Seattle man needed state official’s help to avoid charges for ‘walking while black’

Despite criticism from both the public and a former state lawmaker, Seattle police defended arresting a 70-year-old black man last year without justification before a top Black official intervened, the Stranger reported.

According to former state Rep. Dawn Mason (D), officials “tried to convince me nothing was wrong” when Officer Cynthia Whitlach arrested William Wingate for allegedly threatening her with his golf club.

The Stranger posted dashboard camera footage on Wednesday of Wingate’s arrest after recently acquiring it through a public records request. The video shows Whitlach stopping her patrol car in front of Wingate, then ordering him to let go of the club, which he uses as a makeshift cane.

Wingate, a retired veteran and local bus driver, can be heard saying in the video that he has used the club to help him get around for 20 years.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/seattle-man-needed-state-officials-help-to-avoid-charges-for-walking-while-black/

Justice Department’s IG report disputes Attkisson’s computer-intrusion allegations

Source: Washington Post

Many of the allegations made by former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson regarding alleged computer intrusions by the U.S. government are disputed in a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general. “The OIG’s investigation was not able to substantiate the allegations that Attkisson’s computers were subject to remote intrusion by the FBI, other government personnel, or otherwise,” reads the inspector general’s report.

In her book “Stonewalled,” Attkisson had issued a wide-ranging set of claims — that her CBS News work computers and her personal computer had been hacked, that a strange wire was found hanging from the cable TV/broadband box outside of her home and that her phone service went fuzzy. The inspector general’s report found that the cable in question was a “common” cable used by Attkisson’s broadband provider. Here’s how the report sums up the situation:

Lastly, Attkisson reported to the OIG that a “suspicious” cable was attached to her Internet Service Provider’s connection box installed on her house. She opined to the OIG that perhaps this cable was being used to “tap” her house. Further investigation by the OIG revealed that the cable was a common cable used by the provider and could not be used to monitor or otherwise affect the phone or internet service at her residence.

And in response to Attkisson’s videotape of an alleged hacker deleting content from her computer screen, the report says that the activity was caused by “the back space key being stuck.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/01/29/justice-departments-ig-report-disputes-attkissons-computer-intrusion-allegations/

Administration Official Criticizes Israeli Ambassador Over Netanyahu Visit

Source: NY Times

The Obama administration, after days of mounting tension, signaled on Wednesday how angry it is with Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted Republican leaders’ invitation to address Congress on Iran without consulting the White House.

The outrage the episode has incited within President Obama’s inner circle became clear in unusually sharp criticism by a senior administration official who said that the Israeli ambassador, Ron Dermer, who helped orchestrate the invitation, had repeatedly placed Mr. Netanyahu’s political fortunes above the relationship between Israel and the United States.

The official who made the comments to The New York Times would not be named, and the White House declined to comment. The remarks were the latest fallout after Mr. Dermer, without the White House’s knowledge, worked with House Speaker John A. Boehner to arrange the speech, which is scheduled for March.

The remarks are likely to escalate a feud between the White House, Republicans on Capitol Hill and Mr. Netanyahu over the invitation, which has led to a new low in American-Israeli relat ions and threatened to mar the long tradition of bipartisan support for Israel in Congress.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/us/politics/white-house-expresses-displeasure-over-speech-planned-by-netanyahu.html

Hay fever and sleeping tablets 'can increase risk of Alzheimer's and dementia'

Over-the-counter hay fever pills and sleeping tablets can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s, a study warned today.

The findings have “public health implications” about “potential safety risks”, according to scientists.

Other drugs for depression and bladder control were also linked to dementia .

The drugs have an ­“anticholinergic” effect, which blocks a chemical transmitter that people with Alzheimer’s lack.

Experts tracked the health of 3,434 over-65 and their use of anticholinergic drugs, like antihistamine diphenhydramine, for seven years.

During the study, 637 developed Alzheimer’s and 160 got other forms of dementia.

For people on high doses the risk of dementia was 54% higher compared to no use.

Read More: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hay-fever-sleeping-tablets-can-5048128

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150126124721.htm

Exclusive: Epstein’s First Accuser Tells Her Story

The first young girl to accuse Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse tells her story for the very first time in an exclusive video.

Years ago, when she was only 14, a very pretty and naive young girl from West Palm Beach, Florida met billionaire Jeffrey Epstein at his Palm Beach mansion on El Brillo Way.

