WNBA rallies around Lauren Hill

"We want to make this woman feel the love from the basketball community," New York Liberty senior VP Kristin Bernert said of Mount St. Joseph freshman Lauren Hill, above, who has inoperable brain cancer.

Elena Delle Donne had chills when she first heard about Lauren Hill. The WNBA star was brought to tears the more she read about the Mount St. Joseph freshman, who has inoperable brain cancer.

Delle Donne will attend Hill's game on Sunday as a fan, moving a speaking engagement to make sure she could be there.

"It's a once in a lifetime thing for her and I want to be there to support her," Delle Donne said.

"She had that much passion for the sport to get one more game in there. It's so amazing to see as an athlete her love of Basketball. To see what she's doing to play that game is really miraculous and so incredible.

"The impact she's going to have on the world is the most important thing. It's very important to continue her legacy and I'm going to do my best to get the WNBA to remember her."

She isn't the only WNBA player who will be at the game. The Indiana Fever will have a contingent at Xavier on Sunday among the 10,000 people expected to attend the game. The Fever honored Hill, who is from Indiana, earlier this month at a Pacers preseason game. The team made her an honorary member of the Fever.

Delle Donne wants to do more. She reached out to her agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas to see what they could do for Hill.

A few hours later, Colas was talking with Kristin Bernert, who is the senior vice president of business operations for the New York Liberty. Bernert had read about Hill and was also deeply moved by her story. So the two thought of ideas of what they could do to help.

They came up with a website -- http://www.1more4lauren.com/.

It serves as a chance for people to learn about Hill and offer their support. There are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts from athletes across the sporting world, including Maya Moore, Becky Hammon, Mia Hamm, Richard Sherman and Kyle Singler.

"We want to make this woman feel the love from the basketball community," Bernert said. "We also want to raise awareness for the disease she's fighting. Raise some money. There's a lot of momentum around her right now. How do we remind people the disease is still there eight or nine months from now?"

Just a thought .... from Johnnie Lucille Collier .... or

Not sure what made me think of this ...... in an interview once, with Ann Miller, the dancer, she made a comment I have never forgotten.

Whoever she was talking with was talking about all the wonderful dance partners she had in her career, and how great they were.

She danced with all the greats, and the general talk was how great her partners could dance.

Then, she made a comment .... 

"Remember, I did the exact steps they did .......... only backwards"

1 Pilot Killed, 1 Injured in SpaceShipTwo Crash in Mojave Desert

One crew member was killed and another suffered a "major injury" after Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, designed for suborbital commercial flights above the Earth, went down Friday during a test flight over the Mojave Desert in Southern California.

The test flight, in preparation for space tourism trips for which 700 customers have already paid up to $250,000, involved two crew members. Ground controllers lost contact with the crew shortly after the space tourism plane separated from a mothership that carries it to a height of about 50,000 feet, according to a Federal Aviation Administration statement.

One crew member was found dead in the vicinity of what authorities described as a widespread debris field. A second crew member was hospitalized, but details regarding a condition were not immediately available.

"At times like these, we recognize we engage in our craft freely," said Stuart Witt, CEO of Mojave Air and Space Port. "The test community is very small. We are human, and it hurts."

Crews found three distinct debris fields, indicating SpaceShipTwo broke apart mid-air, said Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood. A witness told The Associated Press the space tourism plane exploded over the desert after its rocket motor ignited.

Parts of the plane landed in the Cantil area, about 25 miles northeast of Mojave Air and Space Port and 95 miles north of Los Angeles. Aerial video showed several pieces of aircraft debris marked with the Virgin Galactic logo.

Witt and other members of the test flight team watched the test flight from the base of the control tower. He said he "detected nothing that appeared abnormal."

"During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of SpaceShipTwo," according to Virgin Galactic. The "anomaly" occurred as the plane fired its rocket engine in flight, according to NBCNews.com. A tweet posted by Virgin Galactic's account Friday morning said, "#SpaceShipTwo has experienced an in-flight anomaly."

The tweet was posted just minutes after the plane, carried to 50,000 feet by a mothership called WhiteKnightTwo, began flying under rocket power, something the hybrid-rocket engine plane had not done in more than nine months, according to NBCNews.com. WhiteKnightTwo landed safety, according to Virgin Galactic.

Billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic's founder, had planned to be among those on the plane's first commercial voyage. Branson's company is considered a front-runner in the space tourism industry.

"Thoughts with all @virgingalactic & Scaled, thanks for all your messages of support. I'm flying to Mojave immediately to be with the team," Branson tweeted Friday afternoon.

Branson's tweet referred to Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic's flight test partner.

Authorities did not comment with regard to a cause at a Friday afternoon news conference.

Virgin Galactic had switched the plane's fuel mixture since the last powered flight, NBCNews.com reported. The fuel change involved a switch from a rubber-based compound to plastic-based mix, NBCNews.com reported. Engineers were attempting to determine whether the new mix would boost engine performance.

Test flight officials said at a Friday news conference that the new fuel formulation had been tested many times on the ground.

Obama loses Democratic crowd during speech — again

For the second time in just a few days, President Obama saw some of his Democratic Party listeners walk away while he was in the middle of delivering a speech at the podium.

This time, the trouble was in Wisconsin, and before a partly progressive-minded crowd for gubernatorial hopeful Mary Burke, The Weekly Standard reported.

Mike Lowe, a political reporter, tweeted (@MikeLoweReports): “Some people — not a lot, but some — are leaving as the president is speaking.”

The exodus comes on the heels of a similar one that occurred in Maryland, at a Democratic Party campaign event on Oct. 19. Then, Mr. Obama was telling the crowd of the importance of voting — “You’ve got to vote,” he repeated, over the shouts of a heckler, the New York Post reported — when a steady stream of listeners began filing from the school gymnasium venue.

A great afternoon

Great afternoon for ..... nothing ..... to do, cloudy out, gloomy day, so, I am doing You Tube, listening right now to George Jones ..... Shine ...... what a shame that he is gone, not only, him, but so many like him. These poor kids today, will never know his ..... hum, hum, hum .... and those great notes he hit ..... down here ...... then way up here ...... just be able to sit ...... and listen .... to music .... now one with  Merle Haggard and George ......The Way I Am ........

Songs with words .... words you understand, relate to ....

Well .... it's three hours later ..... been sitting here listening to Merle Haggard songs and some George Jones songs ..... a few tears .... memory tears ..... and feeling so sorry for those who don't know and will never know ......... such music ............

Oh .... George .... The Song .... He stopped loving her today ....

Kids .... they are missing out on so much ...................

I wonder why ...............

Eric Frein allowed himself to be captured, I wonder why? Many, in such situations, take their own lives, not him, he meekly surrendered, after all of that time and chase. I do admire the "restraint" of those who captured him, with all those assault rifles in their hands, and their finders on their triggers, no a one of them "twitched" .... I wonder why. 

Who was in attendance at the "capture" that commanded so much respect?

Frein must have wanted the notoriety and publicity, possibly, if he makes it, the trial.

