Women With Troubles - January 2014

Here is a compilation of women with troubles reported in news stories during January 2014. 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) Alicia Gray, 28,
teacher - Gets 6 months prison for sex with 14-year-old,

(AR) Andrea Clevenger, 34,
neighbor - Accused of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old boy,

(AR) Nicole J. Winberry, 28,
teacher - Accused of inappropriate sexual contact with at least one male high school student,

(AZ) Lisa Lugo, 38,
neighbor - Accused of assault on daughter,

(CA) Teresa Gilmete Badger, 47,
teacher - Arrested after she allegedly brought marijuana-laced food to an after-hours employee pot-luck dinner,

(CA) Mandy Morales, 31,
teacher's aide - Gets a year in jail and 3 years probation for having sex and a baby with a teenage student,

(CA) Nellie Marie Palacios, 43,
neighbor - Accused of burglary and animal cruelty,

(FL) Victoria Constance Bennett, 20,
neighbor - Accused of aggravated child abuse,

(FL) Kimberly Hilliard Brody, 40,
teacher - Accused of sex with teen,

(FL) Ciara Dupree, 24,
neighbor - Accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy,

(FL) Keturah Zillah Gibson, 47,
neighbor - Accused of sexually molesting a 12-year-old boy,

(FL) Roxanne Lynn Reamer, 39,
teacher - Accused of drug and obstruction offenses,

(FL) Claudia Y. Salinas, 27,
neighbor - Arrested for drug trafficking,

(GA) Randi Marie Houser, 30,
neighbor - Accused of stabbing boyfriend,

(IL) Darcee Baney, 28,
teacher - Guilty of indecent solicitation of a child, sentenced to 4 days jail, 30 months probation,

(IL) Erica Blackman, 31,
correctional officer - Accused of sexual misconduct with a male juvenile,

(IN) Bonita Lynn Vela,
neighbor - Accused of slicing a guy's junk with a box cutter,

(MA) Janelle Foley, 36,
school lunch lady - Accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy,

(MA) Kaitlin Pearson,
classroom assistant - Placed on paid administrative leave while school officials investigate modeling photos sent to the school,

(MD) Kaitlin Marie Krause, 24,
preschool teacher - Accused of abusing a 3-year-old girl,

(MI) Sarah Raymo, 31,
teacher - Accused of engaging in sex with one of her male students,

(ND) Trisha Lynn Bliss, 26,
neighbor - Accused of engaging in sex with a series of boys aged 14 to 17,

(NE) Carrie Miller, 24,
teacher - Arrested for doing the nasty with a male student,

(NJ) Jillian Clementi Cooper, 29,
softball coach - Sentenced to probation for sex with male student,

(NM) Jennifer McCarthy, 48,
neighbor - Accused of pulling gun out of her vagina and assaulting boyfriend,

(NY) Mary Ann Acee, 64,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 14,

(NY) Rachel Santora, 31,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 15,

(NY) Samantha Waller, 25,
neighbor - Accused of seriously assaulting 3-year-old son,

(OH) Pam Fisher, 38,
neighbor - Gets 57 months prison for sex with boy, 13,

(OH) Alicia Gaston, 21,
neighbor - Gets 10 years prison for rape of 6-year-old,

(OH) Brittany Hall, 24,
teacher - Accused of sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor,

(OH) Alexandra Lemley, 28,
teacher - Gets 6 months jail for taking drugs into jail,

(OK) Laura Jean Shoulders, 46,
neighbor - Accused of taking video of herself performing sex acts on a one-year-old child,

(OK) Natalie Lynn Webb, 30,
neighbor - Accused of molesting her children,

(OR) Sarah Beth Hopkins, 35,
neighbor - Sentenced to 12 years in prison for raping her friend's 12-year-old son,

(PA) Lisa Barrett, 48,
teacher - Sentenced to one year in federal prison for embezzling more than $59,000 from her union,

(PA) Erica Ann Ginnetti, 33,
teacher - Accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a male student, 17,

(PA) Jennifer Merklinger, 40,
teacher's aide - Accused of sex with student,

(PA) Stephanie Merlo, 29,
volunteer volleyball coach - accused of sex with a 17-year-old female student,

(TX) Jocelyn Doyle, 22,
teacher - Accused of engaging in an improper relationship with a student, 17,

(TX) Elizabeth Ann Frowley, 33,
neighbor - Accused of federal firearms and drug charges,

(TX) Kathryn Camille Murray, 30,
teacher - Gets one year in jail and one year probation for having sex with a student, 15,

(TX) Kristen Neill, 33,
teacher - Gets no jail time for having an improper relationship with a student,

(VA) Kyle Noro, 26,
educator and softball coach - Accused of posing as a male juvenile and engaging in an online relationship with a female juvenile,

(WI) Megan Garland, 29,
teacher - Sentenced to 4 years prison for sex with two students,

(WV) Kristyn Fetcko,
guidance counselor - Faces federal drug charges for allegedly selling oxycodone pills.

Thanks to the tipsters.

Car Crash and Man Gets Naked

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

On Monday morning at 10:30 a.m, a 34-year-old Pennsauken, New Jersey, man seemed to be feeling pretty good.

According to police, he crashed his car into the Crown Fried Chicken at 5th and Lehigh in North Philadelphia and then disrobed.

Don't know what this guy thinks.

Tip: slwlion

Housekeeping

From my perch adjacent to Lake Erie, the last week has been top-shelf miserable. Travel has been iffy. One must guess whether the route chosen has been recently, and I emphasize recently, plowed.

Storm front(s) and lake effect snows whitewash everything. Temperatures have been hanging around zero. Fortunately, we haven't lost power.

It appears the worst is over. Temperatures are increasing. Good.

However, winter is not over.

  Bill Nye the half-wit guy

How a mechanical engineer got a reputation as a science guy is something of a mystery -- and his deficiencies do show at times.  He refers to Mann's hokey "hockeystick" graph as covering 10,000 years when it in fact covered only 1,000 years.  And he also said that people's breathing is causing global warming.  Even Warmist scientists don't say that.  And he repeats the old Malthusian population scare  -- one of the most disproven prophecies there is.  If he is the best Warmists can trot out, Warmists are in even bigger trouble than I thought

Bill Nye the “Science Guy” joined former Vice President Al Gore in linking global warming to the rapid growth of human populations over the last two centuries.

“In the year 1750, there were about a billion humans in the world,” Nye, who is not actually a scientist, said on Fox Business’ “Stossel.” “Now, there are well over seven — seven billion people in the world. It more than doubled in my lifetime. So all these people trying to live the way we live in the developed world is filling the atmosphere with a great deal more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases than existed a couple of centuries ago.”

