| House Democrat warns Trump could be reelected despite impeachment inquiry Posted: 15 Nov 2019 03:07 PM PST  Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell thinks Trump could win reelection in 2020.
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| Marine deserter’s mother names him in fatal shooting Posted: 15 Nov 2019 12:15 PM PST  The mother of a wanted Marine told investigators that she saw her son kill her boyfriend, according to a federal criminal complaint. The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Virginia, on Wednesday shows Vanessa Hanson told a U.S. Marshal that she witnessed Michael Alexander Brown, 22, fatally shoot her boyfriend, Rodney Wilfred Brown, last Saturday at a home in Hardy. The vehicle was later found near Clarendon County, South Carolina, about four hours southwest of Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina, where he had been stationed as a U.S. Marine until leaving his post last month.
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| Chile police stopped rescue workers helping dying protester: human rights watchdog Posted: 16 Nov 2019 04:45 PM PST  Chile's independent human rights watchdog said on Saturday it would file a formal complaint for murder against police officers who allegedly prevented paramedics from attending a heart attack victim amid a protest Friday. Security forces firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons made it impossible for rescue workers to properly treat the victim, Chile's publicly-funded National Institute for Human Rights said. Twenty-nine year old Abel Acuna died shortly after at a nearby Santiago hospital.
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| These are the 10 sports cars that have the best resale value 5 years after purchase Posted: 15 Nov 2019 08:10 AM PST  The Porsche 911 coupe tops the list, losing only 37.2% of its value over five years, but the others might surprise you.
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| Penultimate C7 Corvette Being Enshrined At National Corvette Museum Posted: 15 Nov 2019 10:12 AM PST  While the last C7 will be in a private collection, this '19 Corvette Stingray will be on display for all to see.The final C7 Corvette rolled off the assembly line on November 14th at around 3:10 pm CT marking the end of the line for the front-engine Corvette before production begins for the all-new, mid-engine C8 'Vette. The final Corvette – a black Z06 – was auctioned off earlier in the year for $2.6 million to a software company CEO, but the second to last Corvette isn't going far. This car will be delivered at and then donated to the National Corvette Museum, which is right across the street from the Corvette's assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky.This penultimate C7 was purchased by the NCM's lifetime member and supporter, Ivan Schrodt, who will take delivery of the car on November 20th via Chevy's museum delivery program. Immediately afterward, he will hand the keys over to the museum where this Corvette will be enshrined among all of the other important and significant Corvettes on display. This Corvette will be a permanent fixture at the museum, and it is a fitting send off for the C7 Corvette ahead of the highly anticipated launch of the C8.As for the second to last Corvette, it is painted in Arctic White with a Jet Black and Adrenaline Red interior. This car came in the mid-level 2LT trim level with the upgraded Z51 performance suspension, and it was also equipped with Carbon Fiber and Painted Body Color removable roofs, Carbon Flash exterior trim accents, chrome emblems, red calipers, personalized plate package, brake package, performance exhaust and chrome aluminum wheels. All in, this well-equipped Corvette had a sticker price of just over $70,000, making it quite an impressive donation to the museum.This donation ceremony will take place at the National Corvette Museum on November 20th starting at 2:00 p.m. CT, and the museum has invited the public to attend. More C7 News... * Last C7 Sells For $2.7 Million At Barrett-Jackson Auction * C7 Grand Finale: 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
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| After Roger Stone conviction, star witness against him feels 'horrible' Posted: 15 Nov 2019 11:27 AM PST  Randy Credico told Yahoo News that he was in tears upon learning of the verdict and did not want to see Stone go to jail because of his testimony.
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| Nicaraguan judge sentences man to 30 years in NY killing Posted: 15 Nov 2019 11:13 AM PST  A Nicaraguan judge sentenced a man to 30 years behind bars in the killing of a young nursing student in upstate New York, a district attorney in the state said Friday. The trial of Orlando Tercero in the 2018 killing of Haley Anderson marked an exceedingly rare legal proceeding in which the defendant was prosecuted under Nicaragua's legal system for a slaying that happened on American soil. Tercero is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Nicaragua.
