Daily Archives: August 19, 2013

Caroline Kennedy discloses possible $500 million fortune

"Five years after Caroline Kennedy refused to release financial information during her bid to take over Hillary Clinton’s US Senate seat, newly filed documents reveal a personal fortune that could be as high as $500 million. Very private Kennedy declined to release the data in 2008. She subsequently withdrew her request for then-Gov. David Paterson to appoint her to Clinton’s seat. (If she had been running for office, Kennedy would’ve been required to report assets, credit card debt, mortgages and income from sources that total more than $5,000.) But now, Kennedy has had to file documents for her nominated role as Ambassador to Japan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCaroline Kennedy discloses possible $500 million fortune

A Colonial Gatekeeper That Hillary Would’ve Approved Of

"The year was 1998, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke on The Drudge Report. Hillary Clinton famously lamented that the Internet lacked a 'gatekeeping function'. This mentality is nothing new. Here's a quote from way back in 1671, from Colonial Virginia. The Governor at the time was Sir William Berkeley, and he reported back to the British Crown: 'Thank God, there are no free schools nor printing and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy and sects in the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both!'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Colonial Gatekeeper That Hillary Would’ve Approved Of

Unease at Clinton Foundation Over Finances and Ambitions

"The Clinton Foundation had become a sprawling concern, supervised by a rotating board of old Clinton hands, vulnerable to distraction and threatened by conflicts of interest. It ran multimillion-dollar deficits for several years, despite vast amounts of money flowing in. And concern was rising inside and outside the organization about Douglas J. Band, a onetime personal assistant to Mr. Clinton who had started a lucrative corporate consulting firm — which Mr. Clinton joined as a paid adviser — while overseeing the Clinton Global Initiative, the foundation’s glitzy annual gathering of chief executives, heads of state, and celebrities." Continue reading →

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Police ‘assessing credibility’ of claim Princess Diana murdered by British soldier

"New information which has been passed to the police relating to the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed is thought to include an allegation that they were murdered by a member of the British military, it emerged tonight. Scotland Yard said it is 'scoping' the information and 'assessing its relevance and credibility'. It is understood the allegation was made by the former parents-in-law of a former soldier based on information that the ex-soldier talked about in the past, according to a military source. The Ministry of Defence said tonight it was not commenting on the matter." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice ‘assessing credibility’ of claim Princess Diana murdered by British soldier

‘Safe haven’ Chicago schoolhouse demolished despite community opposition

"Supporters of a Chicago community schoolhouse were arrested Saturday morning while protesting the facility’s demolition, as residents vowed to continue pressuring city leaders to live up to financial commitments. According to WLS-TV, the building had become a focal point for a neighborhood group, the Whittier Parents Committee, who used the facility to offer free workshops, computers and a library, and staged a 43-day sit-in in 2010 to keep it. 'They talk about safe passage, they talk about the violence,' committee member Gema Gaete said. 'We were an answer. We were providing an answer for free at no cost to CPS, and this is how they repay us.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Safe haven’ Chicago schoolhouse demolished despite community opposition

‘Missing’ French tourists found safe at home after prompting a manhunt

"The discovery of an empty canoe floating in the Lac de Sainte-Croix in the heart of Provence triggered fears for a couple and two children believed to have rented it on Thursday. About 40 rescuers, backed up by a helicopter, divers and sniffer dogs, had been scouring the picturesque emerald lake and its surrounds ever since, in a rescue operation closely followed by local media. Gendarme Captain Frederic Del Aguila said the tourists explained that their boat had been overturned by a small wave after the sluices were opened on a hydroelectric dam. However they would be fined 35 euros for entering a part of the lake forbidden to tourists." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Missing’ French tourists found safe at home after prompting a manhunt

The Drug War Murders a Toddler

"Joshua Hill didn’t know that his July 25 visit with his daughter Alexandria would be the last he would enjoy. Four days later the two-year-old child was killed by the state-licensed foster mother who had been given custody after Joshua’s daughter was seized by the Texas Child Protective Service. Why was this child taken away from loving and capable parents? Last November, the state confiscated the infant from her home because the parents admitted to using marijuana on occasion. This was described as 'neglectful supervision,' a charge that permitted the child-snatchers to deliver the infant into the hands of an aggressively abusive individual." Continue reading →

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Should Cops Enforce Internet Etiquette?

"Joseph Grabko of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was briefly employed at a pizza restaurant called The Wild Tomato before quitting over issues of hygiene and finding drug paraphernalia on the premises. Grabko posted a critical review of the restaurant in the Yelp social network site. When it was deleted, he reposted it. The owner of the restaurant threatened Grabko with a 'harassment' charge if he didn’t take down the reviews within 24 hours. Shortly thereafter Grabko received a call from Officer Hallie Miller of the Lower Paxton Township Police Department, who told him that his online opinions 'can be construed as harassment.'" Continue reading →

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French revolutionary rule keeps Paris bakers baking

"The presence of bread – which holds an almost mythical importance for the French – has been guaranteed in the capital since the chaotic and starving days of the French Revolution. And to avoid the possibility of another revolution, the state has since ensured that modern Parisians have no need to rise up for lack of a fresh baguette. City bakers now have strictly regulated summer holidays and are expressly forbidden to abandon the capital en masse and leave behind a potentially dangerous bread vacuum. The rules go back to the Revolution, when in October 1798 baker Denis François was lynched by an angry mob for not opening his shop." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench revolutionary rule keeps Paris bakers baking

British warships arrive in Gibraltar amid tension with Spain

"British warships arrived in Gibraltar on Monday for scheduled exercises amid tensions with Spain over fishing around the British Mediterranean enclave. Although British, Spanish and Gibraltarian authorities have said the navy’s arrival at the British overseas territory is long-scheduled, some in Spain see it as provocative. Spain claims the territory, population just 30,000, which it ceded to Britain by treaty 300 years ago. In Monday’s German Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo accused the Spanish government of creating conflict to distract attention from corruption allegations against the ruling People’s Party." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritish warships arrive in Gibraltar amid tension with Spain