“It’s the speed at which it is changing that is going to be troublesome for so many, uh, large populations of humans around the world. Now, you may have heard of the hockey stick graph. This is where, uh, we compare the temperature of the world over the last 10,000 years with the temperature now,” Nye continued, citing the discredited “hockey stick” graph developed by former University of Virginia climate scientist Michael Mann.

Nye made his comments in a debate with global warming skeptic Marc Morano, the editor of the skeptic news site Climate Depot. Morano pushed back by arguing that the “hockey stick” graph has been proven wrong and that peer-reviewed studies have shown that the world was warmer during Roman times and the Middle Ages than it is today.

“It comes down to hundreds of factors are influencing our climate here,” Morano said. “CO2 is not the tail that wagged the dog. Another scientist who has essentially reversed herself is Judith Curry from Georgia Institute of Technology. She now says openly that you cannot control climate by reducing emissions.”

“And that seems to be the entire premise of the United Nations, that somehow, if we tweak emissions through carbon taxes, cap and trade, we can alter weather patterns,” Morano continued. “You opened up with tornadoes and Barbara Boxer. She actually went down to the Senate floor the day of tornadoes and implied a carbon tax would help prevent future tornado outbreaks. This is medieval witchcraft.”

Nye’s comments came after it was reported that failed presidential candidate Al Gore told an audience that “fertility management” was part of the solution to global warming and sustainable development in poor countries.

“Depressing the rate of child mortality, educating girls, empowering women and making fertility management ubiquitously available — so women can choose how many children and the spacing of children — is crucial to the future shape of human civilization,” Gore said at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

The idea that the human populations were too large for the Earth to support became popular in the 1970s when current White House science advisor John Holdren and scientist Paul Ehrlich preached the idea.

Holdren and Ehrlich both testified before the Senate in 1974 that the global economy would stagnate because of overpopulation, which even technological advancement would not be able to mitigate.

“We are going to move to a no-growth [economy],” Ehrlich said. “Now, whether we do it intelligently through the government by planning as rapidly as possible, or whether we move there automatically-by the way, when I look at some of the figures these days, I think we’re moving there much more rapidly than people realize — we’re going to get there, obviously.”

The world population was 3.5 billion in 1968 and food supplies only provided 2,300 calories per person per day in the early 1960s, according to United Nations data. The world’s population has more than doubled since then, but advances in food production technologies have allowed more people to be fed and there are far fewer people in the world suffering from chronic hunger today than in the 1990s. Incomes have also increased and economies have flourished since the 1960s.

Furthermore, global temperatures have been flat for the last 17 years now, despite the fact that the world’s population has grown by about 1 billion people since the late 1990s.

SOURCE

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

Marijuana and Kids

(Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden) Drugs have consequences.

An expectant mother's use of cannabis during pregnancy can prevent a child from forming certain connections in the brain while growing in the womb, a Sweden-based researcher has revealed.

"Cannabis is particularly powerful to derail how nerve cells form connections, potentially limiting the amount of information the affected brain can process," a statement from Sweden's Karolinska institute said this week.

The Institute's Professor Tibor Harkany was part of a global team of scientists looking into what effects consuming cannabis during pregnancy had on the unborn child.

"An increasing number of children suffer from the consequences of maternal drug exposure during pregnancy, and cannabis is one of the most frequently used substances," the statement read.

Hopefully, mothers will protect their children.

Texas Teacher Skates on Student Sex

(Lubbock, Texas) A 33-year-old teacher formerly with Terry County schools, Kristen Neill, has been sentenced to deferred adjudication for inappropriately touching a student.

Neill, 33, pleaded guilty Jan. 21 to a second-degree felony charge of having an improper relationship between an educator and student.

She was sentenced to seven years deferred adjudication and is required to forfeit her teaching certificate.

As part of the plea bargain, the state dismissed another felony charge Neill was facing of indecency with a child.

Neill was fined $2,000 and $333 in court costs. She avoids being classified as a sex offender and will have no record if she successfully completes seven years of probation.

Deportation of Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber
(Detroit, Michigan) Despite international success as a recording and performance artist, Canadian-born Justin Bieber has pissed off many people due to his decidedly immature and arguably illegal antics. As a result, a petition with over 100,000 signatures to deport Bieber back to Canada has been forwarded to President Obama.

Created Jan. 23 by a person in Detroit known as J.A., the petition asks the Obama administration to deport the 19-year-old back to his native Canada because he is “wrongly” representing the U.S. in the pop culture arena.

“We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked. He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nations youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society,” the petition reads.

Kids, eh? Give them books and books and what do they do?

Ignore adult guidance. Ignore common sense. Ignore history.

Bieber better smarten up. The road to unimaginable wealth and success is already bloodied. Think Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and many, many others who opted to lead an arguably dead-end lifestyle rather than pursue intelligent and measured enjoyment of their wealth and success.

 Obama's SOTU buries immigration up front without any detail 

Roy Beck

I'm inclined to say it was the least bad statement on immigration that he or George W. Bush have made in the SOTU addresses. It felt buried.

And despite the fact that the news media has been making it seem like immigration is about 60% of Mr. Obama's agenda for this year, he gave it only a perfunctory paragraph.  Here it is:

"Finally, if we are serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders, and law enforcement – and fix our broken immigration system. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have acted. I know that members of both parties in the House want to do the same. Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: when people come here to fulfill their dreams – to study, invent, and contribute to our culture – they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everyone. So let’s get immigration reform done this year.  Let's get it done. It's time."

Of course, we know the absolutely horrible things Mr. Obama would do under the term "immigration reform."

But it seems a good sign that he thought it would be harmful to his cause to tell Americans anything specific that he wants on immigration.

We had been told ahead of time that he would play nice with his immigration statement so as not to offend House Republicans who he is trying to win over. Still, I was a bit surprised -- and I think encouraged -- by his timidity.

Republicans picked one of the House's top party leaders -- Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.) -- to deliver the response.

Because many news media have practically declared the inevitability of House Republicans helping pass an amnesty this year, I was much more interested to hear what she would say.

Since she didn't really mention that many issues, it wasn't a good sign that she and her colleagues thought she should make such a big deal about immigration reform. Still, hers was also just a paragraph and more vague than specific:

"And yes, it’s time to honor our history of legal immigration.  We’re working on a step-by-step solution to immigration reform by first securing our borders and making sure America will always attract the best, brightest, and hardest working from around the world."

But her rhetoric is vague enough that the Republicans at their Chesapeake Bay retreat Wednesday through Friday won't have to embarrass her or seem to reject her when they show no enthusiasm for the GOP leadership's definition of "imigration reform."

Back when I was a congressional correspondent sitting in the press box overlooking the SOTU proceedings, I took a lot of notes on how and when particular Members responded to parts of the speech. I had to depend on the camera feed for the TV networks, but I was intrigued with what I saw from the top 3 House Republican leaders during the President's immigration paragraph.

