Women With Troubles - October 2013

Here is a compilation of women with troubles reported in news stories during October 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.

(AL) Emily Addison, 29,
teacher - Accused of stealing prescription meds,

(AL) Ashley Renee Graham, 20,
neighbor - Arrested after her baby tested positive for narcotics,

(AR) Danielle McDonald, 34,
neighbor - Sentenced to 20 years prison for sex with boy, 13,

(AR) Kelly O'Rourke,
teacher - Sentenced to 10 years prison for violating no-contact order in sex case,

(AZ) Laura Laibe, 37,
neighbor - Accused of taking pics/video of women in public restrooms,

(CA) Amy Lynn Davidson, 39,
teacher - Accused of possessing narcotics,

(CA) Nicole Ethel McMillen, 43,
teacher's aide - Convicted of sex assault of two boys, ages 14 and 16,

(CA) Jennifer Lynn Woods, 36,
teacher - Sentenced to jail for sex with student,

(CO) Lorinda Bailey, 35, with Wayne Sperling, 66,
neighbors - Accused of felony child abuse,

(CO) Amanda Rowles, 28,
teacher - Guilty of sex assault on a child. Sentencing in December,

(CT) Aurora Houghtaling,
neighbor - Accused of swinging baby girl like a baseball bat,

(DE) Malene Fleurentus, 28,
neighbor - Accused of child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child,

(FL) LaTasha Terraine Currington, 38,
teacher - Accused of extortion,

(FL) Isabel Diaz-Almaraz,
dance teacher - Accused of hosting booze party for students,

(FL) Naomi Dixon, 31,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 14,

(FL) Oneal Morris, 32,
neighbor - Gets 366 days prison for practicing medicine without a license,

(FL) Edeania Nettles, 39,
deputy sheriff - Accused of battery on another female officer,

(FL) Caroline Savy, 25,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 16,

(FL) Stacy Slamka, 49,
teacher - Sentenced to 300 days jail for sex with minor, 16,

(FL) Casie Laney White, 33,
neighbor - Accused of killing her boyfriend,

(FL) Glendese Williams, 30,
neighbor - Accused of child abuse causing great bodily harm,

(FL) La Crystal King Woolfork, 28,
neighbor - Accused of attempted murder of boyfriend for declining 3-way sex,

(IL) Alexa M. Rubin, 25,
substance abuse counselor - Accused of sex with inmate,

(IN) Krista Brown, 29,
neighbor - Accused of causing the death of her infant son,

(IN) Christy D. Shaffer, 35,
neighbor - Accused of conspiring to commit murder of daughter's boyfriend,

(KY) Tiffany Embry, 34,
neighbor - Accused of offering sex for drugs,

(MI) Tammy Lafrinere, 31,
teacher - Guilty of stealing prescription meds. Sentencing in November,

(MI) Ashley Poe, 19,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy between the ages of 13 and 15,

(MN) Sara Meghan Henderson, 41,
neighbor - Sentenced to 44 days jail for criminal sex with boy, 16,

(MN) Shantay Williams, 20,
babysitter - Accused of sex with boy, 4,

(NC) Robin Barnhill,
teacher - Accused of being intoxicated at school,

(NC) Cristin Elliott Fogleman, 30,
teacher - Accused of dealing drugs,

(NC) Jennifer SinClair, 28,
music teacher - Arrested for sex with student, 18,

(NC) Hannah Marie Whitlock, 29,
teacher - Accused of raping boy, 14,

(NE) Michelle Almonte-DeJesus, 28,
neighbor - Gets more probation for violating probation in sex with stepson case,

(NE) Destiny Trenary, 29,
neighbor - Accused of sex assault of boy, 15,

(NH) Cassandra Potter, 30,
teacher - Loses teaching job due to multiple arrests,

(NJ) Jaclyn P. Melillo, 25,
teacher - Accused of sex assault of two boys, both 16,

(NV) Jennifer H. Dalton, 36,
teacher - Gets minimum one year in prison for sex with male student, 17,

(NY) Tyshaunna Roberts, 22,
dance teacher - Accused of sex with female student, 13,

(OH) Irene Consiglio, 46,
teacher - Accused of complicity to commit robbery of restaurant,

(OH) Tanai Fortman, 32,
neighbor - Gets 15 years prison in child porn case,

(OH) Heather Koon, 25,
neighbor - Accused of engaging in sex with a baby,

(OK) April Chamberlain, 30,
teacher - Accused of public drunkenness for passing out in class,

(OK) Nasasha Moore,
neighbor - Accused of child abuse,

(OK) Stephenie Ringwald, 30,
teacher - Accused of rape/sodomy of student, 17,

(OR) Desirea Key Chapman, 30,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 16,

(PA) Lisa Barrett, 48,
teacher's union president - Accused of embezzling union funds,

(PA) Mikki Yvonne Phillips, 34,
neighbor - Accused of sex assault of boy,

(SC) Sutton Marie Kinsley, 28,
teacher - Allegedly caught stealing from school personnel in sting operation,

(SC) Venetia D. White, 33,
jail officer - Accused of providing contraband to inmates,

(TN) Beth Scearce, 37,
teacher - Accused of sex with two boys,

(TX) Erica Bush, 23,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 13,

(TX) Jasmine Garcia DeJesus, 36,
neighbor - Accused of sex assault of boy, 13,

(TX) Amanda Feenstra, 30,
dance teacher - Gets no jail for sex with female student,

(TX) Tonya Flink, 40,
teacher - Sentenced to probation for sex with two students.

(TX) Alyssia Renee Perkins, 20,
neighbor - Accused of online solicitation of girl, 12,

(TX) D’Laine Young,
educator - Accused of improper relations with student,

(UT) Brianne Altice, 34,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 15,

(WA) Lisa Davis, 48,
teacher - Sentenced to 12 months jail for child molestation,

(WI) Megan Garland, 29,
teacher - Guilty of sex with two male students. Sentencing in January 2014,

(WI) Rachael A. McCormick, 38,
neighbor - Gets 6 months jail for sex with two 15-year-old boys,

(WV) Michelle Ball, 30,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student,

(WV) Jennifer Lee Napier, 37,
teacher - Accused of aggravated DUI.

Thanks to the tipsters.

Saudi Girl, 3, Gang-Raped

(Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)

Several men abducted a three-year-old Saudi girl and took turns in raping her before dumping the child near a hospital in a serious condition.

Disclosing the crime on Monday, police said they had arrested three suspects and two women and that more could be arrested in connection with the rape.

Doctors at the hospital in the Western Red Sea port of Jeddah said the child was found crying and in serious condition in front of the hospital on Ramadan 13, adding that she is still in the intensive care unit struggling for her life.

Sick, sick, sick.