Now he is a beaten, captured, murderer, nothing more, not he survivalist he seemed to be, the rebel. He now knows how hated a man he actually is. Will he try suicide? Will he be overwhelmed by it all? What will he tell all the shrinks that see him?

He is not a folk hero, just a killer, I wonder how he will handle that? 

November Eve ...............

The last day of October, and, the weatherman, last night, saw some snow in the near future. Out Trick or Treat Great Grandkids came by last night. Miss Brooklyn, excitedly got out of the car, and slammed the door on her finger. I did that in the 30's, a Lincoln Zephyr, still have a scar. It hurt her, killed me, seeing that "Princess" .... all happy and excited, in tears ..... ruined my night. A band aid usually helped, but not this time. She and Mom and Dad and Miss Emma and her PawPaw, Grandfather took off in search of goodies, Miss Brooklyn had a tear in her eye, so sad.

Upset me so much I had a hard time eating dinner, I had done friend chicken, fantastic mashed potatoes and steamed carrots, ate very little

Later on, they all came back, and Miss Brooklyn, had a big broad grin on her face and a pumpkin full of candy, the finger forgotten for the time being. I was still devastated and she was smiling.

They televised a local football game last night, our old area school, Licking Valley, and they were playing Granville, a beautiful, affluent community nearby, home of Denison University. This significance of this, I looked at their helmets, and they were the Spades, not the Blue Aces as I knew them to be. Nothing on their logo indicates an Ace, just a Spade. The Granville Blue Spades, which, now, they will always be to me .... that logo really has nothing to do with an Ace. A primarily white, affluent community, called the Spades.

News this morning, an elusive killer is apprehended in Pennsylvania, alive, which surprised me, obama is hugging .... HEALTHY .... previously exposed, ebola nurses, another Bush may run for president, Hillary is on the campaign trail, California is out of water, quite a few killings around the country, nothing out of the ordinary.

I think due to television, marketing and retailing, Halloween is now a gigantic selling holiday, Walmart had a gigantic pile, aisles of Halloween products, candy displays, probably weighted in the tons. All, probably gone this weekend to make room for the Thanksgiving and Christmas displays. Weather seasons have been replaced by "Selling" Seasons. I don't remember much being sold, in my youth, other than masks, the rest was up to the imagination. No more, your choice of many "characters" .... probably only used once, so the process can be repeated in a year.

I still remember reaching in a bowl, of pennies, and being able to keep all I could bring out in my "little" hand. A memory never to be forgotten.

For a long time, the NFL has been advertising Thursday Night Football, a gigantic, colossal, event for aa Thursday night. I was going to watch last night, they changed the channel to one which I don't get, unless I pay .... which I will not do. I don't understand all of that. All day Sunday, Sunday Night, Monday night ...... but NO Thursday, they have their own network, NFL ..... will we all have to pay to see games ..... in the future? You bet! It is all ......... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Trooper ambush suspect caught

I am surprised, and applaud the law enforcement officers who captured this man, and brought him in, alive. I imagine it took great willpower and restraint to not, pull the trigger. I never thought he would be taken alive. Now we will go through a very lengthy time period of legal "crap" ... crap not being a legal term, but a broad reference to all that is involved in the legal process.

He apparently was brought in, wearing the handcuffs of the man he had killed, poetic justice?

If someone had pulled the trigger, perhaps there might have been a question, never answered.

We all hope that no one person decides to take justice into their own hands, and that this chapter is closed.

Pennsylvania slept better last night.

Ralph Nader dubs Hillary Clinton ‘a menace to the United States’

Ralph Nader, a former Green Party and Independent Party presidential candidate who frequently serves as a loud critic of federal safety standards, doesn't have much love for presumptive Democratic Party White House candidate Hillary Clinton.

When asked by a writer with We Are Change what he thought of the the former Secretary of State seeking the nation’s highest office, Mr. Nader’s reply was less than enthusiastic.

“Well, Hillary is a corporatist and a militarist,” Mr. Nader said, Raw Story reported. “Do we want another corporatist and militarist? She thinks Obama is too weak. He doesn't kill enough people overseas. So she’s a menace to the United States of America.”

But he wasn't done.

“What we need is people — regardless of whether they are libertarians or not — that pull back on the empire and make Wall Street subordinate to Main Street,” Mr. Nader said, Raw Story reported. “People have got to start thinking, doing their homework, become informed voters and not coronet another corporatist and militarist.’

Mr. Nader had some harsh words for Sen. Rand Paul, too.

Trooper Ambush Suspect Eric Frein Captured After Manhunt

Eric Frein, who became the most wanted man in Pennsylvania when he allegedly gunned down two state troopers in an ambush, has been captured following a nearly two-month manhunt in the woods surrounding the Pocono Mountains.

U.S. Marshals took the 31-year-old into custody Thursday night inside an abandoned airplane hangar at the defunct Birchwood-Pocono Airpark on Cherry Lane and Birchwood Drive in Tannersville, Pennsylvania, Barrett Township Police confirmed to NBC10.

Frein is charged with opening fire on two troopers outside state police’s Blooming Grove barracks on Sept. 12. Cpl. Bryon Dickson was killed and another trooper, Alex Douglass, was seriously hurt.

Police sources tell NBC10 that the FBI and U.S. Marshals were stationed near the airstrip when a tip came in about a person going in and out of the hangar. Authorities nabbed him as he attempted to walk back in. Inside, a gun and rifle were recovered, state police confirmed. The airport is some 40 miles from the barracks.

Authorities slapped Dickson's handcuffs onto Frein's wrists when they placed him under arrest, law enforcement sources told NBC10.

Blood trickled from a cut on the bridge of Frein's nose as he was led away from the airport in a police cruiser. The man was nearly clean-shaven and had medium length hair hanging from his head -- not the mow hawk that investigators said he could have been wearing. Sources said Frein was depleted and had no fight left in him.

In a caravan, police drove Frein to the Blooming Grove trooper barracks, the same place he allegedly shot the officers, to be processed. The man was nearly dragged into the station, his bound hands held behind his head, as a dozen rifle-armed troopers stood watch.

Frein, whom police describe as a survivalist who was armed and dangerous, eluded authorities for 48 days amid an intense manhunt in dense forest around northeastern Pennsylvania. The search prompted authorities to close schools, ask residents to shelter in their homes or stay away and cost the state millions of dollars.

Police linked the shooting to Frein after a man walking his dog found the suspect’s SUV partially submerged in a swamp near the shooting scene. Inside, investigators discovered shell casings that matched those found at the shooting scene, the man’s driver’s license, camouflage face paint, empty rifle casings and military gear.

Using dogs, thermal imaging technology and other tools, law enforcement officials combed miles of forest as they hunted for the suspect, whom they called an experienced survivalist at home in the woods.

They pursued countless tips, and they closed in on an area around Frein's parents' home in Canadensis after he used his cellphone to try contacting them, and the signal was traced to a location about three miles away.

Trackers found items they believe Frein hid or abandoned in the woods — including soiled diapers, empty packs of Serbian cigarettes, an AK-47-style assault rifle and ammunition, and two pipe bombs that were functional and capable of causing significant damage. They also discovered a journal, allegedly kept by Frein and found in a bag of trash at a hastily abandoned campsite, that offered a chilling account of the ambush and his subsequent escape into the woods. The journal's author described Dickson as falling, "still and quiet," after being shot twice.

