Phil's Flawed Forecast



Punxsutawney Phil
Hereabouts forecasters have correctly predicted snowy winter weather, contrary to the February 2nd prognostication by Punxsutawney Phil. The animal had incorrectly "predicted" an early spring.

The weather has been blustery. Nasty cold bouts with snowfall even prompted an Ohio prosecutor to file a "criminal indictment against the famous Pennsylvania groundhog." However, Phil has now been exonerated.

That's right, Bill Deeley, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle, on Monday told The Associated Press that the animal rightly predicted six more weeks of winter last month, but Deeley mistakenly announced an early spring because he failed to correctly interpret Phil's "groundhog-ese."

So miscommunication is at fault. Heh.

The double standards never stop





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

Texas Woman Accused of Compelling Prostitution

(San Antonio, Texas) A 21-year-old local woman, Jordann Depascalis, has been accused of luring two young girls into prostitution.

Based on the results of an undercover investigation, Depascalis has been charged with compelling prostitution.

According to an arrest affidavit, a girl who was 16 at the time told police how she became friends with 21-year-old Jordann Depascalis. The teen told police Depascalis taught her and another 13-year-old girl how to be a prostitute.

The 16-year-old victim, who was a reported runaway, told police Depascalis was already working as a prostitute. The affidavit states Depascalis advised the girls how much money to charge and where to advertise for sex.

Details on booking are unavailable.

Copyright Alert System

(Washington, D.C.)

The Copyright Alert System, organized by the recording and film industry, is being activated this week to target consumers using peer-to-peer software.

Under the new system, complaints will prompt an Internet service provider — such as Verizon or AT&T — to notify a customer whose Internet address has been detected sharing files illegally. A person will be given up to six opportunities to stop before the Internet provider will take more drastic steps, such as temporarily slowing their connection, or redirecting Internet traffic until they acknowledge they received a notice or review educational materials about copyright law.

Consumers who maintain they have been wrongly accused would be forced to pay $35 to appeal the decision.

The $35 fee will be returned if no copyright infringement is found.

Missing Virus

(Galveston, Texas)

A vial containing a potentially harmful virus has gone missing from a laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, officials said.

The missing vial, which contains less than a quarter of a teaspoon an infectious disease, had been stored in a locked freezer, designed to handle biological material safely, within the Galveston National Laboratory on UTMB's campus, officials said. During a routine internal inspection last week, UTMB officials realized one vial of a virus called Guanarito was not accounted for at the facility.

Scott Weaver, the laboratory's scientific director, said Guanarito is an emerging disease that has caused deadly diseases in Venezuela. The federal government prioritizes it for research because it has the potential to be used a weapon for terrorists.

On Tuesday, an investigator discovered that only four out of five vials were stored of the virus in the grid system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was notified immediately.

Lab officials searched but has not been able to locate the other vial.

Sounds like the plot of a dramatic movie.

Dead Pigs and Ducks in Chinese Rivers - Update

(Shanghai, China) Still a mystery.

The number of dead pigs found in Chinese rivers has risen to 16,000 as of this week, and 1,000 ducks have now been found floating down the South River in Pengshan county.

First pigs then ducks. What's next?

* * * * *
Dead Pigs in the River
[Previous 3/10/13 post]



(Shanghai, China) Over 900 dead pigs were found floating in the Songjiang River near Shanghai Saturday afternoon. It's a mystery.

Perhaps even more alarming, local officials seem at a loss as to what killed the pigs, or even where they came from.

The dead pigs were found in the Songjiang River. While the river does provide drinking water for Shanghai, officials have said they don't believe the water quality has been effected.

Rotting pig carcasses won't affect the drinking water sounds like hooey to me.

Hate speech prosecutions now more difficult in Canada


After the failure of prosecutions under Human Rights law, hate speech prosecutions must now be brought under the criminal code.  Such prosecutions are at the discretion of the provincial attorney general

Among the loudest critics of anti-hate human rights laws was Ezra Levant of Sun News Network. He mocked a group of Muslims who complained to the federal as well as three provincial human rights commissions about what they thought was a hateful tirade against all Muslims in Maclean’s magazine. That complaint was rejected but the campaign by Levant and Co. continued.

Last fall, Levant did an on-air rant against the Roma. Theirs was “a culture synonymous with swindlers,” he said, while commenting on a crime ring operating in the Durham region involving some Roma.

