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2022-09-19 at 12:40 AM UTC in Why Some Sex Offenders Never Get Out Of Prison
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2022-09-19 at 12:19 AM UTC in Tim Dillon Sums Up Gen X
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2022-09-18 at 11:36 PM UTC in AMERICAN REFLEXXXhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXn1xavynj8&feature=youtu.be
American Reflexxx is a short film documenting a social experiment that took place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Director Alli Coates captured performance artist Signe Pierce as she strutted down a busy oceanside street in stripper garb and a reflective mask. The pair agreed not to communicate until the experiment was completed, but never anticipated the horror that would unfold in under an hour.
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2022-09-18 at 9:13 PM UTC in The Jan. 6 rioter who wore a 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt gets 75 days in jailhttps://www.npr.org/2022/09/16/1123424585/jan-6-rioter-camp-auschwitz-sweatshirt-sentenced-jail
A Virginia man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while wearing an antisemitic "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt over a Nazi-themed shirt was sentenced on Thursday to 75 days of imprisonment.
Robert Keith Packer, 57, declined to address U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols before he sentenced him during hearing held by video conference. The judge noted the "incredibly offensive" message on Packer's sweatshirt before imposing the sentence.
"It seems to me that he wore that sweatshirt for a reason. We don't know what the reason was because Mr. Packer hasn't told us," Nichols said.
The Capitol siege: The cases behind the biggest criminal investigation in U.S. history
INVESTIGATIONS
The Capitol siege: The cases behind the biggest criminal investigation in U.S. history
Photographs of Packer wearing the sweatshirt went viral after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. When FBI agents asked him why he wore it, he "fatuously" replied, "Because I was cold," a federal prosecutor said in a court filing.
Packer's sweatshirt depicted an image of a human skull above the words "Camp Auschwitz." The word "Staff" was on the back. It also bore the phrase "Work Brings Freedom," a rough translation of the German words above the entrance gate to Auschwitz, the concentration camp in occupied Poland where Nazis killed more than 1 million men, women and children.
Sweatshirt lay on top of more antisemitic clothing
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst said she learned on Wednesday that Packer also wore an "SS" T-shirt — a reference to the Nazi Party paramilitary organization founded by Adolf Hitler — under his sweatshirt on Jan. 6. Packer "attacked the very government that gave him the freedom to express those beliefs, no matter how abhorrent or evil they may be" when he joined the mob supporting then-President Donald Trump, the prosecutor said.
How Trump's 'will be wild!' tweet drew rioters to the Capitol on Jan. 6
HOUSE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE HEARINGS
How Trump's 'will be wild!' tweet drew rioters to the Capitol on Jan. 6
Packer "wanted to support the subversion of our republic and keep a dictatorial ruler in place by force and violence," Furst told the judge.
Defense attorney Stephen Brennwald acknowledged that Packer's attire was "seriously offensive" but argued that it shouldn't be a sentencing factor because he has a free speech right to wear it.
"It's just awful that he wore that shirt that day. I just don't think it's appropriate to give him extra time because of that because he's allowed to wear it," he said.
Brennwald added that Packer was offended and angry to be labeled a white supremacist "because he doesn't see himself that way at all." The defense lawyer said Packer wanted him to sue House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for linking him to white supremacy during a press conference several days after the riot.
Packer declined to speak during Thursday's hearing because he didn't want his words "splashed out there" on social media, his lawyer told the judge.
Packer one of more than 850 people charged with federal crimes related to Jan. 6
Packer, a resident of Newport News, Virginia, pleaded guilty in January to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, which carries a maximum sentence of six months of imprisonment.
Packer told the FBI that he was about 10 to 12 feet away from a rioter, Ashli Babbitt, when a police officer fatally shot her as she tried to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker's Lobby.
"He told the agents he heard the shot and saw her fall back from the window she was trying to climb through," Furst wrote in a court filing.
Furst said Packer didn't express any remorse during his FBI interview.
"He was more interested in relaying how he received hate mail and how he was 'hounded' by the media for interviews," she added.
Packer's younger sister, Kimberly Rice, wrote a letter asking the judge for leniency. She said her brother's sweatshirt "could be considered in poor taste" but added that "freedom of expression" isn't a crime.
Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 75 days of incarceration followed by 36 months of probation. Brennwald sought a probationary sentence with no jail time.
FBI agents arrested Packer a week after the riot. He has remained free while awaiting sentencing.
Packer is a self-employed pipe fitter. Prosecutors say he has a lengthy criminal record, with approximately 21 convictions, mostly for drunken driving and other motor vehicle violations.
