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Fire

Wannabe weatherman seeking Facebook views arrested for starting wildfire

Jeff Martin & Rebecca Reynolds
Lexington Herald Leader
Fri, 11 Nov 2016 16:16 UTC
Johnny Mullins
© WLEX
Johnny Mullins arrested and charged with second degree arson.
A wannabe weatherman was jailed for arson after admitting he started a wildfire to draw attention to his selfie videos on Facebook, his town's police chief said Friday. Meanwhile, a Georgia sheriff appealed for help identifying the driver of a dark blue SUV last seen where other wildfires began. And in North Carolina, authorities suspect arson in more than 20 wildfires burning in a national forest.

"It's really too bad because he's not a bad kid — he's just misguided," said James Stephens, the police chief in Jenkins, Kentucky, where Johnny Mullins, 21, was arrested this week on a second-degree arson charge.

"He likes to do Facebook videos and have people follow him on his 'weather forecast,' so that's pretty much why he did what he did," the chief said. "He enjoyed the attention he got from the Facebook stuff."


Comment: Typical of a narcissistic society with an unhealthy obsession with social media status.


"He didn't realize how much danger he was putting other people in," Stephens added.

A teenager in Harlan County, Kentucky also was arrested for arson this week, and in Tennessee, authorities said Friday that Andrew Scott Lewis was charged with setting fires and vandalism causing more than $250,000 in damage and threatening homes outside Chattanooga.

No arrests were announced in most of the rest of the suspicious fires, which have been torching forests in and around the southern Appalachian mountains. The relentless drought across much of the South has removed the usual humidity and sucked wells and streams dry, making the woods ripe for fire.

Comment: Dozens of wildfires spread across North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia

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Magnet

Mexico's 'avengers': Vigilantes supported by public sick of crime and lack of punishment in new development called 'justiciero'

David Agren
The Guardian
Fri, 11 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
Mexican federal police
© Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images
Mexican federal police patrol the streets of Guadalajara. Widespread dissatisfaction with law enforcement and the justice system has fueled public sympathy for vigilantes.
A wave of vigilante killings - such as the bus passenger who shot four robbers - has struck a chord with Mexicans fed up with crime, corruption and impunity

It was still dark when four men boarded the packed commuter bus heading for Mexico City and ordered the passengers to hand over their valuables.

They gathered up mobile phones and wallets, but as they prepared to leave near the town of Toluca, one passenger stood up, drew a pistol and shot the four assailants, killing their leader instantly.

The three injured robbers stumbled off the bus, but the gunman followed them out and shot them dead at the roadside. Then he returned to the bus, handed back the passengers' belongings and disappeared into the darkness.

Police in Mexico state, which wraps round the country's capital like a horseshoe, have deployed hundreds of officers in search of the so-called justiciero - or avenger.
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USA

Oregon and California propose secession in wake of Trump election

Lizzy Acker
Oregon Live
Fri, 11 Nov 2016 15:51 UTC
protest
© Beth Nakamura
A swarm of protesters marched through Portland Wednesday night in protest of the presidential election results.
Oregon Live update: The petition for this ballot measure has been withdrawn after overwhelming positive and negative responses.

Two days after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, two Portlanders have submitted a petition for a 2018 ballot initiative to have Oregon secede from the United States.

On Thursday morning, Jennifer Rollins, a lawyer, and Christian Trejbal, a writer, filed the Oregon Secession Act.

"Oregonian values are no longer the values held by the rest of the United States," Trejbal said over the phone Thursday.

Those values? "Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness," Trejbal said, "plus equality."

"Obviously," he said, the ballot proposal "came about partially in response to the election results on Tuesday."

"But," he added, "it's been developing over time."

Comment: The 'Calexit' movement could gain traction and come up for vote in 2019:
The Yes California movement still has a way to go, however. President Louis Marinelli has tried to get the referendum on the ballot in the past, but has yet to reach the 400,000 signatures needed to appear on the ballot. However, Marinelli is looking to try again and get an initiative on the ballot in 2018 when Californians choose their governor for a referendum in 2019.

Even if the initiative passes, that may not be enough to stop California from skedaddling away from a Trump presidency. The laws surrounding states' secession is murky at best, as pro-secession Texans learned the hard way earlier this year.

There are no clear paths for a state to leave the US, and the last time any state really made an active attempt was in the Civil War. "The Civil War played a very big role in establishing the power of the federal government and cementing that the federal government has the final say in these issues," Eric McDaniel, Associate Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune.


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Handcuffs

Self-proclaimed rehab facility mogul arrested for sexual assault, insurance company scam


RT
Sat, 12 Nov 2016 12:20 UTC
Self-proclaimed
© Christopher Bathum / Facebook
Self-proclaimed "rehab mogul" Christopher Bathum, 55, is believed to have used his 19 sober living facilities in South California and Colorado to sexually assault women and steal patients' identities. He was found to have used their details to scam insurance companies for $44 million.

Bathum was arrested on Thursday in his home in Agoura Hills, California during a raid that included searches of 15 locations spanning two states. While the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has yet to file formal charges, it claims that over a dozen victims have come forward with sexual assault accusations against.

LAPD also believe that there are more victims. "We want every one of them to come forward," Lt. Todd Deeds of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Major Crime Bureau told The Los Angeles Times. "He is in custody right now."

