Now we already knew about Florida and what kind of breeding ground it is down there, but here's the best part of the story.18-year-old David Penney of St. Cloud, Florida is an angry young man. According to police Penney left a six-page letter expressing rage at the world and himself, dressed in military fatigues, combat boots, a tactical vest for carrying multiple ammunition magazines, picked up two AK-47s, more than 100 rounds of ammunition and drove to a friend's home. He was upset over a car crash that had damaged his vehicle in September. Penney stood in the street and emptied several 30-round magazines into the home. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Police soon arrived on the scene and Penney started shooting at the officers. Both of the officers sustained injuries, one was shot in the foot, the other was hit in the face with flying glass when a round came through the windshield. But according to the St. Cloud police chief, the quick actions on the part of his officers forced Penney to retreat and ultimately, he shot himself.
Penney shot himself in the chin and was listed in critical condition at a local hospital but he is expected to survive.
According to police, Penney owned the guns legally and has no criminal record. It is legal under federal law and Florida state law for an 18-year-old to purchase an AK-47. There is no licensing requirement, no registration requirement, nor is there a waiting period.
"It is becoming increasingly clear through research on the brain as well as in other areas of study, that childhood needs play. Play acts as a forward feed mechanism into courageous, creative, rigorous thinking in adulthood.And the GrinchNut isn't proposing equal pay for equal work. He wants to pay kids on the cheap for doing the same work as the adult janitors, and of course, unlike adult full time workers he also wouldn't dream of providing those working children with benefits like health care.
--Tina Bruce, Professor, London Metropolitan University
Mankato Department of Public Safety police officers responded to the report of a 19-year-old, Mankato male shot in the head by a bb gun around 6:45 p.m., November 18, as he walked back from his mailboxes in the Southhaven Mobile Home Park.and from the Hopkins, MN Patch:
The victim looked up and saw three dark skinned males getting in a Chevy Impala (estimated to be a 2002-2006 model). The vehicle had an unknown license plate. The victim filed the report on November 21 and described one suspect wearing a red sweatshirt and blue jeans. The suspect was holding the handgun believed to be the bb gun used in this incident. The victim did not know who the suspects were.
The injury was not serious or life threatening and the bb was removed in the emergency room.
Prosecutors Charge Homeless Man in Walgreens Robberies
Vincent Mark Smith told police 'he was desperate to sell the drugs for money.'Hennepin County prosecutors on Tuesday charged a homeless Minneapolis man in connection with the Nov. 20 robbery of a Blake Road Walgreens pharmacy and the robbery of two more Walgreens in Minneapolis, said Chuck Laszewski, a Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokesman.
Vincent Mark Smith, 25, faces one count of first-degree aggravated robbery and one count of second-degree aggravated robbery related to the Hopkins incident. He also has been charged with:
In all, Smith is suspected of involvement in three robberies that took place Nov. 18, Nov. 20 and Nov. 23. Smith told police he robbed the first store “because he was desperate to sell the drugs for money,” according to charging documents.
- Two counts of simple robbery,
- One more count of first-degree aggravated robbery and
- One more count of second-degree aggravated robbery.
Minneapolis Police arrested Smith on Saturday after a Walgreens clerk at the 5415 Lyndale Ave. S. location told officers someone matching the description of the person in the previous robberies had entered the store, Minneapolis Officer Frederick McDonald wrote in charging documents.
Officers arrived to find Smith wearing the same jacket and backpack as the suspect in the Nov. 23 robbery.
The spate of Walgreens robberies arrived in Hopkins on Nov. 20. An unidentified pharmacist at the Blake Road store told police a man approached the counter, displayed a charcoal-colored pistol and demanded Percocet and Xanax, Hopkins Officer Erik Husevold wrote in the charging documents. After the pharmacist gave the robber a bottle of Percocet and two bottles of Xanax, the suspect told her to relax, wished her a nice day and left the store.
Husevold interviewed Smith after the suspect’s arrest. The suspect told the officer he robbed the Blake Road Walgreens with a BB gun.
