Society's Child
When Gloria C. Mackenzie claimed her $590.5 million Powerball jackpot, she released a statement revealing that another woman "was kind enough" to allow her to cut in line when she purchased the winning ticket.
That woman, Mindy Crandell, 34, is not upset that her charitable gesture likely cost her an enormous fortune and says "things are meant to be for a reason."
Crandell, of Zephyrhills, Fla., was in line to purchase lottery tickets in Publix on May 18 while tending to one of her two daughters when Mackenzie, 84, stepped in front of her.
"My 10-year-old said, 'Mom, There's a lady in front of us.' I noticed that the lady was there. Didn't pay a lot of mind to it," Crandall said
Say the words "Matt Drudge" to any political junkie and you will get one of two responses.
The first will be strong disdain for Drudge's eponymously-named news site and its tilt toward outrageous headlines and conservative viewpoints.
The second will be sheer awe for Drudge's continued ability to pull in massive amounts of web traffic using a site that any teenager with an affinity for the Internet could make in under 15 minutes.
No one - and we mean no one - lacks an opinion when it comes to Drudge and the Drudge Report. The combination of the controversy surrounding Drudge and his legendary reclusiveness makes it difficult to have a conversation about his influence on the culture of web journalism that doesn't devolve into a shouting match within seconds.
But, Drudge did - and does - have an impact. So, it's worth going back 15 years this week to a speech Drudge gave at the National Press Club in which he outlined his vision of the future of journalism.
Turns out, Drudge was right about where journalism was heading.
"We have entered an era vibrating with the din of small voices," he said in the speech. "Every citizen can be a reporter." Later, he added: "The Net gives as much voice to a 13 year old computer geek like me as to a CEO or Speaker of the House. We all become equal. And you would be amazed what the ordinary guy knows."
A look back at the last two presidential elections proves Drudge's point. The biggest story of the 2008 campaign was Barack Obama's comments about rural voters' tendency to "cling to guns or religion", which was broken by Mayhill Fowler, a Democratic donor and a part of Huffington Post's citizen journalism program. The biggest story of the 2012 campaign was Mitt Romney's comments about the "47 percent", remarks that were recorded by a bartender at the event for high-dollar donors.
© Unknown
Matt Drudge
Matt Drudge
The second will be sheer awe for Drudge's continued ability to pull in massive amounts of web traffic using a site that any teenager with an affinity for the Internet could make in under 15 minutes.
No one - and we mean no one - lacks an opinion when it comes to Drudge and the Drudge Report. The combination of the controversy surrounding Drudge and his legendary reclusiveness makes it difficult to have a conversation about his influence on the culture of web journalism that doesn't devolve into a shouting match within seconds.
But, Drudge did - and does - have an impact. So, it's worth going back 15 years this week to a speech Drudge gave at the National Press Club in which he outlined his vision of the future of journalism.
Turns out, Drudge was right about where journalism was heading.
"We have entered an era vibrating with the din of small voices," he said in the speech. "Every citizen can be a reporter." Later, he added: "The Net gives as much voice to a 13 year old computer geek like me as to a CEO or Speaker of the House. We all become equal. And you would be amazed what the ordinary guy knows."
A look back at the last two presidential elections proves Drudge's point. The biggest story of the 2008 campaign was Barack Obama's comments about rural voters' tendency to "cling to guns or religion", which was broken by Mayhill Fowler, a Democratic donor and a part of Huffington Post's citizen journalism program. The biggest story of the 2012 campaign was Mitt Romney's comments about the "47 percent", remarks that were recorded by a bartender at the event for high-dollar donors.
© AFP
"She was the one who went to New York City, stood on a stage and said, 'Max out, max out, max out,'" Felipe Sousa-Rodríguez said on Wednesday, referring to a previous fundraising appearance by the First Lady on May 29, 2013. "Since she's the one going to Democratic party fundraisers, we are treating her as a Democrat leader."
According to MSNBC, Obama said during her previous speech, "We need you to keep on writing those checks!' And if you haven't maxed out, you know, what's my motto? Max out! Let's say it again, max out! And if you've maxed out, get your friends to max out."
Stop your whining. This is not actually happening to you.
