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Carolina Naturally is read in 205 countries around the world daily.   

  
Yum  ... !

Today is - National Root Beer Float Day

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The Americas
Canada - Colombia - Ecuador - Nicaragua - Peru - Puerto Rico - United States
Europe
Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Czech Republic - England - Finland - France - Germany
Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Montenegro - Netherlands - Poland -  Portugal - Russia - Scotland  Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Azerbaijan - Hong Kong - India - Indonesia - Iran - Israel - Korea - Malaysia - Mauritius - Pakistan
Saudi Arabia - Sri Lanka - Thailand
Africa
Algeria - Egypt - Mozambique - South Africa
The Pacific
Australia

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Today in History

1497		John Cabot returns to England after his first successful journey to the Labrador coast.
1863		The CSS Alabama captures the USS Sea Bride near the Cape of Good Hope.
1888		Martha Turner is murdered by an unknown assailant, believed to be Jack the Ripper, in London, England.
1890		William Kemmler becomes the first man to be executed by the electric chair.
1904		The Japanese army in Korea surrounds a Russian army retreating to Manchuria.
1914		Ellen Louise Wilson, the first wife of the twenty-eighth president, Woodrow Wilson, dies of Barite’s disease.
1927		A Massachusetts high court hears the final plea from Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italians convicted of murder.
1942		The Soviet city of Voronezh falls to the German army.
1945		Paul Tibbets, the commander of Enola Gay, drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.It was the second atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki, that induced the Japanese to surrender.
1962		Jamaica becomes independent, after 300 years of British rule.
1965		President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, outlawing the literacy test for voting eligibility in the South.
1972		Atlanta Braves’ right fielder Hank Arron hits his 660th and 661st home runs, setting the Major League record for most home runs by a player for a single franchise.
1973		Singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder is in an automobile accident and goes into a four-day coma.
1979		Twelve-year-old Marcus Hooper becomes the youngest person to swim the English Channel.
1981		Argentina’s ex-resident Isabel Peron freed from house arrest.
1988		A melee that became known as the Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City leads to NYPD reforms.
1991		Tim Berners-Lee publishes the first-ever website, Info.cern.ch.
1993		John Paul II publishes "Veritatis splendor encyclical," regarding fundamentals of the catholic cult’s role in immoral teachings.
1997		Microsoft announces it will invest $150 million in troubled rival Apple Computer, Inc.
2012		New Zealand’s Mount Tongariro erupts for the first time since 1897.

Non Sequitur

Paramedic Who Makes $15/hr. Destroys Every Complaint About Fast Food Workers Earning The Same Amount

by Joe Fletcher 

The internet is a mighty tool. Occasionally, you come across a person’s perspective on an issue that is so spot on you just have to share it. A paramedic from New York who earns $15/hr. shared his views on New York’s decision to make the minimum wage for fast food workers $15/hr. and it most certainly spot on.
Originally posted to Facebook, Jens Rushing wrote a response to all of those complaining about the raise that fast workers will be receiving. The post eventually made its way to Imgur. Here is what Rushing said:

 

The next time someone starts complaining about people who work so-called “low skill” jobs demanding a $15 show them this. Why would anyone else complain about getting a raise? There are over 15 million people working between $7.25/hr. and 10.88/hr. according to the Brookings Institute.  Only around 12 percent of those people are teenagers, despite claims that minimum wage jobs are mostly worked by teenagers. Those people would benefit greatly from a raise in wages. However, so would an additional 20 million workers who make as much as 150 percent of the minimum wage. This is because of the ripple effect that raising the minimum wage has a ripple effect on wages of people who earn 150 percent or less than the minimum wage. Therefore, if you are near the minimum wage, chances are you are going to see a raise as more people organize and demand an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work.

Of course, the best way a person can guarantee that their wages will go up is if they demand that they do. All over the United States, people are winning the fight to raise wages and receive better benefits. This is the age of income inequality, low wage earners. Stop putting your brothers and sisters down and get  organized.