Mass Death in Sahara Desert

(Tamanrasset, Algeria)

The bodies of 87 migrants were found in Niger's northern desert after they died of thirst just a few kilometres from the border of Algeria, their planned destination, security officials said.

The corpses of the 7 men, 32 women and 48 children were in addition to 5 bodies of women and girls found earlier, a security source said.

All died in early October after a failed attempt to reach Algeria that began in late September, the source added.

Two vehicles transporting the migrants broke down in the middle of the stinking desert. Miraculously, 21 people survived.

Gun-Maker Leaves New York for South Carolina

(Rochester, New York)

American Tactical Imports, based in Rochester, is moving its headquarters next month to Summerville in Dorchester County, S.C. — creating more than 100 new jobs in the area and shafting New York employees.

The company is also setting up a distribution center and a firearm assembly, and moving its customer service operations and sales office to the new site.

“This move to South Carolina will help ensure a solid foundation for our company,” Tony DiChario, president and founder of American Tactical Imports, said in a statement. “The people of South Carolina have welcomed ATI with open arms.”

The business and cultural environment in South Carolina is much nicer to gun-makers than New York.

Arkansas Woman Gets 20 Years Prison in Sex Case - Update

(Harrison, Arkansas) In accordance with a plea agreement, thirty-four-year-old Danielle McDonald has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for engaging in sex with a 13-year-old boy.

* * * * *
Arkansas Woman, 32, and Boy, 13
[Previous 10/6/12 post]

(Harrison, Arkansas) A 32-year-old local woman, Danielle McDonald, has been accused of a variety of offenses, including statutory rape of a 13-year-old boy.

A registered sex offender, McDonald also faces charges of fleeing from police and violating parole and probation conditions.

McDonald was located parked in a wooded area off Old Capps Road with the boy. She fled the area on foot into the woods where she was apprehended a short time later.

The youth told investigators at the scene that he was in a sexual relationship with McDonald. Danielle McDonald was transported to the Sheriff's Office for questioning where she confessed to multiple sexual encounters with the youth.

McDonald was booked into custody at the Boone County Jail with bond set at $50,000.

China Unveils Nuke Submarine Fleet

Chinese Nuclear Submarine during safety drill
(Qingdao, China)

China unveiled this week a fleet of nuclear submarines that has been shrouded in mystery and hidden for 40-plus years — a move seen by security experts as a show of force and confidence from a nation that’s aggressively pursuing the top spot on the world stage.

The submarines are older-generation models, part of the country’s secretive military program, The Daily Mail reported. The vessels are equipped with rocket launchers that can fire beneath the water.

China brought forth the fleet in a public ceremony that included demonstration missions from seamen off the coast of Qingdao, on the eastern coast.

Interesting.

More on the Left/Right difference

I have been updating my big article on the history and psychology of conservatism and I present below my new introduction to it:

Left-leaning psychologists and other Leftist "thinkers" sometimes "study" conservatism -- usually with the obvious motive of proving a  theory which discredits conservatives in some way.  But the shallowness of their actual knowledge of conservatives is shown when they feel the need to consult dictionaries just to find out what conservatism is (e.g. Altemeyer and Wyeth).  That is a remarkably desperate recourse.  Dictionaries record usage but they cannot tell you whether the usage is right or wrong, shallow or profound. They even record mistaken usages.

The problem underlying the recourse to dictionaries is that the Leftist wouldn't know conservatism if he fell over it.  His only concept of conservatism is the caricature of it that circulates in his own little Leftist bubble.  But he does realize dimly that he doesn't know what it is. So with a schoolboy level of sophistication, he turns to his dictionary to find out what it is!

By contrast, in my studies of Leftism, I feel no need to rely on dictionaries.  From many years of reading Leftist writings, I can tell you what Leftism regularly is.  What the Leftist does or tries to do is to stop people doing what they want to do and make them do things that they don't want to do. They are not alone in that but that underlies all that they do and say.  What changes they want and why they want them I consider in detail elsewhere. So conservatives tend to allow the natural world to continue on its way while Leftists forge an inherently unstable world that can be held together only by coercion.  Leftism is quintessentially authoritarian.

The redirection of a large slice of people's spending power via compulsory taxation is only one part of the coercion. There are also many direct commands and prohibitions.  The very expensive "mandates" of Obamacare were under much discussion at the time of writing.  Only a Leftist would think that old ladies should be forced to pay for obstetric care.

It may be noted that some people with strongly-held religious views tend to be like Leftists in trying to forge an unnatural world. That helps to explain why Leftists are infinitely tolerant of  Muslim Jihadis and why the major churches tend to support the Left, some of them being very Leftist.  In the 2004 Australian Federal elections, the leaders of ALL the churches came out in favour of the (Leftist) Australian Labor Party.  The only exception was a small Exclusive Brethren group in Tasmania who supported the conservative coalition -- and their "intervention" sparked huge outrage in the media and elsewhere.  (The conservatives won that election in a landslide).

And in England it is sometimes now held that "C of E" stands for "Church of the Environment", because of the Church of England's strong committment to Greenie causes.  Cantuar Welby's scolding of business might also be noted. And a previous Cantuar (Carey, a generally decent man) called his little grandson "pollution" on Greenie grounds.  Pity the children! And, in stark contrast with the Bible, a senior  Anglican cleric has called "homophobia" a sin.  The C of E and most of its First World offshoots no longer have strong feelings about salvation but they have strong feelings about Green/Leftist causes.

Because they focus so much on personal feelings and the promise of salvation rather than on "the world", American evangelicals are something of an exception but, even there, 10 million evangelicals voted for Al Gore in the year 2000 American Federal elections.

But back to conservatism: While conservatives tend to let the natural world run its course, that is not a defining characteristic.

What Leftists find in their dictionaries is that conservatives are opposed to change.  That is indeed the prevailing Leftist conception of conservatives but it ignores one of the most salient facts about politics worldwide  -- that conservative governments are just as energetic in legislating as Leftists are.  Both sides busily make new laws all the time.  And the point of a new law is to change something.  The changes that Left and Right desire are different but both sides push for change.  On the Leftist's  understanding of conservatism, a conservative government that wins an election should do no more than yawn, shut up the legislature and go home until the next election!

So in a thoroughly anti-intellectual style, the Leftist ignores one of the most basic facts about politics. That sure is a weird little intellectual bubble that he lives in.  EVERY conservative that I know has got a whole list of things that he would like to see changed  -- usually reversals of Leftist changes.  But Leftist intellectuals  clearly just doesn't know any conservatives.  Conservatism is NOT a rejection of change, though it may be a rejection of Leftist change.

