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Airplane

Pilot dies, family avoids disaster as plane crashes into home in Florida

Anthony Rivas, Jason M. Volack, Christine Theodorou
ABC News
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 12:32 UTC
Plane hits home
© WFTS
A small aircraft with two people onboard crashed into a home in Winter Haven, Fla, Feb. 23, 2019.
A nightmare came true for one family in Florida when a plane fell from the sky and crashed through the roof of a home.

The pilot of the flight was killed, but a trainee pilot and eight people inside the home all walked away with minor injuries.

"It was the day of miracles," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd during a press conference, referring to the fact that everyone inside the house survived.

The twin-engine aircraft fell into the house in Winter Haven, Florida, at around 1 p.m. while its pilot, James Wagner, 64, and his trainee, Timothy Sheehy, were practicing simulated engine failure training, Judd said.
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Bullseye

California city to pay $21 million settlement to man who spent 39 years in prison for crime he didn't commit

Mark Osborne
ABC News
Sun, 24 Feb 2019 02:55 UTC
Craig Coley
© AP
Craig Coley, who spent 39 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, talks with reporters Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif.
A wrongfully convicted man has agreed to a $21 million settlement with a California city after he spent 39 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Craig Coley was convicted of murdering Rhonda Wicht and her 4-year-old son, Donald, in 1978 and spent the better part of four decades in jail. He was released in November 2017 after receiving a pardon from then-Gov. Jerry Brown. He was 70 years old at the time of his release.

Now he's collecting a massive payout from the city that convicted him of the crime he did not commit.

Simi Valley, California, released a statement Saturday afternoon saying it had come to an agreement with Coley to pay him $21 million.
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Star of David

Israeli soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs and concussion grenades on peaceful protesters in West Bank village


IMEMCnews
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:26 UTC
Kufur Qaddoum protests West Bank Feb 22 2019

Soldiers started firing rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs and concussion grenades, causing many to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation.
Israeli soldiers injured, Friday, several Palestinians during the weekly procession in Kufur Qaddoum village, east of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia.

Morad Eshteiwi, the coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Annexation Wall and Colonies in Kufur Qaddoum, said the Palestinians and international peace activists marched from the local park, and headed to the nearby closed main road.

He added that the soldiers started firing rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs and concussion grenades, causing many to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation.

Eshteiwi also stated that the Palestinians in Kufur Qaddoum will continue their protests despite the excessive use of force by the army, and that they insist on their legitimate demand to have the main entrance of their village reopened.

Comment: Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers act with sadistic barbarism, yet it is those who dare question their brutality who are condemned:

After Israeli anchor calls out brutality of 'occupation', political leaders land hard on her

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Russian Flag

Russia's export growth continues to defy US sanctions

Tom Luongo
Gold Goats 'n Guns
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 21:28 UTC
power of siberia pipeline russia
© Valery Sharifulin / TASS
Construction of a part of the Power of Siberia pipeline.
Russia is winning its war of attrition against aggressive U.S. sanctions policy. Diplomatically, Russia is winning on all fronts, finding positive solutions through its abundant energy reserves to open gaps in relationships t hat have been frozen in geopolitical amber for two generations.

The latest balance of trade data from Rosstat tells the tale. Russia continues to run a massive trade surplus even though oil prices crashed in the fourth quarter and have only somewhat recovered.

I've covered the surprising stability of the Russian ruble over the past six months given the volatility in oil prices in the past. That stability is key to the future of central Asia as well as eastern Europe.

Putin is positioning Russia and the ruble as the glue which ties central Asia's development together through the Eurasian Economic Union. So, it and Russia's economy defying the best efforts of the U.S. to impede its growth is something to keep watch on.
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Megaphone

Yellow Vests protests held across France for 15th week in a row


RT
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 21:18 UTC
yellow vest
© Jean-Francois Monier / AFP
"Yellow Vest" protest in front of the Chateau de Chambord.
The Yellow Vest movement staged anti-government protests for the 15th week in a row on Saturday, with thousands participating across France. Some minor clashes were reported during the generally peaceful day of action.

The French Interior Ministry estimates that a total of 41,500 people marched in streets around the country, a dwindling number compared to almost 300,000 at the peak of the movement's strength.

French authorities arrested 13 protesters in Clermont-Ferrand, with the police reporting the seizure of baseball bats, crowbars and other weapons.

A further six people were taken into custody in the capital, Paris, while in Nantes police deployed tear gas against the demonstrators.
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Attention

Horrifying videos show ramming at Simon Bolivar bridge in Venezuela


RT
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 17:44 UTC
Bridge collapse
© Schneyder Mendoza / AFP
Three Venezuelans, who rammed a barrier blocking a border bridge in Venezuela before defecting to Colombia, seem to have paid little care about the well-being of civilians and injured several people.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning amid a larger confrontation there, over the attempts by Venezuela's US-backed opposition to force a delivery of 'humanitarian aid' into the Latin American country - a move that its government denounced as a PR stunt and possibly a cover to smuggle arms.

Footage of the incident released by AFP shows two armored vehicles speeding towards the camera and a crowd of people running away to avoid being hit. The front vehicle then rams into the metal barrier. In the aftermath several people appear to be hurt, including a young woman covered in blood with an injury on her forehead.
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Bullseye

Saddam Hussein's granddaughter: "Whole world has seen outcome of US occupation"


Sputnik
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 19:44 UTC
hareer hussein kamel
© Instagram/hareer.hussein.kamel
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's granddaughter Hareer Hussein Kamel lives in Jordan, where she has obtained a Canadian university degree, started her own family, and even authored a book of family memoirs and archives. However, her life hasn't always been tranquil and peaceful, she said in an interview with Sputnik.

