For this week’s mystery location, we challenge you to guess one of the ten biggest cities in the country from just nine clues. Can’t be that hard… right? … Read More
Filming for Need for Speed movie begins in Macon, Georgia
Filming for the screen adaptation of Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed franchise has begun in an unlikely location: Macon, Georgia. A local car wash in the southern city is being used as the backdrop for at least a portion of the Dreamworks Studios film according to a news report from… … Read More
26 Five Minute Prepping Projects
One of the excuses used for not prepping is that it takes a lot of time. True enough. Anything that you pursue with passion and intensity is going to take some time. On the other hand, there are plenty of prepping activities that can be undertaken in just five minutes. … Read More
Anonymous: Message to all Amanda Todd Bullies and Heatless Haters
http://www.youtube.com/v/HWpRKj3odSc?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata See the original post: Anonymous: Message to all Amanda Todd Bullies and Heatless Haters
LAPD to split $1mln Dorner reward among three parties
The Los Angeles Police Departmenton Tuesday announced that $800,000 of the reward would go to the couple that was found tied up in their cabin in Big Bear, Calif. Jim and Karen Reynolds said that Dorner confronted them with a gun, bound and gagged them in their mountain cabin, and stole their car. The LAPD claims that the information they provided “directly led to the hot pursuit and capture of Dorner.”“Had Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds failed promptly to escape their restraints and contact law enforcement, it is likely Dorner would have escaped,” stated the 12-page LAPD report that announced the division of the reward.But two others received a portion of the reward, which was highly anticipated and sought by at least 12 people who claim they provided information that was crucial in the manhunt. The man who found Dorner’s burning truck in the Big Bear area will receive about $150,000, and the remaining $50,000 will be awarded to the truck driver who reported seeing Dorner at a gas station.The division of the reward may be disappointing to those who may have expected the entire $1 million, and those who claim they provided a useful tip but received nothing for their help.The reward was coordinated through about 30 agencies, including the FBI, LA Dodgers, and the University of Southern California. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced it during the heat of the multi-state manhunt.But because details of the offer were never recorded, it was unclear if and how the reward would be divided after Dorner was captured or killed. For months after his death, there were competing legal claims for the reward.Last week, camp ranger Rick Heltebrake, whose truck was taken by Dorner, filed a lawsuit seeking the entire $1 million reward. Heltebrake “notified law enforcement of Dorner’s exact location and whereabouts, provided a description of the vehicle he was fleeing in, and was a substantial factor in the apprehension and capture of Dorner at the cabin location,” the lawsuit states.The decision was ultimately given to a panel of judges, who wrote that they awarded the money according to the “comparative value of the information provided and how directly it causally led to Dorner’s capture.” Heltebrake received no part of it because he failed to submit a claim under the reward’s process, the document states.The first installment of the reward will be paid out on Friday, May 10, the LAPD said in its report. Recipients have so far refused to comment to the media about the judges’ decision. … Read More
Online retailers may have to charge sales tax if Senate vote passes
The United States Senate is set to vote on whether online retailers should be forced to charge sales tax on all purchases, regardless if the buyer lives in a state where the retailer has a physical location or not, according to a report from Cnet. As the laws stand now,… … Read More
‘Astronomical costs’: Gitmo consumes $900,000 per prisoner annually
Follow RT’s day-by-day timeline of the Gitmo hunger strike.The prison camp situated at the US naval base in Cuba costs over $900,000 annually per prisoner, placing it far above the country’s maximum security prisons, which in comparison, cost $60,000 to $70,000 per prisoner. With 166 detainees, Gitmo devours over $150 million each year.“That … may be what finally get us to actually close the prison. I mean the costs are astronomical, when you compare them to what it would cost to detain somebody in the United States,” Ken Gude, chief of staff and vice president at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank told Reuters.The expense of maintaining the camp has led Obama to reiterate the necessity to close the prison, instated during the Republican presidency of George W. Bush, after having failed to fulfill his initial election promise to close the prison within a year of taking office as he had promised.The cost of the camp is so astronomical because the offshore location of the detention center and weak international ties between Cuba and America, mean that food, construction materials and other goods have to be shipped in from outside. Debate over the prison’s expenses has peaked during the course of budget battles between Obama and the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. Broad-scale spending cuts and the ‘sequestration’ of $109 billion have been set in place.The $900,000 annual cost per prisoner equates to the pay that was allocated to nearly seven states to help serve home delivered meals to the elderly, reports Reuters. Some $129,497 per state has been cut through sequestration.“No one has any particular affection for Guantanamo Bay, but no one has come up with a practical solution that’s better,” a Republican aide with the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee observed.Out of 166 detainees, as many as 130 are now currently taking part in a mass hunger-strike, their lawyers say. Official reports state that one hundred have joined the action.The strike began around February 6 and was instigated by widespread searches of detainees’ Korans – perceived as religious desecration – as well as searches and confiscation of other personal items, according to the strikers’ lawyers. Later, it grew into a protest against indefinite detention.The weakened state of the inmates has led to the authorities force-feeding them through nasal tubes – a practice which was condemned by the UN’s human rights office as a form of torture earlier this week.“If it’s perceived as torture or inhuman treatment – and it’s the case, it’s painful – then it is prohibited by international law,” Rupert Coville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights told AFP on Wednesday.American officials themselves have spoken out against the way in which the prison is administered.“Our taskforce was unanimous – we just do not believe that it fits into the laws and the ethics and the values of America to have indefinite detention, and to not allow a court of law – an adjudication of the charges against a person – to go through an orderly process,” Ambassador James Jones told RT late on Friday.He later pointed out that officials in charge have no reason to be holding more than half of the detainees.“We have actually prosecuted similar cases against other countries who have not followed what we say we ought to do, and we’re not following and practicing what we are preaching,” he said. … Read More