Three Walgreens employees who spoke to the suspect in the Nov. 18 robbery also identified Smith in a photo lineup.
First-degree aggravated robbery carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine. Second-degree aggravated robbery carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.
Smith is being held on $200,000 bail. He's scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 21.
UK woman draws death threats over racist train rant
Mother locked up 'for her own protection' after profanity-laced video goes viral
Image: Woman on train
YouTube
Video of a U.K. woman's racist tirade on a train quickly went viral.
msnbc.com
updated 12/2/2011 3:38:29 PM ET
LONDON — A 34-year-old mother has drawn death threats after a video of her profanity-laced racist rant against passengers aboard a crowded train was posted on the Internet.
Emma West, a former dental receptionist, was charged with racially aggravated harassment after a video shot by a train passenger was uploaded to YouTube on Sunday and quickly went viral.
West, of New Addington, London, was remanded into custody this week "for her own protection" after the court was told "there is a serious risk of her being injured in revenge attack by the public," Metro.co.uk reported.
West, who was also referred for psychiatric evaluation, is due to appear in court again on Tuesday.
West is accused of hurling a litany of abuse and racist insults at passengers while balancing her 4-year-old child on her lap on a tram from Croydon to Wimbledon. At one point the woman tells some passengers they should go back to their own country, saying they're not British because they are black.
The video, titled "My Tram Experience," was shot by Kelly Hollingsworth, a passenger who was sitting directly opposite of West. It had been viewed more than 9 million times as of Friday.
“Cannot believe some of these people that agree with the women on the tram, kinda scary,” Hollingsworth later tweeted.
Some far-right groups have come to West's defense.
Britain First, which bills itself as a "patriotic political movement," has launched a campaign to free what some have dubbed the "Racist Tram Lady."
"Locking this feisty English mother up in jail only reinforces the suspicion that if you are British then you are a second class citizen in your own country," Britain First says on its website.
The group on Friday held a small protest outside HMP Bronzefield, the women’s prison on the outskirts of Ashford in Surrey, where West is being held. Protesters held signs that read "Free Emma West" as well as Union flags and a Britain First banner, according to an article on citizen-journalism site Demotix.com.
"What she said on that tram was harsh, coarse and very unladylike, no doubt about that, but what abuse had she been subjected to before the camera phone was switched on?" Andy McBride, national coordinator for Britain First, was quoted as saying.
Most of them can’t explain just why exactly relegating guns to the back of the bus is not a civil rights issue, but we’ll let that pass for the now…This inexorably led to comments which, one after another, proclaimed the terrible victimhood of the gun-rights crusader. Robert said, "The government should not be asking why we should be given certain freedoms, but why not."
Texas father kills 4 kids, wounds wife in suicidal gun assault
BAY CITY, Texas -- Laura Gonzalez was happy to be back at work after three weeks away that included a stay at a battered women's shelter. She saw it as the beginning of a new life. One without her husband and the father of her four children, she told co-workers. She wasn't going back to him this time, she said, and left for home.
Pat Sullivan/APGloria Carranza adds balloons to a makeshift memorial Thursday outside a trailer in Bay City, Texas, where a man shot dead four children and wounded their mother on Wednesday before killing himself.
Less than an hour later, her 24-year-old husband, Jose Avila, launched a brutal final assault. First he shot his wife three times. Then, he began shooting the children. Avila's final act was to kill himself.
Two of the children died at a hospital Thursday, a day after their two siblings were killed in the shooting that rattled the small southeast Texas town of Bay City. Their mother remains hospitalized.
As details trickled out, a picture emerged Thursday of a family long struggling with violence, including an assault reported by Gonzalez just before Thanksgiving. After that, she went to a battered women's shelter.
"I asked her how she was doing because I knew she was at the crisis center. She said she was trying to make something of her freedom and a better life for herself and her children," said Alejandro Gonzalez, a fellow waiter at La Casona, the Mexican restaurant where Gonzalez worked.