Iraqi Memories

The 32-year old has shared with Sputnik the details of a "cold and scary" night in 2003, when she and her family fled war-torn Iraq.

"We were in Mosul. My mother Raghad and Aunt Rana, Saddam's second daughter, took their kids and went to Syria without delay. While we were crossing the border on foot, Syrian border guards opened fire. It was really frightening, but no one, fortunately, was hurt", Hareer recalled, adding that having spent several days in Syria they set out to Jordan, after the Hashemite Kingdom issued an invitation for them to travel there.

She recalled that after the American occupation, the new Iraqi authorities issued a decree prohibiting potential refugees from obtaining foreign passports, with numbers of families left without documents whatsoever.
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Cross

German cardinal admits church destroyed documents on clergy sexual abuse


ABC Action News
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 18:32 UTC
Cardinal Reinhard Marx

Cardinal Reinhard Marx
In a remarkable admission, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said Saturday that documents that could have contained proof of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church were destroyed or never drawn up.

"Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed or not even created," said Marx, the archbishop of Munich and president of the German Bishops' Conference.

"The stipulated procedures and processes for the prosecution offenses were deliberately not complied with," he added, "but instead canceled and overridden.

"Such standard practices will make it clear that it is not transparency which damages the church, but rather the acts of abuse committed, the lack of transparency, or the ensuing coverup."
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Magnify

Chicago media takes journalistic high road with its careful coverage of Smollett story


The Hill
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 18:30 UTC
Jussie Smollett
The public is provided regular examples of media outlets getting a big story horribly wrong. This has eroded trust in media for many Americans.

That erosion is especially amplified on the right, where 92 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents "say that traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes," according to a 2018 poll conducted by Axios and Survey Monkey.

That sentiment also extends to independents and even a majority of Democrats, with 79 percent of the former and 53 percent of the latter saying they also believe traditional outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes. Which brings us to the latest fiasco regarding the Jussie Smollett story - a story too Hollywood to be true. Smollett appears to have wanted sympathy, a bigger profile and - most importantly - the perfect example that Trump supporters are violent racists. Here were two pro-Trump guys, Smollett said, ready to attack a gay, black man with bleach and a rope to use as a noose and at 2 a.m. with cameras everywhere during a polar vortex.

National media ran with the story as absolute fact despite the obvious questions. This was evidenced by the word "alleged" curiously missing from dozens of headlines and articles weeks after Smollett first made his claim.

Comment: The good news is there are still mainstream journalists with a sense of responsibility to accurately report news - the bad news is that they are a vanishing breed. See: More on the Smollett hoax:

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Pistol

Napa, CA: Illegal immigrant killed in shootout with police had been previously deported, local cops didn't honor ICE detainer


CBS SF
Wed, 20 Feb 2019 07:04 UTC
Javier Hernandez
© Facebook/Napa County Sheriff's Office
Armed suspect Javier Hernandez
Napa County Sheriff's investigators released a stunning body cam video Wednesday of a fatal weekend deputy-involved shooting of an armed suspect on a rural roadway.

On the video from a camera worn by Sheriff's Deputy Riley Jarecki, the suspect can be seen sitting in his car as the deputy approached the vehicle. Jarecki asked the suspect if she can look around to make sure there are no weapons or suspicious items inside.

She told the suspect - Javier Hernandez Morales - not to move. As she walked around the car, Jarecki tapped on the driver's side window and asked Morales to roll it down several times before he appeared to respond.

Jarecki spoke with Hernandez Morales for about five minutes, according to Napa County Undersheriff Jon Crawford.

Hernandez Morales then rolled down the window, quickly pulled out a gun and fired a shot at Jarecki, who returned fire several times. She was not physically injured. Hernandez Morales died at the scene.

*This post contains graphic video content and is not suitable for children.*


Comment: More from CBS5 2/21/2019:
ICE told KPIX 5 that Hernandez-Morales had been deported three times prior to 2011. After 2011, Hernandez-Morales was arrested a number of times for crimes including driving under the influence, battery on a peace officer, and probation violations.

Immigration officials said they issued detainers four separate times for Hernandez-Morales following his arrests but none were honored by local jails.

"ICE is grateful the deputy involved in this shooting was not harmed during this attack," the agency said in a statement. "It's unfortunate that our law enforcement partners and the community are subjected to dangerous consequences because of inflexible state laws that protect criminal aliens."

"This incident may have been prevented if ICE had been notified about any of the multiple times Hernandez-Morales was released from local custody over the last few years. This is an impactful, scary example of how public safety is affected by laws or policies limiting local law enforcement agencies' ability to cooperate with ICE."

ICE said it issued three detainers for Hernandez-Morales to Napa County Jail in 2014, 2015 and 2016; and a detainer to Sonoma County Jail in 2016, none of which were honored.

Late Thursday afternoon, Napa County officials said they were complying with a change in state law in 2017. "We are in compliance with state law. That is the law of the state of California, and the county intends to comply with state law," said Napa County Supervisor Vallea Ramos.

"We have to continue to learn from these unfortunate incidents," said Napa County Sheriff John Robertson. "Once we get all the facts, I think it's going lead us to really understand the facts more, then make a decision if state law does need to be changed."


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