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| Exclusive: U.S. regulator rethinking changes to whistleblower program after backlash - sources Posted: 15 Nov 2019 11:59 AM PST  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator is rethinking a proposal that could weaken a landmark whistleblower program after a pushback from whistleblower lawyers and advocates, people with knowledge of the deliberations told Reuters. Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed reworking the program which allows the SEC to reward tipsters whose original information leads to a penalty exceeding $1 million with between 10% and 30% of the fine. Created after the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, the program is widely considered a major success, resulting in more than $2 billion in penalties against firms such as JPMorgan and Bank of America and $387 million in rewards.
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| Rashida Tlaib referred to House Ethics Committee for a potential violation of federal law Posted: 15 Nov 2019 07:08 AM PST  The House Ethics Committee released texts and emails on Thursday that show Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., repeatedly asking her campaign for funds to defray personal costs. The committee's announcement comes after the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics unanimously voted in August to refer Tlaib for a potential violation of federal law.
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| Trump commits new offence which could lead to impeachment in the middle of his own impeachment hearing Posted: 16 Nov 2019 11:28 AM PST  It should not, perhaps, be surprising in the extraordinary state of affairs of Trumpworld that in the middle of his impeachment proceedings the president would tweet something which could lead to a further article of impeachment.The tweet disproves Mr Trump's claim that he was ignoring the hearings which he had claimed would go nowhere, and attacked using his usual terms against investigations into his conduct – a "worst ever witch-hunt", "totally fake" and so on.
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| S. African asylum-seekers held on trespassing charges Posted: 16 Nov 2019 07:48 AM PST  South African police detained more than 180 foreign nationals for storming the UN refugee agency in Pretoria, where they had been staging a sit-in protest, police said Saturday. Hundreds of asylum-seekers started camping in front of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on October 8, asking to be relocated to another country after a spate of xenophobic violence in September. Protesters broke into the UNHCR premises on Thursday after they were informed of a court order giving them three days to vacate the site.
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| Migrants thrust by US officials into the arms of the cartels Posted: 15 Nov 2019 12:17 PM PST ![Migrants thrust by US officials into the arms of the cartels]( "Migrants thrust by US officials into the arms of the cartels") The gangsters trawling Nuevo Laredo know just what they're looking for: men and women missing their shoelaces. In years past, migrants moved quickly through this violent territory on their way to the United States. Now, due to Trump administration policies, they remain there for weeks and sometimes months as they await their U.S. court dates, often in the hands of the gangsters who hold the area in a vise-like grip.
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| Four dead in Iran fuel protest after government hikes pump prices up to 300 per cent Posted: 16 Nov 2019 02:55 AM PST  Four people were left dead in Iran following clashes between riot police and protesters in several Iranian cities after the government raised the price of petrol by up to 300 per cent. The deaths occurred in separate incidents in the southern cities of Sirjan, Behbahan and Shiraz, while video footage showed protestors had attacked a military barracks used by the regime's feared Bajis militias in Tehran, setting it on fire. Thousands of angry motorists parked their vehicles on major thoroughfares and highways in protest at the price hikes, urging others to stop and "join the national anti-regime movement" as they drove by. Iran's chief public prosecutor, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, called the protestors "saboteurs" and warned they would face "severe punishment" if arrested. He has also alleged that foreign powers were behind the protests. At a glance | Key players in Tehran But in a sign of that the Rouhani government's increasing political isolation over the decision, a leading establishment cleric Grand ayatollah Golpaygani called for the decision to be reversed, describing it as "a matter of great regret" and "deplorable". Video footage from the city of Shiraz showed protesters over-running a police station and setting banks on fire, while chanting "death to the dictator" against Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran's Interior Minister Abdulreza Rahmani Fazli announced the sudden 300 percent increase in the price of gasoline last Friday, saying that it was a decision by the country's High Council for Economic Coordination. The aim was to generate revenue for the central government, which has lost billions of dollars of income from recently reimposed international sanctions on oil exports. Fuel for unrest: a huge petrol price rise triggered protests across Iran Credit: REX "The decision to raise the price of gasoline is aimed at creating social justice for more than 60 million Iranians, in particular the very low income families, fight fuel smuggling, reduce the amount of subsidies and strengthening our economic power," the minister said. The government has also cut petrol subsidies to thousands of poor people in a nation where many families make a living as informal taxi drivers. Despite the subsidy cuts and price-rises, fuel in Iran still remains among the cheapest in the world thanks to the country having the fourth-largest oil reserves. A highway is blocked by vehicles as protests block the roads following fuel price increase in Tehran, Iran, 16 November 2019. Credit: REX Iran affairs expert Dr. Reza Taghizadeh, formerly of Glasgow University, says the public reaction to the price rise has been inevitable, given the dire economic conditions of the country. "It appears that the common element of these protests is exactly the same as what we are currently witnessing in Iraq, Lebanon and Chile and that is general poverty and the failure of their governments to provide the basic needs of populations. "Although the trigger force in Iran is the rise of price of gasoline, the protests in more than 37 major cities are political and against a system of government that is corrupt, undemocratic and resists change", he said.