After his first sentence ending in "fix our broken immigration system," Vice President Biden quickly moved to his feet as did all Democrats in a pretty resounding ovation.

That certainly put Speaker Boehner in a tough position. He knew the cameras were on him. His corporate donors want him to give Mr. Obama what he wants. But Mr. Boehner also had earlier this morning seen a strong negative reaction from his Republican Members to the news reports about a possible GOP legalization plan. Does the Speaker rehearse his reactions ahead of time?  What would he do on this one?

I was relieved that Mr. Boehner didn't seem to have the slightest inclination to stand the way leaders of the "other party" sometimes feel they have to when baseball, mom and apple pie are being lauded.  Instead, Mr. Boehner gave a non-commital facial expression and slowly applauded while remaining seated.

The camera swung to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor who was giving a moderate applause while looking very serious.  At the edge of the camera shot was the No. 3 House Republican Kevein McCarthy also being careful not to look too enthusiastic, despite recently saying that he looked forward to moving legislation that gives work permits and legalization to most illegal aliens.

It looked like maybe a half-dozen Republicans were confident enough of their constituents to stand with the Democrats in the ovation.

At the end of the President's immigration paragraph, there was more heavy applause.  The camera caught Mr. Cantor not joining at first and then offering a pretty slow clap.

I'm not going to read too much into what the various body language tells us about where these GOP leaders stand but I think tells us worlds about where they think their constituency stands.

More HERE

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

Nebraska Teacher Accused of Sex with Student

(Tecumseh, Nebraska) A 24-year-old Spanish teacher at Johnson County Central High School, Carrie Miller, has been arrested for doing the nasty with a male student.

Miller faces counts of sexual assault and enticement by electronic communications device.

Information was provided to investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol and Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Monday regarding allegations of a sexual relationship between Carrie Miller, 24, and a male student at the school.

Miller was lodged in the Johnson County Jail for the charges.

JCC Superintendent Jack Moles said he could not comment and the county attorney Julie Smith declined to comment until additional court documents are filed.

Details on booking are unavailable.

Chilean Guerrilla Caught

(Hamburg, Germany)

A French woman suspected of being a member of a now-defunct left-wing guerrilla group in Chile has been arrested in Germany.

Marie Emmanuelle Verhoeven was captured while trying to board a flight from Hamburg to Dubai late Saturday.

A police statement says the 54-year-old has been wanted since 1996 on an international arrest warrant for murder, forming a terrorist organization and grievous bodily harm resulting in death.

Verhoeven allegedly was a member of the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front set up in the 1980s to fight the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

It took almost two decades to get her.

Futuristic Bra

The Japanese have invented a bra that flies open when the wearer starts feeling amorous. Heart rate sensors embedded inside the bra trigger a smartphone app to unhook the bra.

Reportedly, the actual bra opening is quite dramatic.

It is immoral for Al Gore to organize "fertility management" for other nations

Eco-Fascists seem oblivious to historical parallels

Various influential and would-be influential people have gathered at the annual meeting in Davos. Folks like Al Gore and Bill Gates are among them. These two participated in the panel

Al Gore started to talk around 14:55 in the video and advocated "fertility management" in Africa, something that sounds scary. You could think that he has explicitly talked about forced sterilization but he actually hasn't – he has left the issue of the methods ambiguous. At any rate, it is very clear that he is obsessed with the idea of the reduction of the number of Africans and in this sense, he is no different than the German Nazis who wanted to gradually phase out Slavs on their stolen territories.

Al Gore may differ from Adolf Hitler in the extent but he doesn't differ qualitatively, in the principle. And both men were or are rooting for morally indefensible policies. In the Western, enlightened understanding of the world, it is up to every family to decide how many children it has – or to allow the kids to arrive as Nature or God wishes. Even in not-so-enlightened nations where the individual rights are not considered precious, it is up to the broader community – the nation itself – to decide whether and how the number of children is regulated.

China just began to dismantle its one-child policy.

It is impossible not to think that there's some racism and stunning hypocrisy if a jerk who has produced four children is "working" on the reduction of the number of newborn babies in a completely different nation.

And let me tell you something. Africa as a continent isn't and, in a foreseeable future, won't be overpopulated. There is one billion people (it should be still below 1.4 billion in 2025) living in Africa whose area is 30 million squared kilometers. So the average population density is the same 30+ people as you may find in the U.S. – which is "like" one-third of Africa, both when it comes to the population and the territory.

To compare, the population density is 130+ in Czechia, 490+ in the Netherlands, and 7,700+ people per square kilometer in Singapore. (Monaco with 18,000+ and Macau with 20,000+ are too small to be taken seriously but Singapore has over 5 million people.)

The continuing relative poverty of Africa isn't caused by overpopulation. It isn't caused by the continent's inability to provide the people with the resources. It is mostly due to the insufficient sophistication of their economies which is linked to poor education systems and perhaps their lower economic potential. But whatever the GDP or IQ or economic potential is, they are still people and should be sort of free.

Al Gore likes to liken climate skeptics to some unpopular groups – "homophobes", alcoholics, and others. His explanations for these analogies are extremely contrived; they really make no sense. He is just calling other people names. His problem is that his similarities to Adolf Hitler are not contrived at all because he is proposing some almost identical policies that as the Nazi leader did.

SOURCE

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

Mexican Cartel Leader Arrested

(Michoacan, Mexico)

Mexican troops on Monday seized Dionicio Loya Plancarte, also known as "El Tio" ("Uncle"), a high-ranking leader of the Knights Templar cartel.

The 58-year-old had a 30-million-peso (1.64-million-euro/$2.25-million) reward on his head from the government for drug, organized crime and money laundering charges.

The Knights Templar gang is blamed for much of the crime in western Mexico's troubled state of Michoacan. Federal forces have moved into the area in recent weeks to disarm vigilantes and flush out the gang.

The vigilantes are now working with Mexican troops.

SoCal Teacher Gets Jail for Sex, Having Baby with Student - Update

(Los Angeles County, California)

A former teacher’s aide at a special needs school in San Dimas was sentenced to jail time Monday after pleading guilty to having sex and a baby with a teenage student, according to court officials.

Mandy Morales, who worked at Canyon View School, was given a year in jail and three years’ probation, and ordered to attend sex offender counseling and parenting classes, a clerk at the Pomona Courthouse told NBC4.

A felony complaint for an arrest warrant had accused Morales, now 31, of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor under age 16 between Oct. 1, 2011, and July 5, 2012.

* * * * *
SoCal Teacher Accused of Sex, Birthing Baby with Student
[Previous 7/12/13 post]
(Los Angeles County, California) A 31-year-old teacher's aide at Canyon View School, Mandy Morales, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old male student and birthing a child fathered by him.