"She wanted to make a better life for his kids because they see all the violence," he added, recounting the conversation he had with Gonzalez hours before Avila turned on her.
Although Gonzalez left the trailer home she shared with her husband after reporting the assault, Bay City Lt. Andrew Lewis said she refused to press charges. He didn't know how long she stayed at the shelter.
Wednesday's violence unfolded on a quiet street in Bay City — a town about 65 miles southwest of Houston — just as two nearby schools were letting out. The couple started arguing inside the trailer, and Avila shot his wife twice, Lewis said. She ran out to the front yard, where Avila shot her a third time. Then, he turned on the children.
"We heard ... that he was walking around waving a gun," Lewis said, describing the violent scene that unfolded on a lawn now decorated with a makeshift memorial of teddy bears, candles and prayer books. At least one student witnessed the incident.
Two brothers, aged 3 and 5, died of their wounds at a Houston hospital on Wednesday. The other two children, ages 2 and 4, had been on life support but died Thursday. Gonzalez is also at a Houston hospital, but Lewis did not know her condition.
Police have not officially released the names of the victims, but co-workers and neighbors identified Avila's wife as Laura Gonzalez.
The family had moved into the trailer home near Bay City's Western-style downtown about a year ago, neighbors said. They appeared to live a quiet life. On occasion, next-door neighbor Isuro Perez heard them arguing, but it appeared to be nothing out-of-the-ordinary. Just a run-of-the-mill dispute between a married couple.
"He always plays soccer out here in this field out here, plays soccer with his kids," Perez said, pointing to a grassy area opposite the row of trailer homes. "They were nice people, nothing went wrong really. They were a happy family."
At work, though, Gonzalez portrayed a different picture. Alejandro Gonzalez said he once saw her with a black eye. And Ruby Gomez, a waitress at La Casona, said Laura Gonzalez had told her about problems she had with her husband.
"She had to leave to get the kids in the afternoon because he threatened her that if she left him he was going to kill the four kids and her," Gomez said.
Once, Gomez said, Gonzalez told her Avila had locked her in the house and gone to work. She escaped through a window and went to a shelter, Gomez recounted. That was the second time she left him, and vowed not to go back.
The first time "he convinced her that he was going to change and that he really loved his kids, and convinced her to return to live with him," Gomez said.
Still, the tragic outcome of the relationship came as a shock to Gonzalez's co-workers and to other residents of Bay City — a town of just over 17,000 people surrounded by large ranches and farmland. The shooting was the talk of the town Thursday, as residents drove slowly past the couple's home.
Some stopped to add something to the growing memorial. Others cried. Several prayed.
"It's going to be sad for the momma when she wakes up and finds out she lost her children," said Gloria Carranza, a 41-year-old Bay City native who added pink and blue balloons to the memorial.
"Things like this don't happen in a small town like Bay City," she said.
Burning deceased humans will produce electricity
Turbines at crematorium will convert heat into as much as 150 kilowatt-hours per corpse
In Durham, England, corpses will soon be used to generate electricity.A crematorium is installing turbines in its burners that will convert waste heat from the combustion of each corpse into as much as 150 kilowatt-hours of juice — enough to power 1,500 televisions for an hour. The facility plans to sell the electricity to local power companies.
Some might find this concept creepy. Others might be pleased to learn that the process "makes cremation much greener by utilizing its by-products," in the words of cremation engineer Steve Looker, owner and chief executive officer of the Florida-based company B&L Cremation Systems, which is unaffiliated with the Durham enterprise.
In Europe, tightening regulations on crematorium emissions, coupled with the high price of energy, will lead more and more facilities to go the way of Durham in the future, Looker said. Will crematories in the United States follow suit?
According to Looker, whose company is currently testing different methods of utilizing cremation waste heat, the expensive turbine systems being installed in Durham are not yet economically viable for crematories here. "In the U.S., most crematories don't have enough throughput," he told Life's Little Mysteries. "Cremation in some parts of Europe is over 90 percent, but it is not over 50 percent yet here." That is, less than half of Americans opt for cremation. Most are buried.