So what really is conservatism? I have taught both sociology and psychology at major Australian universities but when it comes to politics my psychologist's hat is firmly on. One can understand conservatism at various levels but to get consistency, you have to drop back to the psychological level. And at that level it is as plain as a pikestaff. Conservatives are cautious. And that is all you need to know to understand the whole of conservatism.

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

West Virginia Teacher and Boy Sex Abuse

(Charleston, West Virginia) A 30-year-old Spanish teacher at Capital High School, Michelle Ball, has been accused of sexually abusing a male student.

She was arrested Tuesday.

According to the criminal complaint, the victim is a juvenile male, who said that Ball took him to her home, where they drank alcohol, then Ball allegedly showered with the boy.

The victim also told investigators that the teacher once took him to a hotel in Kanawha City, where he performed sexual acts on her.

Ball was booked into custody at the South Central Regional Jail with bail set at $50,000.

Florida Woman, 25, and Boy, 16

(Stuart, Florida) A 25-year-old local woman, Caroline Savy, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy.

Savy faces a charge of unlawful sex with a minor.

Officers began investigating the allegations last week after the mother of a 16-year-old boy said her son was having sex with an older woman.

The teen reported that he had consensual sex with Savy at his home on several occasions while his father was at work.

Savy was booked into custody at the Martin County Jail with bond set at $50,000.

Florida Teacher Accused of Extortion

(West Palm Beach, Florida) A 38-year-old teacher formerly at Mavericks Charter High School in West Palm Beach, LaTasha Terraine Currington, has been accused of extorting another teacher by threatening to reveal five nude photos of her.

On Oct. 24, the alleged victim phoned Currington while police listened to the call. During the call, Currington told the woman she would return the five photographs in her possession for $300 apiece.

When Currington was asked by the woman if she intended to send “naked pictures of me to my employer,” Currington allegedly responded, “I mean there’s not really much else I can do other than let (the) Department of Education know who they’ve got working on their team as a certified teacher.”

Currington also threatened to “let the Palm Beach County Public School district know what you did” and to inform the “CEO of the school” where the victim works.

Currington was booked into custody at the Palm Beach County Jail and released on her own recognizance.

Washington State Teacher Gets Jail for Molesting Boy, 10 - Update

(Othello, Washington)

Former Scootney Springs Elementary teacher Lisa Davis, 48, was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to 1st degree child molestation.

Davis pled guilty to the charge after prosecutors and her defense attorney struck a deal. Davis was sentenced to 12 months in jail including a comprehensive Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative known as SOSA.

The judge agreed to suspend all but 12 months in the 51 month to life sentence prosecutors recommended if Davis qualified for SOSA.

Davis was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
Washington State Teacher Guilty of Molesting Boy - Update
[Previous 9/16/13 post]
(Othello, Washington) Former fifth-grade teacher at Scootney Springs Elementary School, Lisa Davis, pleaded guilty today to molesting a 10-year-old male student.

After pleading not guilty in July, Davis has now admitted to first-degree child molestation. Davis faces a possible 51 months to life in prison. Alternatively, she may qualify for a sex offender rehab program and thereby minimize her prison time.

She was put on administrative leave amid the allegations after school let out for summer and she later resigned from her position.

Officials with the Othello School District said the inappropriate conduct between the former fifth grade teacher and the ten-year-old student began around May 30. Police said the alleged victim was in Davis’ reading class. Davis also took the boy to a movie, according to investigators.

Officers said that another teacher alerted school administrators Davis was acting inappropriately with her student.

A sentencing date has not been reported.

* * * * *
Washington State Teacher Allegedly Molests Boy, 10
{Previous 7/9/13 post]
(Othello, Washington) A 48-year-old fifth-grade teacher formerly at Scootney Springs Elementary School, Lisa Davis, has been accused of inappropriate behavior with a 10-year-old male student.

Investigators have recommended that Davis be charged with two counts of child molestation.

Davis was placed on administrative leave on the same day pending investigation according to the Othello School District. She submitted her letter of resignation on June 18 and it was approved by the District less than a week later on June 24.

On Monday, police completed an investigation into claims that Davis molested one of her students.

The case currently awaits action by the Adams County prosecutor.

"Do it yourself" socialism

An illegal Chinese immigrant, bitter over his failure to achieve the American dream, repaid his cousin’s kindness by butchering the man’s wife and four young children, cops said Sunday. Mingdong Chen, 25, showed no remorse when he confessed to slaughtering the family that allowed him to live in their Brooklyn apartment and admitted that he committed the atrocity because he envied their way of life, a police source told The Post.

“The family had too much,” the source quoted Chen as saying. “He meant that the family had better income and a better lifestyle than him ..... He was jealous and just killed them.”

Chen was charged Monday but did not enter a plea.  NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks III said Chen had cited his inability to make it in America as his motive for the slayings, which apparently took place while the victim’s husband Yi Lin Zhuo was at work.

“Everyone here is doing better than me,” Banks quoted the suspect as saying during a confession in Mandarin Chinese, the only language Chen speaks.

Sources said Chen, who came here illegally from China and worked as a cook, used a butcher knife to slash and stab Li in the face — lopping off several of her fingers when she tried desperately to protect herself.

Cops found Li, 37, in the kitchen with her son Kevin Zhuo, 5. Both were alive but died a short time later at hospitals. The other children — William Zhuo, 1, Amy Zhuo, 7, and Linda Zhuo, 9 — were found slain in a rear bedroom.

Two of the kids, including the baby, had been decapitated, and there was a trail of blood throughout the house, sources said.
“It’s just a scene you’ll never forget, I’ll just leave it at that,” Banks said.

A distraught cousin of the dead mom recalled having met Chen when he lived with the victims’ family in the past and said Chen had worked as a cook but couldn’t hold down a job.

“He’s lazy. He doesn’t work too hard,” Gao Yun, 29, said after stumbling upon the crime scene Sunday and breaking down in sobs when cops told her what had happened.

Yun said Chen most recently was working at a restaurant in another state but had been fired about two weeks ago.

Chen has no known history of mental illness and no arrest record in New York City, Banks said, adding that cops were checking to see whether he has ever been busted elsewhere in the country.

SOURCE

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

Arkansas Teacher Gets More Jail in Sex Case - Update

(Little Rock, Arkansas)

Former Mount St. Mary Academy teacher and volleyball coach Kelly O'Rourke, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a student, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for repeatedly contacting the victim.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Judge Barry Sims said he was coming down hard on the teacher for willfully disregarding the court’s no-contact order after pleading guilty in the case.

O'Rourke apparently couldn't stop contacting her victim.

* * * * *
Arkansas Teacher Gets Jail in Sex Case
[Previous 1/25/13 post]
(Little Rock, Arkansas) In June 2012, a teacher and coach at the all-girl Mount St. Mary Academy, Kelly O'Rourke, was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a student.