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| Chicago teachers approve 'historic' contract that ended 11-day strike Posted: 16 Nov 2019 06:20 AM PST  The Chicago Teachers Union voted Friday to accept a contract deal that ended an 11-day strike in the third-largest school district last month.
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| Pence aide testified that Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine were 'inappropriate' Posted: 16 Nov 2019 02:29 PM PST  A top national security aide to Vice President Mike Pence told House impeachment investigators that President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political opponents were "unusual and inappropriate," and "shed some light on possible other motivations" for the president's order to freeze military aid to the U.S. ally. Jennifer Williams, who serves as Pence's special adviser for Europe and Russia, told investigators in early November that she took notes while she listened in on Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from the White House Situation Room, adding that she viewed Trump's requests for investigations as politically motivated.
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| Australia intel chair blocked from China after criticising Beijing Posted: 15 Nov 2019 08:43 PM PST  Australia's parliamentary intelligence committee head, who has previously criticised Beijing, said he had been blocked from entering China due to his "frankness about the Chinese Communist Party". Andrew Hastie warned several months ago that the world's approach to containing China's rise resembles the "catastrophic failure" to prevent the advance of Nazi Germany. Hastie, along with fellow government politician James Paterson, had planned to travel to China for a study tour next month but both have been banned from entering the country.
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| Man kills wife, three young sons in San Diego home - police Posted: 16 Nov 2019 03:32 PM PST ![Man kills wife, three young sons in San Diego home - police]( "Man kills wife, three young sons in San Diego home - police") Three young boys and two adults were fatally shot and another boy was wounded in a domestic dispute that escalated into a shooting on Saturday in southeastern San Diego, police said. Three other boys, ages 5, 9 and 11, were taken to a hospital where two of them died, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said during a news conference. "When the officers arrived on the scene, they were able to look into one of the windows and see a small child inside covered in blood," San Diego Police Lieutenant Matt Dobbs said.
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| Man who shot, wounded school bus driver sentenced to prison Posted: 15 Nov 2019 02:11 PM PST  A Minnesota man who shot and wounded a school bus driver on a Minneapolis freeway during a snowstorm has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Thirty-two-year-old Kenneth Lilly, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty in August to first-degree assault for the February attack that left Thomas Benson deaf in one ear and unable to continue working as a bus driver due to nerve damage in his hand. Lilly was sentenced Friday to 86 months.
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| No More Air: How An Entire Chinese Submarine Crew Died a Tragic Death in 2003 Posted: 16 Nov 2019 08:00 AM PST  A cruel death.
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| Here's everyone who has been charged and convicted in the Russia probe so far Posted: 15 Nov 2019 09:54 AM PST  Roger Stone was convicted on November 15, 2019, on seven counts pertaining to the Mueller investigation.
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| Despite House rules against it, Stefanik tries to question impeachment hearing witness Posted: 15 Nov 2019 10:47 AM PST  During open hearings in the House impeachment inquiry, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik tried to address Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch when Committee Chairman Adam Schiff stopped her. "Under the house resolute 660, you are not allowed to yield time except to minority counsel."
