a sexual relationship with a student was found guilty Thursday.

Kathleen Cawthorne, 32, pleaded no contest to taking indecent liberties with a minor and three counts of electronic solicitation of a minor.

Prosecutors presented new evidence at trial, claiming not only did Cawthorne send naked pictures of herself to a 17 year-old student, she had sex with him too.

The inappropriate relationship began in March 2012 when the victim, a student in Cawthorne's study hall class at William Campbell Combined school, asked for her cell phone number.

Prosecutors say in the next two weeks they sent naked pictures to each other, and eventually drove to a field where the two had sexual intercourse.

A sentencing date hasn't been scheduled.

* * * * *
Virginia Teacher Accused of Indecency with Male Student
[Previous 4/4/12 post]
(Campbell County, Virginia) A 32-year-old science teacher at William Campbell High School, Kathleen Cawthorne, has been accused of taking indecent liberties with a 17-year-old male student.

Cawthorne faces three counts of using an electronic device to solicit a minor and one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor.

Maj. L.T. Guthrie, of the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, said the charges are based on incidents deputies believe took place between March 7 and March 13.

Deputies do not believe the offenses occurred on school property.

Cawthorne, 32, who began her career at the high school in 2003, was put on leave March 21, said Superintendent Robert Johnson. She was no longer employed by the school the following day.

Cawthorne was booked into custody at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail and released on $9,000 bond.

Florida Woman Chomps Mr. Happy



Krystle Harrison
(Bradenton, Florida)

A 19-year-old woman has been accused of biting her boyfriend’s penis after he turned down her sexual advances, it has been claimed.

Krystle Harrison was arrested last week on domestic battery charges following the alleged incident in Bradenton, Florida.

According to a report from the Manatee County sheriff’s office, Harrison bit 24-year-old boyfriend Jeffrey Wilkinson while they were lying in bed.

Lovely, eh?

More interesting challenges

A follow up to yesterday's discussion with an old friend.  In this episode he mentions his eldest son, Paul, who is very conservative

From a Google search it appears that very few people understand the terms leftist and rightist which sort of suggests that they shouldn’t be used. I Googled ‘right wing dictators’ and got a whole list from many sources so perhaps you should concentrate on correcting this apparent misconception.

Yes.  I think the term "rightist" has been so abused and distorted by the Left that it should no longer be used. The Left use it for anything they currently disapprove of. They have only the most childish analysis of what it means.   I use "conservative" only and analyse at length what that means here and here.

In England the Tories were known for their “Laissez Faire” politics and I was always a supporter of that attitude and still am. My apparent leftist views seem to have come from a humanitarian attitude to those less fortunate and an unfortunate tendency to play devil’s advocate with people who express strong opinions about anything whether I agree with them or not. Essentially I am afraid of people who think they know what’s what.

That is a very conservative attitude

I do find it confusing when people take an attitude that is more the opinion of an ‘ism’ than one that springs from their own thought process or empirical experience.

Laissez faire in UK was often interpreted as ‘leave it alone’ which I guess is a literal translation but I preferred to see it as ‘don’t interfere when not strictly necessary’

In that light I really don’t get both sides of politics’ attitude to same sex marriage. I don’t see that it’s any of their business nor how it has any effect on people not immediately concerned yet Paul is dead set against it on the grounds that it is ‘leftist’?

Yes.  I am a libertarian there.  I don't think any marriage is any government's business.  Governments should keep out of bedrooms.  Marriage was originally a religious matter and I would be happy for it to remain just that.  And there are always civil contracts for those who are not religious.

But the subtext is important.  Homosexuals want homosexual marriage as a sign of acceptance.  But many people will never accept them so advocates of homosexual marriage  are pissing into the wind.  A distaste for homosexuality is normal, which is why it was long penalized.  And no Bible-respecting Christian could accept homosexuality as right and normal

It is really no surprise that Paul is a conservative as he was brought up to defend for himself and was only ever given things that encouraged him to save or be entrepreneurial. He did, after all, run our company from a tender age against his mother’s wishes. Jenny wanted him to get a ‘trade’ or ‘a career’. I had no objections to that but it wasn’t what Paul wanted.