O'Rourke was charged with first-degree sexual assault.

Yesterday, Kelly O'Rourke pleaded guilty before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims to a charge of sexual assault.

O’Rourke was sentenced to 15 years in prison with all but 120 days suspended.

She was taken into custody and went to the Pulaski County Detention Center to begin serving the 120 days.

O'Rourke was also ordered to register as a sex offender and instructed to stay away from her victim.

Florida Law Enforcement Love Triangle

Edeania Nettles
(Osceola, Florida)

An Osceola County deputy sheriff was fired Thursday in the wake of her arrest on a charge of battering a female police officer she found at a park with the deputy's husband.

Deputy Edeania Nettles was let go after an internal investigation found her in violation of Sheriff's Office policy, a department spokeswoman said.

Nettles, 39, was suspended after she was accused of punching St. Cloud police Officer Jennifer Hoyos, 26, in the face and yanking Hoyos out of her patrol car by the hair.

Presumably, the motto 'Protect and Serve' doesn't apply when a woman's husband is on duty with a competing female.

Tip: slwlion

ObamaCare Doubles Premiums for Young Women

Because it’s not really about Sandra Fluke’s birth control. It’s about funding another expansion of the welfare state. It’s a tax hike looped through private companies. It’s wealth redistribution through the back door with a government mandate.

The vast majority of the population will be screwed by ObamaCare. A small number of people with medical problems who have jobs will benefit, but it would have been far easier and cheaper to pay to cover them. This is still about the Government Class and its insatiable welfare lust.

War on Women? The young women targeted for this in ads don’t benefit from it.

Healthy young women will see their premiums rise by an average of almost 200 percent under Obamacare, with increases occurring in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to a new study.

Earlier this month, the American Action Forum released an analysis that found the average 30-year-old male nonsmoker would see his premiums rise 260 percent.

Using the same metrics, the organization found that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be just as harsh on women trying to purchase bronze level plans, the cheapest insurance available in the marketplace.

Overall, states averaged a 193 percent increase in premiums for 30-year-old female nonsmokers.

For example, a woman earning $31,597.50 would receive a 23 percent subsidy, totaling $653. However, her yearly premium would still be $2,186, compared to the $218.47 penalty she would incur in 2014 for not having insurance.

Welcome to ObamaCare. You’re doing your part to subsidize an unsustainable welfare state.

SOURCE

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

Ohio Woman Gets Prison for Child Porn - Update

Tanai Fortman
(Lebanon, Ohio) After Tanai Fortman pleaded guilty in a child sex case, Warren County Common Pleas Court Judge James L. Flannery sentenced her to 15 years in prison. Fortman will also be classified as a Tier III sex offender for the rest of her life.

Fortman pleaded guilty to rape and pandering sexually oriented material involving a 4-year-old girl.

* * * * *
Ohio Woman Accused of Child Porn Charges
[Previous 6/28/13 post]
(Springboro, Ohio) A 32-year-old local woman, Tanai Fortman, has been arrested after sexually explicit videos of a 4-year-old girl were found on her smartphone and tablet devices. Fortman's boyfriend discovered the sex videos and called police.

Fortman faces felony counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material and pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.

When asked about the videos, Fortman said she didn't remember them being made -- and blamed her memory lapse on a large intake of weight-loss pills that rendered her unconscious.

She said she was working for an "online sexting company" and she got a message requesting she send videos of her and the child, officers said.

"She stated that she was sick to her stomach when she saw the videos and would never hurt (the victim)," an officer wrote in Fortman's arrest report.

Fortman was booked into custody at the Warren County Jail with bond set at $75,000.

Wang Family Values

(Heilongjiang Province, China)

A Chinese man met his own daughter-in-law on a blind date in a hotel bedroom after both of them lied about their real names and sent pictures of other people.

Worse than that, the woman's husband, who was the man's son, had suspected his wife of cheating and followed her to the hotel where he found the pair before attacking them.

Wang Jai, 31, watched his wife enter a hotel bedroom before she changed into a pink bathrobe and headed to another room at Heilongjiang province in northeast China.

When she rang the doorbell and his dad answered, the husband flipped out, beating up both of them before police broke up the fight after being called by hotel staff.

Wang Pai, 57, had lost his job two years ago and started chatting online to new people including a woman who he had developed a friendship with - unaware that it was his daughter-in-law and the mother of his grandchild.

She in turn was bored at home being a housewife.

It appears that the Wang marriage vows were somewhat flexible.

Alcoholic Ice Cream

(New York City)

A New York firm believes it is the first in the world to create and sell alcoholic beer-flavoured ice cream.

The ice cream, called Frozen Pints, comes in seven different flavours and the strongest tub has a alcohol level of 3.2 per cent.

Each special portion of ice cream comes in a 454ml tub and costs £4.33. Peach Lambic is the weakest at one per cent, while Pumpkin Ale is the strongest.

Frankly, I fear that pedophiles will likely be the most frequent purchasers of the product.

Minnesota Woman Accused of Child Molestation

Shantay Williams
(Rochester, Minnesota) A 20-year-old local woman, Shantay Williams, has been accused of engaging in multiple sex acts with a 4-year-old boy.

Williams is charged with four counts of criminal sexual conduct in Olmsted County District Court.

According to the criminal complaint, she sexually abused the little boy while babysitting him. Authorities say it happened at least two different times.

Williams was booked into custody at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center.

Census: 49% of Americans Get Gov’t Benefits; 82M in Households on Medicaid

In the fourth quarter of 2011, 49.2 percent of Americans received benefits from one or more government programs, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.

In total, the Census Bureau estimated, 151,014,000 Americans out of a population then estimated to be 306,804,000 received benefits from one or more government programs during the last three months of 2011. Those 151,014,000 beneficiaries equaled 49.2 percent of the population.

This included 82,457,000 people--or 26.9 percent of the population--who lived in households in which one or more people received Medicaid benefits.

Also among the 151,014,000 who received benefits from one or more government programs during that period: 49,901,000 who collected Social Security; 49,073,000 who got food stamps; 46,440,000 on Medicare; 23,228,000 in the Women, Infants and Children program, 20,223,000 getting Supplemental Security Income;13,433,000 who lived in public or subsidized rental housing; 5,098,000 who got unemployment; 3,178,000 who got veterans' benefits; and 364,000 who got railroad retirement benefits.

SOURCE

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

Congress and Milker Bills - Nothing Gets Done

Peter Schweizer's book Extortion: How Politicians Extract Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets, discusses why Congress gets nothing done. They are too preoccupied with legislative tactics used to raise funds for their campaign coffers and to pay for their committee seats. As Mr. Schweizer explains, only about 5% of the bills proposed in Congress become law.