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| Teenager Who Killed His Father and a 6-Year-Old Is Sentenced to Life Without Parole Posted: 15 Nov 2019 05:14 AM PST  A South Carolina teenager who in 2016, at age 14, killed his father before driving to an elementary school and fatally shooting a 6-year-old boy and injuring two other people was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole.After a judge decided that the gunman, Jesse Dewitt Osborne, now 17, should be tried as an adult, he pleaded guilty in December 2018 to two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.On Thursday, Circuit Court Judge R. Lawton McIntosh in Anderson County, South Carolina, handed down the sentence after three days of special hearings during which mental health professionals and family members, including Osborne's grandfather and half brother, spoke to Osborne's age and maturity at the time of the crimes, his home and family life, his psychological state, his awareness of legal rights and the chance for rehabilitation."One of the great concerns to me is that you lack remorse," the judge said to Osborne.Moments before, Osborne told the judge: "I wish this would have never happened. I don't know how I did this." He acknowledged that he needed help, and told the judge, "I'll do whatever you say."Osborne's lawyer, Frank L. Eppes, told reporters after the sentencing that the case would be appealed.Eppes declined to say what he hoped McIntosh would have decided Thursday. But he said that "the issue of giving juveniles life sentences is a very complicated issue.""Hopefully at this point, many of the people who have been devastated by this tragedy will be able to get beyond it, and it will make their lives better that this part of Jesse Osborne's story has come to its conclusion," he said.The prosecutor in the case, David Wagner, said in an interview that prosecutors had sought a sentence of life without parole because "you don't get much worse than going and shooting elementary school kids on a playground.""He did a horrible thing and he's a horrible person," Wagner said.The hearings, which were livestreamed by local news outlets, were required by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling intended to prevent juveniles who commit severe crimes from receiving mandatory or arbitrary life sentences without consideration for their circumstances and maturity.What emerged were two opposing portraits of Osborne. Some described him as an isolated schoolboy who had been bullied but who could be treated. Others depicted him as a dangerous criminal who chillingly planned gruesome events and who would have little hope for rehabilitation.On Sept. 28, 2016, Osborne fatally shot his 47-year-old father, Jeffrey Osborne, with a gun his father kept at his bedside. He then stole his father's truck and drove 3 miles to the elementary school he once attended. Osborne walked onto the playground at Townville Elementary School and shot two boys and a teacher with his father's handgun, killing 6-year-old Jacob Hall.Prosecutors seeking a life sentence for the boy, who turned 14 just days before the killings, presented hundreds of videos and social media messages showing that the shooting was premeditated.Osborne had been part of online communities devoted to the discussion of mass murderers, and had researched other school shootings, including Columbine in Colorado and Sandy Hook in Connecticut, according to the testimony of Detective McKindra Bibb, of the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.Osborne also kept a collage of several of the 20 first graders killed at Sandy Hook Elementary on his cellphone, Bibb testified.In one video showed at the hearing, Osborne combed his hair on the day of the attack, saying you "got to have your hair straight when you're going to shoot up a place. Got to look fabulous."Family members, including Osborne's half brother, Ryan Brock, 22, described a tumultuous home life, in which Jeffrey Osborne drank heavily and abused Jesse Osborne.The father and son "were very constantly at each other's throats," Brock said. "I could hear the screams all the way throughout the house." On Wednesday, Jesse Osborne's grandfather, Tommy Osborne, testified that his grandson spent 13 to 14 hours a day alone in his basement room after being expelled from school for bringing a hatchet.On Thursday, school administrators, a teacher who was shot and relatives of Jacob Hall, described the terror they experienced.The school's principal, Denise Fredericks, said justice would be served if Osborne spent the rest of his life in prison."This day forever changed every person in the Anderson school district," said the district's superintendent, Joanne Avery.Jacob Hall's mother, Renae Hall, organized a superhero-themed funeral for her son, which drew about 1,000 mourners dressed as Superman, Ninja Turtles and Batman.On Thursday, Hall said that she had struggled with drug addiction since his death, but that she forgave Osborne."I pray for peace and that justice is served today," she said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Pro-Life Investigators Found Guilty in Lawsuit After Filming Planned Parenthood Execs Discussing Sale of Fetal Body Parts Posted: 15 Nov 2019 03:33 PM PST  A San Fransisco district court on Friday found pro-life activists guilty in a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood after the activists surreptitiously filmed executives of the abortion group discussing the sale of fetal body parts.A ten person federal jury convicted activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, breach of contract and trespass and violation of state and federal recording laws in Maryland, California and Florida. Planned Parenthood will be awarded $870,000 in punitive damages.Daleiden and Merritt released videos in 2015 of Planned Parenthood executives as well as footage from the 2014 National Abortion Federation conference, which they obtained while posing as researchers for a fake fetal tissue research company they called Biomax.In the videos, abortion industry players could be seen admitting to illegally altering abortion procedures in order to provide fresher, more intact fetal parts, as well as haggling with the investigators over prices. The investigators have also accused Planned Parenthood of illegally profiting off the sale of fetal tissue for medical research, using their footage as evidence.The verdict set "a dangerous precedent for citizen journalism and First Amendment civil rights across the country, sending a message that speaking truth and facts to criticize the powerful is no longer protected by our institutions," read a statement from CMP.Planned Parenthood has consistently denied any activities portrayed in the videos were illegal, and have accused CMP of deceptively editing the footage."The jury has spoken loud and clear," said Planned Parenthood attorney Rhonda Trotter after the verdict. "Those who violate the law in an effort to limit access to reproductive rights and health care will be held accountable."The trial made headlines in September when California obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Forrest Smith, who has administered thousands of abortions, testified on behalf of the CMP activists."There's no question in my mind that at least some of these fetuses were live births," Smith told the court while describing the abortion procedures elaborated by Planned Parenthood executives in the CMP footage.