He has learned from life largely

I do, however, think that Paul lacks compassion and an understanding of less fortunate people and other peoples likes and dislikes, it is possibly because he has never had to struggle and experience deprivation himself (unlike myself) and I think this is a lack in his personality. As much as I don’t understand people who like team sports, tattoos, religion, horse racing, guns, violence, I can still find things to defend people who do, and I certainly don’t take the position of considering them idiots because I know that not to be the case.

Paul is extraordinarily kind and compassionate towards his family.  That may leave less room for others.  He has played a largely fatherly role towards his siblings, giving them all sorts of support.  Deeds, not words, again

I think your suggestion that schools could be segregated into ethnic groups in order to accommodate different levels of learning is totally unworkable in practice and would lead to massive social upheaval. They can’t even yet adjust the learning methods to accommodate the different learning patterns of girls and boys, so I’m sure that the other option would be impossible to implement. You would actually have to integrate people of equal IQ regardless of race but don’t you think that having a variety of IQ’s together is more stimulating and creates greater competitiveness? When some kids see others running faster they try harder and so it goes with academic achievement; if you isolate the lower achievers they will not have exposure to anything better and will therefore have little incentive to try harder in the belief that everyone is the same. Any form of difference between high and low creates ‘potential’ in science as in life. People need to see what can be achieved with application combined with talent in order to stimulate their natural competitiveness, don’t you think?

The dropout rate of American blacks from High School is phenomenal so almost anything would be better. And those who do graduate High School are often barely literate.  But there were some all-black schools in the past that did produce well educated graduates.  And single sex schools to this day seem to get good results.  And standards were undoubtedly higher in the past.  So we have proof from the past that streamed schooling does produce better results

I am all for an homogenous society where we can all learn to appreciate each other’s ideas, foibles, idiosyncrasies, foods, music etc and indeed influence each other.

I suspect that you mean heterogeneous.  I grew up in a very multicultural town so handle that readily as long as I am free to choose my degree of participation in what happens there.  Most people get on best with those most like themselves and organize their contacts accordingly.  There is a Sudanese Mosque near where I live.  Have you considered attending it?  If not, why not?  I am sure it is very heterogenous

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Louisiana Teacher Accused of Running Over Cop's Foot

(Plain Dealing, Louisiana) A 45-year-old teacher at Plantation Park Elementary, Cindy Manning, has been accused of several charges after being stopped for speeding.

Manning faces counts of public intimidation, battery on a police officer, resisting an officer and speeding.

During the stop, Manning allegedly ran over the officer’s foot.

Plain Dealing police chief Ronnie Murray said he would not comment on the case as it remains under investigation.

The extent of injuries suffered by the officer, identified in records only as J. Cooper, is unknown.

Manning was booked into custody at the Bossier Maximum Security Facility and released on bond.

Carolina Teacher Accused of Indecent Liberties

(Taylorsville, North Carolina) A 29-year-old math teacher at Alexander Central High School, Nikki Setzer Icard, has been accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old male student.

Icard faces one felony count of indecent liberties with a student. She is also accused of sending the student nude pictures of herself.

The senior apparently shared those images, and the Alexander Sheriff’s Department received an anonymous phone call regarding the situation.

The sheriff then contacted the police department, as the alleged felony occurred within Taylorsville city limits, said Jones.

Icard was booked into custody and subsequently posted a $10,000 bond.

Florida Teacher Canned for Bikini Pics



Victoria James aka Olivia Sprauer

(Martin County, Florida) A 26-year-old English teacher at Martin County High School, Olivia Sprauer, has been jettisoned from her teaching position because she was moonlighting as a bikini model under the name Victoria James.