“One of the central characteristics of that culture is that their chief economy is theft and begging ... The phrase ‘gypsy’ and ‘cheater’ have been so interchangeable historically that the word has been entered into the English language as a verb: he gypped me. Well, the gypsies have gypped us. Too many have come here as false refugees.” And so on.

Gina Csanyi-Robah of the Roma Community Centre filed complaints with the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the Alberta Bar Association and also the hate crimes unit of the Toronto police.

The two broadcast regulatory bodies wrote to say they would await the outcome of the police probe. The bar association, of which Levant is a member, asked whether they could defer their investigation until after police had done their work, she said.

On March 11, Csanyi-Robah says police informed her that they found more than enough evidence to charge Levant under the Criminal Code, and the Crown attorney agreed. But then permission from the Ontario attorney general was not forthcoming, she says, adding that two detectives told her that was highly unusual — they had never seen such a rejection.

She was called to a meeting March 14 with Patrick Monahan, deputy attorney general. The detectives and the Crown attorney were there. So was Mark Freiman, lawyer for the Roma Centre, and two of its board members.

She recalled — and another person corroborated — that Monahan said there was evidence to proceed with the charge but that it could be “a challenging case.” Told that most anti-hate cases can be challenging, he said that Levant was a bully and that he’d turn it into “a bit of circus,” she says.

“They were intimidated about what he’d come out and say on the air,” she told me.

Four days later, Levant issued a rare on-air apology. He said he was wrong to have equated the actions of some individuals with an entire ethnic group. “I must admit that I did more than just attack a crime or immigration fraud problem. I attacked a particular group, and painted them all with the same brush.”

Csanyi-Robah found the apology insincere.

Source

What Levant said about Gypsies is perfectly correct.  They are in general a plague on any community.  But there are exceptions to most rules.  Some Gypsies are no doubt decent.  The exceptions should not however stop us from making  broadly accurate generalizations.  Being aware of probable Gypsy behaviour is some armour against being ripped off by them.


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

Texas Woman Arrested for Theft of $250K

(Sante Fe, Texas) A 39-year-old woman, Michelle Lopez, has been arrested for theft of more than $250,000 from Bolivar Barge Cleaning Services, a Sante Fe business.

Lopez faces a charge of theft over $200,000. Interestingly, Lopez is currently on probation for an similar offense committed in 2005.

Authorities said Lopez is accused of forging numerous business checks and depositing them to her personal account. The proceeds of the theft were used by Lopez for “extravagant purchases.”

The search warrant executed at her home in the 1700 block of Cranston Grove Drive in Dickinson resulted in the recovery of a 2013 Dodge Challenger, several pieces of expensive jewelry, and numerous designer items.

Lopez was booked into custody with bond set at $500,000.

California Woman Collared for Drugs

(Temecula, California) A 43-year-old local mom, Tatiana Nedeljovic, was arrested this week on drug and child endangerment charges.

Nedeljovic faces counts of possession of heroin for sale, child endangerment and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Deputies went to a residence at 3:45 p.m., Wednesday March 20 located in the 27000 block of Stanford Drive in Temecula.

Tatiana Nedeljovic, 34, showed obvious signs of being under the influence of a controlled substance when she answered the door, Sgt. Geoff Green said in a Riverside County Sheriff’s press release.

A probation search of the residence led to the drugs being found which was in reach of three children at the home.

Nedeljovic was booked into custody at the Southwest Detention Center.

Fiction that will unfortunately be remembered as fact

Thirteen minutes into the Oscar-winning movie "Argo," CIA agent Tony Mendez asks supervisor Jack O'Donnell what happened to a group of Americans when the U.S. Embassy was stormed in Tehran.

"The six of them went out a back exit," O'Donnell tells Mendez, played by Ben Affleck. "Brits turned them away. Kiwis turned them away. Canadians took them in."

That passing reference to New Zealand is rankling Kiwis five months after "Argo" was released in the South Pacific nation. Even Parliament has expressed its dismay, passing a motion stating that Affleck, who also directed the film, "saw fit to mislead the world about what actually happened."

New Zealand joins other countries, including Iran and Canada, that have felt offended by the fictionalized account of how the six Americans were sheltered and secreted out of Iran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Some in New Zealand have taken those words — "Kiwis turned them away" — as implying the country did nothing to help.

In fact, a U.S. State Department document dated Feb. 6, 1980, says "four Embassies — Canadians, British, Swedish and New Zealand — were involved in their protection and escape." The document was posted online last fall by the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum.

And published interviews indicate diplomats from Britain and New Zealand did help by briefly sheltering the Americans, visiting them and bringing them food, even driving them to the airport when they left.