"Don't be breathing on me ..... 

five times,  right?"

I got to thinking ..... Obama gave the Ebola nurse a hug .......

Could start a whole new trend in the white house .... what name should we give those "kinds" of hugs?

In this case he was showing his lack of fear about Ebola, after five tests indicated that she no longer carried the virus, not three or four, FIVE tests. I doubt that he will meet any planes to welcome visitors from Africa, or any of  the workers who were there. No, this one was tested five times, then, he hugged her.

I guess the only statement he made was ..... "I hug healthy people." In reality, it is almost pathetic, what he did, proved nothing, made a big show, she was probably the healthiest person he has hugged since he has been ..... well you know ... the president ..... "I don't be huggin no republicans though,"

I wonder if "Testing" is mandatory now, on all persons who enter the white house .... well, it is, except when he is out playing golf or off in his jet ..............

We are a great people, here in the USA

Washington (AFP) - Raucous celebrations over San Francisco's World Series baseball triumph degenerated into street violence Thursday, with two people shot and injured, news reports said.

In repeats of unrest that broke out after the San Francisco Giants won the baseball title in 2010 and 2012, crowds of revelers set bonfires, got into fistfights on the streets and threw bottles, sparking the deployment of riot police, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Two people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, while another man was stabbed, the Chronicle reported, quoting police.

Rowdy and drunken fans rampaged through several districts of the California city after the Giants won game seven of the best-of-seven series against the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City with a 3-2 victory.

Several arrests were made over the course of the night and some officers suffered minor injuries after being hit by bottles or fireworks, the paper quoted police spokesman Gordon Shyy as saying.

I wonder if this happens in other places in the world. Here, a policeman shoots a robber and riots break out, a team winds a baseball game, the above. Any excuse, I guess, probably some looting of stores, a FREE shopping experience. I guess I have seen too much of this. I think the first riots I remember were in Detroit, a long time ago, race riots, I guess we are just "big" on riots. I watched that game lat night, when it was over, I went to sleep .....................

Finally a TV channel I like ....................

We've got an irritating thing on our TV, other than the programs and the commercials, it has an automatic shut off thing, I guess on a timer, it pops up with a window, a message about use, or something, and turns the channel off.

I was watching some game channel, nothing else on, and, well, it shut off ...... and, the quiet is so refreshing, the silence is ..... restful, peaceful and nice.

Finally, a Chanel I like ............... nothing, no picture, no idle patter, just ..... silence.

I just got back from Walmart, needed some "treats" for a couple of Great Grandkid goblins that may show up tonight ..... Walmart had a whole department with Halloween stuff, costumes, all sorts of goodies, lights, candy, CANDY and more CANDY. People spend more on Halloween stuff now, that we used to spend on Christmas.

I DID NOT DO THIS .... but joked to the cashier, I could have gotten two bottles of wine, little bottles, given them those, and they would be happy, really happy, AND, I would have spent less money. I repeat, I DID NOT DO THAT and would not have, it was just something that entered my mind when I saw the wine display ..... price comparison ..............

Amelia Earhart plane fragment identified

A piece of an aluminum aircraft discovered on an uninhabited atoll in the southwestern Pacific has been identified as belonging to the twin-engine Lockheed Electra of U.S. aviator Amelia Earhart, according to Discovery News.

The fragment was located on Nikumaroro, in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati in 1991.

Researchers at The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery say the metal was part of a patch installed on Earhart’s plane in Miami, where she stayed for eight days on her mission to circumnavigate the globe.

“The Miami Patch was an expedient field repair,” Ric Gillespie, executive director of the group, told Discovery News. “Its complex fingerprint of dimensions, proportions, materials and rivet patterns was as unique to Earhart’s Electra as a fingerprint is to an individual.”

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared 77 years ago on their journey around the world. The Nikumaroro fragment could prove that Earhart and Noonan did not crash into the Pacific Ocean after running out of fuel as some believe, but instead made a “forced landing” on the atoll’s coral reef, and then lived on the atoll as castaways before eventually dying.

No, I don't think so ....................

Question on Facebook today: Like if you agree - President Obama is a Failure

How is he a failure .... He is a success ... He has held one of the most important jobs in the world, for eight years, with absolutely no experience or qualifications to do so. How could that be considered a failure?

I forget now if he actually promised to do anything, if it had to do with healthcare, he got a program pushed through. Remember, He could NOT beat Hillary, He could NOT win the election, He could NOT win re-election, He could NOT get his obamacare passed ... all those things he could NOT do, he did. AND, we really don't even know if he is even qualified to hold the job.

How could that be considered a failure in any way. He has been SUCCESSFUL in all he has attempted. And we still, really, know little to nothing about him, all insinuations, about his nationality, his sexuality and his background.

So, don't think for a minute that he is a failure, his chef will be preparing his dinner tonight in the kitchen of the White House for he and his family. He is surrounded by his family, an army of security, an army of servants, a large army of advisers, limos at his disposal, helicopters, a couple of glamorous airplanes, and, thousands of supporters, and a small movie theater with 24/7/365 camera operators available, and, I don't know how many, people to take care of his dog, or dogs.

That don't sound like no failure to me ...............

Obama gives Ebola survivor Nina Pham a bear hug at the White House

"Five times, you're sure, all five OK, .....I'm still gonna hold my breath, take the picture fast, OK, NOW!"

A bear hug is worth a thousand words? President Barack Obama embraced Ebola survivor Nina Pham in the Oval Office on Friday, shortly after the 26-year-old Dallas nurse was discharged from the National Institutes of Health.

The White House photo op came as the Obama administration struggled to reassure jittery Americans that they should trust medical and scientific authorities and that the deadly disease does not threaten them.

In a show of faith in the nation’s elite doctors and scientists, the White House did not subject Pham to any additional screening before her face-to-face meeting with the president.

“Ms. Pham was tested five different times to confirm that she no longer had the virus,” press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. “So all the necessary testing that allowed her to safely return home with a clean bill of health is the same guidance that she has gotten in terms of meeting the president.”

10/30

Broncos fan who disappeared during game found safe

By SADIE GURMAN
Associated Press

DENVER (AP) - A Denver Broncos fan who disappeared during last week's game has been found safe, police said Tuesday.

Denver Police Sgt. Steve Warneke said Paul Kitterman, 53, was found Tuesday night in Pueblo, about 100 miles south of Denver. Warneke did not have any information about Kitterman's disappearance, but he said no criminal charges are expected.

"All we were trying to do was make sure he was unharmed, and he was," Warneke said. "So at that point, we're finished."

Police referred all other questions to Kitterman's family. The man's stepson, Jarod Tonneson, did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press on his cellphone Tuesday night.

Family and friends of Kitterman had been searching for him since Thursday night's game against the San Diego Chargers at Sports Authority Field.

Tonneson told investigators his stepfather had not been seen since he left his seat to meet friends during halftime. Tonneson filed a missing persons report with Denver police, scoured the sprawling stadium, called local hospitals and detox centers, and taped fliers around the city.