Sprauer admitted that she knew her teaching profession could be jeopardized by the modeling gig.

Sure enough, Sprauer’s school principal somehow came across her modeling photos and confronted her with them on April 29. After Olivia Sprauer confirmed that it was indeed her in those bikinis, the principal asked her to resign.

Sprauer contends she didn't do anything wrong.

Colorado Coed Accused of Mushroom Behavior



Taylor Powers
(Boulder, Colorado) On Sunday, a Chautauqua Park Ranger notified the Boulder County Sheriff's office that a 21-year-old college coed was running buck naked around the park, apparently "high on mushrooms."

Reportedly, a total of 35 sheriff's deputies and rescue personnel responded to the scene.

Ultimately, University of Colorado undergrad Taylor Powers was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed. She was cited for consuming a controlled substance.

Tip: Charley Nestor

Too Pretty?



Laura Fernee
Some people will always find a reason to complain.

A British woman says she was forced out of her job in a science laboratory because she was too good looking to work there.

Laura Fernee, a 33-year-old PhD graduate, says she quit the job in 2011 due to unwanted attention from male colleagues and jealousy from female co-workers.

Fernee claims she left her job due to bullying and harassment which she describes as men asking her out on dates, giving her romantic gifts and leaving notes on her desk.

Ms. Fernee is writing a book to help other women who are too pretty and suffer from having too many dates and receiving too many gifts.

Here's a suggested title; Expert Help for Women Whose Shit Doesn't Stink.

Some useful enquiries

Below is an email from an old friend which reminds me how much there is to explain in the matters I broach.  I propose to answer it in italics

While understanding that the understanding of authoritarianism may have some application in real life I don’t quite understand how proving that one race is less intelligent than another can have any application at all.

Back to authoritarianism for a moment; you blame all authoritarianism on ‘leftists’ despite ‘nationalism’ normally being seen as a right wing trait. Are there no ‘right wing’ regimes? Are not the Mugabe or the Idi Amins (and many other African states) right wing dictators? If not, then I would like to know the definition of right wing as I clearly don’t understand it. (Serious question)

Not all tyrants are ideologically motivated.  In history most tyrants have been just tyrants.  But as far as it goes Mugabe is a redistributionist, which makes him Leftist.  Amin was just a brute.

There is a distinction between patriotism (love of counrty) and nationalism (the desire to have your country control others).  The first is conservative, the second Leftist.  Democrats declared almost all America's foreign wars.  GWB went to war  only when America was attacked (9/11).  Friedrich Engels (co-author of Karl Marx) was a furious German nationalist; TR was a furious American nationalist and FDR so hankered for a war that he forced the unfortunate Japanese into one by cutting off their oil supplies

Actually I just looked up the definition in Wikipedia (interesting that your article prompted me to research something I normally wouldn’t have bothered with)

“In left-right politics, right-wing describes an outlook or specific position that accepts or supports social hierarchy or social inequality.[1][2][3][4] Social hierarchy and social inequality is viewed by those affiliated with the Right as either inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable,[2] whether it arises through traditional social differences[5] or from competition in market economies.[6][7] It typically accepts or justifies this position on the basis of natural law or tradition”
  
Would you agree with this definition?

No.  It is a Leftist definition.  "Rightist" is mainly a Leftist term these days.  It is often used for Hitler, who was actually a socialist.  "Conservative" is clearer for the non-Leftist side of politics. 

The great triumph of Leftist disinformation that has identified Hitler as a Rightist has upset the whole Left/Right terminology.  In his antisemitism, nationalism and eugenics Hitler was typical of prewar Leftists.  The Conservative Churchill was his great opponent, not an ally

If so, it would seem to me that most dictatorships would fall within this definition?

