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Conscience: Franchise owner sells corporate gifts to give employees bonuses

Dominic Kelly
Opposing Views
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 00:00 UTC
Tom Barnett
The owner of a Burger King franchise in Arizona was thrilled to have won the company's national "Franchisee of the Year" award, but instead of keeping the Corvette and Rolex watch he was awarded, he and the other franchise owners decided to sell them, add in some more of their own money and give all of their employees across the state bonuses.

Tom Barnett, owner of Barnett Management, won the coveted prize thanks to high ratings, great customer service reviews and stellar corporate inspections, but when it came time to enjoy the flashy prizes he received, Barnett and the other franchise owners decided they wanted to sell them.

"The award needed to go to the people who got us here. It was the right thing to do," franchise co-owner Shelley Krispin said. "We're all better when we have people who work for us long term."

Comment: Fast food and other minimum wage employees have a difficult time making ends meet. It's nice to see an employer who actually seems to care about those who make his living possible. It would make a huge difference in communities if more employers gave some consideration to making it possible for people to earn a living wage.

Detroit restaurant: It's possible to pay $15/hr wages and still make money

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Eye 1

What Facebook sees when you fall in love

Robinson Meyer
The Atlantic
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 20:42 UTC
love
© Reuters/Mian Khursheed
Facebook might understand your romantic prospects better than you do.

In a blog post, the company's team of data scientists announced that statistical evidence hints at budding relationships before the relationships start.

As couples become couples, Facebook data scientist Carlos Diuk writes, the two people enter a period of courtship, during which timeline posts increase. After the couple makes it official, their posts on each others' walls decrease—presumably because the happy two are spending more time together.

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Black Cat

When psychopaths are that sickeningly obvious: Judge calls Olympia animal cruelty case 'truly disturbing'

Jeff Burnside
Komonews
Mon, 23 Feb 2015 20:18 UTC
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Without conscience
A Thurston County deputy prosecutor says what was found at an Olympia man's home is the worst case of animal abuse she's ever seen.

David Williford was charged Monday afternoon with 12 counts of animal cruelty for holding dozens of rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and dogs in "horrific" conditions.


Deputy Prosecutor Christen Anton Peters described it in court like a scene from a horror movie, complete with blood spatters, filth and carcasses strewn about Williford's basement and backyard.

Authorities rescued dozens more animals still alive but described as desperate for food and water.

Williford's defense attorney says it was simply an unsanitary slaughterhouse for meat that Williford intended to eat, and has eaten routinely. He allegedly got the animals using Craigslist.

Williford is charged with six counts of first degree animal abuse and six of second degree animal abuse.

Comment: There is also Robert Hare's books Without Conscience and Snakes in Suits as well as Martha Stout's The Sociopath Next Door.

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Attention

Commuter train derails after collision with truck in Southern California


RT
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 23:21 UTC
trail derailment oxnard CA
© Reuters/ Lucy Nicholson
A police officer stands at the scene of a double-decker Metrolink train derailment in Oxnard, California February 24, 2015.
At least 30 people were reportedly injured early Tuesday when a commuter train derailed in the Southern California city of Oxnard.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a spokesperson for Metrolink — the LA area's passenger rail system — said that the pre-dawn crash occurred just before 6 a.m. local time on Tuesday morning when a commuter train collided with a tractor trailer.

Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told the Times that three train cars detailed due to the collision and at least 30 people were injured. Three hours after the crash, Fox News reported that the number of injured victims had reached 51, including four people in critical condition.
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Star of David

Jaw-dropping hypocrisy: U.S. jury orders Palestinian government to pay families $218 million for 'terror attacks' against Israel


RT
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 04:58 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Ammar Awad
A federal jury has ruled that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority supported terror attacks which killed dozens of people in Israel a decade ago, and must now pay $218.5 million in damages.

The damages were announced after two days of deliberation by the jury, which decided the defendants helped facilitate deadly shootings and bombings attributed to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas in Israel in the early 2000s - attacks that killed 33 people and wounded more than 400 others. The plaintiffs were 10 American families affected by six specific attacks, including the 2002 bombing of a Hebrew University cafeteria and a 2004 suicide bombing on a public bus in Jerusalem.

"The message is clear," Kent Yalowitz, the Arnold & Porter LLP partner who represented the plaintiffs, told The Wall Street Journal. "If you kill or injure Americans, the long arm of the American law will come after you."


Comment: BS! That is only true when it suits America. Where is the justice for all of the innocent men, women and children the U.S. has funded to be tortured and murdered in Palestine? How about the Americans (and soldiers) killed and injured in the mythical war on terror? The occupation of Iraq? Afghanistan?