Health News

The Worst Food Safety Cases of All Time

We're not just talking bad eggs or rotten apples. These outbreaks are the worst of the bunch.

Ebola Vaccine Gives 100 Percent Protection

A vaccine tested in Ebola-stricken West Africa is a resounding success, protecting everyone it was used on against the deadly virus.

Who's Cussing?

U.S. Swear Maps Show Who Cusses Where

Find out which U.S. regions swear like Marines and which are more restrained in this new data dump.

Beloved hitchhiking robot that traveled through Canada destroyed by ‘asshole’ Philadelphia vandals

Beloved hitchhiking robot that traveled through Canada destroyed by ‘asshole’ Philadelphia vandals

Dammit Philadelphia. Sometimes you're a real asshole. #RIP @hitchBOT - Twitter

British Viral 'Ghost Photo'

British Viral 'Ghost Photo' Explained

A ghost photo from the U.K. is going viral this week but in this case psychology—not the paranormal—provides the best explanation.

Some neighbors unhappy with man for parking plane on his driveway

A man from Oceanside, Long Island, New York has parked his plane on his driveway and some of  his neighbors aren't happy. Harold Guretzky no longer wanted to pay $150 a month in storage fees at Republic Airport, so he had his Cessna trucked in and reassembled on his driveway about a month ago. “Why they’re picking on me I don’t understand,” Guretzky said.

“I had inspectors show up. They wrote me summonses,” he added. The Town of Hempstead Department of Buildings said Guretzky faces up to $2,500 in summonses for keep the plane on his property. The tickets cited Guretzky for illegal storage of a plane. The 69-year-old student pilot said he had dismantled the plane at the airport, trucked it to his house, and then reassembled it.

The summons, he said, is something his attorney will fight. “He doesn’t care if this goes all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Guretzky said. Some, but not all, neighbors are amused. His neighbor across the street, Ricky, said he doesn’t mind the 24-foot-long two-seater, but he objects to all the people who keep stopping by to take selfies with the plane. “They think it’s cute and they stand by his plane,” he said.

YouTube link.

“Do I need to have traffic back and forth here? It becomes a nuisance after a while.” Neighbor Vicky said she doesn’t think it looks that bad, but town code says you can only park a car or a boat in your driveway. “Where is the limit? If we allow this plane, well somebody else might do something. What’s next a tank - a military tank?” she said. “You have to have limits otherwise let’s face it, people will run amok.”

Some Analysts Think Putin's Downfall May Be Imminent

Why Some Analysts Think Putin's Downfall May Be Imminent

Could a world leader with as much power as Vladimir Putin really be headed for a toppling in the near future? Trace examines the arguments some are making for exactly that.

Monk pleads guilty to harassing lesbian witches

A monk has pleaded guilty to harassment after getting into a war of words with a pair of lesbian witches. Damon Kelly, 53, from a catholic coven calling themselves the Black Hermits, delivers leaflets campaigning against homosexuality and other things he regards as sins. When a lesbian couple living in Leicester, received his leaflet one of them stopped Kelly further down the street and confronted him and tried to hand him back the leaflet.
Describing the confrontation at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Thursday, prosecutor Nigel Chapman said Kelly, who was dressed in black monk's robes, told the woman, "keep it, urinate on it, defecate on it". The woman's partner joined her outside and defended the couple's sexuality and pagan beliefs. The court heard both parties were quoting scripture at other. Mr Chapman said an "aggressive and fanatical" Kelly told the women: "You know we used to burn people like you. I'm doing dog's work."
The court heard that 15 days later, on October 29 last year, Kelly returned to their home and posted a letter addressed "To the witches from the monk" which described "witches, gays, lesbians and sex-changers" as being part of the "devil's madness". Mr Chapman said one of the women suffered heart palpitations while reading the letter. He said: "She felt she was being targeted by the defendant." Kevin Sayce, defending Kelly, said his client had never aimed to confront the women. Mr Sayce said: "He picks areas and delivers leaflets.

