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Suspected Golden State Killer found after initial search led to the wrong man

Michael Balsamo and Jonathan J. Cooper,
SF Gate
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 18:47 UTC
police digging
© Rich Pedroncelli, APAuthorities probe the backyard of the home of murder suspect Joseph DeAngelo, Thursday, April 26, 2018, in Citrus Heights, Calif.
Investigators hunting down the so-called Golden State Killer used information from genetic websites last year that led to the wrong man, court records obtained Friday by The Associated Press showed.

An Oregon police officer working at the request of California investigators persuaded a judge in March 2017 to order a 73-year-old man in a nursing home to provide a DNA sample.

The Oregon City man is in declining health and was unable to answer questions Friday about the case.

His daughter said authorities never notified her before swabbing her father for DNA in his bed a rehabilitation center, but once they told her afterward she understood and worked with them to eliminate people who conceivably could be the killer.

The case of mistaken identity was discovered as authorities hailed a novel use of DNA technology that led this week to the arrest of former police officer Joseph DeAngelo at his house outside Sacramento on murder charges. Critics of the investigative approach, however, warned it could jeopardize privacy rights.
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Arrow Up

Amazon Prime fee jumps to $119, up from $99

Todd Spangler
Variety
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 18:40 UTC
amazon logo
Amazon will increase the annual cost of Prime for U.S. customers to $119 per year, up 20% from $99 currently - news coming after it blew the doors off revenue and profit expectations in the first quarter.

The price increase will take effect starting June 16 for existing Prime customers based on their renewal period, CFO Brian Olsavsky said on Amazon's first-quarter 2018 earnings call. New members will pay the $119 price starting May 11. The company last raised the price of Prime in the U.S. in March 2014.

Asked on the call why Amazon was raising rates now, Olsavsky cited rising costs because of higher shipping expenses and spending on digital content. "It's really nothing more than looking at the state of the program, and the high benefits it's delivering," he said. "There's all kinds of new features we've continually added to the Prime program. It's much different than it was in 2014."

Four years ago, Prime offered free two-day shipping on 20 million products in the U.S., Olsavsky noted. Today Amazon offers more than 100 million products in Prime available within two days, and many are available even faster than that - with same-day or two-hour delivery.
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Handcuffs

Microsoft violation: Computer tech gets 15 months for selling computer restore disks

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 18:37 UTC
computer parts prison
Computer technician and E-waste recycler Eric Lundgren is going to prison for 15 months for selling restore disks for computers, which would extend their longevity and allow them to be resold to new users. A federal appeals court in Miami rejected the appeal in his case this week, upholding a federal district judge's ruling that Lundgren violated Microsoft's copyright by selling the disks.

Although these restore disks come free with every computer, there is a licence key that is tied to the first buyer, which makes it effectively impossible to restore these computers for private sale, that is, unless you want to pay Microsoft for an entirely new licence, at which point most people would just choose to buy a new computer.

"I am going to prison, and I've accepted it. What I'm not okay with is people not understanding why I'm going to prison. Hopefully, my story can shine some light on the e-waste epidemic we have in the United States, how wasteful we are. At what point do people stand up and say something? I didn't say something, I just did it," Lundgren told the Washington Post on Monday.

By keeping computers out of landfills for just a few more years, Lundgren was really doing great work for both the environment and people with lower incomes who cannot afford to go out and buy new computers. Even the judge expressed remorse during the sentencing, but still decided to send him to prison for 15 months anyway.
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Pistol

Homicidal violence rivals that of war zones: Over 2.5M people have been murdered in Latin America since 2000


teleSUR
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
homicides Brazil
© ReutersBoys play football as an armed soldier looks on in Mare Favela Complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The startling numbers were released by the Igarape Institute, a Brazil-based think-tank focused on security and development issues.

Despite recent pronouncements by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and other regional organizations declaring Latin America a zone of peace, over 2.5 million people have been murdered in Latin America since the year 2000. The startling numbers were released Thursday by the Igarape Institute, a Brazil-based think-tank focused on security and development issues.

"The sheer dimensions of homicidal violence are breathtaking," the report noted. Despite having just eight percent of the world's population, Latin America is home to a whopping 33 percent of worldwide homicides.

Twenty-five percent of all global homicides are concentrated in four countries - Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela - all of which are preparing for presidential elections this year, according to The Guardian.

Comment: See also:

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Airplane

Indian military plane makes emergency landing outside Moscow due to chassis failure


RT
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 18:08 UTC
Military plane
© Sergey Krivchikov / WikipediaIndia's Il-38 aircraft.
An Il-38 military plane operated by the Indian Army has made a successful emergency landing at Zhukovsky Airfield outside Moscow, after a chassis failure.