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| Kellyanne Conway confronts CNN anchor after he says ‘I know there are issues with your marriage’ Posted: 14 Nov 2019 11:11 PM PST  Donald Trump's adviser and frequent spokesperson Kellyanne Conway has confronted a senior CNN anchor after he suggested there were "issues" with her marriage to a prominent critic of the president.In an an interview with Ms Conway, who frequently speaks on behalf of the administration, veteran journalist and presenter Wolf Blitzer played clips from a rival channel from the day before, in which her husband was seen criticising Mr Trump.
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| 14 of the Best-Designed Hotel Restaurants in the U.S. Posted: 15 Nov 2019 10:44 AM PST |
| 3 judges drunkenly fight at an Indiana White Castle, leaving 2 shot. Now, they're suspended Posted: 15 Nov 2019 03:07 PM PST  Judges Bradley Jacobs, Andrew Adams and Sabrina Bell have been suspended without pay for being involved in a fight at an Indiana White Castle in May.
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| Beshear to Kentucky teachers: Help is on the way Posted: 15 Nov 2019 11:38 AM PST  On election night, long before his win in the Kentucky governor's race became official, Democrat Andy Beshear made clear who he thought helped make it happen. "To our educators, this is your victory," Beshear proclaimed in a Nov. 5 victory speech as he maintained a slim 5,000-vote margin. Now that Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has conceded, Beshear is moving quickly to translate the political activism of teachers that began in 2018 and persisted through this year's election into tangible school improvements.
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| North Korea calls Joe Biden a 'rabid dog' that 'must be beaten to death' Posted: 15 Nov 2019 03:42 PM PST  North Korea launched a visceral diatribe against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, calling the former vice president a "rabid dog."
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| REFILE-Hong Kong protesters unleash stash of petrol bombs; Chinese soldiers clear roads Posted: 16 Nov 2019 11:21 AM PST ![REFILE-Hong Kong protesters unleash stash of petrol bombs; Chinese soldiers clear roads]( "REFILE-Hong Kong protesters unleash stash of petrol bombs; Chinese soldiers clear roads") Fires blazed on the doorstep of a Hong Kong university into the early hours of Sunday as protesters hurled petrol bombs and police fired volleys of tear gas in some of the most dramatic scenes in more than five months of escalating violence. Hours earlier, squads of Chinese soldiers dressed in shorts and T-shirts, some carrying red plastic buckets or brooms, emerged from their barracks to help clear debris that has blocked some key roads in the city for days. The presence of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers on the streets, even to help clean up, could stoke further controversy over Hong Kong's autonomous status at a time many fear Beijing is tightening its grip on the city.
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| China's H-20 Stealth Bomber: The One Weapon America Won't Be Able to Beat? Posted: 16 Nov 2019 06:00 AM PST  Or just a myth?
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| Here's everything we know about Mina Chang, who rapidly rose from a self-described singer to a State Department official with a dubious résumé Posted: 16 Nov 2019 01:39 PM PST  A closer look at her history reveals the Trump official may have misrepresented her work history and educational background.