What if many of those bills are written not to be passed but to pressure people into forking over cash? This is exactly what is happening...

Take the maneuver known inside the Beltway as the “tollbooth.” Here the speaker of the House or a powerful committee chairperson will create a procedural obstruction or postponement on the eve of an important vote. Campaign contributions are then implicitly solicited. If the tribute offered by those in favor of the bill’s passage is too small (or if the money from opponents is sufficiently high), the bill is delayed and does not proceed down the legislative highway. [...]

Another tactic ... insiders call “milker bills.” These are bills designed to “milk” donations from threatened individuals or businesses. The real trick is to pit two industries against each other and pump both for donations, thereby creating a “double milker” bill.

Even if the "milker bills" do pass, they are usually crafted to expire so they can be proposed again and again for additional milking of businesses and constituents.

Mr. Schweizer says that at least 27 states have put restrictions on legislators accepting campaign contributions during active sessions. He suggests that Washington would benefit from similar laws. Only then, some real work might actually be accomplished by our government.

Because current U.S. Senators and Representatives are a "Permanent Political Class" and will never vote to ban campaign contributions while in session, I suggest they all need to go!

Posted by Note Taker

Arctic temperatures are at a 44,000-year high - and greenhouse gases are to blame, claim scientists (?)

Anthony Watts has made some reasonable criticisms of the report below but seems to have missed a feat of illogic that stands out like dog's balls to me.  As the article itself mentions, temperatures on Baffin Island have a life of their own.  They do not even match temperature changes in adjoining Greenland.  But if Baffin Island is so out of line with the rest of the world, how can we made deductions about the rest of the world from it?  Only a Warmist would think you could.

The Arctic generally is a patchwork of quite widely varying temperatures to this day.  There appear to be several culprits for that, including variations in wind currents, variations in ocean currents and subsea vulcanism


Average summer temperatures in the Eastern Canadian Arctic during the last 100 years are higher now than during any century in the past 44,000 years, scientists warned.

The study said that temperatures in the region could even be hotter than as long as 120,000 years ago.

The U.S. researchers believe the 'unprecedented warming' of Arctic Canada is due to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
A couple of walruses are pictured

Average summer temperatures in the Eastern Canadian Arctic during the last 100 years are higher now than during any century in the past 44,000 years, scientists warned.

Gifford Miller, study leader and geological sciences professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, said: 'This study really says the warming we are seeing is outside any kind of known natural variability and it has to be due to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.'

Scientists at the university believe their study is the first direct evidence that the present warmth in the Eastern Canadian Arctic exceeds the peak warmth there in the Early Holocene, when the amount of the sun’s energy reaching the Northern Hemisphere in summer was roughly nine per cent greater than today.

The Holocene is a geological epoch that began after Earth’s last glacial period ended roughly 11,700 years ago and continues today.

Professor Miller and his colleagues used dead moss clumps emerging from receding ice caps on Baffin Island as tiny clocks.

According to their paper, published in journal Geophysical Research Letters, the scientists compared 145 radiocarbon-dated plants with gas bubbles trapped in ice cores from the region, which show layers of snow over time and enable researchers to reconstruct past temperatures.

The plants were collected in the highlands of Baffin Island, which is located east of Greenland is the fifth largest island in the world and lies mostly inside the Arctic Circle.

The results showed the plants had been trapped in the ice for at least 44,000 years but could have been entombed for up to 120,000 years - suggesting that the temperatures in the area have not been so high for as long as 120,000 years.

'The key piece [of information] here is just how unprecedented the warming of Arctic Canada is,' said Professor Miller, who is also a fellow at the university's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

The scientists examined 145 radiocarbon-dated plants in the highlands of Baffin Island, which is located east of Greenland is the fifth largest island in the world, lying predominately inside the Arctic Circle

'Although the Arctic has been warming since about 1900, the most significant warming in the Baffin Island region didn’t really start until the 1970s,' said Professor Miller.

'It is really in the past 20 years that the warming signal from that region has been just stunning. All of Baffin Island is melting, and we expect all of the ice caps to eventually disappear, even if there is no additional warming,' he added.

The scientists said temperatures across the Arctic have been rising substantially in recent decades as a result of the buildup of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere.

Studies in Greenland by other researchers at the university  indicate temperatures on the ice sheet have climbed 7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1991.

SOURCE

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

Florida Butt-Injector Case - Update

(Miami, Florida)

A South Florida woman accused of injecting people's buttocks with Fix-a-Flat and other substances in an alleged black market business agreed to a plea deal Thursday that will keep her behind bars for a year.

Oneal Morris, 32, will have to surrender in January after she was sentenced to 366 days in prison on one count of practicing medicine without a license in Miami-Dade court.

Note that Morris is male who also faces charges in Broward County.

* * * * *
Accused Butt-Injector Arrested
[Previous 11/22/11 post]
(Miami, Florida) A 30-year-old man who presents as a woman, Oneal Ron Morris, was arrested last Friday for posing as a doctor and performing plastic surgery on victims desiring enlarged buttocks.

Morris reportedly filled victims' buttocks with "cement, mineral oil and flat-tire sealant."

Morris has been sought by authorities for a year for practicing medicine without a license resulting in serious bodily injury.

Miami Gardens Police Sgt. Bill Bamford said Sunday that Morris bounced from house to house for a year, driving a black Mercedes and staying out of investigators' sight "like a ghost."

An officer drove by one of those possible houses nearly every day on his way to work and saw the car outside on Friday, and he arrested Morris soon after.

Note that Morris is described as smallish with "bee-stung pouty lips, arched eyebrows, oversized hoop earrings — and a large backside."



Oneal Ron Morris

In a similar illegal butt injection case, another woman, Kimberly Smedley, was recently arrested in Washington. Arguably, the practice is not rare and evidence now exists to possibly explain why Washington appears to have some of the biggest asses on Earth.

Tip: slwlion

Lenin Statue Beheaded

Beheaded Lenin Statue
(Orenburg, Russia)

In just the latest of numerous indignities carried out against his image in the past two decades, a statue of Vladimir Lenin was discovered to be lacking a crucial piece of the historical figure's anatomy in the southern district of Orenburg this week.

"Emergency in Ponomaryovka! Unknown people have sawed off the head of the monument to V.I. Lenin!!!!!" a user posted Wednesday on social networking site VKontakte, attaching a picture of the decapitated statue as proof, Regnum.ru reported.

Unfortunately for the former proletarian leader, this is not the first time that his statue has been defaced.

The monument was beheaded once before in the 1990s, said regional Communist Party head Vladimir Novikov, who noted that monuments in several nearby towns have suffered similar fates.

The statues are generally made of plaster and impossible to repair, so local residents inspired to restore the revolutionary to his former glory must raise enough funds to erect a new one, Novikov said.