"The Il-38 aircraft has successfully landed with its front chassis folded. The firefighters are nearby, there's no fire," the Ilyushin company said.

No one was injured during the incident, the company added. Ahead of the emergency landing, the machine circled around the airfield to burn off and dump excess fuel.
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Family

23yo man trapped inside body of baby after he stopped growing before he could walk or talk

Thea Jacobs
The Sun
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 05:36 UTC
Adult baby man
© MEDIA DRUM WORLDManpreet is unable to maintain a conversation but he can laugh, cry, scream and communicate by gestures
A 23-year-old man has spent his life trapped inside the body of an 11-pound baby unable to walk or talk.

Manpreet Singh, from India, has been labelled the 'pint-sized' man by neighbours after he stopped growing physically and mentally after a year - leaving him as an eternal toddler.

The young man requires round the clock care from his uncle Karanvir Singh, 45, and aunt Lakhwinder Kaur, 42, who carry him everywhere and dote on him.

Manpreet was born in 1995 but suddenly stopped growing before he could walk and talk, but doctors told his father Jagtar Singh, 50, that he would start growing again.
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Snowflake

Kanye's pro-Trump twitter thread has caused Hollywood-leftie mental meltdown

Matt Vespa
Townhall
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 18:08 UTC
Kanye West
Kanye West
It had to be one of the greatest moments on social media in a long time. Rapper Kanye West, the infamous basher of George Bush during Hurricane Katrina, isn't a hater of Trump. In fact, he went on a lengthy Twitter thread about how we all need to be freethinkers, and how the progressive mob won't stop him from loving President Trump. He later clarified that he doesn't agree with everything Trump stands for, citing his wife, Kim Kardashian West, with who had called him as these tweets began to explode across the Internet. Still, even Kim supported her husband tweeting, "He's a free thinker, is that not allowed in America?"

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Arrow Down

UK police threaten online supporters who criticize state-sanctioned death of baby Alfie Evans

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
Alfie Evans
The government is forcing the Evans family to stay in the UK, where they will be denied medical care.
The case has sparked outrage across the world, but instead of backing down, the hospital and the government have gone on the offensive against anyone offering support for the Evans family.
A 23-month-old baby boy named Alfie Evans has been fighting for his life in a British hospital for months. Aflie has a degenerative neurological condition that doctors say is incurable, and thus the medical staff at the hospital has basically condemned the child to die.

Alfie's parents want to do everything in their power to keep him alive. However, unfortunately, the UK government has the final say as to how the child will be treated, and a series of court rulings have ordered the hospital to take him off of life support.

Alfie's father, Thomas Evans has been attempting to appeal these rulings so the family can fly to the Vatican hospital in Rome, where they have been offered free medical care, with experimental treatments that are not offered in the UK.

Despite the fact that this will come at no cost to the UK government or the hospital, they are legally forcing the family to stay in the UK, where they will be denied medical care because the government decided that it was not worth the effort to keep the boy alive. Even worse, the hospital has not been feeding the child while he is under their care, which is now court mandated.

Comment: A tragic end to the story, Alfie Evans died early on Saturday: My gladiator lay down his shield': Toddler Alfie Evans dies in Britain after UK court refuses his travel for possible treatment

Unfortunately, the abominable treatment of Alfie Evans is only one instance where the NHS has shown its incompetence and cruelty:

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Laptop

Russia's move to block Telegram created wider access problems for Russian Internet users

Seraphim Hanisch
Russia Feed
Wed, 25 Apr 2018 18:00 UTC
pacman russia telegram
Clumsy implementation of mass IP bans create a difficulty in accessing global Internet resources, in a move that is NOT based in propaganda

Internet users in the Russian Federation may have noticed something different in the last week or two. Many Internet sites that were available in March are no longer available now, at least not without a VPN in use to set the user's computer outside the Russian Federation.

Is this government censorship?

Hardly, at least not in the expected sense of sanctioning the West.

It is a very clumsy attempt by the Russian government to restrict access to Telegram. If one wants to call that move censorship it might be legitimate, but it still is not a move that has anything to do with tensions with the West.
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Bad Guys

Palestinian Health Ministry: Israeli army kills three and injures 995 In Gaza


IMEMCnews
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 19:43 UTC
Gaza protest
The Palestinian Health Ministry has confirmed that Israeli soldiers killed, Friday, three young Palestinian men, and injured more than 995, including at least 178 who were shot with live fire.

It stated that the first Palestinian who was killed by Israeli army fire, Friday, has been identified as Mohammad Amin al-Moqyd, 21, from Gaza city. His body was moved to the Shifa Medical Center.

The Ministry added that the soldiers also killed Abdul-Salam Bakr, 29, from Khuza'a town, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Comment: See also: US Jewish protests against Israeli murders in Gaza highlight growing schism

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