Consequently, while burners in Europe typically run 24 hours day, ones in America operate only eight hours each day, Looker said. "A typical turbine system would cost somewhere between $250,000 to $500,000. If it's running 24 hours a day, that's a five-year payback. If it's running eight hours a day, that's a 15- or 20-year payback, which isn't feasible," he said.
However, Looker is hopeful that the situation could change in the near future. "Over the next 10 years, with the baby boomers coming through, cremation is going to reach 75 to 80 percent. Then, this might be feasible."
Furthermore, a turbine designed by a company called Thermal Dynamic Engineering, which produces just 50 kilowatt-hours of energy but is much less expensive to install than the Durham system, will be available in the near future, Looker said.
Thus, it may indeed come to pass that deceased baby boomers will someday help power your household appliances.
Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @ nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @ llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.
- Eat the Old: Could Mass Cannibalism Solve a Future Food Shortage?
- Coroner Concludes Irishman Died of Spontaneous Human Combustion
Brenda Spencer opened fire with a rifle at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, killing two adults and injuring nine children. She later explained her actions with the statement, “I don’t like Mondays” back in 1979.
The Boomtown Rats were at a US radio station for an interview when the story of Brenda Spencer came over the news wire. As a loud mid ’70s rock band, the Boomtown Rats were (respectfully if not completely accurately) branded punks by the media. As the Sex Pistols and the Clash became the voice of young London punks, The Boomtown Rats carried the flag for the youth of Dublin. After their debut album saw respectable sales in 1978, they recorded “I Don’t Like Mondays,” their most successful and most enduring hit despite the fact that many US radio stations refused to play it.
I wonder why?
Since Brenda Spencer went “postal” there have been many shootings like this. School shootings like this happen all the time, but they are treated as local news, unless they are like Columbine or yesterday’s Virginia Tech shootings.
I mean 32 dead. Wow, that’s a new record.
I guess the next big school shooting is going to have to top that to become news.
There are other songs which pinpoint the real instrumentality which allows for this carnage: Guns. Cheryl Wheeler’s “If It Were Up To Me”, Wall of Voodoo’s “Shouldn’t have given him a gun for Christmas”, Captain Sensible’s “Yanks with Guns”, Robert Bobby “Guns across the USA”, The Beatles “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, Johnny Cash “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town”, Lynyrd Skynyrd “Saturday Night Special”, Harry Chapin “Sniper”, Indigo Girls “Don’t Give that Girl a Gun”, various versions of “The Devil’s Right Hand”, I Can Lick Any Son Of… “Dear Mr. Heston”, Ian Hunter “Gun Control”, Pearl Jam “Glorified G”, Robert Bobby “guns Across the USA”, any other suggestions out there?
Anyway, Cheryl Wheeler’s “If it were up to me” which ends with “If it were up to me, I’d take away the guns.” is also not played on the airwaves. The pro-gun crowd is too scared of it.
Why? let’s face it, more guns does not equal less crime. If it were the case, Philadelphia would be one of the safest places in the nation with the largest number of NRA life members and amount of concealed carry permits. Also, Virginia, they can just strap on a gun there, but this is the second time they have been victimised by maniacs with a gun on a large scale (anybody remember Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad?).
I mean those last two paralaysed the nation’s capital with only one gun. Shit, the East Coast!
Not bad.
It is the guns and I don’t hear many people talking about gun responsibilities!
Sorry, but 28 years is too long and too many bodies have piled up from guns. It’s costs this country too much to treat all the gunshot victims.
It’s time for guns to be put under strict regulation–after all Heller-McDonald says that’s Constitutionally OK.
The only thing stopping that happening is the gun lobby.