By choosing a wrong definition you can prove many wacky things

Ha ha, I just reread your authoritarianism piece again and realised that you are going to accuse me of attempting to ‘...prove that conservatives are the authoritarians...’ .That wasn’t my intention I was seriously trying to discover just exactly what you think ‘right wing’ means as opposed to what I thought it meant. Of course Shakespeare pre-empted Freud with regards to self-justification “...I believe he doth protest too much...”

Would it be fun to list specifically how a ‘right wing’ person would respond to all of today’s controversies?

Use "conservative" and we can have an empirical definition.  Briefly:   "Devoted to individual liberty".  Not much room for dictatorship there

Anyway, it wasn’t authoritarianism that prompted me to write, but intelligence across races.

Understand that I am not seeking to debate or argue with you but simply to align your thinking with mine in order to isolate where our thoughts might diverge.

In seeking to prove that one race is intellectually inferior to another how would you like to proceed with that knowledge to change the way the world works?

It could be used to give American blacks schools especially suited to their limited abilities -- They learn very little in today's schools

A few things occurred to me while reading:

Assuming that the average IQ is 100, what cross section of society is used to determine that number, ie is it the population of America or Africa or the Middle East, or is it the world or a specific race? I’m sure there is some complicated maths behind all of this.

The population mean (average) for the white population of Britain, the USA and most of Europe is 100 so that has become the norm

If it is America, then it must contain subsets of many races which (if your assertion is correct) must skew the average downwards making it irrelevant to any specific race and making a race of even a slightly higher IQ seem artificially higher. If IQ is determined on a racial basis (ie a different mean is set for each race) then I would have thought that cross-race testing would be very revealing given cultural specialities. I would be interested in these results if they are available.

Yes.  The mean for the USA as a whole would be meaningless.  You have to separate out the ethnic groups

Again, what actually is the point in proving your assertion? Are you suggesting that one race should be treated differently because they have a lower IQ? Should we assume that if we are talking to or listening to a Muslim we shouldn’t take any notice of what he thinks? Or are you suggesting that intelligent people are in some way better members of society than others? Or maybe better able to rule? There are many clever intellectuals who get many things wrong.

The policies adopted depend on many factors but treating all groups as the same will inevitably lead to policy failures -- outcomes not envisaged

I believe it to be true that many serial killers and sociopaths in general, have high IQ’s and are very charming people. My experience is that less intelligent people are much more likely to obey rules than those who think things through for themselves and therefore believe that ‘rules are made for the lowest common denominator and therefore don’t apply to me’. I have often found that the more ‘ordinary’ a person is the nicer human beings they are (if less interesting to communicate with)

There are exceptions but most incarcerated criminals are low IQ and poorly educated. 

I personally get on best with working class people as I find them more down to earth

I applaud your desire to simply state the truth that research reveals and I totally understand that ideal but in order to do that effectively I suggest that the use of emotive words and phrases like  ‘pretended’ ‘ ...who should know better’ ‘...it is clearly...’ ‘...unlike...(fill in the assumption)...’ ‘...are obviously...’ ‘...it is surely that...’ would best be avoided.

Yes.  I avoid that in my academic writings but for maximum reach I have to make things vivid a bit

I know it is difficult to avoid these common phrases but they are read as put downs by people who may have an opposing view or who even see grey where you might see black and white, and leads them to think that if they disagree with the subject of the sentence they are somehow wrong or misinformed or even worse, stupid. I think that your points could be just as impactful (if less reaffirming to the converted) without the emotive content.

I don't actually hope to convert Leftists.  That rarely happens except through aging.  I aim to buck up my side

Perhaps it is the association of IQ with superiority that needs to be addressed. I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that people should be upset by being called inferior?

High IQ is broadly advantageous but is not much use for singing or running and various other things so it is not everything.  I accept, for instance,  that I am physically clumsy.  We all have our limitations and for a contented life you have to accept them

Maybe there is even a psychological inference to be drawn from those who seek to prove their superiority by these means? Lol. Didn’t someone once try to prove that the capacity of the skull was proof of superiority simply because he had a big head?

