The NYPD's bomb squad was called to the scene, along with EMS workers. A security sweep of the island is also being conducted. As yet, no devices have been found.
Society's Child
The NYPD's bomb squad was called to the scene, along with EMS workers. A security sweep of the island is also being conducted. As yet, no devices have been found.
© John Bostrom
When we deny reality and engage in irrational wishful thinking, we are engaging in something called "hopium". This is a difficult term to define, but the favorite definition of hopium that I have come across so far goes like this:
"The irrational belief that, despite all evidence to the contrary, things will turn out for the best."
A family that opened their home to a houseguest was shocked to discover that the man who they thought was a trustworthy friend was actually a vicious animal abuser.
Jordan LindquistKaleb Cloward allowed his friend 19-year-old Jordan Lindquist to stay at his family's home. Kaleb's mother, Colleen, told CBS Las Vegas that Lindquist seemed like a "nice young man." But when the family's cat Shadow began to have health problems, the Clowards installed a nanny cam to figure out what was going on.
The hidden camera captured Lindquist abusing Shadow. The man was caught shaking the cat, punching the feline in the head, and slamming the cat to the ground. Police who saw the footage called the act "torture."
Jordan Lindquist
The hidden camera captured Lindquist abusing Shadow. The man was caught shaking the cat, punching the feline in the head, and slamming the cat to the ground. Police who saw the footage called the act "torture."
© CNN Money
Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, recently slashed his Salary to give his employees a minimum salary of $70k/yr
Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, recently slashed his Salary to give his employees a minimum salary of $70k/yr
"I'm actually shocked by the reaction from businesses," Price told CNN Money. "It has me on cloud nine."
Price says the credit card transaction processing company he founded has recorded the best week for acquiring new clients in the 11 years since he founded it. He says dozens of new clients have signed on with the company and he's thinking about expanding his staff to 120 people.
Good News Network reported last week Price announced he was raising the pay of 70 of his workers after reading a study on how having extra money made a difference in the lives of people earning under $70,000 a year. The raise doubled the salaries of 30 workers.
And more people want to work for his company. Gravity Payments received 3,500 job applications in the past week for two open positions — roughly five times what they usually get for an opening.
Comment: The media attention alone is well worth the money he reallocated. This kind of behavior is how you really invest in your business. Perhaps we'll see more of it in the future as this story spreads.
© AFP Photo / Toshifumi Kitamura
Sunday's second wave of unified local elections in Japan revealed that candidates employ various tools to gain votes, including nudity. Indeed, right-wing singer Teruki Goto, 34, decided to distinguish himself by preparing a poster of himself in his birthday suit.
The text on the poster, however, hides... well, everything that should be hidden.
Comment: Well, he definitely got exposure!
© Reuters / Ammar Awad
Last year 45 women became nuns, compared to just 7 in 2004. The Catholic Church said that of these, 14 were 30 years old or younger.
"In a really obvious sense, the women feel a religious calling to do so. On a more sociological level, these are women who have lived in the world and who find themselves in their late 20s, 30s or 40s making a conscious and hard choice to enter religious life," lecturer in Catholic Studies at Durham University Anna Rowlands told the Guardian.
"These days we live fairly transient lives, many people end up single and living between communities. Often the religious orders these women are joining are connected with serving the needs of the poor."
Comment: In trying times such as these it's interesting to see some seeking religion while others are turning away from it. On one hand it's understandable that some are looking for something more than the barren, materialistic reality, but on the other hand it's also forgivable that others reject the major religions given what they have come to represent.
© The Free Thought Project
According to motorists, police moved into the middle of the street during the worst traffic jam in years and began a ticket writing assembly line that made them over $18,000. In total, 65 drivers were given tickets that amounted to $290 a piece.
In an extreme traffic situation like this, it is understandable for people to use their phones to contact loved ones and rearrange their plans. This is especially important for those who are responsible for taking care of children or elderly people.
Police representatives admit that the ticketing strategy was unfair, but they claim that this operation was pre-planned and that the officers were not opportunistically taking advantage of the traffic jam. In fact, police representatives told local reporters that they were totally unaware of that the highway was in gridlock. This is despite the fact that it should have been obvious to the individual officers in the street, as well as their superiors back at headquarters.
"This cop was walking the highway and motioned for all these cars to move into the gas station parking lot, and they had an assembly line of cops giving tickets," commuter Tiffani Breeden told reporters after she was ticketed by police.
Honolulu Police Department Assistant Chief Clayton Kau said that the whole thing was just one giant misunderstanding.
"At the time, that they were doing that, they weren't aware of the traffic problem. When they were notified, at that point, they ceased enforcement action," Kau said.
Breeden, however, is not buying their story. "I knew about it at noon, in my office in Honolulu, and I'm not even a cop patrolling the streets. How are they unaware of street conditions?" she said.
During a press conference earlier this month, Captain Darren Izumo admitted guilt, saying that the operation should have been cancelled.
"I'll take the hit for that, in that we were concentrating on getting the westbound traffic flowing, so I failed to cancel that operation,"he said.
Even after admitting that the tickets should not have been issued to begin with, the police department is still refusing to cancel them. Instead they are asking the commuters to fight the tickets in court and take their chances with the judge.
Comment: Everybody that got a ticket that day should show up to court. Flood the court.
© Jason Reed/Reuters
Tell us this, Mr Senator: when will all federal contractors be paid a living wage?
Tell us this, Mr Senator: when will all federal contractors be paid a living wage?
I am walking off my job because I want the presidential hopefuls to know that I live in poverty. Many senators canvas the country giving speeches about creating "opportunity" for workers and helping our kids achieve the "American dream" - most don't seem to notice or care that workers in their own building are struggling to survive.
I'm a single father and I only make $12 an hour; I had to take a second job at a grocery store to make ends meet. But even though I work seven days a week - putting in 70 hours between my two jobs - I can't manage to pay the rent, buy school supplies for my kids or even put food on the table. I hate to admit it, but I have to use food stamps so that my kids don't go to bed hungry.
I've done everything that politicians say you need to do to get ahead and stay ahead: I work hard and play by the rules; I even graduated from college and worked as a substitute teacher for five years. But I got laid-off and I now I'm stuck trying to make ends meet with dead-end service jobs.
Comment: It's a sad testament to American society that there are so many people like Mr. Olotara living in similar circumstances. The wealthy often portray those needing federal assistance as lazy and undeserving so that they do not have to take any responsibility for the heinous living conditions which vast numbers of people, including young children must endure. Only psychopaths could be cruel and heartless enough to ignore this suffering, and unfortunately there are far too many in the halls of power.
Oppression grants some of us advantaged statuses associated with being white, male, heterosexual or middleclass, etc. However, none of us as children consented to living in a world of racial, gender, sexual, or economic inequality, or to being members of a dominant social group. And if we were asked, we probably would say, "No!" Children - and grown-ups - have a deep longing for fairness and connection with others. Oppression* thwarts this innate longing. It breaks our hearts.
Comment: Wonder who will get blamed for this scary incident?