March 29, 2019

Horrific video shows pit bull kill beloved Pom before helpless owner's eyes

This is a painful video to watch, but all owners of smaller dogs need to see this. It's already happened to me too, fortunately I was able to save my terrier before the pitbull could fatally injure my dog. There are too many careless pitbull owners out there who cannot control their dogs on a leash.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 16-year routine for two dog owners from Eltingville ended in horror after the couple’s Pomeranian was brutally attacked and killed by a passing pit bull who overpowered the child who was walking it. The couple, who spoke to the Advance under the condition their name not be published, said that their beloved dog would commonly follow the female homeowner without a leash as she took out the garbage for the evening.

It’s a routine “he’s always done for 16 years of his life,” the husband said.

The couple’s dog, as shown in the dramatic and gruesome video captured by the family’s Ring doorbell on March 16, follows the homeowner and walks to the curb a few feet away before urinating by a mailbox.

The pit bull viciously and unexpectedly latches onto the Pomeranian “like a chew toy,” the homeowner said, “and threw him around.”

https://www.silive.com/news/2019/03/horrific-video-shows-pit-bull-kill-beloved-pom-before-helpless-owners-eyes.html

March 29, 2019

San Francisco groups fight each other with rival GoFundMe groups for and against homeless shelter

In a little over a week, a coalition of San Francisco residents raised more than $50,000 in an effort to block a new Navigation Center proposed for construction along the Embarcadero. Its creators attracted generous — often anonymous — donors, but also ridicule from critics who said the group is attempting to thwart badly needed aid for homeless people.

Now a rival fundraiser is hoping to counter the coalition’s efforts, raising money to support the advocacy group Coalition on Homelessness and any of the Navigation Center’s potential legal hurdles. The pro-Navigation Center’s GoFundMe page is called “SAFER Embarcadero For ALL,” a play off its anti-center counterpart, “Safe Embarcadero for All.” William Fitzgerald, the creator of the “Safer” page, said he was disappointed but not surprised to see wealthy residents fight a shelter in their neighborhood.

“It was kind of brazen,” Fitzgerald said. “They’re (trying to stop) a shelter in the neighborhood, and these are the same people who complain about homelessness all the time.” Fitzgerald said he drew inspiration from another GoFundMe page that was created to counter a group raising funds for a border wall. The group, “Ladders to Get Over Trump’s wall, raised money for immigrants seeking legal asylum.

Those opposed to the 200-bed center, which is proposed for Seawall Lot 330 near the Bay Bridge, say it will threaten the health and safety of the community. A group founder did not return a call and message for comment. Rob Solomon, the chief executive officer of GoFundMe of Redwood City, explained why it granted a donation to the rival group: “I don’t think the tech industry is doing enough about the homeless issue. We wanted to do our small part, even though we’re not located in San Francisco.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-group-creates-rival-GoFundMe-to-13725483.php

March 28, 2019

Half of Older Americans Have Nothing in Retirement Savings

(Bloomberg) -- The bad news is that almost half of Americans approaching retirement have nothing saved in a 401(k) or other individual account. The good news is that the new estimate, from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, is slightly better than a few years earlier.

Of those 55 and older, 48 percent had nothing put away in a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan or an individual retirement account, according to a GAO estimate for 2016 that was released Tuesday. That’s an improvement from the 52 percent without retirement money in 2013.

Two in five of such households did have access to a traditional pension, also known as a defined benefit plan. However, 29 percent of older Americans had neither a pension nor any assets in a 401(k) or IRA account.

The estimate from the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, is a brief update to a more comprehensive 2015 report on retirement savings in the U.S. Both are based on the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances.

The previous report found the median household of those age 65 to 74 had about $148,000 saved, the equivalent of an inflation-protected annuity of $649 a month.

“Social Security provides most of the income for about half of households age 65 and older,” the GAO said.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute estimated earlier this month that 41 percent of U.S. households headed by someone age 35 to 64 are likely to run out of money in retirement. That’s down 1.7 percentage points since 2014.