"It was one of the females that approached Damon Kelly and he defended his opinion as he's had to on numerous occasions. Following their disclosures of their practice as witches, Damon Kelly returned - not to seek out a confrontation but to post the letter that put forward his beliefs on pursuing such desires and such acts. His motive, his calling, is to target the sin and not the sinner." Kelly, of St Patrick's cult in Corby, has taken vows of poverty and chastity. District Judge Tim Daber said a fine would not be suitable and ordered the case be adjourned for three weeks to assess whether Kelly was fit for unpaid work. Kelly was released on bail with the condition not to deliver any leaflets.

Norway’s police haven’t killed a single person in nearly 10 years

Norway’s police haven’t killed a single person in nearly 10 years

Police in Norway hardly ever use their guns, a new report released by the Scandinavian country’s government shows.

Psychologist who trains cops to shoot first, ask questions later makes big money at their trials

According to attorneys who have faced off with him in court, Lewinski is consistent in his opinion that police acted properly even when videos and forensics evidence say otherwise.

Psychologist who trains cops to shoot first, ask questions later makes big money at their trials

Police investigate tourist lying on speeding car

Footage showing a half-naked tourist spread-eagled across the back of a car speeding along a busy motorway outside Marbella in Spain is being investigated by police.

The stunt was caught on camera by a Spanish driver who remarked: "This is what guiris do. 100kms and look how he is traveling." Guiris is the slang word often used in Spain to describe northern European tourists. "What madness," he adds.
It is not easy to make out the figures in the grainy footage until the convertible car enters a tunnel when streetlights reveal what looks like a man in his shorts sprawled on his back across the rear of the car.

YouTube link.

The man filming the video pans down to show his own speedometer as he keeps up with the pranksters and records 99km per hour (61mph). The footage uploaded onto Youtube in the early hours of Friday morning is being investigated by Malaga’s Civil Guard traffic unit. The stretch of road where the footage was filmed appears to be the newly-built tunnel between Marbella and Puerto Banús.

Man found sitting on toilet inside house said he was thinking of buying it but had to try it out first

Found sitting on a toilet inside a house for sale, a 23-year-old Florida man had a simple explanation for police, he was thinking of buying the home but had to try it out first. Police didn’t buy the explanation and charged him with burglary.

An officer said he received a call about a suspicious man with no shirt and white shorts walking to the rear of a house for sale in Tavares. The man passed through a gated privacy fence and did not exit the property, a neighbor said. The officer said he entered the pool area behind the house after arriving on the scene and opened what he thought was a closet.
It was a bathroom, and the man, later identified as Corey Lee Ramsey, was sitting on the toilet with his shorts around his ankles. Ramsey told the officer “he had been reading books on the topic of purchasing homes, and he wanted to try this one out first before buying,” according to an arrest affidavit.
The four-bedroom, three-bath home has a $299,450 asking price. Police said the homeowner was out of town at the time but would be back shortly. Ramsey remains in his new home at the Lake County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Ziggy

Nichelle Nichols Will Fly on a NASA Mission

Actress Nichelle Nichols played Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek television series. Now, at the age of 82, she's leaving Starfleet for service with NASA. The tabloid The Mirror reports that Nichols will fly on NASA's SOFIA space telescope. This modified 747 flies at an elevation of 50,000 feet to observe strange new worlds. Nichols told fans about this mission during a reddit AMA. She writes:

SOFIA does not, sadly, fly into space. It's an airborne observatory, a massive telescope mounted inside a 747 flying as high as is possible. I was on a similar flight, the first airborn observatory, back in 1977. It's an amazing experience, you get a totally different perspective than from earth.
I do hope someone gets some great pictures.

74-year-old man accused of hitting his 100-year-old mother with a broom in cat feeding incident

A 74-year-old Florida man was arrested by Volusia County sheriff's deputies after they said he struck his 100-year-old mother with a broom and threatened to kill her. David Corning was charged with aggravated battery on a person over the age of 65, a felony, after deputies spoke to his mother, Ellen Corning, at the hospital on Wednesday.