I'm sure regular readers of this blog have been following the whole debacle over Lindy West getting a bunch of rape threats and other nasty responses because she took the position that it's uncool for comedians to write jokes indicating that they are supportive of the criminal choices of any potential rapists in the audience. (For that is what rapists hear when you make pro-rape jokes or jokes minimizing the realities of rape. Obviously, jokes that hinge on the assumption that rape is a terrible crime make rapists uncomfortable, and I support those jokes whole-heartedly.) But what I don't really get and will never completely understand is why so many people get so bent out of shape because a rape-supportive joke was criticized. Isn't the point of said jokes to provoke? Well, you got criticized, so there you go: Proof that you were provocative. Granted, you were provocative in the cheapest, most banal, laziest way possible - artful provocateurs expose social hypocrisies and injustices, they don't support them - but your basic goal of pissing people off has been achieved. Good for you! Why are you whining?
And don't say "free speech". I am sick to the teeth of people misusing that phrase. Here is another example, of a couple of piggish sci-fi editors who said some vile shit about women and, when criticized, acted like the Stasi was banging down their front door and executing them on the spot for the crime of sexism. That is not what happened. They were criticized. Because they doubled down like whining children, their unprofessionalism is getting them let go. No doubt there will be more rounds of people whining that this is a violation of "free speech". But it's not. So, here's a refresher for the sexist crybabies out there on what is and isn't free speech.
The Tasmanian Supreme Court heard that the father had set up a camera to capture ghosts he believed were haunting his house.
One day he forgot to turn it off and when he later reviewed the footage, he saw his son and the 28-year-old Tasmanian woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - kissing and cuddling.
His girlfriend of 11 years initially denied any relationship, but his son confessed that they had sex on multiple occasions.
The woman later pleaded guilty to sex with the minor and today was sentenced to at least six months in jail.
The court heard the illicit affair began last year after a discussion about driving lessons. It was discovered in October, when the boy was moved to live with his grandparents.
Climate change and revolution: Complex systems theorists warn we are one year away from global riots
In a 2011 paper, researchers at the Complex Systems Institute unveiled a model that accurately explained why the waves of unrest that swept the world in 2008 and 2011 crashed when they did. The number one determinant was soaring food prices. Their model identified a precise threshold for global food prices that, if breached, would lead to worldwide unrest.
The specter of school shootings has brought a too-typical staple to local newspaper sections: the boys disciplined at (or suspended from) grade school for bringing a toy gun or anything resembling a gun.
The Washington Post just found the latest wild overreaction, from Calvert County, Md., a blue state that's cracked down on gun rights. "A kindergartner who brought a cowboy-style cap gun onto his Calvert County school bus was suspended for 10 days after showing a friend the orange-tipped toy, which he had tucked inside his backpack on his way to school," according to the family.
The Washington Post just found the latest wild overreaction, from Calvert County, Md., a blue state that's cracked down on gun rights. "A kindergartner who brought a cowboy-style cap gun onto his Calvert County school bus was suspended for 10 days after showing a friend the orange-tipped toy, which he had tucked inside his backpack on his way to school," according to the family.
© The_Corsair
A "fully armed" suspect has opened fire at cars and a bus in the area, local police said. Witnesses reported hearing at least one shotgun blast and several handgun shots.
UCLA Medical Center officials confirm that two people have been hospitalized and are in critical condition, while one is in a serious but not life-threatening condition, CNN reports.
One suspect has reportedly been detained in the school's library and taken into custody. The police are now checking reports of a possible second shooter.
© Unknown
© Byelikova Oksana | Shutterstock
In villages throughout Papua New Guinea, accusations of witchcraft can lead to torture and murder, a growing trend that has authorities alarmed.
In villages throughout Papua New Guinea, accusations of witchcraft can lead to torture and murder, a growing trend that has authorities alarmed.
But across Papua New Guinea and in other places around the world, accusations of witchcraft and sorcery are on the rise, with tragic results.
In April, an elderly school teacher was beheaded in Papua New Guinea after her neighbors accused her of witchcraft, TIME reports. A few days earlier, seven people were kidnapped and tortured with hot irons over suspicions of sorcery in Papua New Guinea's Southern Highlands province.
Last year, 29 people in the poor island nation located north of Australia were arrested for killing and cannibalizing the brains and genitals of seven people accused of sorcery.
And in February, Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old mother in Papua New Guinea's Western Highlands region, was accused of witchcraft by the family of a 6-year-old boy who had recently died.
Leniata was stripped, bound, tortured with a hot iron, doused with gasoline and burned to death on a pile of trash in broad daylight in front of hundreds of onlookers, The Associated Press reports.
The brutal killing was condemned by officials, including Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, but no arrests of Leniata's killers were made.