EBRI found these Americans face a combined retirement deficit of $3.83 trillion.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/almost-half-older-americans-zero-210656147.html

March 27, 2019

Spain rejects Mexican demands for apology over colonial abuses after Pres. Obrador calls for it

Madrid rejects Mexican president’s demand for apology for crimes against indigenous people. A diplomatic row has broken out between Mexico and Spain after the Mexican president wrote to King Felipe VI demanding he apologise for crimes committed against Mexico’s indigenous people during the conquest 500 years ago. In a video filmed at the ruins of the indigenous city of Comalcalco, in southern Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on Spain and the Vatican to recognise the rights violations committed during the conquest, led by Hernán Cortés. The video was posted on the president’s social media accounts.

“There were massacres and oppression. The so-called conquest was waged with the sword and the cross. They built their churches on top of the [indigenous] temples,” he said. “The time has come to reconcile. But let us ask forgiveness first.” The remarks came two months after the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, made an official visit to Mexico; his government reacted angrily to López Obrador’s letter.

“The Spanish government profoundly regrets the publication of the Mexican president’s letter to his majesty the king on 1 March and completely reject its content,” a government statement read. “The arrival of the Spanish on Mexican soil 500 years ago cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations. Our closely related peoples have always known how to view our shared history without anger and from a shared perspective, as free peoples with a common heritage and an extraordinary future.”

Reaction in Spain split across political lines. Albert Rivera, the leader of the centre-right Citizens party, said the letter “was an intolerable offence to the Spanish people”, while Ione Belarra, from the leftwing Podemos party, said López Obrador “has every right to ask the king to apologise for the abuses of la conquista”. Pablo Casado, leader of the conservative People’s party: “It’s scandalous ignorance and a real affront to Spain and its history.”

Harim Gutiérrez, a professor at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City, said López Obrador’s letter was an example of “the instrumentalisation of history for political purposes”. “He [López Obrador] says it’s an attempt at … achieving ‘a general agreement’ based on forgiveness, which is consistent with his policies of ‘peace and love’,” Gutiérrez added. “The governments of independent Mexico have had all this time to try to overcome the wrongs of Spanish domination and, currently, in Mexico, the legacy of Spanish domination doesn’t explain all our difficulties.”

López Obrador took office on 1 December vowing to champion Mexico’s poor and indigenous people. Unlike millions of mixed-race Mexicans – mestizos – the president is almost entirely of Spanish descent, whose grandparents emigrated from Asturias and Cantabria in northern Spain. Cortés led a small squadron of soldiers – equipped with horses, armed with diseases such as smallpox, and abetted by indigenous groups at odds with the Aztecs – to Mexico City (then known as Tenochtitlán) in 1519.

The Spanish sacked the city two years later and proceeded to convert the indigenous populations to Catholicism. Cortés has long occupied a controversial place in Mexican history. His indigenous mistress, La Malinche, is still seen as a traitorous figure – with her name forming the epithet malinchista, someone who prefers the foreign to the domestic. In 2021, there are plans to mark the 500th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlán and 200 years since Mexico gained its independence from Spain. López Obrador says there must first be reconciliation before these events can be commemorated.

Spain has shown little contrition about its colonial past. Last November, Pablo Casado, the leader of the rightwing Popular party, commented that: “We didn’t colonise, what we did was to make Spain larger.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/26/spain-hits-back-at-mexico-in-row-over-colonial-rights-abuses

March 24, 2019

Woman dead after being attacked by her two pit bulls in animal hospital

A woman is dead in Irving after her two pit bull terriers mauled her at an Irving animal hospital Saturday morning, Irving Police confirmed.

The attack happened at 11:45 Saturday morning, police said in a news release. The woman, 33-year-old Johana Villafane of Irving, was at the O’Connor Animal Hospital in Irving trying to feed the two dogs outside in an exercise area when her two pit bull terriers, a male and a female, attacked her, police said.

The dogs were already in quarantine for veterinary observation after they previously bit another person, according to police.

O’Connor staff and paramedics tried to rescue Villafane, but the dogs would not let anyone near them or Villafane. Irving Police was called in and they couldn’t get close to Villafane, either.

“They were unable to retrieve her to give her any medical attention because of the animals,” Irving Police officer David Dickinson told WFAA.

Police were forced to shoot and kill both dogs.

