California Teacher Convicted of Sex Assault of Student - Update

(Brea, California) Yesterday, former Brea Olinda High School math teacher Michelle Lynn Johnson, 46, was convicted of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old male student.

Johnson pleaded guilty to three felony counts of oral copulation of a minor and two felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Johnson has been on leave from the high school.

She was sentenced to 270 days in jail, five years of formal probation and must register as a sex offender while on probation.

Presumably, the case is closed.

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California Teacher Popped for Sex with Student
[Previous 6/14/13 post]
(Brea, California) A 45-year-old math teacher at Brea Olinda High School, Michele Lynn Johnson, has been accused of engaging in sex with a male student.

Notably, Johnson is a former Teacher of the Year (2009) at the school.

Johnson faces a charge of unlawful sex with a minor.

Math instructor Michelle Lynn Johnson, 45, was taken into custody at her Anaheim home, Brea police Sgt. Jim Griffin said.

The student's father called police Wednesday, and Johnson was arrested after being questioned, according to Griffin, who declined to provide City News Service with the alleged victim's age or details on how the dad discovered the allegations.

Johnson was booked into custody and released on $20,000 bail.

Pennsylvania Teacher in Retrial Gets Hammered - Updated

(Lancaster, Pennsylvania) For some reason, the 2012 court decision regarding Christy Lee Smith was overturned and she has been retried and convicted, again.

On Tuesday, Smith pleaded guilty to sex abuse against a Solanco High School student, who was 17 at the time of the crimes.

In turn, Lancaster County Judge Dennis Reinaker ordered Smith to 14 to 30 years in state prison on all charges.

Presumably, the case has been put to bed.

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Pennsylvania Teacher Gets Hammered in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 10/18/12 post]
(Lancaster, Pennsylvania) Yesterday in Lancaster County Court, Judge Dennis Reinaker sentenced former teacher Christy Lee Smith, 34, to serve 20 to 40 years in state prison.

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Pennsylvania Teacher Convicted in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 7/21/12 post]
(Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Philadelphia McCaskey High School teacher Christy Lee Smith was convicted on 18 counts of having sex with two male students.

The jury needed only two hours to convict Christy Lee Smith on all but four counts of the sexual abuse related charges, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Smith engaged in a sexual relationship with the students from 2008 to 2010.

Sentencing date TBD.

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Pennsylvania Teacher Now Faces Porn Charges - Updated
[Previous 1/23/12 post]
(Lancaster, Pennsylvania) Former McCaskey High School teacher Christy L. Smith now faces child pornography charges.

City police Detective Aaron Harnish opened the porn investigation after an interview with the 17-year-old boy, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The boy told Harnish that Smith took photos when the two engaged in sexual intercourse, the affidavit says.

During a search at Smith's apartment on College Avenue in October 2010, eight photos were discovered on her computer and cell phone, the affidavit says.

Smith remains in custody with bond set at $300,000.

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Pennsylvania Teacher Faces New Sex Charge - Updated
[Previous 10/31/10 post]
(Lancaster, Pennsylvania) English teacher Christy L. Smith has been accused of engaging in sex with a second boy, a 17-year-old.

Smith had sexual intercourse with the boy at least 10 times, police said in a criminal complaint. She also performed oral sex on him twice, and she had him perform oral sex on her on at least five occasions.

Police received information about the alleged incidents involving Smith and the 17-year-old on Oct. 7, police said.

Smith remains jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail.

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Pennsylvania Teacher Accused of Multiple Sex Crimes
[Previous 10/9/10 post]
(Lancaster, Pennsylvania) A 32-year-old English teacher at McClaskey High School, Christy L. Smith, was arrested Thursday for allegedly engaging in multiple sexual encounters with a 15-year-old male student at her home.

Smith faces three counts of statutory sexual assault, six counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, three counts of unlawful contact with minor and three counts of corruption of minors.

Officers said they were tipped off by one of the student's relatives in January. They said they made the arrest after interviewing the student.