Comment: See also: Texas police find dozens of people held captive in fake rehab centers, arrest 10

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Cardboard Box

Protests are working! Norwegian bank considers pulling investment from Dakota pipeline if violations continue

Claire Bernish
Free Thought Project
Thu, 10 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
No DAPL

While election madness reached full tilt in recent days, opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline experienced a quiet victory — Norway's largest bank, DNB, will consider pulling its hefty investment in the project if concerns from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are not addressed.

DNB, EcoWatch reports, has reportedly loaned around $350 million to Energy Transfer Partners for the construction of the pipeline — fully 10 percent of the total cost — but is worried the rights of Native Americans are being trampled in the process.

"DNB looks with worry at how the situation around the pipeline in North Dakota has developed," the financier said in a statement cited by Reuters. "The bank will therefore take initiative and use its position to bring about a more constructive process to find a solution to the conflict.
"If these initiatives do not give appeasing answers and results, DNB will consider its further involvement in the financing of the project."
Apprehension over solicitous violence police have employed against the Standing Rock Sioux water protectors and their supporters drove the bank to review its investment in the enormously controversial pipeline. Multiple clashes between law enforcement and peaceful opposition finally began leading international headlines after American corporate media largely ignored escalating tensions.

Comment: DNB is doing exactly what all corporations should be doing - evaluating and acting on the knowledge that its investments can be detrimental to the health, culture and welfare of the lives of ordinary people. Seldom few acts of conscience exist among the banks and corporations of the Western world.

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Bomb

Blast at revered southwestern Pakistan shrine: At least 25 reported killed, dozens injured


RT
Sat, 12 Nov 2016 15:07 UTC
Pakistan police
© FILE PHOTO Athar Hussain / Reuters
Dozens have reportedly been killed in a powerful blast that hit one of the most revered shrines in southwestern Pakistan, local media reports.

A huge explosion hit the Shah Noorani Shrine located in the Khuzdar District of the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan.

The incident occurred during a religious dance in the shrine - a ceremony attended by dozens of people on a daily basis.

According to eyewitnesses cited by local media, at least 500 people were in the shrine at the moment of the blast.

The total number of casualties is still unknown, although various media give conflicting reports concerning the initial death toll. According to the Pakistani Samaa TV channel, the blast claimed the lives of 15 people and injured many more, while a journalist from ARY news reports that at least ten people were killed in the incident and another 30 were injured.
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People

Brazil holds nationwide strikes against Temer 'the usurper' after harsh budget cuts


RT
Sat, 12 Nov 2016 13:30 UTC
Brazil protesters against Temer's government
© Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP
Protesters hold banners and chant slogans during a nation-wide demonstration against Temer's government in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 11, 2016.
Wide-scale protests against harsh social development budget cuts over next 20 years are taking place in Brazil. Meanwhile, former President Dilma Rousseff has promised to produce evidence of interim leader Michel Temer's corruption.

Protests against "the government's conservative agenda," namely the Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC 55) introduced to Congress by President Michel Temer, began sweeping the country early Friday morning. Citizens of at least 19 out of 27 Brazilian states and the Federal District participated in the protests.

PEC 55 is an amendment which will freeze all the investments in the country's public services for 20 years.
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People

100,000s stage largest-ever protest in Seoul to demand President Park resign


RT
Sat, 12 Nov 2016 13:22 UTC
South Koreans march towards the presidential house protest against South Korean President Park Geun-Hye in Seoul, South Korea
© Jeon Heon-kyun / Reuters
South Koreans march with candlelight towards the presidential house during a protest against South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on a main street in Seoul, South Korea November 12, 2016.
Hundreds of thousands are walking the streets of Seoul in the latest protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who has come under fire for allowing her close confidante to have too much influence over her government policies.

According to organizers, 850,000 people joined the candlelight rally at Gwanghwamun and a public square near Seoul City Hall, with the number expected to reach up to one million.

Police said they counted 220,000 people, surpassing the figure they expected by at least 50,000. About 25,000 officers were deployed to maintain order during the rally.
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Bomb

Blast kills at least 4 people at US Bagram airbase in Afghanistan


RT
Sat, 12 Nov 2016 10:13 UTC
A view of Bagram Airfield
© Shah Marai / AFP
A view of Bagram Airfield
An explosion rocked Bagram airfield, the largest US base in Afghanistan, early Saturday morning, killing at least four people and injuring 14 others, according to a NATO-led Resolute Support Mission press release.

"An explosive device was detonated on Bagram Airfield resulting in multiple casualties. Four people have died in the attack and approximately 14 have been wounded," Resolute Support said in a statement.

Comment: See also:Bomb kills 6 NATO troops in Afghanistan, part of Helmand province seize

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Bomb

Paris attacks: Counter-terrorism chief wants fingerprinting & iris scans for everyone entering UK borders


RT
Fri, 11 Nov 2016 12:50 UTC
Finger printing
© Stringer / Reuters
Every person entering the United Kingdom should be forced to undergo "fool-proof" fingerprinting and iris scans, the country's newly appointed counter-terrorism chief says, claiming the move will prevent terrorists from entering Britain.

Speaking one year after the Paris attacks left 130 people dead and 368 injured, the UK's new senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, Neil Basu, said the atrocities were a "sit up and think" moment for those tasked with defending Britain.

"Society needs to debate what's required. But in law enforcement, I'd say if you want security, you need to improve your biometrics at the borders," he said, as quoted by the Telegraph.

Comment: See also: Three new scandals show how pervasive mass surveillance is in the West

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