The two went to the game with two of their friends after a day spent working and hunting at another friend's ranch in Kremmling, a small town in the mountains of northern Colorado.

Kitterman and Tonneson, both construction workers, hurriedly made the 100-mile trip to the stadium after a friend offered tickets. It was Kitterman's first time there, and in his haste, he forgot his cellphone and took no credit cards and very little cash.

Kitterman had four or five beers in the course of a four-hour span - not enough to become disoriented, said Tonneson, who noted that his stepfather did not have any known health or personal problems.

Thanks Ernie .....

The best description of Obamacare so far: 

Remember when Nancy Pelosi said, 

“We have to pass it, to find out what's in it." 

A physician called into a radio show and said, 

"That's the definition of a stool sample."

"Do you speak Spanish?"

"Well, no, I don't."

"Then why do you have the Spanish music station on your radio turned on?"

Went to Walmart today, before getting out, was talking with a guy that works there that I have gotten to know, he overheard my radio playing as I pulled up, thus, this scenario.

I enjoy the Spanish station, and the Spanish, Mexican or whatever, music.

Well, here is why. First, I enjoy the music, it seems like it is all the same. If I have English speaking music on I continually hit the "Seek" button to find something I like. And, I hate commercials, radio commercials, TV commercials, all kinds. If they are in Spanish I don't know if they are commercials or not. There are occasionally some English words I hear, Colonel Sanders, Wendy's, some names I recognize.

So, nice, good, catchy music, melodic, one right after another, I have not heard one yet that I did not like, understood none, but liked them all.

That is why I listen to the Spanish Music station.

Buenos Tardes, Amigos ... I took Spanish in school, know a few words .....

How do they do it?

I am watching TV, early morning TV, loaded with commercials .... getting ready for Christmas Selling, and I have to wonder, how, do they come with all these TOOLS. New and improved tools that I have to have to save .................... so much. Every Father's Day and Christmas new tools.

An electric screwdriver, 360 degree swivel, you can ao anything with it, use it anywhere.

And, then, a socket wrench, well, to use in tight spaces, the slightest turn of the handle will loosen or tighten a nut.

Now a stepladder that one can almost live it, it does so much.

As Seen On TV .... products everywhere, A.J. is happy. Walmart, Kroger's, the drug store, all have a portion of an aisle devoted to such products. I went to CVS yesterday to get some sore shoulder relieving stuff for my daughter, got stuck in that aisle, checked out at least 20 products, most I had seen before, but they always interest me.

Mr. Khubani, Mr. As Seen On TV, I have met and spent time talking with. Very interesting man. He listened a lot, said little. One time, we were at my sons studio in NJ, and AJ was doing a "shoot" and we were at the front counter talking. There were 5 or 6 of us. All of us had an idea or a product we were running by him. He listened to us all, said little, but he summed it up with ..... "Is there a need for it?"

I have never forgotten that, is there a need for it? And, if you think about it, each of his products, there is a "need" for them.

Is he wealthy ............ ? The new owner of the record $34 million penthouse at the Seville Hotel redo / Residences at the Marriott Edition is infomercial king, sovereign of the 'As Seen On TV' empire, Ajit "A.J." Khubani, according to the New York Post.

I also think he bought a comparable airplane to fly from NJ or NY to his little place in Florida.

As I say, I have met and chatted with him, a very nice person, and when he spoke, I listened.

REMEMBER - Sunday ..............

Impressive ..... to say the least.

Colorado Man Vanishes at Stadium During Broncos Game

Paul Kitterman told his friend Tia Bakke that the experience of being at his first ever Denver Broncos game in person with his son was "awesome" - and that was the last she heard of him.

The 53-year-old from Kremmling, Colorado, seemingly vanished into the Sports Authority Field crowd at the Broncos-Chargers game Thursday night in what Denver police now call a missing persons case.

"He would never bail on his son, or anyone," Bakke told ABC News, "so by Friday night, we knew something was really, really, wrong."

Bakke, who traveled with Kitterman and his son, Jarod, to the game, said they had plans to meet afterwards at a stadium gate.

"We go down to gate 8. No Paul. We wait an hour. No Paul," she said.

Bakke's group contacted stadium security and searched around the grounds until 1 a.m. before finally heading back to Kremmling without Kitterman.

Kitterman has few contacts in Denver and had no cell phone, credit card or vehicle with him, Bakke said. She added he had plans to go hunting with his son the next morning.

Denver police have filed a missing persons report, are assisting the family and are investigating, but are not actively searching on foot because they are not certain a crime was committed.

"With 70,000 people and cameras all over the stadium, you would see something if a violent crime occurred," Sonny Jackson, a police spokesman, told ABC News.

IRS seizes woman's entire savings because she deposits less than $10,000 at a time

An Iowa woman named Carole Hinders saw her bank balance go from $33,000 to zero thanks to IRS confiscation. Hinders, who owns a small, cash-only Mexican restaurant, has not been charged with any crime and is not suspected of tax fraud. The IRS says they took her money solely because she deposited too little of it at a time, and the agency claims she did so to avoid the required reporting of any bank transaction over $10,000. She says she just thought it was helpful to save the bank paperwork.

Though the $10,000 rule is ostensibly designed to help catch terrorists and drug dealers, it is far more often used on regular citizens who are unlikely to ever see their money returned. "I don't think [the IRS is] really interested in anything," said a lawyer representing another seizure case. "They just want the money."

To keep her restaurant afloat following the confiscation of her savings, Hinders has had to take out a second mortgage and max out her credit cards. "How can this happen?" she asks. "Who takes your money before they prove that you've done anything wrong with it?"- - Bonnie Kristian

Custom urns courtesy of company's 3-D printer

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota startup is using a 3-D printer to create custom urns shaped like objects that were important to the person whose remains they hold.

The Eden Prairie-based Foreverence offers urns that are made with a ceramic material that looks different than the plastic material typically produced by a 3-D printer. The process takes nearly an entire day, starting with about nine hours of printing, and then followed by several hours of touchups, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported (http://bit.ly/1tRLCM6 ).

Each urn is unique and can take the form of just about anything, including ballet slippers, cars and instruments.

"I'm fascinated by the endless possibilities," company CEO Pete Saari said.

It has even made an urn shaped like the signature hats worn by rock band Devo when co-founder Bob Casale died earlier this year. Foreverence offered Casale's family the urn and ended up making two for them. Casale's family told the company that it was "the first joyous moment in a dark period of time for them," Saari said.

Foreverence sells its urns, which typically cost thousands of dollars, through funeral directors.

I wonder?

Is it just me, or are politicians determining Ebola protocol? Why not get the advice of people in the medical profession, in no way is it a political issue.

pol·i·ti·cian

ˌpäləˈtiSHən/

noun

1. a person who is professionally involved in politics, especially as a holder of or a candidate for an elected office.

   synonyms:

   legislator, elected official, statesman, stateswoman, public servant; More

   • US

     a person who acts in a manipulative and devious way, typically to gain advancement within an organization.
   • 
     

   I don't see where the definition says anything about expertise in anything. Why and how have we allowed them so much power and supposed knowledge about ............ everything.
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3. By virtue of winning an election does not give them any super powers. One can be an unemployed, uneducated oaf, win an election, and be a world leader, in one day, dictating policy, and leading.
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Hospital: Teen wounded in school shooting dies

MARYSVILLE, Wash. (AP) — One of the teenagers wounded in a Washington state high school shooting died Sunday night, raising the number of fatalities from when a student opened fire in a cafeteria to three.