That was phrenology.  But more sophisticated measurements do show a correlation of about .3 between brain size and IQ

I would be interested to know where you would classify me in the scale of left to right. I seem to adopt ideas from both ‘isms’ with little or no conflict. I come to conclusions on issues (wherever I actually do hold an opinion) by largely empirical and logical means but don’t claim to have any answers to the bigger questions of life. An example of where I do conflict is when I quite happily tuck into a meat meal but am quite incapable of killing the animal that supplied it. I acknowledge my hypocrisy but am powerless to rationalise it. 

I think you are a recovering Leftist -- about right for your age.  How you had such a conservative son is the mystery

You claim that ‘leftists’ know all of the answers, in which case I know no ‘leftists’ at all (although I think you would disagree). In fact the person I know who does seem to have most of the answers is you, John? Ha ha

Leftist policy prescriptions show very little awareness of possible problems so they  do create the impression that they think they know it all. 

If I knew it all I would just write it down once and then stop.  That I keep writing indicates that I am always learning

I can’t help feeling that by spending your energies on segregating races you are simply employing the emperor Alexander’s solution to the Gordian knot problem, instead of trying to unravel the complex knot you would take a sword to it and simply cut the rope. Lol.

It's not at all complex.  The only complexity is that many people dislike the evidence. 

Race is a major problem in the USA but it is not I who have created it.  I just try to point out that most of the problem is due to wrong assumptions of equality and that the problem will remain until reality is recognized

Like you I find these topics fascinating but I can’t agree with your assertion that ALL leftists deny that race exists. I have never heard that, neither have I heard them insisting that everyone is equal, I have only ever interpreted it as all men should have ‘equal opportunity’ which is what I loosely believe. This allows talent to rise to the surface from whichever substrate they come, and accepts by definition that some will naturally end up as less equal than others. In fact the very acceptance of this tenet is the acceptance that men are not all equal.

You need to note the shrill outrage when Americans even mention IQ or race.  Belief in equal opportunity only  is conservative these days

Anyway, the more I read over your articles the more it makes me think and I thank you for that stimulation.


Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Indiana Woman Guilty of Molestation - Update

(Valparaiso, Indiana)

A Northwest Indiana woman accused of photographing herself molesting a 3-year-old for her boyfriend pleaded guilty Friday to two of the 13 felony charges against her.

Tara Tryon, 23, of Wanatah, Ind., will serve 10 years for Class B felony child molesting and eight years for Class C felony child exploitation if Indiana’s Porter Superior Judge William Alexa accepts her plea at a July 12 sentencing hearing.

“We thought the evidence was pretty strong, and she decided to accept the plea,” defense attorney Bob Harper said.

Tryon will serve the sentences at the same time, but neither sentence includes probation time.

As part of her plea, the state would drop four Class B felony child molesting charges, a Class C felony child molesting charge and six Class C felony child exploitation charges.

Tryon remains on bail until sentencing.

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Indiana Babysitter Accused of Molestation
[Previous 10/29/11 post]
(Valparaiso, Indiana) A 21-year-old babysitter, Tara Tryon, has been accused of molesting a three-year-old boy she was caring for.

Tryon faces 13 felony counts of child molestation and exploitation.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Det. Sgt. Rick Strong of the Indiana State Police, on Monday, Oct. 24, the ISP was notified by the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Police of an anonymous caller who reported receiving, via e-mail, photos and video “of a woman engaging in the sexual molestation of a young male child.”

The caller identified the woman in the photos as Tryon, stated that she believed Tryon to be residing in Valparaiso, and added that she reported the matter to the Department of Social Services’ hotline, Strong stated in his affidavit.

When asked about the content of the photos, the caller indicated that she had viewed only a few but that they clearly showed intimate sexual contact between Tryon and a boy apparently younger than 5, Strong stated.

Tryon was booked into custody at the Porter County Jail without bond.