We're living in the realization of my childhood dream. And very few people are asking that all-important question.
Society's Child
The satirical site's creator opens up on how Facebook tried to destroy his livelihood.
I was a very curious kid, always asking questions, always looking for answers. Throughout my childhood, as far back as my memory goes, I had a recurring fantasy: I wished I had a magical machine that I could carry around in my pocket that would instantly tell me the answer to any question. What a thrilling thought that was to me, to always know the truth, to never have to wonder. But as a kid the all-important question never occurred to me: who would get to program the machine with all the answers?
We're living in the realization of my childhood dream. And very few people are asking that all-important question.
We're living in the realization of my childhood dream. And very few people are asking that all-important question.
© Public Domain
But give me a sunbonnet and braid my hair and I was lost in the world of Laura Ingalls. I still remember being in a titter of excitement at age four when my parents took me to the famous Little House on the Prairie pageant in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
© Stephane Mahe / Reuters
David Lynch
David Lynch
In a recent interview with The Guardian newspaper, the unconventional filmmaker made the somewhat surprising claim that Trump "could go down as one of the greatest presidents in history" - although it's not entirely clear if he meant the comment as a compliment.
© Northumbria Police
The vandalized beehives.
The vandalized beehives.
Northumbria Police are investigating an incident in Hebburn, north-east England, in which a beekeeper's manmade hives were destroyed. Investigators are now trying to track those responsible for the vandalism that occurred back on May 22.
Hive owner Steve Cattanach spoke out about the destruction, issuing a statement through police about his despair and incredible frustration over the attack.
© Eva Bartlett | MintPress News
A Hadar resident stands outside of his shrapnel damaged home.
A Hadar resident stands outside of his shrapnel damaged home.
The roughly 10,000 defiant villagers of Hadar are isolated and under constant threat of attack. Until December 2017, Hadar was surrounded on three sides by terrorists and was attacked many times.
Positioned in a valley, with the al-Qaeda alliance until December 2017 occupying Beit Jinn and other villages to the east, Hadar also borders the ceasefire line of the occupied Syrian Golan, an area teeming with still more al-Qaeda terrorists. From their positions inside the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) zone of the occupied Syrian Golan, terrorists in Jubata al-Khashab (roughly 6 kilometers directly south of Hadar), Turunjah (roughly 5 kilometers south of Hadar), and Ufaniyah (further south than Jubata al-Khashab), have fired mortars, missiles, and other explosives on Hadar, something acknowledged even by the UN Secretary-General.
In his December 6, 2017 report, the Secretary-General noted that terrorist groups fighting in the UNDOF area of operation include "the listed terrorist group Jabhat Fath al-Sham (formerly the Nusra Front) and Jaysh Khalid Ibn al-Walid, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)."
The same report noted the attacks from the three villages towards Hadar were preceded by a "vehicle-borne improvised explosive device," which killed nine people. In Hadar, I would learn that the car bomb didn't just target "a pro-Syrian forces checkpoint in Hadar," as per the UN report, but was headed towards the heart of the village when shot at by Hadar defenders. The vehicle exploded less than 100 meters from a school, at 9 a.m., according to Hadar resident Mahmoud Taweel. Had the village not been on alert, and families staying at home, the number killed would have surely been higher and included many children.
Comment: Despite the threats of the US and Israel, the Syrian Army has launched an anti-terrorist operation in the southern area of the country:
Interestingly, at least some units of the Free Syrian Army (a 'rebel' group) are now fighting on the side of government forces:
US/Israel-backed Al-Qaeda launches attack on pro-Syria settlements in S. Syria - repelled by FSA and Syria troops
A police chief has called for cannabis to be legalized, arguing that the ban puts lives in danger and gives millions to criminals. He added that those in his jurisdiction growing plants for personal use would not be raided.
Durham Police Chief Constable Mike Barton said his decades of experience trying to enforce the cannabis ban led him to believe the drug ban was damaging public safety, instead of protecting it. "Yes, it should be legal," he said. "That's what I think based on my experience.
Durham Police Chief Constable Mike Barton said his decades of experience trying to enforce the cannabis ban led him to believe the drug ban was damaging public safety, instead of protecting it. "Yes, it should be legal," he said. "That's what I think based on my experience.
© Alicia G. Monedero / shutterstock.com
Channel 4 News conducted a survey and the results were eye opening. The survey found that 70% of people want a reduction in immigration and 73% want it reduced to the tens of thousands.
When asked which was more important between filling job vacancies or reducing EU immigration, 61% stated that reducing EU immigration was most important.
Surprisingly 55% also want an immigration policy that treats Commonwealth citizens equally to EU citizens when it comes to migration, not favouring the EU nationals with whom Britain has much less of an historic tie.
Perhaps most shocking was that even 1 in 5 Lib Dems want a reduction in immigration.
This is exactly why Brexit won the vote and shows that the majority want the open door migration to end.
© Unknown
Border Patrol agents closed off all southbound lanes of Interstate 95 north of Bangor, Me., stopping drivers, searching outside their cars with drug-sniffing dogs and refusing to let them pass until they disclosed their citizenship. At least one encounter was captured on cellphone video.
"Good afternoon, ma'am, U.S. Border Patrol immigration inspection," an officer told two reporters with the Bangor Daily News who had heard about the checkpoint, about 80 miles from the Canadian border, and decided to drive to it and record their interaction. "What country are you a citizen of?" The driver protested. "If you want to continue down the road, then yes, ma'am, we need to know what country you're a citizen of," the agent said.
Such immigration checkpoints on highways have been used by the Border Patrol for years, often along popular smuggling and drug-trafficking routes in the Southwest. But their frequency has increased under President Trump, federal officials have said. The one in Maine was set up several days after agents conducted a three-day checkpoint on a New Hampshire highway, at least the second checkpoint in that state so far this year.
The newest concern for border patrol agents isn’t a new and dangerous army of terrorists or another new method for illegal immigrants to cross the border, but the dawn of a new strategy that has been used to smuggle drugs into the country.
Reports of unmanned aircraft flying along the Southwest border have spiked in recent months, with more than three dozen sightings since October, when the current fiscal year began. That data point is on a course to quadruple from the previous year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where officials say they are concerned that criminal groups are using the aircraft for surveillance while seeking paths to traffic drugs and other illicit material into the United States.
"They're probably trying to get eyeballs on agents out in the field and see where soft areas are," said James Thom, acting operations director for CBP's Air and Marine Operations Center outside Los Angeles. "To date, I don't know that we've successfully been able to detect and track drone activity."
The growing use of off-the-shelf, hard-to-spot drones is a prime example of the relentless cat-and-mouse game between criminals and Border Patrol agents. Smugglers constantly seek to outsmart U.S. law enforcement. And as part of the Trump administration's pledge to crack down on the influx of drugs and people entering the country illegally, Homeland Security is scrambling to identify technology and techniques that can thwart them.
Comment: Criminals have found drones to quite effective at smuggling drugs and weapons:
- No contraband deliveries: Norcal officials want a law banning drone flights over prisons
- Prison officials try to stop drones from delivering contraband to inmates
- Escape plot foiled as Bedford Prison staff intercept drone laden with drugs and weapons
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