Officials at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett confirmed the death of 14-year-old Gia Soriano. Another girl was killed during the shooting Friday by a popular freshman at Marysville-Pilchuck High School north of Seattle. The shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, died of a self-inflicted wound.

Three other students remain hospitalized, two in critical condition and one in serious condition.

At a news conference, Dr. Joanne Roberts read a statement from Gia's family.

"We are devastated by this senseless tragedy. Gia is our beautiful daughter, and words cannot express how much we will miss her," the statement said.

Roberts said Gia's family was donating her organs for transplant.

A thought ...........

I sit here and read all of the Postings on Facebook, of those I know, and all they are doing, trips, football games and other things, and I am envious, and then, I think of all the things I have done, the places I have been, the people I have seen .... and there was no Facebook to show the world the good times I was having.

Then I think, I've been there, I've done that, and I am no longer envious. Do I wish I could do it all over again, not sure.

I saw some folks in San Francisco, I was there in '52, lived there for a year or so, San Bruno, lived on the beach for a month or so, had some friends there who lived near the park, would weekend with them, go "crabbing" or "lobstering" .... she fixed us great food, Seal Beach, that big museum place, had some great times in San Francisco. I did have a problem with her soup though .... a fish eye staring up at me .... never really told her what a I thought.

I guess I can live with my memories, and let all those others create theirs .... different times, different places .....

Yes, there is ...............

I saw this on Facebook, read it .... went on to other things ... and then went back and read it again. There is a lot of truth to it.

School shootings are dreadful, we wonder why, but ..... in a way .... they do not affect me, here, personally. I don't go to school, so, I am concerned as to why, in a way, but not directly concerned.

Ebola was not a concern, when it was ..... in Africa ....... WHAT, one in Columbus, Ohio, a few miles away .... great concern on my part, not so much for me, but my children and grand children and great grandchildren .... it was getting ....... "close to home."

I guess, also, perhaps a pharmaceutical company could come up with a vaccine or something to take care of the problem .... a much more difficult problem in the schools, and society.

There is a difference in concern though, he makes a good point.

This post if for Jim Madison out in OK .........

"There's a Kinko's three blocks South, they do resumes, Brady, good luck wherever you end up," the Michigan State coach commented during the post game, mid field handshake.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Brady Hoke was the last person to enter Michigan's locker room, a couple of state troopers trailing behind him waited outside.

Moments later, Hoke's voice boomed loud enough to be heard through the concrete walls and into the hallway. The coach challenged his team to get back to work and laid the blame for the Wolverines' latest loss to rival Michigan State on himself.

"I didn't prepare you well enough," he yelled. It was brief. There's not much left to say.

Nothing seems to be changing for Michigan. Certainly not against No. 8 Michigan State.

The latest mauling of the Wolverines by the Spartans ended 35-11 on Saturday.

Michigan (3-5, 1-3 Big Ten) finally scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, its first against their rivals since 2011. Whether or not the Wolverines could get into the end zone was the only interesting thing about the fourth quarter.

"We're all very disappointed and should be," Hoke said. "No. 1 a rivalry game and it's a Big Ten game. The message also is we're going back to work. We have each other."

It used to be news when Michigan State (7-1, 4-0) beat Michigan, when little brother rose up and knocked the mighty Wolverines down a peg. Now it's routine and the Paul Bunyan Trophy has taken up almost permanent residence in East Lansing. The Spartans have won six of seven, and the last two have been noncompetitive.

Michigan State has stepped on Michigan on its way to the top of the Big Ten, and the Wolverines inability to keep that from happening, to swing the rivalry back toward Michigan, is one of the reasons Hoke's future as coach in Ann Arbor is in serious doubt.

Win totals have been on the decline at Michigan since Hoke's first season, when he took a team left behind by Rich Rodriguez to the Sugar Bowl. Then it was eight wins in 2012 and seven last year. He came into this season needing to reverse that trend. Instead, the slide continues.

You know it's looking bad for a coach when the rival fans start begging for him to stay. Before Saturday's game a plane flew a banner over Spartan Stadium that read: U OF M - KEEP BRADY HOKE - PLZZZ. Michigan State fans chanted "Keep Brady."

"No," senior linebacker Jake Ryan said when asked if he heard the sarcastic chants. "We're going into work tomorrow."

Michigan needs to win three of its last four just to be bowl eligible, and finishes the season at rival Ohio State.

Steenkamp was about to leave Pistorius, says mother

London (AFP) - The mother of Oscar Pistorius's girlfriend believes that her daughter was about to leave the disgraced athlete when he shot her dead in what a South African judge ruled to be culpable homicide.

June Steenkamp -- mother of 29-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp -- also told Britain's newspaper The Times that she and her husband Barry were haunted by images of the shooting, for which Pistorius was sentenced to a five-year jail term.

"Her clothes were packed. There is no doubt in our minds: she had decided to leave Oscar that night," she wrote in her new book, serialised in the Times, adding that her daughter had confided to her that she "had not slept" with the runner and was "scared to take the relationship to that level".

Pistorius, the first double amputee Paralympian to compete against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 London Olympics, said he shot Steenkamp four times through a locked door to the bathroom in his Pretoria home because he mistakenly believed there was an intruder inside.
In "Reeva: a Mother's Story", June Steenkamp wrote that she was "shocked" that the athlete was found guilty only of culpable homicide, or manslaughter.

She called Pistorius "arrogant", "moody", "volatile" and "combustible", saying he was a "trigger-happy" gun lover who was "possessive" of her daughter.

SMI 10/25/14

Another Saturday Morning Inspection, my first one actually happened in 1950, at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina ..... did them for a couple of years, then my ADD kicked in and I was able to talk my Dad in to letting me transfer to USC, the University of South Carolina .... BIG mistake ..... shortly thereafter I joined the Navy. Probably my first BIG mistake, changing schools, not joining the Navy.

Hello to Alice Tuttle, I always think of her on a Saturday morning, that was always her day to do her housecleaning, and the day we usually visited her, so Alice comes to mind.

Saturday mornings used to mean radio shows, then television shows when the kids were growing up, and, then it just became another day. When I was working, it meant a day off, a shopping day, we used to almost have a Saturday Schedule that we adhered to. It often meant ..... football, in the old days, listening to Notre Dame on the radio, I forget the guys that did the play by play, Mel Allen, Red Barber, I think Tom Harmon also did some.

Football on radio was great, more vivid than on TV. There were a few sports magazines with those great poses in it, the outlook for the team, the  Army-Navy game, great on radio.

Now, the Saturday morning news revolves around Ebola and school shootings and ISIS .... sickness and terrorism and senseless shootings.  Almost daily, we see school children running out of their schools, hands raised, running to safety, and shootings, so many shootings.