“I don’t believe that [the officer who shot the dogs] had a choice,” Dickinson said. “His job is to intervene to safeguard human life, and that’s what he attempted to do.”

Villafane was rushed to Parkland Hospital, where she was pronounced dead from her injuries.

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/woman-dead-after-being-attacked-by-her-two-pit-bulls/63-a437f400-041b-4ec5-8b23-df5d747e8e5b

March 18, 2019

New Zealand man arrested for distributing video of NZ mass shooting online

A 22-year-old from New Zealand has been arrested and charged in connection with circulating a graphic video of the mass shootings that took place at two mosques in Christchurch on Friday.

The man, who has not been named by authorities, has been formally charged under New Zealand’s Films Videos and Publications Classification Act and is expected to appear in court on Monday, ABC News reported Sunday.

Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian national, allegedly carried out the Friday attacks, which left at least 50 people dead and 50 others injured, while he shared a livestream of the mass shootings to Facebook. Although the social media platform responded quickly to remove the video, others continued to re-upload the clip.

Facebook reportedly removed at least 1.5 million videos of the terrorist attack within the first 24 hours after the massacre.

"Out of respect for the people affected by this tragedy and the concerns of local authorities, we're also removing all edited versions of the video that do not show graphic content,” the social media platform said in an official statement, according to Mashable. A spokesperson also confirmed that the company is working “around the clock to remove violating content using a combination of technology and people,” in an official Twitter post.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and local police have repeatedly called on individuals and media organizations to restrain from sharing the graphic footage. Police also said that they are not charging the 22-year-old for being directly involved with the attack.

“We would like to remind people that it is an offense to distribute or possess an objectionable publication (under the Films Videos and Publications Classifications Act 1993), which carries a penalty of imprisonment," local police said in a statement, according to ABC News. "The live stream video of the shootings in Christchurch has been classified by the Chief Censor’s Office as objectionable," it continued.

https://www.newsweek.com/man-arrested-new-zealand-mosque-attack-video-1365856

March 6, 2019

Cousins in love petition to be able to marry in Utah

A Utah couple is petitioning for the right to get married; they say their love shouldn't be limited just because their parents are siblings. Angie Lee's father is the oldest of 12 children; Michael Lee's mother is number five in the same family and the two say they have loved each other since childhood. They were reunited after 10 years apart this winter and say they are finally ready to disregard the risks.

Angie told ABC4's Sarah Martin, "We said OK this is crazy but we're adults now, we're single now, we're just going to go for it and who cares what our family thinks." They are crossing two big hurdles to get married; the most obvious is genetics. According to researchers at Columbia University, first cousins share 12.5 percent of their DNA. First cousins who have children face a 4-7 percent chance of their child having a genetic disorder as opposed to a 3-4 percent chance for an average couple.

The second major hurdle is the law. Here in Utah, it's illegal for first cousins to get married unless they are 65 years old, 55 if they can prove they are infertile. But there is no such law in Colorado, so the two went there Monday to tie the knot. Angie and Michael Lee say Utah's law is antiquated and has no real basis for the restriction. Michael said, "We would like to have enough exposure to where we can go into a congressman or senator, someone with political clout and present a case sound enough to get the law changed."

They have started a petition to gather support for a change in the law. Michael said, "No one I've ever been with will make me feel as perfect as she does. Her being my cousin and some of the responses is a small price to pay."

https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/cousins-in-love-petition-to-be-able-to-marry-in-utah/1829458715

March 2, 2019

SpaceX successfully launches test dummy aboard new Dragon crew capsule toward space station

Source: wmcactionnews5

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (AP) — America’s newest capsule for astronauts is rocketing toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX.

A Falcon rocket blasted off with the crew Dragon capsule early Saturday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The only passenger is a life-size test dummy, named Ripley from the "Alien" movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of the capsule before putting people on board later this year.

The Dragon should reach the space station Sunday.

Among the estimated 5,000 launch spectators at Kennedy were the two NASA astronauts who will strap in as early as July for the second demo, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. It’s been eight years since Hurley and three other astronauts flew the last space shuttle mission, and human launches from Florida ceased.

Read more: http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2019/03/02/sapcex-successfully-launches-test-dummy-aboard-new-dragon-crew-capsule-toward-space-station/