More than 870 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. Approximately 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses. Over 250 riot defendants have been sentenced, with roughly half getting terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 10 years. -
2022-09-18 at 9:11 PM UTC in Rep. Lauren Boebert said humanity is in its 'last days' and Christians should 'rise up,' invoking Christian nationalist imagery that's linked to violencehttps://www.businessinsider.com/lauren-boebert-christians-should-rise-up-humanity-in-last-days-2022-9
"It's time for us to position ourselves and rise up and take our place in Christ and influence this nation as we were called to do," the Colorado Republican told the crowd at a Christian conference held by the Truth and Liberty Coalition in Woodland Park, Colorado, on September 9.
"We need God back at the center of our country," she added.
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"We know that we are in the last of the last days," Boebert later said, referencing the belief held by some evangelical Christians that Jesus will return after a period of tribulation, or great suffering, and save believers. "But it's not a time to complain about it. It's not a time to get upset about it. It's a time to know that you were called to be a part of these last days. You get to have a role in ushering in the second coming of Jesus."
Boebert's comments expressing an intrinsic tie between the US and Christianity aren't new: In June she said she was "tired of this separation of church and state junk" and that "the church is supposed to direct the government." -
2022-09-18 at 8:46 PM UTC in Creepy, One-Finger Salute At Trump Rally Evokes 'Heil Hitler' Gesture
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2022-09-18 at 8:42 PM UTC in Are DeSantis and Abbott Breaking Human Trafficking Laws by Sending Migrants to Blue States?https://people.com/politics/are-desantis-abbott-breaking-human-trafficking-laws-sending-migrants-blue-states/
"I'm not going to mince words here: The governor of Texas is forcing on New York and D.C. and Chicago and potentially other places a needlessly last minute and complex process that is a heartless display of politics over people," Pritzker said, the Chicago-Tribune reports. "Why not give reasonable notice? Why send these folks only to blue cities or blue states? Why isn't Abbott sending refugees to Mississippi or Oklahoma or Idaho? This is about politics for him."
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2022-09-18 at 8:40 PM UTC in Trump’s favorability rating drops to new low: pollhttps://wreg.com/news/nation-and-world/trumps-favorability-rating-drops-to-new-low-poll/
A new NBC News poll released Sunday found that 34 percent of registered voters said they have a positive view of Trump, while 54 percent say they have a negative view of him. Trump’s favorability rating was at its lowest in April 2021, when his rating fell to 32 percent in the same NBC poll.
The former president’s favorability score is down slightly since last month, with the same 54 percent saying they have a negative view of Trump, but 36 percent saying they had a positive view of him.
While Trump’s favorability score has trickled down, President Biden’s score has gone up, though only slightly. This month, 45 percent said they approve of the president — a two-point increase since last month.
Contrarily, 52 percent of voters say they disapprove of Biden, which has gone down three percentage points since last month.
Pollsters also questioned voters about their views on the different investigations against Trump, specifically asking whether the various investigations should stop or continue. The poll found that 56 percent of voters believe the investigations should continue, while 41 percent say they should stop. -
2022-09-18 at 8:39 PM UTC in Migrants sent to Martha's Vineyard say they were duped by a woman named 'Perla' who paid them $200 and promised a better life in Massachusettshttps://www.businessinsider.com/migrants-sent-marthas-vineyard-say-woman-named-paid-them-200-2022-9
Some of the migrants told Reuters that a woman named "Perla" approached them, paid them $200, and helped put them up in a hotel the night before she led them to the chartered flights with promises of a better life.
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2022-09-18 at 7:58 PM UTC in Trump under fire for QAnon display at Ohio rally: ‘He has gone completely insane’https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-ohio-rally-qanon-b2169805.html
…“this week, Trump posted QAnon memes, played QAnon theme music at his rally, and stood by as the crowd raises their fingers in the QAnon salute. This is the GOP’s supposed leader. Every Republican needs to be asked about it - and don’t let them walk away. ‘Do you support QAnon?’”
“He has gone full QAnon, and that cult knows it. Trump has always been mentally ill, but this is a whole new level. He has gone completely insane,” he tweeted.
The author went on to lay out a lot of the bizarre theories within the movement.
“With Trump now leaning so hard into QAnon, anyone who interviews him *must* ask ‘Do you believe there is a global cabal of elites who are kidnapping children, taking them to underground tunnels, murdering them, eating them and drinking their adrenochrome to stay young forever? Have you secretly been president since 2020, while Biden has actually been a clone? Were Hillary Clinton and Anthony Fauci taken to gitmo and executed? And if you don’t believe these things, why are you posting QAnon memes, playing their music, and encouraging their salutes?’” he tweeted.
“After last night’s rally, there’s no denying that Trump’s fully embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory. Republicans in Congress will still try, claiming they haven’t seen the video. If you’re interviewing them, SHOW IT TO THEM, then ask again whether they support Trump and QANON,” Citizens for Ethics wrote.