Truck crashes are also a common occurrence any more, someone questioned why they were happening, obviously someone who does not drive. They are caused by excessive speeding, weaving in and out of traffic and being on the road too long, and, there are thousands of trucks on the road, all speeding, all in a hurry.

Nice story, a little boy who will not live till Christmas ... a  town in Utah, that has Halloween and Christmas early, just for him .... there are good  people in the world ... 

Montana bride who shoved husband off cliff appeals murder conviction

By Laura Zuckerman

(Reuters) - A Montana bride who admitted pushing her new husband off a cliff at Glacier National Park is appealing her murder conviction on grounds prosecutors distorted facts, acted vindictively toward her and engaged in misconduct, such as publicly labeling her a sociopath.

Jordan Graham, 23, pleaded guilty in December to second-degree murder in the July 7 death of Cody Johnson, 25, her husband of eight days.

Graham was sentenced in March to 30 years by a U.S. judge after he rejected her request to rescind the guilty plea that she entered as part of a deal with federal prosecutors in exchange for them dismissing a charge of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors said Graham deliberately killed Johnson by shoving him off a cliff during a marital dispute while hiking a trail at Glacier, in Montana. Graham said the death was an accident.

Graham’s lawyer, Michael Donahoe, said in documents filed this week with a U.S. appeals court that prosecutors were “willing to distort and shape” facts to suit their purposes and showed vindictiveness by charging his client with first-degree murder and alleging premeditation in actions that sprang from “the heat of passion.”

Donahoe also said prosecutors engaged in misconduct by branding Graham a sociopath during a court hearing and used the media to promote theories of guilt they could not prove, he said. Those included a theory introduced late in the case by prosecutors suggesting Graham had tricked her husband into being blindfolded before she shoved him to his death, the defense lawyer said.

“The government’s effort from beginning to end was nothing but a kaleidoscope set of theories in search of evidence,” he wrote.

He asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to nullify Graham’s guilty plea and bar federal prosecutors from retrying her for murder.

Notre Dame freshman WR Justin Brent went to Knicks game with porn star ---- and more

Notre Dame freshman wide receiver Justin Brent found a good way to shake off the Irish’s loss to Florida State during the bye week.

Brent, a true freshman, was spotted sitting courtside at a New York Knicks preseason game at Madison Square Garden with adult film actress Lisa Ann. As pointed out by TMZ, Lisa Ann is 42 years old while as a true freshman, Brent is probably no more than 18 or 19.

Though he hasn’t registered a statistic for the Fighting Irish this season, that’s quite the catch for Brent off the field.

According to TMZ, the two met “earlier this year while Lisa was traveling” and she “made the first move and gave Brent her number.”

Notre Dame doesn’t play against until its November 1 contest with Navy at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., so we are going to assume that he had off from practice on Wednesday.

Brent, a four-star recruit in the 2014 class out of Indianapolis, has appeared in three games this season.

I have no comment to make on this ..... YOU can make your own. A strong, healthy athlete of 18 or 19 finds a porn star of 42 who likes basketball ..... and, he has a scholarship to Notre Dame ... he will score often ...........

Friday, 10/2/14le to slose him up.

Made it through another week, I thank Him for that. The Sun is out here in Ohio, a Fall "nip" in the air, leaves are almost down, the new season is here.

I have music from the 40's on ....Alvino Rey is playing something. I remember him in the 50's,, as I recall he was married to one of the King Sisters, lived in LA, and we investigated some of his parties where some sailors would meet ......... well, anyway, I ended up discharging them. I attended a couple of his parties .... the Navy was concerned.

Reminds me of the time my Chief at SP Headquarters at the Tijuana Border, said, "C'mon, we're going in to Tijuana." And we did, a visit to the Mayors Office which was attended by the Chief of Police, I was given "marked" money and instructed to go downtown and purchase some "porno" from a store. I did, walked out, handed the police my receipt, I was taken to jail, thrown in a cell, a Tijuana Jail Cell .......... nuff said. A while later, my Chief, my boss, my friend, Ralph Blanco, came laughing in and got me out. A number of service people were getting in trouble buying porno and trying to get it across the border, so, they were able to close him up.

Turned out, it was a major operation, state wide, big business, I would have to testify, instead, they sent me to Seattle, on a ship, and that was the end of it. My "Sam Spade" experience was over. I was not cut out for that kind of work, anyway.

On SP duty there, we used to make the rounds of the Tijuana Jail each day to see who that nabbed the night before. We even hit town jails farther South at least once a week. They reluctantly let go of their American prisoners.

I remember one kid was involved in a car wreck in Ensanada, hurt pretty bad, Ralph pulled some strings and got him taken to a hospital in Tijuana, the Miguel Alemán Hospital. It was a wealthy, well known family, who were on vacation in the West somewhere, had a hard time finding them .... finally did an "exchange" at the border and got him to Balboa Hospital in San Diego. Many "palms were greased" to accomplish this. When they found out the family had money ... things changed.

Shore Patrol duty at the Mexican Border in those days was a "hoot." We had a Navy station wagon there. We occasionally would get a telephone call, I would drive into Tijuana, purchase a large order of "booze" .... they never checked the car coming through. Some officer in San Diego would be having a party. I even made a few "runs" for some Border Guards.

A lot different than it is today, I am sure ..... still a different world in Tijuana though ....

California community suffers as wells dry up in drought

By Lucy Nicholson

East Porterville Calif. (Reuters) - In one of the towns hardest hit by California's drought, the only way some residents can get water to flush the toilet is to drive to the fire station, hand-pump water into barrels and take it back home.

The trip has become a regular ritual for East Porterville residents Macario Beltran, 41, and his daughters, who on a recent evening pumped the water into containers in the bed of his old pickup truck to be used for bathing, dish washing and flushing.

As if to emphasize the arid conditions that led them there, an emergency broadcast warned of a brewing dust storm.

The state's three-year drought comes into sharp focus in Tulare County, the dairy and citrus heart of the state’s vast agricultural belt, where more than 500 wells have dried up.

Donna Johnson's tap went dry in June. Since then she's been trying to help neighbors connect with help from the county and the state. She began making door-to-door deliveries of water donated by charities and such supplies as hand sanitizer – often in withering 100-degree heat.

“I saw all these people who couldn’t take a shower: kids, pregnant women,” the 72-year-old said.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who declared a state drought emergency in January, signed an executive order last month to buy drinking water for residents with dry wells. He also signed bills to regulate groundwater.

"The A and M Prospect" .............

Going back and forth ..... pro football, college and high school .... the HS is from Texas.

The commentators at the high school game, when they can, no names,  .... no individual names, just where they might, or are going to play college ball. ...."The A and M committed ......" or some such appropriate name .... I find that interesting, and the stadium they were playing in, in Texas, looked more like a college venue than a high school  ..... TV might have had something to do with it .......

MORE on the last story .........

Doctor Recently Back From Africa Tests Positive for Ebola at Bellevue: Source

By Melissa Russo, Brynn Gingras, Marc Santia and Jonathan Dienst

Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo were scheduled to hold a news conference from Bellevue Hospital at approximately 9 p.m. tonight.