Ellen Corning, who turned 100 in April, told deputies that her son also threatened to kill her and that she is afraid of him. The row between mother and son occurred on Tuesday evening in their home outside DeLand but Ellen Corning told deputies she was afraid to report it at the time.
The centenarian said she had entered her son's bedroom to feed his cat. When her son walked in and saw his mother, he began yelling. At one point, David Corning said to his mother, "Go back inside you (expletive deleted) or I will kill you." He then grabbed a broom and swung it at his mother, hitting her on the side of the head and breaking her glasses, deputies reported.
Ellen Corning said she went back into her bedroom for the rest of the evening because she fears her son. David Corning told deputies that his mother should be taken into custody under the Baker Act and that he hit her accidentally with the handle of a vacuum cleaner while she was sitting on a chair in his bedroom. Ellen Corning told deputies that she wants to move forward with charges against her son. David Corning is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail with no bail allowed.

Dog reunited with owners seven years after being stolen

A dog has been reunited with her owners, seven years after being stolen. Molly the Jack Russell was taken from her home in Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, when she was three-years-old, along with her eight puppies.

She was found by police wandering alone nearly 100 miles away in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, last week, and has now been reunited with owners Brian and Pauline Berry and her sister Megan. Mr Berry said it was "absolutely brilliant" seeing her again. Mr and Mrs Berry believe Molly was taken for her puppies, who were four-days-old.
Mr Berry said: It took a short while [for her to recognize us] we gave her a cuddle and after about 20 minutes she started licking my face and the side of my cheek. I never ever thought we'd get her back. The puppies will be distributed all over the place, but I'm just so pleased to have her back. It gives you a lump in your throat, it's unbelievable.
"I wish she could talk, but obviously she cannot, but maybe it's something you don't want to hear." The couple believe she has been badly treated over the seven years as she is very thin and needs dental work. Molly was found after police scanned her micro-chip. Mr Berry said: "I hope it works [the micro-chip] for somebody else that is in the same position - it's proof of the pudding really isn't it? I mean it's worked for me and I just hope it works for somebody else."

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

Yep, that's how we roll ...!

 

Carolina Naturally is read in 205 countries around the world daily.   

  
Underwear  ... !

Today is - National Underwear Day

You want the unvarnished truth?

Don't forget to visit: The Truth Be Told

Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Colombia - Costa Rica - EcuadorMexico - Nicaragua - Peru - Puerto Rico  Saint Kitts/Nevis - Sint Eustatius/Saba - United States - Uruguay
Europe
Bosnia/Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Denmark - England - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Ireland 
Italy - Latvia - Montenegro - Netherlands - Portugal - Russia - Scotland - Serbia - Slovenia - Spain
Turkey - Ukraine - Wales
Asia
Bangladesh - China - Hong Kong - India - Indonesia - Iran - Korea - Mauritius - Singapore - Vietnam
Africa
Algeria - Morocco - Mozambique - South Africa
The Pacific
Australia - Philippines

Don't forget to visit our sister blogs Here and Here.

Today in History

1391		Castilian sailors in Barcelona, Spain set fire to a jewish ghetto, killing 100 people and setting off four days of violence against Jews.
1763		Colonel Henry Bouquet decisively defeats the Indians at the Battle of Bushy Run in Pennsylvania during Pontiac’s rebellion.
1762		Russia, Prussia and Austria sign a treaty agreeing on the partition of Poland.
1815		A peace treaty with Tripoli–which follows treaties with Algeria and Tunis–brings an end to the Barbary Wars.
1858		The first transatlantic cable is completed.
1861		Congress adopts the nation’s first income tax to finance the Civil War.
1864		The Union Navy captures Mobile Bay in Alabama.
1892		Harriet Tubman receives a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, spy and scout during the Civil War.
1914		The British Expeditionary Force mobilizes for World War I.
1914		The first electric traffic signal lights are installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
1915		The Austro-German Army takes Warsaw, in present-day Poland, on the Eastern Front.
1916		The British navy defeats the Ottomans at the naval battle off Port Said, Egypt.
1921		Mustapha Kemal is appointed virtual ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
1941		The German army completes taking 410,000 Russian prisoners in Uman and Smolensk pockets in the Soviet Union.
1951		The United Nations Command suspends armistice talks with the North Koreans when armed troops are spotted in neutral areas.
1962		Actress Marilyn Monroe dies under mysterious circumstances.
1964		President Lyndon Johnson begins bombing North Vietnam in retaliation for Gulf of Tonkin incident and asks Congress to go to war against North Vietnam.
1974		Richard Nixon admits he ordered a cover-up for political as well as national security reasons.
1981		Ronald Reagan fires 11,500 striking air traffic controllers.
1992		Four police officers indicted on civil rights charges in the beating of Rodney King.
1995		Croatian forces capture the city of Knin, a Serb stronghold, during Operation Storm.
1997		Mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef, goes on trial.
2012		A gunman in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, opens fire in a Sikh temple, killing six before committing suicide.