"Being 15-years-old, you're really not old enough to make this kind of adult decision. And it has to be extremely difficult for someone that age to have to be in a process like this," said Lancaster Police Chief Keith Sadler.

Police suspect that there may be more victims.

Smith was booked into custody at Lancaster County Prison with bail set at $250,000.

Worst Candy Ever Made

As a youngster, I recall seeing Sen-Sen at every checkout counter. Also, every adult I knew seemed to have a package of Sen-Sen in his or her pocket.

I was about eight years old when I chanced to ask what the stuff was. I remember being told that Sen-Sen was candy.

Of course, I asked if I could have some. I spit it out. Candy? Not in my opinion. It was disgusting. As a kid, I judged that Sen-Sen was the worst candy ever made.

A number of years later, I learned that Sen-Sen was primarily used to mask the smell of alcohol on a drinker's breath.

Sen-Sen is no longer on the market, I don't know why. Alcohol is still on the market.

New York Woman Gets Prison in Firearms Case

Dawn Nguyen
(Rochester, New York) The State Supreme Court has sentenced a local woman, Dawn Nguyen, to a prison term of 16 months to 4 years for lying on a firearms transaction form used to buy a shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle, later used to kill two firefighters.

Justice Thomas Moran's decision comes a month after jurors found her guilty of first-degree falsification of a business record and more than a year after a deadly attack on emergency responders on Lake Road in Webster on Christmas Eve 2012.

Prosecutors argued during Nguyen's trial that the guns were bought for her neighbor, William Spengler Jr. — a convicted felon barred from owning guns. Spengler used them 2½ years later to kill two volunteer firefighters in the Christmas Eve ambush.

Nguyen also faces federal firearms charges.

Here we go again -- Exaggerated new claim of Antarctic melting




As the image shows, and as we already know, virtually ALL the melting is in the margins of  the W. Antarctic sheet  -- showing that it is a quite local effect, not a global effect.  So far from being global, the effect does not even cover the whole of Antarctica.  To reinforce the point that the effect is a purely local one (probably due to vulcanism) note that there has been no GLOBAL warming for 17 years.  So the W. Antarctic warming cannot be due to something that does not exist

The Antarctic ice sheet is melting at its fastest rate in history, it has been revealed.

Three years of observations from ESA’s CryoSat satellite show that the Antarctic ice sheet is now losing 159 billion tonnes of ice each year – twice as much as when it was last surveyed.

The polar ice sheets are a major contributor to the rise in global sea levels, and these newly measured losses from Antarctica alone are enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 mm each year.

These latest findings by a team of scientists from the UK’s Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling show that the pattern of imbalance continues to be dominated by glaciers thinning in the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica.

Between 2010 and 2013, West Antarctica, East Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula lost 134, 3 and 23 billion tonnes of ice each year, respectively.

The average rate of ice thinning in West Antarctica has increased compared to previous measurements, and this area’s yearly loss is now one third more than measured over the five years before CryoSat’s launch.

The data collected from 2010-2013 was compared to that from 2005-2010.

'We find that ice losses continue to be most pronounced along the fast-flowing ice streams of the Amundsen Sea sector, with thinning rates of 4-8 m per year near to the grounding lines – where the ice streams lift up off the land and begin to float out over the ocean – of the Pine Island, Thwaites and Smith Glaciers,' said Dr Malcolm McMillan from the University of Leeds, UK, and lead author of the study.

This area has long been identified as the most vulnerable to changes in climate.

SOURCE. The journal article is "Increased ice losses from Antarctica detected by CryoSat-2"

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

Mississippi Woman Accused of Assaulting Teacher

(Gulfport, Mississippi) A 26-year-old local woman, Whitney LaShae Dawson, has been accused of attacking a teacher at her child's Head Start center.

Dawson was charged and jailed with bond set at $25,000.

Dawson of Gulfport was charged with simple assault on a teacher after police say she arrived at Isaiah Fredericks Head Start on Jackson Street, angry because the teacher's assistant would not allow her child to leave with an "unfamiliar individual" at a bus stop.