For a great piece on Brenda Spencer listen to ‘s piece from Day to Day, January 31, 2005:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4472389
Add on the following songs:
Stephen Sondheim: Gun Song, Bobby Bare Jr.: Gun Show, Railroad Jerk: Gun Problem, Kittens For Christian: Gun Country, D.R.I.: Gun Control , Guess Who: Guns, Guns, Guns, Junior Reid: Gun Court, Boy Wundah: Change (The Anti Gun Crime Song), 311: Guns (Are For Pussies), Gorillaz: Kids With Guns, Robert Bobby: Guns Across The U.S.A and Bigger Guns., UB40: Guns In The Ghetto, The Damned: Gun Fury, The Tannahill Weavers: At The End Of A Pointed Gun, Steely Dan: With A Gun, Buju Banton: Mr. Nine, Aerosmith: Janie’s Got A Gun, Indigo Girls: Don’t Give That Girl A Gun, and Julie Brown: Homecoming Queen’s got a gun
MORE SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!
BE SURE TO CALL IN AND REQUEST THEY BE PLAYED ON THE RADIO IN AFTER THE NEXT MASS SHOOTING!
Nothing embarrasses the Gunloons more than being shown up for being the headcases they are.
"All countries to which George W. Bush travels have an obligation to bring him to justice for his role in torture," said Matt Pollard, senior legal adviser.What do you think? Is that Malaysia news beginning to have a ripple effect?
Amnesty International recognizes the value of raising awareness about cervical and breast cancer in Africa, the stated aim of the visit, but this cannot lessen the damage to the fight against torture caused by allowing someone who has admitted to authorizing water-boarding to travel without facing the consequences prescribed by law.
"International law requires that there be no safe haven for those responsible for torture; Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia must seize this opportunity to fulfill their obligations and end the impunity George W. Bush has so far enjoyed," said Pollard.
He is the liberal firebrand ex-congressman from Disney World, defeated in 2010 after one term, who is now running for a new House seat representing Orlando. It's nice to see a real progressive out there--as opposed to purported "Socialists".
You know what Washington’s like. Why do you want to go back?
I’d be down on the floor every day calling the [Republicans] out for the crazy stuff they do, that nobody ever finds out about, because they’re not witnesses to it.
What do you make of the so-called Supercommittee’s failure to do its job?
I’m not sure that they should do their job. I don’t like their job. Their job is to cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. I’m sorry, it’s just a farce. The real two-party system in America is the Meanies and the Weenies. The Meanies want to take away your benefits, and the Weenies want to compromise with them.
Why isn’t the leadership of your party focusing on these problems?
You’d have to ask them. I’d love to see them solve some problems. Show me a problem that they’ve solved. But I’m really not interested in demoralizing my own supporters.
Are you heartened that President Obama has started to articulate that message?
I don’t know what to say to that. You’ve left me speechless.
Would Mitt Romney be worse than Barack Obama?
He’d be less bad than some of the other candidates who are running for the Republican nomination.
Any thoughts on the other Republican candidates?
I never in my wildest dreams imagined that Ron Paul would have a viable candidacy. Newt Gingrich is like Rudy Giuliani—the more you know him, the less you like him. I’d be concerned that if Gingrich were President, he’d find a way to cheat on the country.
What are the odds that Obama will be reelected?
I think he’ll probably be reelected.
How much money will be spent against you?
Last time the Koch brothers spent around $2 million, the health-insurance companies spent around $2 million, and the Republican Party spent around $1 million.
You obviously have high name recognition.
There are many people who live here [in Orlando] and know me and wish they didn’t. The only person who’s better known than me [in Orlando] is the President -- and Mickey Mouse. But I don’t think Mickey’s going to run.
Learn more about Alan here.
Isnora had been assigned to the Queens strip club where the three friends were partying before Bell's wedding. Isnora said he believed Guzman had a gun because he heard him say "Get my gun" outside the club. He said he thought the men were going to their car to get a weapon and commit a drive-by shooting to get even with another group of men with whom they had been arguing moments earlier outside.
No weapon was found in Bell's car.
nounex·plo·sion
[ik-sploh-zhuhn]
1.2.the noise itself: The loud explosion woke them.3.a violent outburst, as of laughter or anger.4.a sudden, rapid, or great increase: a population explosion.5.