The Batalla de Flores

The Batalla de Flores, or the Flower Battle, is the grand finale of a month-long festival in Valencia, Spain, every July to convince people to stay in the city during summer. It starts with a parade of floats full of ornately-dressed women and girls. They parade once for the judges, a second time to wave their tennis rackets, and the third time….

Wait… what was that about “tennis rackets”?
One might assume that onlookers have gathered along the Paseo de Alameda simply because they love a colorful procession, enjoy cheering on lovely falleras in traditional dress, and hope to see some interesting floats. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. This crowd is blood-thirsty. The only thing they really want, and the one reason they’re attending this event, is to hurl softball-size flower at the falleras, and clock them right in their pretty faces.

That happens on the third go-round of the parade. The tennis rackets are defensive weapons to lob the carnations back to the crowd. Even after the parade, the flower battle continues, but it’s all in fun and doesn’t really hurt. Afterwards, the streets of Valencia are covered with a layer of colorful carnations. See a gorgeous collection of photographs of the Batalla de Flores (and a video) at For 91 Days.

The Smallest Post Office in the US is the Size of a Closet

In 1953, the general store and post office of Ochopee, Florida burned down. So local residents converted an irrigation pipe shed on a tomato farm into a temporary post office. It stayed there and remains in business to this day.

It serves residents of 3 counties and was once a bus stop. A single Postal Service employee works there, sorting mail into slots on the back wall. In addition to being a functional service point, the Ochopee Post Office is also a popular tourist attraction as it is the smallest Post Office in the United States.

This is 1 of 7 of America's smallest civic institutions rounded up by Atlas Obscura, including the smallest national forest (33 trees) and a police station the size of a phone booth.

Ten People Who Found Big Money and Returned It

A 62-year-old homeless woman from Calgary, Canada was living in a YWCA shelter when she found a purse with $10,000 cash inside. Despite her dire circumstances, she immediately turned the money in.

“It never crossed my mind to keep the money,” she said. “It’s not mine to keep.”

Once the story hit Canadian media, a groundswell of support and cash rewards were offered to the woman, who declined them due to her embarrassment over being homeless and insistence on remaining anonymous. In the end, the owner of the purse set up a $500 trust fund for the woman. That account, combined with other local funding, was enough to move the lady into her own apartment.
Read other stories of people, some in need, who found huge amounts of cash — in amounts up to $221,510 — and decided to return the money in this article. 

When Congress Looked James Smithson's Gift Horse in the Mouth

Have you ever wondered about the person the Smithsonian Institution was named after? It’s a rather peculiar story.

James Smithson (1765-1829) was a well-to-do English scientist who had never visited the United States. In his 1826 will, he left his estate to his nephew. But he ended his will with an odd clause that said if that nephew died without heirs, legitimate or illegitimate, the estate would go “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men.”  When Smithson’s nephew died without heirs in 1835, the peculiar clause went into effect. On July 28, 1835, Smithson’s solicitors notified the United States government of the bequest. An 1835 article in the National Intelligencer told the public that a “gentleman of Paris” had left a bequest to the United States, for the purpose of endowing a National University.