Morales faces a charge of sex with a minor.

The case began when Morales’ journal, which detailed an ongoing relationship with the victim, was found at the Canyon View School, the department said. Morales has been placed on administrative leave.

The private K-12 school, a part of the McKinley Children’s Center, provides special education services to students ages 5 to 22, according to the center’s website.

Morales was booked into custody and released on $50,000 bond.

Flatulent Cows

(Berlin, Germany)

Methane gas from 90 flatulent cows exploded in a German farm shed on Monday, damaging the roof and injuring one of the animals, police said.

High levels of the gas had built up in the structure in the central German town of Rasdorf, then "a static electric charge caused the gas to explode with flashes of flames," the force said in a statement.

I'm skeptical.

Bitcoin Exchange CEO Accused of Money Laundering

(New York City)

U.S. government agents have arrested Charlie Shrem, the CEO of Bitcoin exchange BitInstant, charging him with laundering money for customers of online drug bazaar Silk Road.

The U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York said Shrem helped someone he hadn't met in person, Robert Faiella, sell more than $1 million worth of bitcoins to Silk Road customers. Faiella, a 52-year-old Florida man, allegedly ran an underground Bitcoin exchange using the alias BTCKing.

Shrem was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sunday, and Faiella was arrested at his home in Cape Coral, Fla., on Monday, prosecutors said. Both are charged with conspiracy to launder money and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Bitcoins apparently work quite well on the black market.

Pennsylvania Teacher Gets Prison for Embezzlement - Update

(Scranton, Pennsylvania) Having pleaded guilty, former teacher for the Wyoming Area School District Lisa Barrett has been sentenced to one year in federal prison for embezzling more than $59,000 from her union.

Barrett, 48, illegally used a union debit/credit card on various illegitimate purchases over six years to improve her "personal lifestyle," U.S. District Judge James M. Munley said, releasing new details on the embezzlement charges.

"I am sorry. You have to pay the consequences," Munley told Barrett, who must surrender to federal authorities by March 5.

Munley said he was "concerned about sending the right message" to anyone entrusted with access to public funds or funds for community and employee organizations.

Barrett responded to the verdict by screaming and sobbing and calling out to God for help.

* * * * *
Pennsylvania Teacher Faces Embezzlement Charge
[Previous 10/3/13 post]
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)

A former teachers union president who was charged this week with embezzling more than $30,000 in union funds over six years "will make full restitution," her attorney said.

Lisa Barrett, 48, resigned as president of the Wyoming Area School District teachers union in February amid an investigation into misuse of union funds. The Shavertown woman will plead guilty to "embezzlement and theft of labor union assets" between April 2006 and April 2012, according to federal court documents.

Attorney Christopher T. Powell Jr. said Barrett "has agreed to accept full responsibility for her actions."

Federal court documents don't outline specific allegations of what crimes Barrett committed, but school officials previously said they were investigating misuse of a union credit card.

Citing "personal and medical reasons," Barrett took leave from her career technology teaching position at the district's Secondary Center at the same time she resigned her union post. The school board accepted Barrett's resignation as a district teacher at its Aug. 20 meeting.

Barrett and federal investigators did not reach an agreement on a sentence, according to court records. The maximum penalty for the charge is five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, the plea agreement says. A formal guilty plea hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

South American actor disses homosexuals

Not allowed in the land of the free, of course



GAYS and bisexuals shouldn't have a place on the hit show The Bachelor because it would be "too hard to watch," according to the latest star of the ABC series.

According to the New York Post , Juan Pablo Galavis, 32, claims he respects homo­sexuals - but said putting them on the romantic show would set a bad example for kids.

"They're more pervert [sic] in a sense. To me, the show would be too strong, too hard to watch on TV," he said in an interview.

The show's producers slammed the comments as "careless, thoughtless and insensitive." The former Venezuelan soccer star later apologised on Facebook - claiming he didn't mean to use the word "pervert."

"Everyone knows English is my second language," he wrote. "What I meant to say was that gay people are more affectionate and intense ... this would be too racy" on TV.

Source

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

Massachusetts Educator Accused of Racy Modeling

Kaitlin Pearson
(Fitchburg, Massachusetts)

A special education classroom assistant at an elementary school in Fitchburg was placed on paid administrative leave while school officials investigate modeling photos sent to the school last week.

Kaitlin Pearson was placed on leave Friday after school officials received a package of photos in the mail. A number of the pictures, which appear on Facebook and other websites, show the South Street Elementary School aide scantily clad or partially nude.

Andre Ravenelle, the Fitchburg school superintendent, said officials do not typically conduct an online search on prospective employees, and such photos would not show up on the state background checks required of all school employees.

Parents of students are not happy with the photos.

Check Google images for some of the photos being investigated. Hubba-hubba!

Bay State Teacher Accused of Gross Lewdness

Marc Mertz
(Walpole, Massachusetts)

A teacher was arrested Wednesday for allegedly walking around his driveway wearing only a ski cap and goggles.

A woman passing by the Norfolk County Agricultural High School teacher's home in Walpole called police after seeing the 44-year-old exposing himself, officials say.

The woman reported the incident to police and told them that she saw Marc Mertz in his driveway wearing a ski cap, goggles and a towel. However, when she drove by the home a second time, he'd lost the towel.

A couple of hours later, another witness saw Mertz completely nude, and said he thrust his hips onto his mailbox as she drove by.

Mertz was arrested on charges of open and gross lewdness and disturbing the peace at about 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Mertz was booked and released on $1,000 bond.

Tip: slwlion

Sickness at Sea

Explorer of the Seas
(Virgin Islands)

U.S. health officials are expected to board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the Virgin Islands on Sunday to investigate a possible outbreak of highly contagious norovirus that has sickened more than 300 passengers and crew members.

The Explorer of the Seas ship stopped part way through a 10-day cruise from Cape Liberty, N.J., to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten after reports of vomiting and diarrhea, according to the cruise line and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some 281 of the 3,050 passengers and 22 of the 1,165 crew members showed symptoms of the fast-spreading infection, according to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program, which monitors cruise ships.

Cause of the outbreak is unknown.

Are Leftists just looters?

An interesting email from a reader below.  I add some comments at the foot of it  -- JR

You claimed about Leftism: "Until you accept that the aim of Leftists is to hurt, not help, none of their actions makes sense.  Leftism, Liberalism, Progressivism are all words for the politics of hate. They hate the world about them.  And with motivations like that behind them, principles pass them by like a fart in a breeze"

I think I must disagree with you, based on my own experience with Leftists (particularly those one might label as "limousine Leftists"). Leftism, of whatever variety, appears to be much more about power and control, and about making a profit from the work of others through the process of managing economic activity.