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| Why serial killers kill Posted: 16 Nov 2019 03:55 AM PST ![Why serial killers kill]( "Why serial killers kill") There have been 220,000 unsolved murders in the U.S. since 1980. Are serial killers to blame? Here's everything you need to know:How many serial killers are there? Since 1900, there have been 3,000 identified American serial killers who've collectively killed nearly 10,000 people, says Dr. Michael Aamodt, who oversees the Radford University/Florida Gulf Coast University Serial Killer Database. The FBI defines a serial killer as someone who kills two or more people in separate events. About 32 percent of these killers, Aamodt says, did so for enjoyment (thrills, lust, and power); 30 percent for financial reward; 18 percent in anger; 6.3 percent to advance a criminal enterprise; and fewer than 1 percent because a cult put them up to it. Their favorite murder weapon was a gun (42 percent), although 6 percent preferred poison and 2 percent axes. About 52 percent were white, 40 percent black, and 6.7 percent Hispanic. Men outnumber women by a factor of 10. Samuel Little, a transient former boxer and career criminal serving time for two murders, was recently identified by the FBI as the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, after he confessed to 93 killings between 1970 and 2005.What makes a serial killer? Probably a combination of genetics and experience. Research shows that certain genes can predispose people to violence. (One gene, particularly, the so-called warrior gene, is present in about 30 percent of the population and has been linked to increased aggression.) Many serial killers also experienced childhood trauma or early separation from their mothers. As a consequence of that trauma or separation, scientists believe, they learned to suppress empathy or suffered damage to the areas of the brain that control emotional impulses. Serial killers often are loners who fear all relationships and seek to control, to destroy other people to eliminate the possibility of another humiliating rejection. Prolific arsonist Robert Dale Segee, who is believed to have killed 168 and injured hundreds more by setting a fire at a Connecticut circus in 1944, grew up with a dad who punished him by holding his fingers over a candle flame. Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed, dismembered, and partially ate 17 boys and young men beginning in 1978, said he did so "not because I hated them, but to keep them with me." Gerald Stano, who killed at least 22 women beginning in the 1970s, compared killing people to "stepping on a cockroach." Little said he got sexual pleasure from strangling women with his bare hands, and that by taking their lives, he came to "own" them.What role does society play? The teeming, impersonal nature of the modern world is fertile soil for creating serial killers, experts say. Five hundred years ago, the average citizen lived in a small community, traveled rarely if at all, and might have come into contact with 100 "strangers" over the course of his lifetime. By comparison, modern urban dwellers live amid "a sea of strangers," providing the consistent, impersonal interactions and anonymity that are almost preconditions for serial killing. Those who've studied serial killers believe that many are at least partly motivated by the attention and fame that mass media can provide mass murderers. As Dennis Rader, the self-proclaimed "BTK killer" ("Bind them, torture them, kill them"), put it in a letter to a TV station, "How many people do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper or some national attention?" He murdered 10 people during the 1970s and '80s in Kansas.How do they choose targets? Serial killers often prey on the most marginalized members of society. Little, for one, managed to evade detection for so long by preying on prostitutes, drug addicts, and homeless women. As he told New York Times reporter Jillian Lauren, "I never killed no senators or governors or fancy New York journalists. Nothing like that. I killed you, it'd be all over the news the next day. I stayed in the ghettos." Earlier this year, Bruce McArthur pleaded guilty to murdering eight men in Toronto's Gay Village -- many of them immigrants from South Asia or the Middle East who were not "out" to their families. Generally speaking, the majority of victims of serial killers are women (51.4 percent). African-American victims are over-represented (24 percent) relative to their proportion of the U.S. population (13 percent).How many are active? Data suggest that American serial killing peaked in the 1980s and has declined since then. The FBI says only 1 percent of murders today are committed by serial killers, and that it's harder for them to go undetected, because of DNA evidence, public cameras, stricter parole laws, and the use of databases. But Michael Arntfield, a retired police detective and author of a dozen books on serial killing, contends that the number of repeat killers active today is more likely between 3,000 and 4,000. He notes that the police "solve rate" for murders dropped from 91 percent in 1965 to only 61.6 percent in 2017, partly because mass killers are more sophisticated. Thomas Hargrove, who has created the nation's largest database of killings, also puts the number of active serial killers at greater than 2,000. "There are more than 222,000 unsolved murders since 1980," he said. "I'll say almost every major American city has multiple serial killers and multiple uncaught serial killers."The century of mass killings Many factors are credited with the growth in the number of serial killers during the 20th century. Some have cited the creation of the interstate highway system, which gave predators greater mobility and a vulnerable pool of victims -- hitchhikers. Historian Peter Vronsky says the growth of cities and surge in suburbs "led to a lot of transience, a lot of mobility, a lot of broken families, which is where many of these people came from." But Vronsky also says the savagery of World Wars I and II might have contributed as well. He says there was a bump in active serial killers in the years immediately after the First World War and an even greater one after the Second. The wars, he said, were "far more vicious and primitive than we have been able to acknowledge." Vronsky believes traumatized soldiers who had been desensitized to taking lives either became killers themselves or had a hand in raising them.More stories from theweek.com The coming death of just about every rock legend The president has already confessed to his crimes Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?