Yet those interviews also indicate that both countries considered it too risky to shelter the Americans for long. That left the Canadians shouldering the biggest risk by taking them in.

Lawmaker Winston Peters, who brought last week's uncontested motion before Parliament, said New Zealanders are unfairly portrayed as "a bunch of cowards," an impression that would be given to millions who watch the movie.

"It's a diabolical misrepresentation of the acts of courage and bravery, done at significant risk to themselves, by New Zealand diplomats," he said.

Affleck could not be reached for comment this week.

During Oscar media interviews last month, Affleck told reporters: "Let me just start by saying I love New Zealand, and I love New Zealanders." He added that "I think that it's tricky. You walk a fine line. You are doing a historical movie and naturally you have to make some creative choices about how you are going to condense this into a three-act structure."

But Affleck and his screenwriter, Chris Terrio, who won the adapted screenplay Oscar, did catch some flak from critics for taking major liberties, especially a heart-stopping — but fictional — airport finale that had gun-wielding Iranian Revolutionary Guards chasing the Swissair plane down the tarmac, with the plane lifting off just in the nick of time. (In reality, the airport exit went smoothly.)

And after the film was made, Affleck took the step of changing the film's postscript, the Toronto Star reported, to more generously credit Canada and its ambassador at the time, Ken Taylor, who protected the Americans at huge personal risk and was uncomfortable with some details in the film.

SOURCE


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

PETA - The Shelter of Last Resort

Documents released from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services show that PETA, the organization famous for ruining perfectly good fur coats, euthanized almost 90% of the animals it housed in a shelter at its Virginia headquarters.

The vast majority of animals to the brought to the shelter were ‘surrendered by owner’.

According to the document, PETA only managed to get 23 of the animals in its care adopted, while euthanizing the other 1,675.

So, animals killed were in the thousands. Heh. I'd suggest that PETA has expanded the definition of 'ethical treatment' to include killing.

Oklahoma Child Exploitation Case - Updated

(Shawnee, Oklahoma)

A former Oklahoma schoolteacher who pleaded no contest to child pornography and exploitation charges changed her plea to guilty Friday and agreed to accept a 45-year prison sentence.

Former third-grade teacher Kimberly Crain, 50, pleaded guilty midway through a sentencing hearing in which she could have been sentenced to life in prison on multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a child under 12 and possession of juvenile pornography, plus separate counts of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation and lewd molestation.

Crain tearfully apologized to members of her family, friends and the parents and other family members of more than a dozen former students.[…]

Earlier, the judge accepted Crain's guilty pleas to 31 felony counts, including 18 counts of sexual exploitation that will require her to serve 85 percent of her 45-year sentence, or 37 years and three months, before she is eligible for parole.

District Attorney Richard Smothermon said 45 years is effectively a life sentence. I'll say.

* * * * * Exploitation of Girls in Bras and Panties - Updated
[Previous 1/11/13 post]
(Shawnee, Oklahoma) Former third-grade teacher at McLoud Elementary School, Kimberly Crain, 49, has admitted to taking lewd photos of pre-teen girls (9 to 11 years old) during pizza parties she hosted in her home. Hidden video also captured the girls naked.

The photos and video were shared with Gary Doby, 67, a retired Bloomsburg University professor of early childhood development. Doby pleaded guilty to child exploitation charges this week and was sentenced to life in prison.

Crain pleaded no contest to child exploitation and pornography charges. Judge John Canavan Jr. ordered a pre-sentence evaluation prior to Crain's sentencing scheduled for March 22.

The judge told Crain, 49, that she faces a minimum of 25 years, but the prosecutor said he'll seek the maximum.

"He (Doby) stood up and took responsibility. She didn't," District Attorney Richard Smothermon said outside court. "The only way justice is done is that they never get out prison."

Crain's voice quivered, and she appeared to tear up as she stood before the judge dressed in an orange, jail-issued jumpsuit and shackled by the wrists.

Reportedly, the child exploitation scheme transpired for two years before authorities were notified.

Note that Gary Doby is logically the previously-mentioned "Uncle G."

* * * * *Teacher Took Photos of Girls in Bras and Panties
[Previous 12/1/11 post]
(Shawnee, Oklahoma) A 48-year-old third-grade teacher at McLoud Elementary School, Kimberly Crain, has resigned her teaching position ostensibly due to an investigation regarding alleged inappropriate behavior with students.

The investigation of Crain began earlier this month when a parent told police that her daughter had been invited--along with other girls--to Crain’s residence for a pizza party. The child told her parents that “they dressed up in bras and panties and decorated the tree and ate pizza.”