Leftism shares the characteristics of a religion in that the founding ideology is axiomatic, and that any argument or dissent against their fundamental principles as stated is immoral. These principles can me quite flimsy and situational - for example, during the global cooling scare, arguing against the anthropomorphic global cooling theory was immoral and dangerous, until such time as empirical evidence transformed this thesis into an anthropomorphic global warming theory, after which arguing against the anthropomorphic global warming theory (or reflecting upon the earlier cooling theory) was immoral and dangerous, after which this changed to an anthropomorphic "climate change" theory, etc. This "Leftspeak" phenomenon is best described in the afterword of George Orwell's book, 1984.

Leftists may use the politics of hate to demean and isolate targets of opportunity, but this is not their defining characteristic. Leftists are just as likely to laud and promote some faction or class of people when such a strategy might be to their advantage. This may be as benign as the promotion of vegetarians or as destructive as the promotion of illegal drug traffickers, but the primary end is the empowerment and enrichment of the Leftist elite. Thus why, for example, Leftists who might go to excess to promote the civil rights of Muslims in Western countries preach non-interference with the extermination of Muslims in Syria. So also why Leftists who bristle at the slightest indignity to American Blacks will demean Blacks who vote Republican or who are known to be prominent conservative theorists as "race traitors".

Perhaps the best way to understand the Left is as a transnational criminal mafia, which are made up of a loose confederation of national socialist gangs that tend to co-operate to loot non-Leftist nations for their mutual benefit. Much like any other organized crime syndicate, they may certainly wreak havoc on the societies they inflict themselves upon and do frequently turn to fraud and violence to achieve their aims, but they do not do so simply in the name of spite or vindictiveness, no more than a bank robber's ultimate goal is to inconvenience banks. The bottom line for all Leftist entities is monetary gain and for a growth in prosperity and influence for their leadership elite. Absent this dynamic, Leftist factions tend to wither away.

That Leftist principles are merely whatever makes good propaganda at the time and that Leftists are power-mad I agree with.  The flexibility of their principles is certainly notorious, as their embrace of Islam shows.  If Leftists had ANY sincerely-held principles, they would be relentless enemies of Islam.

What I think the above account overlooks  however is the  passion of Leftists.  They are not just looters.  They are driven.  And hate is the driver.  They want power mainly to hurt others or to hurt whole societies -- as we saw with Pol Pot, Stalin etc.  They actually have a bloodlust towards those as they see as standing in the way of their ideal society  -- which is a society with them at the top running everything and dispensing favours, of course.  They normally have to mask that bloodlust but it soon pops out once they gain unrestrained power -- as after a communist revolution --JR.

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

California Teacher Accused of Poisoning

(Benicia, California) A 47-year-old teacher at Matthew Turner Elementary School, Teresa Gilmete Badger, was arrested after she allegedly brought marijuana-laced food to an after-hours employee pot-luck dinner.

Badger was arrested on suspicion of poisoning.

After the late-November get-together in the Bay Area town, several people reported feeling ill, a police statement said.

“One of the partygoers was rushed to the hospital with severe reactions; she was hospitalized,” Hartig told CNN affiliate KPIX. “The very next morning, another partygoer was taken to the hospital, because she continued to feel like she was under the influence of something.”

At least one of the women tested positive for THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), the principal intoxicant in marijuana, police said.

A 15-year-old also got sick after someone at the party brought leftovers home, according to police.

Badger was booked into custody at the Solano County Jail with bond set at $15,000.

Tip: slwlion

Ohio Educator Gets Jail in Drugs Case - Update

(Marietta Ohio)

Alexandra Lemley, 28, now of Hilliard, was sentenced Friday in Washington County Common Pleas Court on a third-degree felony count of illegal conveyance of prohibited items onto the grounds of a specified government facility.

The illegal conveyance charge was the culmination of Lemley's March 13 arrest in Monroe County, where she and three others were allegedly caught transporting crack cocaine, oxycodone pills and heroin into the area.[…]

Lemley, who was living in New Matamoras and working as a teacher in Pleasants County at the time, also pleaded guilty to drug charges in Monroe County Common Pleas Court.

Washington County Common Pleas Court Judge Ed Lane sentenced Lemley to serve six months in the Eastern Ohio Correctional Center (EOCC) as part of a joint sentencing agreement with Monroe County, he said.

Lemley was also sentenced to five years of community control.

* * * * *
Ohio Educator Guilty in Drugs Case
[Previous 11/22/13 post]
(Washington County, Ohio) A 28-year-old middle/junior high teacher formerly with Pleasants County schools, Alexandra Lemley, has pleaded guilty to hiding heroin in a body cavity when entering jail.

Lemley was indicted in June for a fourth-degree felony count of possession of drugs, a third-degree felony count of illegal conveyance of prohibited items onto the grounds of a specified government facility and a third-degree felony count of tampering with evidence.

In exchange for her plea to the illegal conveyance charge, the remaining two charges were dismissed.

However, Lemley pleaded guilty to additional charges in Monroe County stemming from the initial traffic stop, ….

Lemley faces a possible three-year prison term when sentenced. However, Washington County prosecutors and Monroe County prosecutors are working on a joint agreement which may change everything.

Space Chat

Here is the transcript of a short conversation among the crew of Apollo 10 from decades ago.

Interesting, eh?

Source

Anti-Fracking Protest

(Manchester, England) Anti-fracking protesters glued and chained themselves to gasoline pumps at a local service station and were arrested.

However, it was later learned that the station targeted had been sold and was no longer owned by the intended fracking company. The protesters were charged with criminal damage and criminal trespass.

New S&W .460-Caliber Backpack Cannon

(Las Vegas, Nevada)

Smith & Wesson on Monday touted its new .460-caliber revolver as an ideal firearm for your backpack in the backcountry.

Officials with the Springfield, Mass.-based company let selected members of the media fire the Performance Center Model .460 at a range in Boulder City, Nev., as part of the opening day of the annual SHOT Show.

A video at the link shows the Performance Center Model .460 being fired on the range. It impresses.

Leftist hate in Australia  -- a personal observation

I am enrolled in the Queensland electorate of Griffith, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's old seat.  I used to get a nice Christmas card from Kevvy every year while he was there.  So I will be voting in the by-election caused by Kevvy's retirement after his recent defeat in the federal election.

The LNP (conservative) candidate for the by-election is Dr. Bill Glasson, a most energetic campaigner and an ophthalmologist by trade.  His father, also Bill Glasson, was a minister in the long-running Bjelke-Petersen (conservative) government of Queensland.  So the present Bill has name recognition.