Comment: What interesting timing considering the impending war crime charges. It's amazing that these lawyers could spin such a Pro-Israeli tale - again, making the victim, Gaza, the enemy.

See also: Israeli violence against Palestinians - New York Times' editorial techniques keep Israel looking good

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Smiley

Legalize it: Alaska becomes third state to decriminalize and regulate recreational marijuana

M. David and Jackson Marciana
Counter Current News
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 17:50 UTC
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Alaska Cannabis Club CEO Charlo Greene stands behind a counter at a dispensary in Juneau
Alaska has just become the third state in the U.S. to make smoking, growing and owning recreational amounts of marijuana completely legal. Alaska follows Colorado and Washington state in moving forward on drug policies and decriminalization, leaving behind the failed prohibition and so-called "war on drugs" that has proven to be an abject failure.

The measure just barely passed in November in the Republican-leaning state. The move follows Colorado and Washington in lock step, revealing that tide in public perception is really changing with regards to legalizing the marijuana plant. Oregon is soon to follow, having passed legislation to legalize, which has nevertheless not yet gone into effect.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but as we reported last weekend, that could soon change too.

Under Alaska's new laws on marijuana, anyone who is 21 or older can now own and keep an ounce of marijuana on hand, and grow up to six plants, three of which are permitted to be flowering.
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Handcuffs

New normal: Florida cops taser elderly man with his hands up


Sputnik
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 04:03 UTC
Image
© YOUTUBE/PrisonPlanetLice (Screenshot)
A disturbing video has emerged showing an elderly man being tasered by Florida police.


The video shows officers yelling at people to get out of their minivan. As the elderly man exists the passenger seat, the officer grabs his hand and twists it. Another officer came and told the first officer to "let him go." After he did, the second officer tased the old man.

The man who filmed the video claims he was with his family on the way to Key West for the weekend.

Comment: This astonishing police behavior is becoming much too common. Welcome to America, land of the 'free'.

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Attention

South Carolina inmates given solitary confinement for using social media


Sptunik News
Tue, 24 Feb 2015 01:56 UTC
Prison Stats
© TheAntiMedia.org
South Carolina inmates will continue to be given solitary confinement for accessing Facebook and other social networking sites, but the number of days they serve there will be reduced, South Carolina Department of Corrections Deputy Communications Director Stephanie Givens told Sputnik.

"Prisoners will now receive 60 days of solitary confinement for accessing social networking sites through contraband," Givens said on Monday.

Givens confirmed reports of harsher solitary confinement punishments, but said the lengthier sentences were because of "stacking of charges," where the accessing of social networking sites is compounded with other charges.

Comment: The US prison system is an absolute nightmare. To spend anywhere from 60 days to years in solitary confinement is torture, and to torture someone for using Facebook is insane. For more information on the state of the prison system check out:

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Star of David

Israel vs. Israel: 'Being leftist in Israel is dangerous' say Israeli antiwar activists

AJ+
Youtube
Tue, 27 Jan 2015 22:33 UTC
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Being an antiwar activist in Israel is dangerous. Israelis who protested against the 2014 Gaza offensive were threatened, harassed and attacked. Some even lost their jobs. Yoav Eliassi, also known as "The Shadow," is a right-wing rapper and driving force behind a movement to stamp out dissent in Israeli society.

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Camcorder

Video: Cops in Florida taser elderly man with his hands up

Cassandra
The Free-Thought Project
Mon, 23 Feb 2015 18:44 UTC
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© Youtube/screengrab
Flordia cops taser an unarmed elderly man with his hands up
A shocking video uploaded to YouTube on Sunday shows an elderly gentleman with his hands up, posing no risk or threat to the officers, get tased in front of horrified witnesses.

The video, taken by a witness who was with his family on their way to Key West, shows officers yelling at people to get out of their vehicle. The elderly man exits the passenger side and an officer grabs and twists his arm. Another officer comes around to the other side of the vehicle yelling "let him go." As the officer lets go, the man puts his hand back in the air, and the second officer tases him for no reason.

The man drops to the ground as the witnesses gasp in horror and question whether or not he is alive, noting that his body is limp.It is a sad shame that the mistrust of police is so high, rightly, that we cannot even feel safe to film their wrong doing.

Florida officers have a deadly history of taser deployment. In December, we conducted an investigation into the death of Charles Elmers. Video from the officer's taser captured officer Gary Lee Lovette bragging about stomping a man into the sand as he tasered his head.

We often ask "why didn't that cop use a taser instead of his gun?" However, it is important to remember that while a person is less likely to die from a taser shock than a gun shot, they are still an often fatal weapon, and should be treated as such. This man was posing no threat to the officers and this use of potentially lethal force is horrific and unjustifiable.
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