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06 Jan 2012 10:06

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U.S.: Ohio earthquakes may be man-made byproduct of “fracking”

  • These earthquakes were sitting there waiting to happen. We have triggered these earthquakes.
  • Seismologist John Armbruster • Discussing the recent string of earthquakes in Ohio. If you live in that state, you might have noticed up to a dozen small earthquakes since last spring. There hasn’t been a measured earthquake in the area ever until last March. Apparently, the disposing of waste water into the ground (during a energy-releasing process called “fracking”) may have flowed into an earthquake fault line. This same problem has happened in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. In Arkansas alone, 1,000 mini-quakes were measured. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2012 16:23

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U.S.: Military member charged with bringing explosives into Texas airport

  • No word on his motive or intent: 30-year-old Trey Scott Atwater, who was visiting family in Midland, Texas before heading back to Fort Bragg, was taken into custody Saturday after airport security officials found out he was carrying military-strength C-4 explosives in his bag. Atwater is expected to be charged Tuesday over the incident — a rare direct catch by the TSA. (Photo by Heather Leiphart Odessa American/AP) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Dec 2011 11:15

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U.S.: New audio from Dallas-area Christmas day shooting surfaces

  • “I am shooting people.” That’s what Azizolah Yazdanpanah could be heard whispering on a 911 recording — while, dressed as Santa Claus, he shot six of his family members, before turning the trigger on himself. Grapevine, Texas police investigators initially thought the recording was blank, but after enhancing the audio, they were able to pick up new details, painting a fuller picture of the situation as it happened. Also of note: Yazdanpanah’s niece, Sara Fatemeh Zarei, texted a friend prior to the shooting, dismissively noting her uncle’s costume and saying, “Now he wants to be all fatherly and win father of the year.” Yazdanpanah reportedly suffered from financial hardships prior to the shooting, but investigators say they may never know what caused him to fire upon his own family. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Dec 2011 12:20

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U.S.: Mystery surrounds Christmas Day murder-suicide near Dallas

  • 6 family members killed by a relative dressed as Santa Claus source
  • » A family, aged 18-60, killed: Investigators worked overnight through Monday morning to figure out what happened Sunday, as a home in Grapevine, Texas, turned into a deadly scene. “Seven people in one setting in Grapevine, that’s never happened before. Ever,” said Grapevine Police Lt. Todd Dearing, who noted victims were related, but some may not have lived in the apartment. Many of the buildings are vacant around the apartment, and the only word of the shooting was a 911 call from a line with no answer on the other end.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Dec 2011 01:29

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Politics: Unlikely pensioner of the week: Rick Perry is “retired” … kinda

  • $150k the amount in salary Rick Perry has made from being governor in 2011
  • $7,698 the amount perry has made monthly since his pension kicked in
  • $240kthe amount he bumped his income to with the maneuver source
  • » All the benefits of retirement and working! Rick Perry is 61 years old, and for most people, that’s closing in on retirement age. However, Perry is running for president, and could still be the guy to beat (you never know). But with his military and government service, he was able to score his pension now, according to the state’s Employee Retirement System. He has no regrets: “That’s been in place for decades. … I don’t find that to be out of the ordinary,” Perry said. “ERS called me and said, ‘Listen, you’re eligible to access your retirement now with your military time and your time and service, and I think you would be rather foolish to not access what you’ve earned.’” Is the move off-key considering the fact that he’s a noted critic of entitlement programs?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Dec 2011 23:14

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U.S.: Texas food stamp tragedy: Awful in more ways than one

  • tragic On Monday, a mother in Texas shot her two children before killing herself. She died at the scene of the shooting. The children later died in the hospital — the daughter on Wednesday, the son Thursday. Just two hours before the shooting, daughter Ramie Grimmer updated her Facebook status to say: “may die 2day.”
  • more tragic Rachelle Grimmer killed her children in a food stamp office, after being denied food stamps on multiple occasions. She had been trying to apply since July but had been unable to do so, due to paperwork issues. The family was extremely poor and had been visited by Child Protective Services twice over neglect issues. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Nov 2011 09:06

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U.S.: Judge won’t face charges, may lose job over brutal spanking incident

  • We believe that there was a criminal offense involved and that there was substantial evidence to indicate that and under normal circumstances … a charge could have been made.
  • Rockport, Texas Police Chief Tim Jayroe • Discussing the case of Hillary Adams, the 23-year-old who posted a video of her father — a Texas judge — brutally spanking her with a belt. The video, from 2004, would have been worthy of criminal charges against William Adams, according to Jayroe … if the statute of limitations had not run out. Considering the damage to William Adams’ reputation as a result of the release of the video, it may be enough to derail his career as a judge that focuses on child abuse cases. “I would think it would be very difficult,” noted Aransas, Texas, County Judge C.H. “Burt” Mills Jr. “Personally I don’t see how he can recover from this.” For William Adams’ part, he claims the situation looks worse than it is, and in a statement he released to the press, claimed the video was intended as blackmail: “Hillary warned her father if he reduced her financial support, and took away her Mercedes automobile, which her father had provided, he would live to regret it.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Nov 2011 11:01

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U.S.: A judge and his daughter relive brutal domestic incident in public eye

  • Yesterday, this brutal video made the rounds. In it, a then-16-year-old girl was brutally attacked by her father for downloading music illegally on the internet back in 2004. (Warning: it’s a tough watch.) The girl, Hillary Adams, now 23, released the video as her parents were in the midst of a custody battle. She secretly taped the incident and only told him about the video recently. “I told him I had the video,” she said. “He didn’t seem to think anything of it, and basically dared me to post it.” On its own, it seems like a harsh overreaction, but it’s made all the worse when you consider that the father in the video is a county judge who specializes in child abuse cases. You’d imagine that this would be the kind of case he’d have to deal with at his job. Based on comments the Texas judge has made, he may not be very remorseful over the incident. Here are some reactions:
  • father Aransas County, Texas Court-at-Law Judge William Adams defended the 2004 incident like so: “In my mind, I haven’t done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing. And I did lose my temper, but I’ve since apologized.”
  • daughter Here’s how his daughter, Hillary, reacted to that statement: “It’s a shining perfect example of his personality and he believes he can do no wrong. … He will cover up rather than admit to what he did and try to come clean, which is what I really want him to do.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Oct 2011 15:25

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Politics: Rick Perry, easing off his anti-drug stances?

  • A very, very energetic Rick Perry: In this case, “energetic” is a euphemism for “dangerously over-caffeinated, perhaps to the point of requiring medical attention.” We’re not quite sure what to make of this bizarre speech Perry gave to New Hampshire Republicans a couple of days ago. He’s not just unusually expressive; he looks like he’s about to burst (fast-forward to 2:30 or so if you’re feeling impatient). His frantic performance might make slightly more sense if he were speaking to an ultra-conservative crowd in South Carolina or something, but was a room full of New Hampshire moderates. Color us baffled, but at least he didn’t come off as over-prepared. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Oct 2011 10:36

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U.S.: Massive dust cloud rolls through Texas, looks pretty crazy

  • An inopportune time to play “Dust in the Wind”: A 8,000-foot-high dust cloud engulfed Lubbock, Texas yesterday afternoon, making for dramatic scenes like this one and lowering visibility to near-zero. Would not want to drive in this. Yikes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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