Police say that during a conversation near the bus stop, Dawson is accused of punching the teacher's assistant multiple times and pulling her hair before removing her child from the bus and leaving the scene.

Cat fight, eh?

Washington Teacher Faces Drug Charges

(Longview, Washington) A 36-year-old sixth-grade teacher at Tukes Valley Middle School, Kimber Lee Pack, has been accused of drug crimes.

Pack faces counts of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and possession of heroin.

According to Longview Police Sgt. John Reeves, Pack was arrested after detectives from the agency’s street crimes unit served a search warrant at 1208 21st Ave., in Longview on Friday, Reeves said.

Pack, who was visiting the residence, was searched and police found methamphetamine and heroin residue on a straw in her purse, Reeves said.

Details on booking are unavailable.

Woman Accused of Bomb Threats

Danielle Shea
(Hamden, Connecticut) A 22-year-old woman, Danielle Shea, has been arrested for phoning in bomb threats to Quinnipiac University in an attempt to force cancellation of this year's commencement ceremonies. Shea faces a charge of first degree threatening and falsely reporting an incident.

Reportedly, Shea dropped out of school and she didn't want her parents to know she wasn't graduating even after they invested thousands of dollars.

According to police, Shea made two calls to the university's public safety department. In the first, about 20 minutes before the start of the 6 p.m. graduation ceremony, she stated there was a "bomb in the library," said police.

In the second call, about 20 minutes later, police said Shea warned "Several bombs are on campus" and noted "You haven't cleared out graduation. That's not a good idea."

Hamden and university police identified Shea using the telephone number she'd called from and then found her at the arena.

A court date of May 30 has been scheduled.

A favorite hymn

Although I am no longer a believer, I have never lost my love of the wonderful old Christian hymns.  So I was a bit sad that one of my favorites was missing on YouTube:  "LlGHT'S GLITTERING MORN".  It is in fact a medieval Latin hymn and has, as such, been variously translated and set.  The setting I like is by Palestrina in 1623 and the translation I like is by J.M. Neale.  But other quite different settings are more common  -- and are not nearly as good in my view.  Anyway, judge for yourself.  A performance of the setting that I like has just popped up this month on Youtube:



It is Hymn 126 in Hymns Ancient and Modern (The old Church of England Hymn book) but for convenience I give a few of the verses below:

1. Light's glittering morn bedecks the sky;
Heaven thunders forth its victor—cry;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The glad earth shouts her triumph high,
And groaning hell makes wild reply.
Hallelujah! (x5)

2. The pains of hell are loosed at last;
The days of mourning now are passed;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
An angel robed in light has said,
"The Lord is risen from the dead."
Hallelujah! (x5) ’

3. All praise be Yours, 0 risen Lord,
From death to endless life restored:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
All praise to God the Father be,
And Holy Ghost eternally.
Hallelujah! (x5)

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

Swiss Reject $25 Minimum Wage

(Bern, Switzerland)

Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected a nationwide referendum Sunday that would have set the nation's minimum wage at $25 an hour and created the world's highest paid unskilled workforce.

Final results from Sunday's vote showed 76.3% of voters opposed the Decent Salary Initiative, which would have had the greatest impact on immigrants working in such jobs as agriculture, housekeeping and catering.

Interesting, eh? Notably, a reported 90 percent of Swiss workers already earn more then $25 per hour.

Mississippi Woman Accused of Sex with Girl, 12

(Harrison County, Mississippi)

The investigation of a man seen hanging around a school bus stop has led to a second arrest, the latest alleging a Pass Christian woman had a sexual relationship with a girl when the child was 12.

Sheriff's investigators arrested Dawnielle Lorraine Bourgeois-Morris, 32, of Vidalia Road, on two counts of sexual battery Tuesday.

Justice Court Judge Diane Ladner set her bonds at a total of $200,000.

Details on arrest and booking not reported.

   
More Settled Science!



Sea levels to fall, at the same time as they rise!