A doctor who recently returned from West Africa, where he was on an Ebola assignment for Doctors Without Borders, has tested positive for Ebola at Bellevue Hospital Center after reporting a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, a source familiar with the results tells NBC 4 New York.

Craig Spencer marks the first Ebola case in New York City and the tri-state area.

Spencer, who law enforcement sources say flew into John F. Kennedy International Airport from Guinea Oct. 17, began to feel ill Thursday and called 911. He was transported from a building on 147th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue to Bellevue, sources said. The city's Health Department said Spencer's temperature was 103 degrees.

Preliminary test results from one sample showed Spencer had Ebola, an official briefed on the matter said. A second sample will be flown to the CDC headquarters in Atlanta for another round of testing.

Officials decided to "conduct a test for the Ebola virus because of this patient’s recent travel history, pattern of symptoms, and past work," the Health Department said in a statement.

New York City is heavily dependent on mass transit, which presents a special challenge when dealing with a deadly contagious disease -- the subway is one place where so many of us gather and get close. So what is the MTA prepared to do for our protection? Andrew Siff reports.

A source familiar with the handling of Spencer's case said he told officials he had been out at The Gutter bowling alley in Brooklyn Wednesday night. Officials are now working to determine whether anyone else could have been exposed. Ebola is contracted from contact with bodily fluids of an infected person when the person is showing symptoms.

Mayor de Blasio said earlier the city was prepared to handle any potential case. "The patient is in good shape and has gone into great detail with our personnel" as it relates to his actions the last few days, "so we have a lot to work with," the mayor added.

Hundreds of emergency responders are trained on how to use personal protective equipment at Nassau University Medical Center on Long Island. Checkey Beckford reports (Published Friday, Oct 17, 2014)

Spencer is on the staff at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, but has not seen any patients there or been to work there since returning from overseas, according to the hospital.

The hospital said in a statement Spencer "went to an area of medical crisis to help a desperately underserved population. He is a committed and responsible physician who always put his patients first."

on and on and on

This is just ridiculous that this continues.

Check it out:

Ebola may have come to Harlem.

A 33-year-old doctor who recently returned from the disease-wracked West African country of Guinea was rushed Thursday to Bellevue Hospital with symptoms of the deadly disease – including a 103 degree fever.
Preliminary results of tests done on the doctor, identified by sources as Craig Spencer, are expected in the next 12 hours, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement.

Spencer, who was one of the medics working in Guinea with Doctors Without Borders, had been back for 10 days and told authorities he quarantined himself after developing nausea and a high fever, sources said.

A doting old Great Grandpa ........

On Thursday, and don't ask why, we pick up our five year old Great Grandaughter, Miss Brooklyn, and take her to her pre-school class. A long drive, but we are rewarded with a big wave, Grandma gets hugs and kisses, I get none, we wave at her sister, Miss Emma, and chat on the way to school.

"How was the pumpkin patch yesterday on your field trip ..... how is Miss Emma .... etc., etc., etc.

We pulled up in front of her school, she and my wife got out, and as she was exiting .... "Nice talkin to ya," and she exited the car. Five years old ..... Nice Talkin to Ya ........... my little Great Granddaughter said that ..... to me ......... Nice Talkin to Ya ........

It does not take a lot to completely brighten the day of an old person like me. Four little words, brightened my day ..... and a phrase I will never forget ....................... Thanks Miss Brooklyn, you made my day...........................

Bill and the peanut butter sandwich

George Whittell's boat on Tahoe ............

Why am I thinking of Bill James, simple, it's morning, I did a thorough search of the kitchen, needing something for breakfast, nothing sounded or looked good, and then, it hit me, a Peanut Butter sandwich, and that is why I am thinking of Bill James. I am one of a very few who think of him.

I forget when I first met him, it was in Reno, and he had married in to the family.

He was an Osage Indian, from Oklahoma, but knew little of his early life. He had left the reservation at an early age, and somehow ended up in Nevada. He became a barber, at one time had a few shops around Nevada. Tonopah, Fallon and some other cities. The story goes that on one occasion, a friend and customer of his, George Whittell, walked in his shop and told him he was heading to Carson City to bid on some land around that lake up in the mountains and wanted Bill to accompany him and perhaps buy some of the "cheap" land that was up for sale. Bill did not go, why would anyone need or want land up in the mountain, around a lake, Lake Tahoe,

George bought some land, lots of land, and became a millionaire.

When I think of "nice" people I have known, Bill James heads to the top of the list. He was not sure how old he was, records on the reservations in those days were non existent, and he was not sure what his real, Indian name, might be. IF he knew, and could prove it, he could have been very wealthy. The tribe sold land, lots of land, and Bill had money coming to him, but, he could not prove who he was. He thought he was named after the famous outlaw, Jesse James. In those days the Indians did not use family names, etc., no birth certificates, delivery by a mid-wife ... he knew who his was ... but, she had passed on, and she was the last one who could help him.

Bill had a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, almost every day, and he lived a long life, no one was sure how long, but some though ..... at least 100.

So this morning, I am having a peanut butter sandwich and a coffee for breakfast, and thinking of Bill. I doubt that anyone else is ... so, have one, and think of Bill James along with me.

Expelled Nazis paid millions in Social Security

Are we a great country, or what? .... "Pay them, and they will leave" ... Ironic, Some may have been in the SS in Germany, and were payed by the US SS to leave the country

OSIJEK, Croatia (AP) — Former Auschwitz guard Jakob Denzinger lived the American dream.

His plastics company in the Rust Belt town of Akron, Ohio, thrived. By the late 1980s, he had acquired the trappings of success: a Cadillac DeVille and a Lincoln Town Car, a lakefront home, investments in oil and real estate. Then the Nazi hunters showed up.

In 1989, as the U.S. government prepared to strip him of his citizenship, Denzinger packed a pair of suitcases and fled to Germany. Denzinger later settled in this pleasant town on the Drava River, where he lives comfortably, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. He collects a Social Security payment of about $1,500 each month, nearly twice the take-home pay of an average Croatian worker.

Denzinger, 90, is among dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards who collected millions of dollars in Social Security payments after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation found.

The payments flowed through a legal loophole that has given the U.S. Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal government records. Like Denzinger, many lied about their Nazi pasts to get into the U.S. following World War II, and eventually became American citizens.

Among those who benefited:

—armed SS troops who guarded the Nazi network of camps where millions of Jews perished.
View gallery

—an SS guard who took part in the brutal liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland that killed as many as 13,000 Jews.

—a Nazi collaborator who engineered the arrest and execution of thousands of Jews in Poland.

—a German rocket scientist accused of using slave labor to build the V-2 rocket that pummeled London. He later won NASA's highest honor for helping to put a man on the moon.

The AP's findings are the result of more than two years of interviews, research and analysis of records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and other sources.

The Justice Department denied using Social Security payments as a tool for removing Nazi suspects. But records show the U.S. State Department and the Social Security Administration voiced grave concerns over the methods used by the Justice Department's Nazi-hunting unit, the Office of Special Investigations. State officials derogatorily called the practice "Nazi dumping" and claimed the OSI was bargaining with suspects so they would leave voluntarily.