Under questioning by her parents, the girl revealed that Crain “took photos of her and her friends decorating the tree,” and that some of the girls “made up a cheer dance and did it in the bra and panties while Crain videotaped them.”

According to a search warrant affidavit, Crain told the girls that, “she had something for them to change into” at her home. The bras and panties--imprinted with phrases like “Ho! Ho!”--were on a bed, and “Crain had all of the girls into the bedroom, one by one, and change into the bras and panties.”

Two girls did not want to change into the bras, so they just wore a t-shirt with the panties, according to the affidavit. But “Crain told them that they needed to go put the bras on,” police reported.

A detective secured the warrant to search Crain’s residence for computer equipment, cell phones, digital storage devices, and other material.

Reportedly, Crain also had girls interact online with an older man named "Uncle G." Suspicious? I think so. (More….)

'Google Alerts' Reportedly Broken

From VentureBeat:

The Internet is a massive, tangled, churning web of content, and for a long time, Google Alerts was a key navigational tool that kept users on top of things that were relevant specifically to them.

However over recent months, a series of reports have surfaced that indicate Google Alerts is no longer working as it should.

People on online forums, publications, and blogs say their Google Alerts have dwindled to the point of uselessness. Trade publication The Financial Brand reported that its Google Alerts have slowed to a “trickle,” with the volume decreasing by at least 80% and dropping from 20-35 emails per day with 4- 12 results down to 4-8 emails per day with 1-3 results each. Furthermore, “the results are crummier than ever.”

My experience is consistent with the complaints in the linked article. Meanwhile, thus far no explanation has been voiced by anyone representing Google.

Image: bigstockphoto

Minnesota Teacher's Aide Accused of Sex Crime

(Fertile, Minnesota) A 44-year-old teacher's aide at Fertile-Beltrami High School, Terina (Terrina) Ann Parr, has been accused of criminal sexual conduct with a male student.

Parr faces a charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The charge alleges she was in a position of authority over the student, who was at least 16 but younger than 18.

The maximum sentence is 10 years if she were to be convicted.

Polk County Deputy Michael Norland said in a probable cause statement that Deputy Randy Lee spoke to Principal Hillary Horner on March 7, who told him Parr had “behaved inappropriately with a student,” and that there was reportedly a video of it.

Deputy Lee said the student told him that Parr kissed him on the lips, then a month later put her hands “inside his pants and touched his privates.”

The student said in early March he used his cell phone to record a video of himself touching Parr’s breasts “so that he would have proof,” according to the court complaint.

Details on booking are unavailable.

Florida Teacher Accused of Roughing Up Students

(Clearwater, Florida) A 44-year-old special needs teacher at Skycrest Elementary School, Melanie Jo Fox, has been accused of smacking around two students she teaches.

Fox was arrested by Clearwater Police to face two counts of child abuse.

"The teacher did admit to some allegations, and was arrested on two counts of child abuse of a six and and eight-year-old, both with special needs," said Clearwater spokesperson Joelle Castelli.

Fox is accused of binding the hands and pulling the hair of the six-year-old girl, and pushing down the eight-year-old boy.

Details on booking are unavailable.

Georgia Woman Gets Prison for Sex with Boy, 13

(Augusta, Georgia) A 33-year-old local woman, Dana Marie Adams, has been convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy.

A jury deliberated for seven hours before finding Adams guilty of aggravated child molestation, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and child neglect.

Adams begged the judge not to send her to prison, but the judge explained that he had no choice.

The mandatory minimum sentence for child molestation is 25 years in prison. He imposed that and added two additional years’ incarceration for the misdemeanors.

Interestingly, Adams rejected a plea deal offer which would have dropped the aggravated child molestation charge along with mandatory incarceration. Chances are she would have only been sentenced to two years.

Chinese Concrete Problems



(Shenzhen, China)

A sand scandal is brewing in China, with concerns that low-quality concrete has been used in the construction of many of the country's largest buildings -- putting them at risk of collapse.

The recipe to make concrete is pretty simple -- cement, aggregate and water -- but the strength of the final batch can vary wildly depending on the kinds of aggregate and cement used and the proportions they're mixed in. Commonly the aggregate used in many modern buildings projects consists of crushed gravel or other rock, including sand, and that's the cause of so much distress in the Chinese construction industry at the moment. Inspections by state officials have found raw, unprocessed sea sand in at least 15 buildings under construction in Shenzhen, including a building which, when finished, was set to become China's tallest.