That seems all very nice, but this was 1835, and the government of the Unites States didn’t know what to do with the bequest, or even whether they should accept it. The president handed the matter over to Congress, where they weren’t sure of the procedure for taking the bequest, or even if it was allowed by the Constitution. Some politicians had objections to receiving money from an Englishman. Read about the conundrum Smithson caused at (where else?) Smithsonian.

IRS Surrenders To The Koch Brothers’ Dark Money, Gives Up On Regulating PACs

by Shannon Argueta

Any hope that the I.R.S. would crack down on “dark money” donors who have created tax exempt nonprofit groups for political purposes before the 2016 election is gone. The commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, John Koskinen, told a House committee meeting on Thursday that there were no plans in the works for new regulations before the upcoming elections.
Donors use these tax-exempt organizations because there is no accountability and little paper trail that reveals who is donating to them; the perfect way to funnel money to causes without leaving any fingerprints. Koskinen later gave reporters an unbelievable explanation as to why the I.R.S. was not going to do its job and change the tax code:
“I don’t want people thinking we are trying to get these regs done so we can influence the election.”
His announcement comes on the heels of another decision earlier this year in which the commissioner said he would allow the political organizations who have disguised themselves as nonprofit “social welfare” groups to keep their tax exempt status as long as they only spend up to 49 percent of their revenue on political activity.
The IRS has been under attack from the Republican cabal ever since they began investigating just where the teabagger covens came from, and where the war-chests that toppled mainstream Republicans from their seats and began rapidly radicalizing American politics. The Republican cabal erupted in self-righteous fury, accusing the IRS of bias and that wingnut ‘nonprofits’ were being unfairly targeted by the I.R.S. Even though it was quickly discovered the left-leaning groups were given the same scrutiny that teabagger covens were given, but that didn’t stop the hysterical cries of victimization and government overreach that fulfilled their purpose- to draw attention away from the puppet masters- the Koch Brothers. Since then, the Republican cabal has been steadily cutting away funding from the I.R.S, hindering them from fulfilling their most basic functions..
Now, they are backing down from the Kochs and their dirty dollars once again. It is absolutely infuriating that Koskinen is not going to crack down on these cabals, especially when you find out just how much money they are illegally spending on political activities. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org) these nonprofit organizations exploded after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010. In 2006, spending from these dark money fueled nonprofits was just under $5.2 million in 2006, but in 2012, just two years after the SCOTUS ruling, it was over $300 million. This next cycle, they are planning to shell out a jaw-dropping $900 million to tilt the odds in their favor.
This is horrendous news for the fate of our elections. Not only do we have the I.R.S. not taking any action to punish illegal activities, but we have the Federal Election Commission completely unable to enact any kind of reform because of the Republicans on the board. With both the I.R.S. and F.E.C. paralyzed by Republican cabal obstructionism, big money has been given a free pass to take over our elections, potentially  drowning out the rest of America. This is why it is so important that a Democrat wins the upcoming election; after four more years, the damage to our democracy might be irreversible.

More

When ISIL Preyed On Three Young Women, The Girls Got A Glorious Revenge

It’s not every day you get a feel-good story about the barbaric Islamic State – but this is certainly one. When ISIL set out to groom three...

Glorious Revenge

Deadbeat Duggars Are Begging 'Fans' To Fund Their Lifestyle

Not content to just go away, the Duggars are now asking fans for money after losing the $25 million salary from their now-canceled reality show and the fact that no one wants anything to do with them.

Read more 

Creepy Subway Spokesman Jared Fogle Paid For Sex With A 16-Year-Old

Turns out the guy who inspired the world with his dramatic weight loss on a Subway diet is an absolute creep. And Subway may have covered for him.

Read more

Several Cities See A Sharp Uptick In Homicides After Record Low Rates

The number of murders rose by one-third or more so far this year compared to the same period last year in Baltimore, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Milwaukee. Chicago saw a nearly 20 percent increase in homicides.