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| Can Trump Win Governor of Louisiana? Posted: 16 Nov 2019 03:34 AM PST  From their matching red ties to their matching rhetoric, President Trump and Eddie Rispone, the Republican challenger to Louisiana's incumbent governor, John Bel Edwards, have tried to erase any distinction between them. "You need to fire your far-left governor," Trump told the crowd of nearly 14,000 on Thursday night in Bossier City. "We have to fire our liberal, socialist-leaning governor, John Bel Edwards," Rispone said when Trump gave him the microphone at the CenturyLink Center.
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| Parents of missing migrants begin Mexico caravan crossing Posted: 15 Nov 2019 08:35 PM PST  Tuxtla Gutiérrez (Mexico) (AFP) - A caravan made up of 50 parents of disappeared Central American migrants departed on Friday from Mexico's southern border for a cross-country journey in search of their missing relatives. This is the fifteenth time the Mesoamerican Migration Movement (MMM), a non-government organization, has set up a caravan to travel across Mexico in search of migrants who entered the country and went missing. Composed of 45 women and five men, the caravan entered Mexico's southern Chiapas state through Guatemala and will travel some 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) to cities that undocumented Central Americans are known to pass through on their way to the United States.
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| Nearly 200 officers search Staten Island marshland for missing NJ woman Stephanie Parze Posted: 14 Nov 2019 06:50 PM PST  Setphanie Parze, 25, of Freehold Township, New Jersey, disappeared on Oct. 30 after returning from an outing with friends to a psychic medium.
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| Sandy Hook lawsuit could force Remington to open books Posted: 16 Nov 2019 10:12 AM PST  A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has upended a longstanding legal roadblock that has given the gun industry far-reaching immunity from lawsuits in the aftermath of mass killings. The court this week allowed families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre to sue the maker of the AR-15 used in the attack. The case against Remington will now proceed in the Connecticut courts.
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| Venice Is Flooding Because of Corruption Posted: 16 Nov 2019 02:09 AM PST  FILIPPO MONTEFORTEROME–In 1984, long before global warming and rising sea levels were common notions, Venice already was sinking. The future was so dire for the lagoon city that the local council voted to spend whatever it would take to study and then build a high-tech floodgate system to combat the rising Adriatic Sea. It took nearly 20 years and a starting budget of $1.8 billion to come up with the so-called "Moses" plan. The project is an acronym for Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico or Experimental Electromechanical Module, and plays on the name of the biblical figure who parted the Red Sea. Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's then prime minister, inaugurated the project in 2003 with the promise it would be completed by 2011, which was pushed back to 2014, which was pushed back to 2016, and, at last check, to 2021. Had the project been completed in time, Moses' 78 massive mechanical gates might have limited this week's devastating floods, which inundated 85 percent of the city with a tidal surge that topped six feet, causing millions of dollars' worth of damage and putting ancient treasures at risk. Moses likely would not have completely kept out the surge, experts say, but it would have certainly done more than the alternative, which was to do nothing but tally the damage and wait for the next high tide.In the 16 years since the Moses plan was put in place, the budget to finish the project has exploded to more than $7 billion and continues to bleed money at a dizzying rate. Some of the money has gone to bad management or corrupt contractors who have swindled the builders. In July, workers discovered that the 156 hinges—each weighing 36 tons—on the underwater barriers that were supposed to last a century are nearly rusted shut after just a decade under water. The job was awarded to a company called Gruppo Mantovani, which won the $275 million contract without there being a formal bid. La Stampa newspaper reports that the company used sub-par steel and is being investigated. Replacing the hinges will take a further 10 years and cost another $34 million, according to the Consorzio Venezia Nuova, which is in charge of the project.More troubling still is that a lot of the money meant to finish the project has been siphoned away by rampant corruption. Several special funds fed by art lovers and patrons of the city that were meant to defray costs have disappeared into thin air. In 2014 after an investigation, Venice's mayor Giorgio Orsoni resigned and 35 people tied to the project were arrested for bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering. The investigation traced some $27 million that had disappeared from the