I was sitting in my usual Buranda brunch destination about mid-morning yesterday when Bill and a campaign assistant walked in -- also seeking brunch.  The assistant was a nice-looking young lady who might have been his daughter.  She had "Vote Bill Glasson" written all over her t-shirt so she was at any event a helper.

Bill & Co. sat down beside a lady in a green dress.  The restaurant was busy so some tables were right up against one another.  Bill chose one such table.  As the lady beside him got up to leave, she launched a furious verbal assault on Bill:  Quite egregious behaviour in a restaurant.

I was too far away to hear what she was saying and I am pretty deaf anyway but a professional actor could not have done a better job of portraying rage and hate  than this woman did  -- finger pointing, tensed-up body and all other conceivable hostile body  language.  Bill just sat there.  She gave up after a few minutes and walked out.  She must have thought of more things to say, however, as she shortly thereafter came back into the restaurant and resumed her angry tirade at Bill.

It was a most remarkable assault on a man the woman did not know personally and who has never been a member of any government.  She appeared to have been blaming Bill for something some government had done but why she blamed Bill for it was  obscure.

When I had finished eating, I went over, shook Bill's hand, introduced myself as a Griffith voter and said I would be voting for him.  I then asked him what the lady had been on about.  He said it was confused but it was something about hospitals.  All Australian public hospitals are in a mess so that might be understandable.  The government that got Qld. hospitals into a mess was however the recently departed Leftist government.  So again, why blame Bill?

I then said to Bill:  "She was full of hate, wasn't she?".  He agreed.  Just his conservative political identity was enough to fire her up.

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

Teacher Accused of Sex with Impaired Student



(Brisbane, Australia)

A Queensland teacher has been accused of maintaining a sexual relationship with a mentally impaired teenage schoolboy.

Police will allege the female teacher had a consensual sexual relationship with the 15-year-old special needs student, who's been described as having the "highest level" of impairment.

It will be claimed the 26-year-old even invented a friendship between her young lover and her own brother.

That friendship was used as a guise so she could have regular contact, including sleepovers, with the impaired boy, police will argue in court.

The teacher is facing five counts of carnal knowledge of a child under 16 and five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16.

The teacher was booked into custody and released on bail.

Tip: JRay

Florida Teacher Accused of Drug & Obstruction Offenses

(Tampa, Florida) A 39-year-old teacher at Eisenhower Middle School, Roxanne Lynn Reamer, has been arrested for obstruction of justice, false reporting the commission of a crime and possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.

Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies arrested her at her home at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. They were there to arrest Joseph Landreth, 45, on outstanding warrants. Landreth was wanted on warrants charging him with dealing in stolen property, grand theft and providing false information to a pawn broker.

During the arrest, deputies had a confrontation with Reamer, who tried to conceal Landreth’s whereabouts, though she was aware he was wanted on the felony charges, deputies said.

She told deputies Landreth broke into her residence, but deputies later learned he did not break into the apartment and that he had lived there for the past four months.

Deputies said Reamer refused to comply with orders to put her hands behind her back.

Reamer was booked and released on $2,500 bail.

Texas Teacher Gets Jail in Student Sex Case - Update

(Houston, Texas)

A judge sentenced a former Spring Branch ISD teacher to one year in jail and one year probation Tuesday for having sex with a 15-year-old student.

Kathryn Camille Murray had repeated sexual encounters with an eighth-grade boy at Memorial Middle School, where she taught. She was supposed to be tutoring the student.

Murray pleaded guilty last month to one count of improper relations with a student and one count of sexual assault of a child. Two other counts against her were dropped.

Investigators said Murray, 31, had sex with the boy at his home while his parents were away. She also had sex with him at a hotel on the night of a school dance and in her classroom at least twice.

Case closed.

* * * * *
Texas Teacher Guilty of Sex with Boy, 15 - Update
[Previous 12/13/13 post]
(Houston, Texas)

The former Memorial Middle School teacher who had sex with a 15-year-old student has pleaded guilty to the charges against her.

Kathryn Camille Murray pleaded guilty to one count of improper relations with a student and one count of sexual assault of a child. Two other counts against Murray were dropped.[…]

The school district wanted Murray to be punished for her crime.

”We feel that Ms. Murray’s behavior is despicable, and encourage the district attorney to prosecute Ms. Murray to the fullest extent of the law,” a Spring Branch ISD statement read.

Murray’s bond was revoked and she was placed back in jail after they were caught together. Now she will learn her fate.

Sentencing is scheduled for next month (1/31/14).

* * * * *
Texas Teacher and Boy, 15 - Update
[Previous 1/27/13 post]
(Houston, Texas) Already facing charges for engaging in sex with a 15-year-old male student, teacher Kathryn Murray, 29, has now been accused of harboring the boy as a runaway.

Police say they found him Friday night with Murray at her father’s home.

He tried to exit out the back door.

The boy, now 16, was Murray’s eighth grade student at Memorial Middle School.

Last year his mother spoke to 11 News about the relationship between her son and his former teacher.

"People like this should not be walking the streets, should not be close to our children," the mother said at the time.

She had hoped all contact would end.

"We are not good, we are very hurt. My son is really confused, hurt. We working with him very closely but he’s not good, not good at all," she said.

Bond for Murray has been set at $100,000.

* * * * *
Texas Teacher and Boy, 15 - Update
[Previous 7/4/12 post]
(Houston, Texas) Former Memorial Middle School teacher Kathryn "Camille" Murray, now 29, has been charged with three additional child sex offenses allegedly occurring before the original February 11 incident.

The boy's parents said their son told them he had sex with Murray twice in her classroom at Memorial Middle School, and at a hotel on February 10, "the night a dance was held for eighth grade students" at the school.

On that occasion, according to the court records, the boy's father dropped him off at the school for the dance, but he met Murray at a nearby church. She drove them to the hotel -- Murray had paid for the room in advance -- and they had sex. She then drove him to "the vicinity of the school," and he walked about 100 meters the rest of the way, according to the records.

Police have gathered hotel security tapes as evidence that the boy and Ms. Murray were in the hotel together.

* * * * *
Texas Teacher and Boy, 15
[Previous 2/24/12 post]
(Houston, Texas) A 28-year-old eighth-grade teacher, Kathryn "Camille" Murray, has been fired from her position at Memorial Middle School for alleged sex with a 15-year-old male student.

Murray faces a charge of sexual assault of a child.

Detectives said the 15-year-old invited Murray over to his home while his parents were away on Feb. 11.

The 15-year-old's 12-year-old brother was also home. According to court documents, the 12-year-old found his brother in bed with Murray about 11:50 p.m.

According to court documents, the 15-year-old told investigators that he was in love with Murray.

Murray was booked into custody at the Harris County Jail.

Elderly Brains

According to research conducted at Tübingen University in Germany, mental reactions by older people become slowed because their brains are full of information.