SOURCE

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

To Vape or Not to Vape...

During research to understand the vaping craze and the safety of vaping vs. smoking, these informative articles caught my attention:

Vaping 101 – defines vaping and describes the components involved.

Propylene Glycol vs. Vegetable Glycerin E-Liquid – What's the Difference? – discusses the main two liquids used in electronic cigarette/pipe e-juices.

eLiquid Basics – What you should know… – provides more information about e-liquids and how they are used with the batteries and atomizers used in vaping.

Formaldehyde Sounds Scary Doesn’t It? – discusses formaldehyde production in vaping and contains links to other related articles.

Pipe-Smoking and Health: Some Considerations – provides tips on safer ways to smoke tobacco in a pipe.

Those thinking about vaping as an alternative to smoking may, as I did, find these articles useful.

Posted by Note Taker

Russia Has Been Warned

(Washington, D.C.)

Presidents Barack Obama and Francois Hollande warned Russia on Friday of significant new sanctions if Moscow keeps up its "provocative and destabilizing" behavior in Ukraine.

Frankly, I'd guess that Putin is not listening.

Same-Sex Marriages Stopped in Arkansas

SOURCE:

The State Supreme Court has suspended a judge’s ruling striking down Arkansas’ ban on same-sex marriage, halting the issuance of licenses that have been obtained by hundreds of gay couples.

The court on Friday granted a request to suspend the decision of Judge Chris Piazza of the Pulaski County Circuit Court voiding a 2004 constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Judge Piazza last week struck down the ban, but expanded that ruling on Thursday to include all state laws preventing gay couples from marrying.

Five counties named in the lawsuit asked the justices to stay Judge Piazza’s ruling while it is on appeal. More than 540 same-sex couples received marriage licenses since Judge Piazza’s ruling last week, but the validity of those licenses remained uncertain.

This story has just begun.

Is conservative free speech banned in America?

Is there free speech left in America...if you're a conservative or Christian?

Isn't free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution? Can your views cost you your job, career or property?

Don’t look now but it’s happening. Views considered "too conservative" “old fashioned” or “politically incorrect” are no longer tolerated by Obama’s socialist cabal or the “thought police” (I know, I repeat myself).

Let me give you just a few examples of political correctness run amok. Interestingly, in each of these cases I disagree with the views expressed.

Let’s start with the case of openly gay football player Michael Sam. On Saturday he became the first gay player drafted into the NFL. I say congratulations. I’m happy for Sam. I was rooting for him. I actually thought he should have been drafted higher.

But have we traded one prejudice and civil rights violation for another? Many religious Americans were offended by Sam’s publically affectionate hand holding, hugging, and kissing with his boyfriend on national TV after his NFL draft selection.

If it’s called "progress" and a sign of "freedom" that two men can openly kiss on national TV, what is it called when someone offended by that same scene can be fined or suspended from their job? Is that progress? Is that free speech?

Ask Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones. He tweeted about how disgusted and offended he was by that kiss. Jones was immediately fined and barred from team activities until he finishes "training for his recent comments made on social media." Training? You mean like a “reeducation camp?”

I may disagree with Don Jones’ comments. They may have hurt Michael Sam’s feelings. They may have offended gay Americans. They may have been politically incorrect. But that’s not the point. Just because you disagree with someone’s opinion, does your employer have the right to suspend you from your job? Can that same employer demand “thought training” to get your job back? In America?

SOURCE

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

Russian Girls Parading

(St. Petersburg, Russia) Russian cadets rehearse for Victory Day.

SOURCE

Chinese Girls Parade

(Liaoning Province, China)

This parade started in the city of Huludao of southern Chinese Liaoning province stated by an English Chinese blog, which ends up breaking the previous and setting up a new world record for the largest bikini parade.

Never heard of this type of event, nonetheless, count me as a supporter of bikini parades.

Japanese Girls Parading

Japanese volleyball team marches in parade
SOURCE

Swedish Girls Parading

Swedish students march for student-organized event
SOURCE