Moses coffers to kickbacks from contractors and foreign bank accounts allegedly used to line the pockets of about 100 people. Venice 'on Its Knees' After Historic Floods Create State of EmergencyOrsoni was accused of taking illicit funds in exchange for awarding lucrative contracts to sub-par companies. In some cases, the contracts were never fulfilled or were allocated for studies or other non-construction-related projects that were never delivered. Investigators said Orsoni used the money to run a successful re-election campaign and buy votes. Charges against him were eventually dropped after the statute of limitations ran out. Giancarlo Galan, a former president of the Veneto region, was also placed under investigation, accused of taking $230,000 in kickbacks to speed up approval of contracts without going through the rigorous checks the Consorzio required. The hinge fiasco was approved under his watch. Galan spent a few months in prison after being convicted of the crimes, and is currently on house arrest. Even Giovanni Mazzacurati, the head of the Consorzio, was arrested, accused of creating a slush fund with money meant to finish the floodgate, according to Carlo Nordio, the prosecutor who helped uncover the scam. Mazzacurati was convicted of the crimes and died while on house arrest in September. But even if the gates are one day completed, they may already be obsolete. Back when city leaders decided to invest in the gates, St. Mark's Square flooded a handful of times a year. Now, water creeps over the canal banks more than 100 times a year. As it was planned, 78 bright yellow floodgates will rise to part the sea using a system of compressed air and water displacement in what will eventually be one of the biggest engineering feats of its kind. The rising sea would essentially fill compartments inside the gates which are designed to rise to about a 90 degree angle to cut off the sea from the mouth of the lagoon. As the water recedes, the gates would slowly lower down, spilling out the displaced water back to the sea. The gate system would be activated when the tide hits 3 feet 7 inches. Flooding last Tuesday night reached 6 feet 2 inches, which is the highest the water has risen since 1966, when it hit 6 feet 4 inches. And the system was designed to be used just 20 times a year, but thanks to the rising sea levels, it would currently have to be closed once a day during rainy seasons. Still the work goes on, and rarely smoothly. A test of the gates in early November caused such vibrations throughout the city that many people called emergency services to report what they thought was an earthquake. It was later reported that the gate testing hadn't been authorized because the work isn't close enough to completion and the rusty hinges could have caused a major maritime disaster had any snapped. No one has yet fully measured if those intense vibrations caused any structural damage to the buildings or in any way harmed the lagoon's fragile ecosystem. Venice has long been a city of vast contradictions. The very sea that makes it famous threatens it almost daily. But so do people. Only about 50,000 people live in Venice full time, though the city gets more than 36 million tourists a year. Giant cruise ships bring in huge numbers of tourists, all while threatening the vulnerable canals with the massive vessels. Overcrowding has long been an issue, but the city's economy is completely reliant on them to survive. So too, Venetians are understandably angry over the events of the last week. Not only are they aggravated by tourists who are taking smiley "acqua alta adventure selfies" in waist-deep waters while they bail water out of their shops and restaurants, they feel the whole country has failed them. Alessandro Morelli, the head of the Italian parliamentary committee on transportation, has dispatched a special team to study why Moses isn't running yet. "These delays are an embarrassment for all of Italy and we urgently need a solution," he said, stating what to Venetians has been obvious for nearly three decades.The current mayor Luigi Brugnaro on Friday took the unprecedented step of closing St. Mark's Square completely, essentially barricading the water in so it won't seep into the city as rains and strong winds started pushing the tides higher once more. Brugnaro said that the high tide has caused "apocalyptic damage" to the city. "The future of Venice is at stake," he said, adding that the damage will easily reach hundreds of millions of euro. That could be the understatement of the century. Tuesday night, just hours before the floods swept through the city, Venice's regional council met in the historic city hall on the Grand Canal where years earlier the decision to build Moses was taken. This time, they voted down a budget measure that would have helped the city tackle climate change—in part because of how much Moses has cost them. A few minutes later, in what seemed like a not-so-subtle message from mother nature, the ancient chamber hall was inundated with water for the first time in the city's history. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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