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ansible's JournalHomeless vet, couple at center of GoFundMe controversy allegedly made up story: report
Source: NY Post
The New Jersey couple who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in a viral charity campaign for a homeless man were allegedly working with the vagrant as part of an elaborate ruse, according to a new report. Prosecutors believe that Mark D’Amico and Kate McClure conspired with homeless man Johnny Bobbitt to create their get-rich-quick scheme in 2017, NBC’s Philadelphia affiliate reported Wednesday.
The couple turned themselves in to authorities on Wednesday, but Bobbitt was still at large, the news station said. According a source who spoke to the news outlet, which said it had a copy of a criminal complaint, all three are expected to face charges of conspiracy and theft by deception for working together to create the ruse. The Burlington County Prosecutor’s office is expected to make an announcement in the case Thursday, according to multiple reports.
Prosecutors did not immediately return a call for comment, and reps for the couple and Bobbitt were not available. McClure, 28, and D’Amico, 39, created a GoFundMe page in November 2017, claiming the homeless, drug addict Bobbitt spent his last $20 to fill up McClure’s empty gas tank after her car broke down on I-95 near Philadelphia. The charity campaign exploded, raising tens of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting donors in a matter of days — and ultimately shooting up to more than $400,000.
“It has changed my entire outlook about people, my outlook about people has skyrocketed,” McClure said of the donations at the time. Their plan began to unravel in August of this year, when Bobbit sued the couple, claiming they were withholding funds raised on the GoFundMe from him. McClure and D’Amico, both of Florence Township, NJ, accused Bobbit of being on drugs and refused to pay him until he was clean. In September, a lawyer for the couple announced that he expected they would both be indicted for their role in the scam — but it was not known that all three of them were suspected in the plot until Wednesday.
Read more: https://nypost.com/2018/11/15/homeless-vet-couple-at-center-of-gofundme-controversy-allegedly-made-up-story-report/
Election results 2018 California Propositions: Gas tax survives, hens freed from cages
Source: Desert Sun
With 97 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, California's most politicized ballot initiatives had both been voted down. Prop. 6, the gas tax repeal Republicans hoped would turn out voters upset by high taxes, trailed by more than 10 percentage points, while Prop. 10, which would have allowed cities to expand rent control policies, trailed by about 23 percentage points.
The campaigns for Prop. 10 — which could expand cities’ abilities to enact rent control measures — and Prop. 8 — which would cap profits at kidney dialysis clinics — have been this election cycle’s most expensive. Supporters and opponents of Prop. 8 collectively contributed $130 million, making it the most expensive ballot measure in California history, and Prop. 10 wasn’t far behind; supporters and opponents collectively contributed more than $100 million.
Even though it garnered less campaign cash, Prop. 6 was one of the 2018 election’s most partisan since Republicans adopted it as a rallying cry throughout the election season. The proposition sought to repeal 2017 Senate Bill 1, which increased gas and car taxes. Republican candidates throughout the state attached themselves to the gas tax repeal effort on the campaign trail, hoping middle-class Californians upset with the tax increase would turn out at the polls and support their candidates.
The Republicans identified Prop. 6 as central to their strategy to fend off the “blue wave” Democrats had hoped to summon, but Gov. Jerry Brown and a coalition of law enforcement and construction workers unions came out against the effort. They claimed the tax was necessary to fund needed road and bridge improvements throughout the state.
Read more: https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/06/california-ballot-propositions-midterm-election-gas-tax-kidney-dialysis-rent-control-campaign/1858569002/
China's president vows to lower tariffs, increase imports amid tensions with US
Source: The Hill
Chinese president Xi Jinping vowed to lower tariffs, broaden market access and increase imports on Monday. Xi made the comments at a trade expo designed to demonstrate goodwill in the midst of the U.S.-China trade war, Reuters reports. The U.S. and China have been smacking escalating tariffs on each other's goods as trade negotiations stall. However, Xi's recent statements match comments Trump made Friday, expressing confidence that he could strike a deal with China at talks later this month.
"I think we'll make a deal with China," Trump told reporters. "We're getting much closer to doing something," he said. "They very much want to make a deal." He said that any deal they reached would have to be "a good deal for the United States" and a "fair deal" for both countries.
Though Bloomberg reported Friday that Trump asked Cabinet officials to draw up terms for a trade deal after a call with Xi, top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow tempered expectations.
"We're doing a normal, routine run-through of things that we've already put together and normal preparation," Kudlow told CNBC. "We're not on the cusp of a deal."
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/414919-chinas-president-vows-to-lower-tariffs-increase-imports-amid-tensions-with-us?amp&__twitter_impression=true
Florida man who killed two women at yoga studio spoke of "incel" hero Elliot Rodger in online video
Scott Paul Beierle, the man Tallahassee Police identified as the person who shot and killed two women at a yoga studio on Friday, expressed disturbing ideas about women and adopted the moniker “Carnifex” — Latin for executioner — in a series of online videos and music clips. Beierle, a 40-year-old resident of Deltona, Florida, died after shooting himself Friday. Police say he shot and killed 61-year-old Nancy Van Vessem and 21-year-old Maura Binkley and injured five others at the Hot Yoga Tallahassee studio.
Officer Damon Miller, a spokesman for the Tallahassee Police, said investigators are looking into Beierle’s motive and whether he knew any of the victims. Buzzfeed first reported on Beierle’s YouTube and SoundCloud accounts which included a video titled “Plight of the Adolescent Male,” where Beierle likened his younger self to mass murderer Elliot Rodger.