In police reports, and later in interviews with me, the girl—known as Jane Doe #1—laid out the story of how she became the very first person to accuse Epstein of sexual abuse in 2005. Her complaint was the spark that ignited a series of investigations by local police and the FBI, which uncovered more than 40 alleged victims. Now, in an exclusive video for The Daily Beast, she tells her own story for the very first time.

Epstein’s predatory behavior is back in the news with a vengeance thanks to court filings earlier this month by another victim, Virginia Louise Roberts, a self-identified “sex slave” of Epstein’s, who claimed that Epstein loaned her out to powerful friends, including Britain’s Prince Andrew and his own lawyer Alan Dershowitz. (Prince Andrew and Dershowitz have both vehemently denied these claims.)

Video at the link.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/25/epstein-s-first-accuser-tells-her-story.html

the nation’s highest-income majority-black county stands out for a different reason....

African Americans for decades flocked to Prince George’s County to be part of a phenomenon that has been rare in American history: a community that grew more upscale as it became more black.

The county became a national symbol of the American Dream with a black twist. Families moved into expansive new homes, with rolling lawns, nearby golf courses and, most of all, neighbors who looked like them. In the early 2000s, home prices soared — some well beyond $1?million — allowing many African Americans to build the kind of wealth their elders could only imagine.

But today, the nation’s highest-income majority-black county stands out for a different reason — its residents have lost far more wealth than families in neighboring, majority-white suburbs. And while every one of these surrounding counties is enjoying a strong rebound in housing prices and their economies, Prince George’s is lagging far behind, and local economists say a full recovery appears unlikely anytime soon.

The same reversal of fortune is playing out across the country as black families who worked painstakingly to climb into the middle class are seeing their financial foundation for future generations collapse. Although African Americans have made once-unthinkable political and social gains since the civil rights era, the severe and continuing damage wrought by the downturn — an entire generation of wealth was wiped out — has raised a vexing question: Why don’t black middle-class families enjoy the same level of economic security as their white counterparts?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/01/24/the-american-dream-shatters-in-prince-georges-county/

The drama is the economy....

American/western mercenary in mariupol region of ukraine after rocket attacks

Is the Moon a planet or a star?

America’s best-selling cars and trucks are built on lies: The rise of fake engine noise

Stomp on the gas in a new Ford Mustang or F-150 and you’ll hear a meaty, throaty rumble — the same style of roar that Americans have associated with auto power and performance for decades.

It’s a sham. The engine growl in some of America’s best-selling cars and trucks is actually a finely tuned bit of lip-syncing, boosted through special pipes or digitally faked altogether. And it’s driving car enthusiasts insane.

Fake engine noise has become one of the auto industry’s dirty little secrets, with automakers from BMW to Volkswagen turning to a sound-boosting bag of tricks. Without them, today’s more fuel-efficient engines would sound far quieter and, automakers worry, seemingly less powerful, potentially pushing buyers away.

Softer-sounding engines are actually a positive symbol of just how far engines and gas economy have progressed. But automakers say they resort to artifice because they understand a key car-buyer paradox: Drivers want all the force and fuel savings of a newer, better engine — but the classic sound of an old gas-guzzler.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/americas-best-selling-cars-and-trucks-are-built-on-lies-the-rise-of-fake-engine-noise/2015/01/21/6db09a10-a0ba-11e4-b146-577832eafcb4_story.html

S.F. supe, London Breed, calls out black community on gun crime

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed has a pointed message for the African American community regarding gun crime: “When you know your kids are involved in this violence, let’s turn them in.”

“I know it’s not popular to say,” Breed told the crowd Monday at the King Day observance at Yerba Buena Gardens. But, she said, it’s essential “to save their lives and somebody else’s life.”

Her remarks came just days after four young African American men were gunned down in a stolen car at the corner of Laguna and Page streets, part of the Hayes Valley neighborhood that Breed represents on the board.

“If we are going to change the problems, we have to look inside our own homes and see if we have problems with our own children,” Breed told us of her tough-love stance.

Breed, who is African American and grew up in San Francisco’s public housing, speaks from personal experience — one of her brothers, who was drug addicted, is in prison for robbery and other crimes, and her younger sister died of a drug overdose a decade ago.

“When my brother was selling drugs and doing his thing out there (on the streets), my grandmother found some drugs and flushed them down the toilet,” Breed said. “She’s like, 'This is not what’s going to happen in this house.’”

Social service programs and more police are part of the solution to break the cycle of violence, she said. “But we need to stop it completely, and part of that means holding ourselves accountable.”

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/S-F-supe-London-Breed-calls-out-black-6028273.php