Cheney’s Halliburton Suing The Cancer-Stricken Iraq War Vets They Poisoned

Halliburton, the colossal oil field services company that was formerly run by Black Prince of Darkness, Dick Cheney, was one of the biggest profiteers off of the atrocious bloodshed during the War in Iraq. Cheney arranged for his former company and its subsidiaries to get massive government contracts, and used American servicemen to guard the sites. The toxic nature of oil work has resulted in the poisoning of untold numbers of our soldiers and Iraqis alike without their knowledge, even though the company was certainly aware of it.In 2012, a federal court in Portland, OR, awarded $85 million in damages to twelve Oregon National Guardsmen who had been exposed and fallen ill from the cancer-causing toxin sodium dichromate at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant, Iraq, a site operated by the Halliburton subsidiary KBR. The 9th Circuit Court threw out the judgement on appeal, ruling that they had to sue the company in their own state of Texas.
The case against KBR is being filed again in Houston, but KBR has retaliated by suing the veterans for $850,000 in legal fees from the first case, in a retaliatory and deeply immoral attempt to punish the veterans and silence their efforts to bring the company to justice.
By burying these veterans in litigation and possibly crushing debt if the court sides with KBR again, they will have poisoned US veterans, on the US government’s dime, and have gotten away with it. It is absolutely reprehensible. The ghosts of Iraq still haunt our soldiers and our conscience, eight years later. Corporate privilege in our nation extends much far too far if shocking travesties like this are allowed to occur in our nation. Cheney, Halliburton, and KBR have done enough damage and stolen enough money to our nation as it is. We can’t let them do this to our vets again.

More

Man runs into jail lobby seeking help but dies after deputies pile on him instead

‘I can’t breathe': Man runs into jail lobby seeking help but dies after deputies pile on him instead

South Carolina Cop Never Reported Killing 19-Year-Old

There better be an investigation into this.
Read more 

The First Americans

Where Did the First People in the New World Come From?

For years, theories have abounded about how the first people in the New World got there, but now we seem to have a definitive answer, thanks to the miracle of DNA analysis.

Sinking in D.C.

Washington DC Is Sinking

The nation's capital will drop 6 inches in the next 100 years, and coupled with sea-level rise faces a flooding double-whammy.

Earth News

Does Global Warming Actually Increase Antarctic Sea Ice?

A strange paradox is actually proof of climate change, argues a new study.

Volcanoes Share a Hotspot But Have Mysterious Differences

Two volcanoes are connected to the same underground pipe, yet mysteriously contain differing types of material. Here's why.

Missing: One Year's Worth of California Rain

California's rain deficit during its record-setting drought is about one year's worth of normal rain.

Magnetic Discovery Hints Why Earth Supports Life and Mars Doesn't

Earth's magnetic field, which protects the planet from harmful blasts of solar radiation, is much older than thought.

Star Secrets

Scientists unlock secrets of stars through aluminum

Physicists at the University of York have revealed a new understanding of nucleosynthesis in stars, providing insight into the role massive stars play in the evolution of the Milky Way […]

Hulk, the World's Largest Pitbull Has a Litter of Pricey Puppies

Hulk and his puppies | Image: Still of video by Barcroft TVYou may remember a previous Neatorama post about 173-pound Hulk, thought to be the largest pitbull in the world. The famous gentle giant is the pride, joy and family dog of owner Marlon Grannon, who breeds and trains protection and police dogs at Dark Dynasty K9 in New Hampshire.
There is an update in the world of Hulk since that post went live: he is now the doting father of eight adorable puppies. The litter may be naturally precious to Hulk and his puppy mama, but in the human world where money talks, each pup is akin to pitbull royalty, with a monetary value of between $30,000 and $55,000. By the time the puppies were born, most were already sold at a price of $30,000. Yet if the pups would go on to be trained by Grannon, their value would be in the neighborhood of $55,000 each.
Grannon's business caters to celebrities and other wealthy clientele worldwide, as well as law enforcement. Each dog is trained from birth and "lives together in a pack without fences, barriers or physical restrictions.” See Hulk and his puppies in action in the video below, and read more about him and his newly expanded canine and human family at the Daily Mail.

Animal Pictures