Since 1979, the AP analysis found, at least 38 of 66 suspects removed from the United States kept their Social Security benefits.

Thanks Gramma ............

Woman says she sold pot to help raise grandkids

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — A 65-year-old Pennsylvania woman has admitted selling hundreds of pounds of marijuana from her home but says she needed the money to raise several grandchildren after her daughter died.

Candace Kelly, of Sarver, was originally charged last fall after authorities found 64 pounds of hydroponically grown marijuana and nearly $400,000 in cash at her home in Buffalo Township.

Those charges were withdrawn because of problems with a search warrant. Kelly was charged again in January after a grand jury investigation.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review  reports Kelly pleaded guilty Wednesday in Butler County and faces up to 10 years in prison.

She told a judge she sold as much as 100 pounds of marijuana a year for more than four years.

Kelly is also forfeiting $393,000 seized by the state police.

Inka Dinka Do .............

I think I have mentioned this before in a post, saw something on TV that made me think of the incident.

I went through my "training" at the Nevada Club, and this was one of my first nights as a "dealer" and not a trainee, Mark told me to open up one table that had been closed. I uncovered the table, got out the dice, did all the things necessary, and stood there with my .... "I am so proud of myself" look.

A crap table is pretty long, I forget the length, but they were meant for two dealers, one on each end, and if we got really busy, the "stick man" would be on the opposite side controlling the dice and the game.

I was ready, it was around four in the morning, not too busy in the the club .... I heard a voice, a familiar voice, at the far end of the table ..... it was one ........ Jimmy Durante .... "C'mon kid, let me see them dice." I was somewhat in awe, but I slid the bowl with the dice in them to him, he picked a pair, made a bet on the Pass Line, and the game was on.

Almost instantly, a small crowd gathered, and the game was on. Not big enough for Mark to send me help, so I ran from one end to the other, taking and paying, it was fun .... I got some "banter" going on with Mr. Durante, he had a rather lengthy "hand" so we had some fun.

He finally finished his hand, handed me a few dollars, said, "Thanks, Kid," and left, as did all of those standing around the table.

My first celebrity, the first of many, but will never forget my time with .... one .... Jimmy Durante.

He was appearing at the time at the Riversisde and had finished his last show .....

An answer to a question ..........

In reply .... Marilyn and I will be married ..... 50 years ... November 11 ... I cannot imagine making that journey with anyone but her .......

U.N.C. Investigation Reveals ‘Shadow Curriculum’ to Help Athletes

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A blistering report into an academic fraud scandal at the University of North Carolinareleased Wednesday found that for nearly two decades two employees in the African and Afro-American Studies department ran a “shadow curriculum” of hundreds of fake classes that never met but for which students, many of them Tar Heels athletes, routinely received A’s and B’s.

Nearly half the students in the classes were athletes, the report found, often deliberately steered there by academic counselors to bolster their worrisomely low grade-point averages and to allow them to continue playing on North Carolina’s teams. The existence of the classes — though not necessarily how blatantly nonexistent they were — was common knowledge among the academic counselors, and in some cases among coaches of the university’s sports teams, according to the report prepared by Kenneth L. Wainstein, a former official at the United States Justice Department and now a partner of the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.Photo

The university released Mr. Wainstein’s report at a news conference Wednesday.

The report is the latest in a series of investigations into the scandal, which first came to light three years ago and covered classes between 1993 and 2011. The revelations have cast a decidedly unflattering light on U.N.C., Chapel Hill, which has long boasted of its ability to adhere to high academic standards while running a premier sports program. Until now, the university has been at pains to emphasize that the scandal was a purely academic one; on Wednesday, for the first time, it acknowledged that it was also an athletic one, with athletes being steered specifically into and benefiting disproportionately from the fraudulent classes.

The N.C.A.A. closed its initial investigation into the case, agreeing with North Carolina’s contention that the scandal was an academic one and had nothing to do with the sports program, but it has reopened it in light of the continuing revelations. North Carolina’s chancellor, Carol L. Folt, has said that the university had already put myriad structures in place to ensure that something like this could never happen again, and she planned to announce further reforms Wednesday.

Though the report found no evidence that high-level university officials knew about the fake classes, it faulted the university for missing numerous warning signs about what was going on and said it had “failed to conduct any meaningful oversight” over the increasingly out-of-control African studies department.

Some 3,100 students took the phantom classes, most of which were created and graded solely by a single university employee, Deborah Crowder, a nonacademic who worked as the department’s administrator and who told Mr. Wainstein she had been motivated by a desire to help struggling athletes. Over time, she was joined in the scheme by the chairman of the department, Julius Nyang’oro, who became the professor of record for many of the fake classes, although he generally left the details up to Ms. Crowder.

Ms. Crowder required that students turn in only a single paper, but the papers were often largely plagiarized or padded out with “fluff” like page after page of quotations, the report said. She generally gave the papers A’s or B’s after a cursory glance. The classes were widely known as “paper classes” because of the one requirement for completion.

As an indication of how important these classes were to the Tar Heels’ football program — which generates a huge amount of money for the university — the report detailed what happened in 2008 after word spread that Ms. Crowder planned to retire the next year, a development that would essentially put an end to the scheme.

BO - I'm doin pretty good ....

President Obama — who just came off a poll that showed his favor with America had dropped to an all-time low — nonetheless told a high-dollar fundraising crowd that he’s doing “pretty good” and that all’s well on the White House front.

“Whenever people ask me how I’m going, I say, ‘Actually, I’m doing pretty good,’ ” Mr. Obama said, The Hill reported. “I love the work. It is an extraordinary privilege to every single day work on behalf of the American people.”

The president did recognize that the Islamic State situation had created a “sense of urgency overseas,” along with Ebola and Russia’s aggression into Ukraine, The Hill said. But despite all, his outlook was positive — especially since Ebola has only claimed one life on U.S. soil, he said.

“So far, we’ve only got one person dying of Ebola, but people are understandably concerned in part because they’ve seen what’s happened in Africa,” Mr. Obama said, 

“This is a virulent disease and it is up to us to once again mobilize the world’s community to do something about it — to make sure that not only we’re helping on a humanitarian basis those countries, but we’re not seeing a continued epidemic and outbreak that can have a serious impact here.”

Some obviously disagree. How do you actually judge his performance? Let's remember, he had absolutely NO qualifications for the job, we're not even sure if he met the basic qualifications. I think he has done a miraculous job, just getting the job. There are still many just shaking their heads wondering, who is he, where did he come from, what happened? The fact that he "is" where he "is" ... is in itself ... one heck of an achievement. NO qualifications, NO experience, NO background, NO credibility ... he COULD NOT beat Hillary, but he did, he COULD NOT get his medical program passed, but  he did, he COULD NOT win reelection, but he did .... there was NO WAY he could become president .... BUT HE DID. To me, his performance, pales, in comparison to what he did to get elected. I am still skeptical that he will ever leave the White House .... there is NO WAY he could do something, enact something or do anything that would enable him to stay on .... as president, is there! He may be our last president .... and the first ... emperor or dictator or whatever term he decides to call himself .... NO WAY that could happen ..... is there?