Notably, most Lenin statues were destroyed or dismantled after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, pockets of Commies endure, languishing in fond memories of bloody totalitarianism.

NYC Dance Teacher Accused of Sex with Girl, 13

Tyshaunna Roberts
(Queens, New York) A 22-year-old dance teacher at Pathways College Preparatory School, Tyshaunna Roberts, has been arrested for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old female student.

Roberts faces counts of criminal sexual act, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

Details on arrest and booking are unavailable.

Carolina Jailer Accused of Smuggling Contraband to Inmates

(North Charleston, South Carolina) A 33-year-old Charleston County Jail Officer, Venetia D. White, has been accused of providing contraband to inmates.

White faces counts of misconduct in office and furnishing contraband to a prisoner. According to Sheriff Al Cannon:

… authorities started investigating last week after a cellphone was found in a cell.

In one month's time, Cannon says White gave inmates the phone, as well as lighters, electrical tape and mini-bottles of alcohol.

Details on arrest and booking are unavailable.

Boko Haram Islamists Murder 19

Boko Haram gunmen in Nigeria
(Logumani, Nigeria)

Boko Haram gunmen dressed in military uniform on Sunday killed 19 people near the Nigerian border with Cameroon in the restive northeast where the Islamists have carried out deadly attacks, residents and a survivor said.

The motorcycle-riding gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs blocked the highway near the town of Logumani, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border, shooting and hacking to death 19 motorists and burning three trucks, they said.

“We have recovered 19 dead bodies from the scene of the attack by Boko Haram gunmen,” Musa Abur, leader of a civilian vigilante group in the area told AFP.

“Five of the victims, who included two truck drivers and their assistants, were shot dead while the rest were slaughtered,” he said.

Islamists have no respect for human life.

Brit Educator, 57, and Boy, 15

Elaine McKay
(Essex, England) A 57-year-old teaching assistant at Clacton Coastal Academy, Elaine McKay, has been accused of engaging in repeated sex with a 15-year-old boy between June 2012 and May 2013.

McKay faces counts of sex with a boy, causing a boy to engage in sex, and causing a child to look at an image of sexual activity for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification.

A married teaching assistant seduced a pupil more than 40 years her junior, a court has heard.

Grandmother Elaine McKay, 57, is accused of starting a sexual relationship with the 15-year-old boy who she was helping to teach at school.

She is also alleged to have incited the teenager, who cannot be named, to engage in sexual activity and to have shown him pornography.

McKay is free on bail with a court appearance scheduled for January 2014.

Tip: JR

Did Obama win the battle only to lose the war?

Janet Daley has some good points below but what she overlooks is that the shutdown should have SEARED into everybody's mind that the GOP fought tooth and nail against Obamacare.  And as Obamacare implodes, the GOP should get some credit for being right and the Donks should get the blame that they deserve.  But then again:



One hesitates to ascribe too much credit to Boehner & Co. but it could be that an awareness of how quicky Obamacare was crumbling lay behind abandonment of the shutdown -- JR


There is now virtually no one in Washington who does not believe that Barack Obama's army won the Battle of the Shutdown. The Republicans took a big hit in the opinion polls and their Tea Party faction was particularly reviled for its bloody-minded insistence on demanding the delay of Obamacare as the price for allowing the federal government to function. That was then.

This is now. That flagship policy on which the White House refused to accept any delay or conscientious doubt is turning into a political car crash for the administration.  So hopelessly unfit for purpose is the website which was supposed to be the portal to a new reformed healthcare future, that it has permitted only a trickle of users to enroll in the brave new venture of universal health insurance. This might have been excused as an early-days teething problem if the White House had not been so vindictively adamant about its refusal to consider any deferment of the rollout. Having insisted that there could be absolutely no relenting on the date of launch of what proved to be an untested, faulty system, makes them look as if they were putting political gamesmanship above responsibility to the citizen.

In fact, the scale of the inadequacy of this programme is raising a pantheon of criticisms of the entire principle on which it is based which could have real long-term consequences for the credibility Obama's policy. Is is right that the federal government should be operating such an enormous universal programme? Is the premise on which it relies – that young, healthy people can be coerced into sharing the health insurance burden against their inclinations – even viable? Is this bizarre mix of state enforcement and private provision in which people are made to buy a product they do not want under threat of legal penalty, the right answer to the problem of escalating American healthcare costs? Even the Obama loyalists in the media and the Leftwing satirists are having a rip-roaring time tearing into the disaster of the Obamacare launch.

So how is this for irony? Now that the Republicans' "shutdown" farrago is over, the delay that they were demanding in the Obamacare programme might become necessary after all. And now that everyone is forgetting about the politically disastrous attempt to undermine it, the president's radical healthcare reform might collapse under the weight of its own contradictions.

SOURCE

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

Texas Dance Teacher Gets No Jail in Student Sex Case - Update

(Houston, Texas) Dance teacher Amanda Feenstra gets no jail for engaging in an extended-term sexual relationship with a female student.

An Humble High dance instructor accused of an improper relationship with a student was sentenced to 10 years deferred adjudication, probation and a $1,000 fine in court Oct. 23, 2013.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the 176th District Court March 5, Amanda Feenstra, of Atascocita, is accused of “deviate sexual intercourse” with a female student who has since graduated from the school.

No jail? Kinda lenient, I suggest.

* * * * *
Texas Dance Teacher and Girl
[Previous 3/6/13 post]
(Houston, Texas) A 30-year-old dance teacher formerly at Humble High School, Amanda Michelle Feenstra, has been accused of engaging in an extended-term sexual relationship with a female student.

Feenstra faces a charge of improper relationship with a student.

Police said Feenstra engaged in deviate sexual intercourse with the student from August 2010 to November 2011. The student, who was a member of the school’s “Wild Cadets” dance team, was 17 years old when the relationship began.

The student said one day Feenstra approached her saying she was “really attracted to her and would like to get to know her.” After that, the two of them began to spend a lot of time together.

The student said most of their sexual encounters would happen at Feenstra’s home while her husband was away, but they also occurred at the school and at various sporting events. The girl said the two of them had so many sexual encounters that she could not remember them all, according to court documents.

The teen said Feenstra told her she loved her and wanted to be with her forever, but she did not want to continue the relationship.

Feenstra was booked into custody with bond set at $30,000.

On-the-Job Air Marshal Takes Upskirt Photos

Air Marshal Adam Bartsch
(Nashville, Tennessee)

Adam Bartsch is a 28-year-old U.S. air marshal who was arrested at Nashville International Airport on Thursday evening. He is accused of taking pictures up women's skirts with his cellphone while sitting aboard Southwest flight 3132 from Nashville to Tampa.