Sea sand contains salt which is corrosive to steel reinforcing bars. So, given time, the concrete structures will weaken and likely fail.

Iowa Woman Pinched for Meth, Child Endangerment

(Marshall County, Iowa) A 23-year-old local woman, Samantha Sanders, has been accused of multiple felony drug offenses reportedly committed in the presence of children.

Sanders faces counts of ongoing criminal conduct, neglect of a dependent person, possession of meth with intent to deliver, possession of alprazolam, possession of a prescription drug without a prescription and possession of drug paraphernalia. According to Chief Jailer Steve Hoffman,

Although Hoffman would not disclose the amount of meth Sanders is charged with attempting to traffic, court reports indicate it was less than five grams. Typically, trafficking charges arise if the amount of drug seized is over five grams or the drugs are packaged for sale.

Hoffman said police recovered various scales and other items that indicated Sanders intended to move the drugs on the street.

Sanders was booked into custody with bond set at $25,000.

Idaho Woman Accused of Sexual Battery of Minor

(Boise, Idaho) A 27-year-old local woman, Amanda R. Sheets, has been accused of engaging in sex with a teenager in January 2012.

Sheets faces a charge of sexual battery of a minor between the ages of 16-to-17.

Boise police began their investigation into the 27-year-old Sheets after getting a call from a third party on Feb 29. Police say Sheets and the teen are known to each other.

Police turned over the results of that investigation to Ada County prosecutors, who issued an arrest warrant for Sheets earlier this month.

Sheets was booked into custody Tuesday evening.

Anti-Semitism is a light sleeper. Look at Agatha Christie

I agree that antisemitism is a light sleeper.  It suffuses the British Left to this day. See  here (scroll down) and here and here and here and here and here.  But I don't think there is anything significant in the antisemitism of Agatha Christie.  She was simply a person of her time.  And the whole world (more or less) was antisemitic before WWII.  Do I have to refer to FDR sending Jewish refugees from Hitler back to Germany?  Christie didn't know any better.  The modern-day Left should

It should also be remarked that not all antisemitism is the same.  At the height of the British Empire there were laws in Britain restricting what Jews could do.  And Britons generally at that time thought that the British were clearly a superior race.  Yet the British Conservative party elected as their leader a man most unapologetic about his "Hebrew" origins -- Disraeli.  And Disraeli had a most distinguished subsequent career as British Prime Minister.  As Bismarck said:  "Der alte Jude.  Das ist der Mann". ("The old Jew.  That's the man").

So compare antisemitism among conservatives with the antisemitism of the socialist Hitler. Anybody who can't see a huge difference isn't thinking.  It's the hate that makes the difference and hate is what makes you a Leftist -- JR

In reflections on Perspectives: The Mystery of Agatha Christie – in which David Suchet, the most popular of all Hercule Poirots, looked at her famous disappearance in 1926 – Matthew Sweet wonders why Christie’s work is so unexamined.  She was always pretty political in her way. As a child I was perplexed by the intrusion into her later books of her burning resentment of high taxes.  And because my parents deplored anti-Semitism, I noticed jarring anti-Jewish references in some of those she published pre-war.

Christie’s anti-Semitism was not eradicated by the horrors of the Holocaust, though it no longer disfigured her books. Sweet recalls Christopher Hitchens describing dinner chez Christie in the 1960s, when "the anti-Jewish flavour of the talk was not to be ignored or overlooked, or put down to heavy humour or generational prejudice. It was vividly unpleasant."

She was, of course, by no means alone.  I’ve been reading the canon of that fine crime-writer, Cyril Hare, a judge whose Tragedy at Law is both a superb puzzle and a marvellous guide to the almost unbelievable pomposity of an untrammelled bench. It’s the casual anti-Semitism in dialogue that gets one, eg, the throw-away description of someone as a "sub-Aryan". Yet Christie and Hare were decent, civilised, well-read people who abhorred cruelty.

I’ve three thoughts on this. Firstly, looking at the anti-Semitism that so often  lurks under the guise of anti-Zionism, we should remember Conor Cruise-O’Brien’s description of anti-Semitism as “a light sleeper”.  The language may have changed, but the instincts remain.

Secondly, is it because of the contempt of the intelligentsia for crime writers that so little attention has been paid to the politics of so important and influential a writer as Christie?
And, thirdly, the call for retrospective censorship is always stupid: there’s no better way to understand the fears and prejudices of any period than by reading its unexpurgated fiction.

SOURCE


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