Older people do not decline mentally with age, it just takes them longer to recall facts because they have more information in their brains, scientists believe.

Much like a computer struggles as the hard drive gets full up, so to do humans take longer to access information, it has been suggested.

Researchers say this slowing down it is not the same as cognitive decline.

“The human brain works slower in old age,” said Dr. Michael Ramscar, “but only because we have stored more information over time

“The brains of older people do not get weak. On the contrary, they simply know more.”

Heh.

Jawa Report 10-Year Anniversary

Congratulations to the Jawa Report, creator Dr. Rusty Shackleford and numerous contributors for achieving the milestone of ten years of continuous blogging.

Read the celebration post.

Warmist proud of censoring dissent

In view of the great difficulty skeptics have at getting papers published in academic journals, one group of prominent skeptical scientists decided to set up their own journal.  No problem, you would think.  All sides of a debate should be aired.

But Warmists did not see it that way at all.  They went all out to pressure the publisher (Copernicus)  to ditch the journal  --  which it did.  Prominent Warmist James Annan is even proud  of his efforts in that direction.  He crows:

"Kudos to Copernicus for the rapid and decisive way in which they dealt with this problem. The problems at the journal were was first brought to my attention by ThingsBreak just last night, I emailed various people to express my concerns and the journal (which was already under close scrutiny by the publisher) was closed down within 24h."

The book burners are here!  Such efforts by Warmists clearly have more in common with totalitarianism than with science and convey nothing so much as fear and panic.  A commenter on his blog sums up the strange version of science behind such efforts:

"You've got to love climate science when you see episodes like this.

I think it is safe to say that in no other science do you see such overt power games played out like this.

It is clear that it is not just the retraction of a publication that is of primary importance here, it is the spin that comes off that retraction that is most important.

"Pour encourager les autres"

Since the ostensible reason given in the letter was that the publishers were "alarmed" at criticism of the IPCC it is obvious the lesson an observer should take is that any attempt to go out on a limb and "alarm" people must be shown to be wrong and is not to be encouraged.

You guys in climate must be so proud to have the best policed science that humanity has ever seen."

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

Mozambique Airline Crash Kills 33

Mozambique Airlines (LAM) Embraer-190
(Maputo, Mozambique)

The preliminary investigation into the crash of the Mozambique Airlines (LAM) Embraer-190 in northern Namibia on 29 November shows that the disaster was caused deliberately by the pilot, according to Joao de Abreu, chairperson of the regulatory body, the Mozambique Civil Aviation Institute (ICAM).[…]

Reading out the statement from the investigating committee, Abreu said that the plane was flying normally, with no mechanical malfunction.

But a few minutes before the crash, the co-pilot went to the bathroom, leaving the pilot, Herminio dos Santos Fernandes, alone in the cockpit.

It was then that the altitude selector was manually altered three times, bringing the plane's altitude down from 38,000 feet to 592 feet. This happens to be below ground level at Bwambata. The throttle control was set to idling, but the velocity selector was operated manually several times, to bring the speed up to the Embraer's VMO (Maximum Operating Velocity).

The airbrake parameters showed that the aerodynamic resistance plates on the wings were deployed and held in that position to the end of the recording, again indicating manual operation.

These actions set off low and high intensity alarm signals which can be heard on the recording. Also plainly audible is repeated banging on the cockpit door.

The report does not say who was banging, but presumably the co-pilot was trying enter the cockpit, but found the door locked against him.

It's believed the pilot clearly intended to crash the aircraft. Currently, it's not known why.

En route to Angola after leaving Maputo, the plane carried 27 passengers and six crew.

U.S. Government HealthCare News

Hacking expert David Kennedy
Source:

The man who appeared before Congress last week to explain the security pitfalls of HealthCare.gov took to Fox News on Sunday to explain just how easy it was to penetrate the website.

Hacking expert David Kennedy told Fox’s Chris Wallace that gaining access to 70,000 personal records of Obamacare enrollees via HealthCare.gov took about 4 minutes and required nothing more than a standard browser, the Daily Caller reported.

“And 70,000 was just one of the numbers that I was able to go up to and I stopped after that,” he said. “You know, I’m sure it’s hundreds of thousands, if not more, and it was done within about a 4 minute timeframe. So, it’s just wide open.”

“You can literally just open up your browser, go to this, and extract all this information without actually having to hack the website itself,” he said.

Four minutes, eh? It takes longer to get a pizza delivered.

Nasal Maggots?




Kids, eh? Give them books and books and what do they do? Snort candy.

Karl Popper and the Ideology of Global Warming

It's about 4 degrees this morning--at least that's the temperature where I live.  Wilmington, Delaware seldom sees temperatures that low.  There's frost on the outside storm window for the first time in years.  Brrrr.

As I enjoy a hot cup of coffee, I find myself thinking about global warming, Karl Popper and his theory of falsifiability.  Popper wrote that an important tenet in the philosophy of science was that a theory is not really scientific if it doesn't admit that there is always the possibility the theory may be false.  Any scientific theory that does not allow the possibility it may be false is no longer science, but is ideology, a belief system taken entirely on faith.

I'm remembering a discussion with my eldest son, who says the theory of global warming is non-falsifiable and therefore an ideology rather than true science.  He said the problem with global warmists is that no matter how climate actually behaves, all data ostensibly proves the overall temperature of the earth is continually rising.  It follows that the recent deep freeze temperatures crippling large parts of our nation are proof of global warming just as the inevitable heat waves coming this summer will also be proof of global warming. Popper would call such a line of reasoning a "closed circle."

Sounds like a religious cult to me.  C.S. Lewis would agree, as he was one of the first to name such cults branches of "scientism," a belief system that sees scientific theory as infallible and therefore a handy substitute for traditional religious beliefs that see only the almighty and all wise God as infallible.  

The warmist cult resembles religion in another sense, too.  There is penance and redemption possible.  According to the warmists, in order to avoid catastrophe, we humans must change our way of living and decrease the heat by abandoning fossil fuels and reducing our carbon footprint.  Self-flagellation involves penitent actions such as reducing our standard of living and getting rid of sinful objects such as the incandescent light bulb.  We can and must save ourselves and the planet.

So as you deal with Siberian temperatures, whether trying to start your car, wrestling with your house-bound kids who are out of school all day, or sleeping at the airport because your flight has been cancelled, remember the earth is actually warming up.

Use the time you and yours are grounded by sub-zero temperatures thoughtfully.  Make a list of how you can do penance for contributing to the earth's death by heat.

SOURCE

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

Russian Youth Suspected in Target Security Breach



Suspected Malware Developer
Source:

This baby-faced teen is a key suspect in developing the software that was used in the massive security breach that hit as many as 110 million Target shoppers last holiday season, according to a shocking new report.