You're welcome.verb (used without object)ex·plode
[ik-splohd] verb, -plod·ed, -plod·ing.1.to expand with force and noise because of rapid chemical change or decomposition, as gunpowder or nitroglycerine ( opposed to implode).2.to burst, fly into pieces, or break up violently with a loud report, as a boiler from excessive pressure of steam.
Dogs are man's best friend. Except, you know, when they're shooting a gun at you. And strangely enough, that's what really happened to a hapless dog owner in Brigham City, Utah. The man in question--a 46-year-old hunting enthusiast who is not named in local news reports on the incident--got a behind-full of birdshot courtesy of his loyal canine companion when he was out duck hunting over the weekend.
Duck Hunt gone awry
KSL.com reports the man and his dog were traveling in a canoe-like boat when the man stepped out into a shallow marsh to set up some decoys. His left his 12-gauge shotgun resting across the bow of the boat, according to Box Elder County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Potter.
That's when the dog "did something to make the gun discharge," Potter said. "I don't know if the safety device was on. It's not impossible the dog could have taken it off safety."
Apparently excited to join his owner in the marsh, the dog jumped up on the boat's bow and stepped on the gun. The gun was fired, hitting the man in the buttocks with 27 pellets of birdshot.
The man promptly called 9-1-1, and is now reportedly recovering. Potter said that thanks to a well-positioned pair of waders--the hip-length rubber boots he was wearing at the time--the dog owner was able to avoid a more serious gunshot wound.
Nope, nothing extreme there that I can see. What else?We should make it harder for convicted felons, the dangerously mentally ill, and others like them to get guns in the first place.
We can do this by passing laws such as requiring Brady criminal background checks on all gun sales; banning military-style assault weapons; and strengthening law enforcement’s efforts to stop the illegal gun market, like limiting the number of guns that can be bought at one time.
Please be a part of our efforts. There are quick and easy ways to sign up to be part of our e-action network, to become involved if you are a victim of gun violence, to become an activist, and to donate.
Thousands upon thousands of people will continue to die and be injured needlessly each year without stronger, sensible gun laws. The Brady Campaign fights for sensible gun laws to protect you, your family and your community.
No, certainly no problem with that. What else?We are devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.
The Brady Campaign works to pass and enforce sensible federal and state gun laws, regulations, and public policies through grassroots activism, electing public officials who support common sense gun laws, and increasing public awareness of gun violence. Through our Million Mom March and Brady Chapters, we work locally to educate people about the dangers of guns, honor victims of gun violence, and pass sensible gun laws, believing that all Americans, especially children, have the right to live free from the threat of gun violence.
The Brady Center works to reform the gun industry by enacting and enforcing sensible regulations to reduce gun violence, including regulations governing the gun industry. In addition, we represent victims of gun violence in the courts. We educate the public about gun violence through litigation, grassroots mobilization, and outreach to affected communities.
Again, no problem, nothing extreme at all.Our goal is to protect you, your family and your community from gun deaths and injuries. In America, we make it too easy for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons. There are only a few federal gun control laws on the books, and even those have loopholes. This leads to senseless gun violence affecting tens of thousands.
We should make it harder for convicted felons, the dangerously mentally ill, and others like them to get guns in the first place. We can do this by passing laws such as requiring Brady criminal background checks on all gun sales; banning military-style assault weapons; and strengthening law enforcement's efforts to stop the illegal gun market, like limiting the number of guns that can be bought at one time.
We can also do this by exposing corrupt gun dealers who feed the illegal gun market. Our Brady Center legal staff works to hold those dealers accountable in court and to protect common sense gun laws when they are attacked in court. We work to strengthen law enforcement's efforts to stop the illegal gun market. We also educate the public about gun violence through grassroots mobilization and outreach to affected communities.
Thousands upon thousands of people will continue to die and be injured needlessly each year without stronger, sensible gun laws. The Brady Campaign fights for sensible gun laws to protect you, your family and your community.