Bartsch later reportedly admitted to taking 10 to 12 pictures up women's skirts.

Bartsch was booked and later released on $10,000 bail.

Personally, it's somewhat disconcerting that an on-the-job Transportation Security Agency (TSA) Air Marshal spends his time peeking at panties rather than protecting a plane. Hopefully, this episode is not common practice for the TSA.

Antarctic Ice Sets New All Time Record High In October

NSIDC are now back up and running again, after the Federal shutdown.

Quite astonishingly, Antarctic sea ice has set another record for maximum extent, beating the previous record of 19.513 million sq km, set on 21st September this year.



Note that current levels are more than 2SDs above average, which is huge  --JR


What makes the new record so astonishing is that it was set in October, on the 1st. Climatologically, the maximum extent is reached on 22nd September, so it is most unusual for the ice still to be growing 10 days later.

As at the 18th October, extent is still running at 998,000 sq km above normal.

With the Arctic ice running at 728,000sq km below normal, this means that global sea ice is 270,000 sq km above the 1981-2010 norm.

SOURCE

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

Carolina Teacher Pinched for Drugs

(Person County, North Carolina) A 30-year-old second-grade teacher at Falls Lake Academy, Cristin Elliott Fogleman, has been accused of dealing drugs out of her home. She was arrested during a major drug raid.

Fogleman has been suspended from her teaching position.

Fogleman is accused of possessing and selling prescription pills out of her own home while her one year old son was home.

Person County Sheriff Dewey Jones says Fogleman's arrest was just like any other in a massive drug roundup and operation where 90 people were arrested.

Fogleman is a former Durham Public schools teacher, and is a new teacher at Falls Lake Academy in Granville County.

A November court date has been scheduled.

Famous Phallic Sculptures Disappearing

(Gonbad-e Qabus, Iran)

Located in the green hills of northeast Iran, the Khalid Nabid Cemetery, also known as the “Valley of Genitalia”, is a historic site famous for its very phallic sculptures, thought by some to be gravestones.

Recently, however, visitors have noticed that many of them have gone missing.

It's a mystery.

Feminist Strip-Searched Entering Spanish Parliament

Feminist Mar Esquembre in Spanish Parliament
(Madrid, Spain) A Constitutional Law lecturer at Alicante University, Mar Esquembre was strip-searched upon entering Parliament.

A university lecturer and renowned feminist is suing the Spanish Parliament's Speaker of the House after security staff forced her to strip down to her underwear because she had the wrong surname.[…]

Mar Esquembre’s account of events has sent a shiver down the spine of many Spanish feminists who now fear fighting for their cause has become a crime in Spain.[…]

“They had my second surname written down wrongly,” she wrote in her blog when recalling her ordeal.

“My friend and I tried to explain why but the security guards were already putting the rubber gloves on.”

Esquembre describes how she was taken to a separate room and ordered to strip down to her underwear if she wanted to sit at the public viewing gallery.

Esquembre said she intends to sue the Speaker of the House.

Female Bomber 'Splodes on Russian Bus

(Volgograd, Russia)

A female suicide bomber attacked a bus in southern Russia on Monday, authorities said, killing at least six people in the deadliest such blast outside the volatile North Caucasus region in nearly three years.

The bombing in Volgograd was likely to raise fears of further attacks by Islamist militants as Russia prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in February in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, not far from the mainly Muslim North Caucasus.

The attack, which investigators blamed on a 30-year-old woman from Dagestan - the North Caucasus province at the center of an insurgency - also wounded 28 people, of whom eight were in critical condition, the federal Investigative Committee said.

State television showed footage, taken from a camera mounted on a driver's dashboard, of an explosion ripping through the bus as it travelled along a tree-lined road, sending shards of metal and glass flying.

Wearing a hijab when she boarded the bus, the female perpetrator has been identified as 30-year-old Naida Asiyalova who had associations with an insurgent group in Dagestan.

Stereotype threat

Putting it bluntly, Stereotype threat is an invented process to explain why blacks do poorly on IQ tests.  If blacks know that they are expected to do badly they allegedly get all anxious and do even worse than they otherwise would.  But shouldn't the knowledge that they are expected to do badly energize them and make them try harder -- just to prove the stereotype wrong?  I would have thought so but I am not a Leftist.

I have had a bit of a laugh at the theory before (e.g. here) and also see here

The theory has also been used to explain away the fact that women on average do badly on mathematical tasks (those nervous ladies!) and there has recently been some interesting work suggesting that the theory is wrong in that field too.  Steve Sailer summarizes:

"Although the social sciences are considered a bastion of progressivism, it's remarkable how few data-driven ideas they generate in support of their ideology. We can get a feel for this by noting how rare are the "exceptions to the rule" studies that become immensely popular due to bolstering the dominant worldview, such as Hart & Risley's finding that black people don't talk enough and Claude Steele's little study of Stereotype Threat in which he induces black students at Stanford to score lower on a low stakes test of his devising than their high stakes SAT scores would predict. (I wrote about Stereotype Threat in VDARE.com in 2004, suggesting it's not hard to get across the message to black or female students that the professor wants them to not exert themselves fully on this meaningless test. That you can "prime" groups of people to work less hard on an unimportant test does not prove that you know how to make them score higher on an important test.)

Lately, the evidence has been mounting that the existence of Stereotype Threat is quite dependent upon the file drawer function: studies finding its existence are quickly published while studies not finding its existence are in much less demand. A recent article:

An Examination of Stereotype Threat Effects on Girls' Mathematics Performance

By Colleen M. Ganley et al.

... Conclusion

Taken together, the findings from published research, unpublished articles, and the present studies reveal inconsistency in the effects of stereotype threat on girls’ mathematics performance. The discrepancy in results from published and unpublished studies suggests publication bias, which may create an inaccurate picture of the phenomenon. A recent review suggests that this publication bias may also be an issue in the literature on stereotype threat in adult women (Stoet & Geary, 2012). Overall, these results raise the possibility that stereotype threat may not be the cause of gender differences in mathematics performance prior to college. Although we feel that more nuanced research needs to be done to truly understand whether stereotype threat impacts girls’ mathematics performance, we also believe that too much focus on this one explanation may deter researchers from investigating other key factors that may be involved in gender differences in mathematics performance. For example, there are a number of factors (e.g., mathematics anxiety, mathematics interest, spatial skills; see Ceci & Williams, 2010) that have been shown to be consistently related to mathematics performance and mathematics-and science-related career choices and may warrant more research attention than does stereotype threat."

SOURCE

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

Carolina Woman, 29, and Boy, 14

(Leland, North Carolina) A 29-year-old local woman, Hannah Marie Whitlock, has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Whitlock faces a charge of statutory rape.