In addition, the malicious software, or malware, has infected the payment systems of six other retailers — a possible sign that a half-dozen other attacks are underway, a California cyber-security firm said in the report.

The firm, IntelCrawler, which has tracked the malware’s architect for months, said on Friday that its main suspect is a 17-year-old with “roots” in St.Petersburg, Russia, who goes by the online nickname “ree4.”

IntelCrawler CEO Andrew Komarov didn’t accuse the young man of the Target heist but said he believes he developed the software used to skim credit card numbers and other personal data from millions of Target shoppers.

The malware, known as BlackPOS, has been downloaded at least 60 times since it was created, Komarov said.

Heh.

Illinois Corrections Officer and Boy

(Kewanee, Illinois) A 31-year-old female correctional officer at the Illinois Youth Center, Erica Blackman, has been accused of sexual misconduct with a male juvenile.

Blackman faces three counts of custodial sexual misconduct.

The offenses she is accused of occurred on Aug. 30, between Sept. 1 and 10 and on Sept. 14, court records show.

Henry County Assistant State's Attorney Brian Kerr declined to disclose the boy's age, because he is a juvenile.

Blackman was booked into custody at the Henry County Jail and released on bond.

Madonna apologises for racial slur

On Friday night, she posted a picture of her 13-year-old son Rocco boxing and used a hashtag that contained a variation of the n-word.["disnigga"]

When fans objected, she defiantly called them haters, but in a statement on Saturday she was contrite, saying: "Forgive me."

Madonna said she was not a racist and she did not mean to use the word as a slur but knew there was no way to defend its use. She said she used it as a term of endearment.

She said she apologised if it gave the wrong impression.

Besides Rocco, Madonna has three other children, including two black children adopted from the African nation Malawi.

Source.

I gather  that "disnigga" is a boastful expression mostly used by blacks.  A translation into formal English would be "This clever person" or the like.  So it's another case of whites not being allowed to use black language, which is racist.  It was Madonna's critics who were racist.

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

Beijing Sunrise

When smog blocks out the morning sun in Beijing, citizens can enjoy a sunrise video.

Is a mini ice age on the way? Scientists warn the Sun has 'gone to sleep' and say it could cause temperatures to plunge

The Sun's activity is at its lowest for 100 years, scientists have warned.  They say the conditions are eerily similar to those before the Maunder Minimum, a time in 1645 when a mini ice age hit, Freezing London's River Thames.

Researcher believe the solar lull could cause major changes, and say there is a 20% chance it could lead to 'major changes' in temperatures.

THE SOLAR CYCLE

Conventional wisdom holds that solar activity swings back and forth like a simple pendulum.

At one end of the cycle, there is a quiet time with few sunspots and flares.  At the other end, solar max brings high sunspot numbers and frequent solar storms.  It’s a regular rhythm that repeats every 11 years.

Reality is more complicated.  Astronomers have been counting sunspots for centuries, and they have seen that the solar cycle is not perfectly regular.

'Whatever measure you use, solar peaks are coming down,' Richard Harrison of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire told the BBC.

'I've been a solar physicist for 30 years, and I've never seen anything like this.'

He says the phenomenon could lead to colder winters similar to those during the Maunder Minimum.  'There were cold winters, almost a mini ice age.  'You had a period when the River Thames froze.'

Lucie Green of UCL believes that things could be different this time due to human activity.

'We have 400 years of observations, and it is in a very similar to phase as it was in the runup to the Maunder Minimum.

'The world we live in today is very different, human activity may counteract this - it is difficult to say what the consequences are.'

Mike Lockwood University of Reading says that the lower temperatures could affect the global jetstream, causing weather systems to collapse.  'We estimate within 40 years there a 10-20% probability we will be back in Maunder Minimum territory,' he said.

Last year Nasa warned 'something unexpected' is happening on the Sun'

This year was supposed to be the year of 'solar maximum,' the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle.

There is evidence that the Sun has had similar periods of inactivity in the more distant past, Nasa says.

The connection between solar activity and terrestrial climate is an area of on-going research.

'Sunspot numbers are well below their values from 2011, and strong solar flares have been infrequent,' the space agency says.

Experts have been baffled by the apparent lack of activity - with many wondering if NASA simply got it wrong.

However, Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center believes he has a different explanation.

'This is solar maximum,' he says.  'But it looks different from what we expected because it is double-peaked.' 'The last two solar maxima, around 1989 and 2001, had not one but two peaks.'

Solar activity went up, dipped, then rose again, performing a mini-cycle that lasted about two years, he said.

The same thing could be happening now, as sunspot counts jumped in 2011 and dipped in 2012, he believes.

Pesnell expects them to rebound in 2013: 'I am comfortable in saying that another peak will happen in 2013 and possibly last into 2014.'

He spotted a similarity between Solar Cycle 24 and Solar Cycle 14, which had a double-peak during the first decade of the 20th century.

If the two cycles are twins, 'it would mean one peak in late 2013 and another in 2015'.

SOURCE

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

Illinois Teacher Gets 4 Days Jail in Sex Case - Update

(Rockford, Illinois) Darcee Baney has pleaded guilty to indecent solicitation of a child.

Baney was arrested back in 2012 but the abuse happened between 2008 and 2009. Baney coached the girls varsity team in Belvidere and taught middle school in the Harlem School District.

She was originally charged with 10 counts related to sexual abuse, for five different incidents.

She pleaded guilty to one count of indecent solicitation of a child.

Baney was sentenced to 180 days in jail, of which 176 days were stayed, and 30 months probation.

Four days jail is decidedly lenient.

* * * * *
Illinois Teacher Accused of Sex Abuse
[Previous 9/25/12 post]
(Rockford, Illinois) A 27-year-old science teacher and basketball coach at Harlem Middle School, Darcee Baney, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 17-year-old student.

Baney faces five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and five counts of criminal sexual abuse.

The alleged offenses occurred between Nov. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, but were not reported to authorities until early August. Because they occurred in Rockford, the case was investigated by the Rockford Police Department.

At the time, the victim was 17 years old and Baney was varsity basketball coach at Belvidere High School.

Early this morning, Baney surrendered to police and was released on bond.

Arkansas Teacher Accused of Sex with Student

(Osceola, Arkansas) A 28-year-old teacher formerly at Osceola High School, Nicole J. Winberry, has been accused of inappropriate sexual contact with at least one male high school student.

Winberry faces four counts of first degree sexual assault, a class A felony punishable by 6-30 years in prison.

The investigation began when the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline received a report that Winberry had engaged in sexual contact with at least one Osceola High School student.

Winberry surrendered to state police investigators at the time of her arrest. She is in Osceola City Jail Thursday pending the probable cause hearing.

Details on booking are unavailable.