“New analysis shows Donald Trump is overtly encouraging his base to embrace QAnon and related violence; experts say that’s encouraging actual violence, including a Michigan man who shot his family and a Pennsylvania man who brandished a gun at Dairy Queen,” gun control advocate Shannon Watts write, citing a report from the Associated Press.
“Donald Trump is openly promoting a dangerous conspiracy about the ‘storm,’ where he’ll regain power & his political enemies will be tried & potentially executed on live TV. This is incredibly dangerous & irresponsible – just like Trump always has been,” Illinois US House candidate Jesus Garcia tweeted. -
2022-09-18 at 7:55 PM UTC in DeSantis campaign ad features Christian nationalist pastor with antisemitic viewshttps://forward.com/fast-forward/518446/ron-desantis-ad-christian-nationlist-pastor-antisemitism-jedis/
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis featured in a television ad for his reelection bid a controversial pastor who shamed jedis for not converting to Christianity.
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2022-09-18 at 7:53 PM UTC in A new, genetically modified purple tomato may hit the grocery market standshttps://www.cnn.com/2022/09/17/business-food/purple-tomato-gmo-scn-trnd/index.html
It tastes like a tomato, smells like a tomato, and even looks (mostly) like a tomato. There’s just one catch: It’s purple.
The USDA has approved a genetically modified purple tomato, clearing the path for the unique fruit to be sold in American stores next year.
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To engineer the purple tomatoes, the scientists used transcription factors from snapdragons to trigger the tomatoes to produce more anthocyanin, creating a vibrant purple color.
Martin and her colleagues published the first results of their research in 2008 in an article in Nature Biotechnology.
The results were “stunning,” she said. Cancer-prone mice that ate the purple tomatoes lived around 30% longer than those that ate normal tomatoes, according to the study.
Martin said there are “many explanations” as to why anthocyanin-rich tomatoes may have health benefits. There are “probably multiple mechanisms involved,” she said. “It’s not like a drug, where there’s a single target. It’s about them having antioxidant capacity. It also may influence the composition of the microbiome, so it’s better able to deal with digestion of other nutrients.” -
2022-09-18 at 7:51 PM UTC in Tsunami warnings issued after 6.9-magnitude earthquake hits Taiwanhttps://www.cnn.com/2022/09/18/asia/taiwan-earthquake-tsunami-warnings-intl/index.html
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Taiwan on Sunday, causing buildings to collapse and triggering tsunami warnings.
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2022-09-18 at 7:50 PM UTC in Hurricane Fiona knocks out power to all of Puerto Ricohttps://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/18/fiona-puerto-rico-hurricane-outages/
Fiona intensified from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday as it battered Puerto Rico, bringing destructive winds and life-threatening flash flooding while cutting power to the entire island. Conditions rapidly deteriorated over the island Sunday morning into the early afternoon and are not expected to improve until late Sunday night or Monday.
As the wind and rain escalated Sunday, more than 1.4 million people experienced power outages, which is 100 percent of the customers tracked on the island, according to PowerOutage.us. Puerto Rico’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, said in a tweet on Sunday afternoon that the power was out on the entire island.
In its early afternoon update, the National Hurricane Center warned both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic should expect “catastrophic flooding” from the slow-moving storm. -
2022-09-18 at 3:08 PM UTC in Book ban efforts surging in 2022, library association sayshttps://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/book-ban-efforts-surging-2022-library-association-90012947
“I've never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. “It's both the number of challenges and the kinds of challenges. It used to be a parent had learned about a given book and had an issue with it. Now we see campaigns where organizations are compiling lists of books, without necessarily reading or even looking at them.”
The ALA has documented 681 challenges to books through the first eight months of this year, involving 1,651 different titles. In all of 2021, the ALA listed 729 challenges, directed at 1,579 books. Because the ALA relies on media accounts and reports from libraries, the actual number of challenges is likely far higher, the library association believes. -
2022-09-18 at 3:06 PM UTC in Man who sent bomb and mass shooting threats to Merriam-Webster over gender-inclusive entries pleads guiltyhttps://abcnews.go.com/US/man-bomb-mass-shooting-threats-merriam-webster-gender/story?id=90054230
The U.S. Attorney’s in the District of Massachusetts alleges that Jeremy David Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, CA, anonymously sent “various threatening messages and comments demonstrating bias against specific gender identities submitted through its website’s ‘Contact Us’ page and in the comments section on its webpages that corresponded to the word entries for ‘Girl’ and ‘Woman,’” between the dates of Oct. 2 and Oct. 8, 2021. Authorities later identified the user as Hanson.
“Specifically, on Oct. 2, 2021, Hanson used the handle ‘@anonYmous’ to post the following comment on the dictionary’s website definition of ‘female:’ ‘It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda. There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot,’” authorities said in the statement.