According to a warrant, Leland Police charged Hannah Whitlock of S. Navassa Rd., Friday for the rape of a 14-year-old boy. Police say the sex occurred between Feb. 1 and April 30 of this year.

A Leland Police spokesman would not provide more information on the case.

Whitlock was booked into custody with bond set at $200,000.

Oregon Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Myrtle Point, Oregon) A 30-year-old local woman, Desirea Key Chapman, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy.

Chapman was arrested and charged with second-degree sex abuse.

Note that Chapman is a registered sex offender on probation from a previous offense so she was also charged with violating probation.

The Sheriff's office began an investigation on Saturday, after receiving information about a possible sex abuse crime in the Myrtle Point area.

Chapman was booked into custody at the Coos County Jail.

Nebraska Woman Sex with Stepson Case - Update

(Grand Island, Nebraska)

A Grand Island woman convicted of having sex with her stepson and then violating her probation by living with him has been sentenced to a second term of probation.

Michelle Almonte-DeJesus, 28, was re-sentenced on Thursday by Hall County District Judge William Wright to five years probation for first-degree sexual assault for having sex with her then 15-year-old stepson between Jan. 1 and June 1, 2012. She had also received nude photos of her stepson on her cellphone and had sent him nude photos of herself, according to court documents.

A second term of probation? That'll show her.

* * * * *
Nebraska Woman Walks After Sex with Stepson - Update
[Previous 5/10/13 post]
(Grand Island, Nebraska) Local woman Michelle Almonte-DeJesus, 27, has been sentenced to no jail for engaging in sex with her 15-year-old stepson.

Judge William Wright said Almonte-DeJesus could have been sentenced to 50 years in prison but decided to set her free because the boy may have actively sought some coochy.

When the prosecuting attorney questioned whether this was a double standard, he said the judge told him the sentence is similar to one of his prior cases involving a man.

But Hall County's Deputy Attorney Jon Hendricks said this case involved a family member.

"To me that was one of the most horrendous aspects of this was. She was supposed to be a mother-figure to him and taking care of him-raising him. And it's just a different dynamic. And to me it just appears she took advantage of this child," said Hendricks.

Almonte-DeJesus was sentenced to probation and she was ordered to write an apology letter, to whom is not clear.

* * * * *
Nebraska Woman Guilty of Sex with Stepson - Update
[Previous 3/9/13 post]
(Grand Island, Nebraska) This week, 27-year-old Michelle Almonte-DeJesus has pleaded no contest to sexual assault charges after reportedly engaging in sex with her stepson.

As part of the plea deal, charges of incest, child pornography and creating obscene material were dropped.

Police say the woman and the 15-year-old traded nude photos of each other via cell phone and began having sex in January of last year.

The boy’s father reportedly called police after seeing the two in the act.

Sentencing is scheduled for May.

* * * * *
Nebraska Woman Accused of Sex Assault and Incest
[Previous 8/12/12 post]
(Grand Island, Nebraska) A 27-year-old local woman, Michelle Almonte-DeJesus, has been accused of engaging in sex with her teenage stepson.

Almonte-DeJesus faces charges of first-degree sexual assault on a child between the ages of 12 and 16 years old and incest.

When Hall County Judge Art Wetzel asked if Almonte-DeJesus understood the charges against her, she replied, “Yes, your honor.”

Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sept. 11.

“I’m planning on getting an attorney,” she said.

Wetzel said he’d note in her file she plans to hire her own attorney. He also told her if she finds she can’t afford legal counsel, she can apply for a court-appointed attorney.

Deputy Hall County Attorney Gail VerMaas asked for a bond with a no contact order. She said the boy’s father reported to police that he saw his wife and his son having sex. Officers interviewed them and they both admitted to having sex, VerMaas said.

Almonte-DeJesus was booked into custody with bond set at $50,000.

Surviving Global Warming?

A cartoon for sure, yet thought provoking, I suggest. Most estimates of sea-level rise have been in the range of a few inches to a couple feet over a period of 100 years. Pontificating disaster, the global warming crowd has championed alarm, i.e. cities will be flooded, islands will disappear.

Frankly, I'm not an alarmist about stuff that hasn't been proven. My reading informs me that scientists have found no discernible global warming for more than a decade. I suggest that people who buy into the global warming hype are woefully uninformed.

Tip: Wireless.Phil

The Outlook for Modeling Clouds (Adequately) ... is Still Cloudy

Getting clouds right is an absolute linchpin of global warming theory.  Unless clouds warm us up, the whole theory falls flat

Discussing:  Lauer, A. and Hamilton, K. 2013. "Simulating clouds with global climate models: A comparison of CMIP5 results with CMIP3 and satellite data". Journal of Climate 26: 3823-3845.

In a revealing paper published in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, Lauer and Hamilton (2013) report that numerous previous studies from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) showed quite large biases in the simulated cloud climatology affecting all GCMs (Global Climate Models), as well as "a remarkable degree of variation among the models that represented the state of the art circa 2005." So what's the case today? The two researchers provide an update by describing the progress that has been made in recent years by comparing mean cloud properties, interannual variability, and the climatological seasonal cycle from the CMIP5 models with results from comparable CMIP3 experiments, as well as with actual satellite observations.

After conducting their several analyses, Lauer and Hamilton concluded that "the simulated cloud climate feedbacks activated in global warming projections differ enormously among state-of-the-art models," informing us that "this large degree of disagreement has been a constant feature documented for successive generations of GCMs from the time of the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment through the CMIP3 generation models used in the fourth IPCC assessment." And they add that "even the model-simulated cloud climatologies for present-day conditions are known to depart significantly from observations and, once again, the variation among models is quite remarkable (e.g., Weare, 2004; Zhang et al., 2005; Waliser et al., 2007, 2009; Lauer et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2011)."

As for some other specifics, the two researchers determined that (1) "long-term mean vertically integrated cloud fields have quite significant deficiencies in all the CMIP5 model simulations," that (2) "both the CMIP5 and CMIP3 models display a clear bias in simulating too high LWP [liquid water path] in mid-latitudes," that (3) "this bias is not reduced in the CMIP5 models," that (4) there have been "little to no changes in the skill of reproducing the observed LWP and CA [cloud amount]," that (5) "inter-model differences are still large in the CMIP5 simulations," and that (6) "there is very little to no improvement apparent in the tropical and subtropical regions in CMIP5."

In closing, Lauer and Hamilton indicate there is "only very modest improvement in the simulated cloud climatology in CMIP5 compared with CMIP3," and they sadly state that even this slightest of improvements "is mainly a result of careful model tuning rather than an accurate fundamental representation of cloud processes in the models."

So, the outlook for adequately modeling clouds and cloud processes, after all these years of trying, must still be characterized as cloudy.

SOURCE

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