Rodger is a hero to the “incel” or involuntary celibate community, a largely online and deeply misogynistic subculture made up of men who view themselves as sexual outcasts victimized by the advances of feminism. In 2014, Rodger targeted a sorority on his college campus and killed six and injured another 14 people in Isla Vista, California. Before his rampage, Rodger posted a manifesto online blaming women for the fact that he was still a virgin. Rodgers has been referenced in several other killings, including a van-ramming attack in Toronto earlier this year that killed 10.
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/11/03/florida-man-who-killed-two-women-yoga-studio-spoke-incel-hero-elliot-rodger-online-video
Ivanka Trump shows yet again she's no friend to women
First daughter, presidential adviser and failed shoe entrepreneur Ivanka Trump is hard at work empowering women! On Friday she headed to Iowa to campaign for Kim Reynolds, a Republican who became acting governor of the state last year, when Terry Branstad resigned to become US ambassador to China. Reynolds is facing off against the Democrat Fred Hubbell, a wealthy businessman who hasn’t run for public office before, and it’s a tight race.
If Reynolds wins she will be the first woman elected as governor in Iowa. But that would be nothing to celebrate. Having more women in office means nothing if those women enact regressive policies. And Reynolds’ horrific record on women’s health is a sign she would do just that. She has already been applauded by conservatives for signing the strictest abortion ban in America, which bars doctors from performing most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. That’s normally a mere six weeks into a pregnancy.
Ivanka hasn’t made her views on abortion clear. “I don’t talk about my politics,” she said when asked to take a clear yes-or-no stand on the issue in a 2016 radio interview. However, her support for Reynolds is just the latest sign that Ivanka is against women having the right to choose. Last year, for example, Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, wrote in her memoir that Jared Kushner and Ivanka offered her what she felt to be a “bribe”: Planned Parenthood could keep its federal funding if they stopped providing abortions.
Despite the fact that she is basically a female version of her father, Ivanka continues to portray herself as a champion of women, flying around the world to talk about female empowerment. One of the most important ways to empower women, however, is to give them control over their reproductive rights. Ivanka’s support for Reynolds, who is doing everything she can to take those rights away, is yet another reminder that Ivanka is no friend to women.
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/03/ivanka-trump-kim-reynolds-iowa-abortion-womens-rights
World's tallest statue unveiled in India
Source: ABC
The prime minister of India today unveiled the world’s largest statue, dedicated to Sardar Patel, a nationalist who helped unite modern India after its independence from Britain.
"We are doing everything possible to turn Sardar Patel's vision into a reality and ensure a good-quality life for our fellow Indians," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. The monument, called the Statue of Unity, stands at nearly 600 feet and cost a staggering $460 million to build.
That makes the mega statue almost 200 feet higher than the world’s next largest, the Spring Temple Buddha in China, which stands at about 420 feet. The new statue in India is also nearly twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, which is 305 feet tall. The Statue of Unity, located in the western state of Gujarat, is expected to attract tens of thousands of tourists per day. The project has proved controversial, however.
Farmers in the state of Gujarat were reportedly bemused that millions of dollars were spent on the flagship project. The BBC reported that locals have expressed deep concern that they still lack basic irrigation facilities vital to the region’s economy while mass investment has been diverted to a largely-ceremonial project.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/International/worlds-tallest-statue-unveiled-india-600-feet-tall/story?id=58871306
How many miles do you walk a day? Coworkers acting like it's a big deal to walk a lot
One of my coworkers is getting a lot of crap at work for not driving to work and spending an hour walking about 4 miles a day to his home. Is this normal for people to react like this or am I just with a bunch of jerks?
YouTube Goes Offline For Users Worldwide
Source: CBS
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (CBSLA) – Google-owned YouTube went dark for users worldwide Tuesday evening.
The video streaming site – which has an estimated 1 billion active users every month – displayed an error message for some users indicating a “500 Internal Server Error”, while others saw pages with only partially loaded content.
The outage apparently also affected YouTube TV and YouTube Music access.
Messages posted to YouTube’s Twitter page indicated the company was aware of the issue and was “actively working” to resolve it.
Read more: https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/10/16/youtube-down-offline-google/
Gas is almost $4 a gallon in California now
How are you holding up? It's hurting me pretty bad because I have to commute an hour to work.
Michelle Obama: George W. Bush is 'my partner in crime' and 'I love him to death'
Source: USATODAY
Former first lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that ex-President George W. Bush has become her "partner in crime" after years of sitting together at official events.
"President Bush and I are forever seatmates because of protocol – that's how we sit at all the official functions," Obama said on NBC's "Today" show. "So he is my partner in crime at every major thing where all the formers gather. I love him to death," Obama added. "He's a wonderful man. He's a funny man."
Obama expressed her affection for Bush after being asked about the moment when Bush handed her a cough drop at the Sept. 1 funeral of the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. The moment, which happened at the National Cathedral in Washington, went viral on social media. Bush was handing a cough drop to his wife, Laura, when Obama leaned over and asked him if she could have one too. She said she didn't realize that anyone was watching the "simple gesture."
"And I will add that they were old cough drops," Obama said, describing them as being in an official White House box. "And I was like, 'How long have you had these?' They said, 'A long time. We got a lot of these.' " Obama, a Democrat, said her friendship with Bush, a Republican, defies labels. "Party doesn't separate us," she said. "Color, gender, those sort of things don't separate us."
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/10/11/michelle-obama-george-w-bush-my-partner-crime/1603296002/
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