A short time later, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Hanson sent them another message, this time via the “Contact Us” page on their website.
“You [sic] headquarters should be shot up and bombed. It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science … agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality,” the second online threat read in part. “It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place.”
A third threat was sent to Merriam-Webster as a comment on their website on Oct. 8, 2021 which read: “I am going to shoot up and bomb your offices for lying and creating fake definitions,” the message said. “Boys aren’t girls, and girls aren’t boys … I will assassinate your top editor.”
Following these specific and credible threats, Merriam-Webster closed its offices in Springfield, MA, as well as in New York City for five days.
Hanson also admitted in court this week that he often selected the object of his threatening communications because of the “gender, gender identity and/or sexual orientation of various persons,” said the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Every member of our community has a right to live and exist authentically as themselves without fear. Hate motivated threats of violence that infringe upon that right are not tolerated in Massachusetts in any capacity,” said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins. "This conviction represents my office’s dedication to protecting targeted communities and bringing accountability and justice when those who aim to endanger act upon their hatred.”
Hanson pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of interstate communication of threatening communications to commit violence against the employees of Merriam-Webster, which carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, according to a statement released by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
“Jeremy Hanson is now a convicted felon after admitting to making hate-fueled threats of violence related to the LGBTQ+ community,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. “If you believe you are a victim or a witness to similar conduct, we encourage you to report it to the FBI so we can hold the perpetrators behind these crimes accountable for their actions, like we did in this case.”
Hanson is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 5, 2023. -
2022-09-18 at 3:04 PM UTC in California 1st with law protecting children’s online privacyhttps://apnews.com/article/technology-health-gavin-newsom-data-privacy-government-and-politics-b4767350cfe67fe45b44b03b713f0c22
The bill requires tech companies that provide online services attractive to children to follow age-appropriate design code principles aimed at keeping children safe. Companies will eventually have to submit a “data protection impact assessment” to the state’s attorney general before offering new online services, products, or features attractive to children.
Facebook parent company Meta said it has concerns about some of law’s provisions but shares lawmakers’ goal of keeping children safe online.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2273 -
2022-09-17 at 6:02 PM UTC in Migrants Flown to Martha’s Vineyard Say They Were Misledhttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/us/politics/migrants-marthas-vineyard.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“They were told, ‘You have a hearing in San Antonio, but don’t worry, we’ll take you to Boston,’” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the executive director for Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston. He said dozens of the migrants had told his team they only had been informed midair that they were going to land in tony Martha’s Vineyard rather than Boston.
“They were also told there would be employment opportunities and immigration relief available to them if they boarded the plane,” Mr. Espinoza-Madrigal said. “That’s not only state interference with federal immigration matters, it’s also a violation of our clients’ civil rights.”
The lawyers lobbed legal threats as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida vehemently defended his actions, saying the flights were voluntary and denying that the migrants had been misled, and the White House condemned the governor for using human beings as political pawns.
“Luring asylum seekers under false pretenses and then abandoning them on the side of the road thousands of miles away is not the solution to a global challenge — in fact, those are the kinds of tactics that smugglers are arrested for,” said Abdullah Hasan, a White House spokesman. -
2022-09-17 at 5:51 PM UTC in Russia Responds to Biden's Warning to Putin Not to Use Nuclear Weaponshttps://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-kremlin-putin-biden-peskov-nuclear-1743908
When asked for his response to the exchange Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Saturday, "Read the doctrine. Everything is written there," RIA Novosti reported.
Russia's nuclear doctrine says nuclear weapons use might follow "an aggression against Russia or its ally with the use of mass destruction weapons" or if the country faced aggression "when the very existence of the state is under threat."
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However, Russia's Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said last month that nuclear weapons were not necessary from a military perspective and that "the main objective of Russia's nuclear arsenal is to hold down nuclear attacks."
Peskov, as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have previously said only conventional weapons would be used in Ukraine.
Russia has around 6,000 nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists. -
2022-09-17 at 5:48 PM UTC in President Biden warns Vladimir Putin not to use nuclear weapons: “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.”https://www.winknews.com/2022/09/16/president-biden-warns-vladimir-putin-not-to-use-nuclear-weapons-dont-dont-dont/
“As Ukraine succeeds on the battlefield, Vladimir Putin is becoming embarrassed and pushed into a corner,” Pelley said to President Biden. “And I wonder, Mr. President, what you would say to him if he is considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons.”
“Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II,” Mr. Biden said.
When Pelley asked what the consequences would be if Putin crossed that line, the president wouldn’t say.
“You think I would tell you if I knew exactly what it would be? Of course, I’m not gonna tell you. It’ll be consequential,” Mr. Biden said. “They’ll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur.”
