Spies everywhere.

When blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States he was given a fellowship at New York University, use of a Greenwich Village apartment, and a pile of gifts from supporters, including smartphones and an iPad, at least two were bugged.

Chen accused NYU of bowing to pressure from China by ending the fellowship. The allegations are vigorously denied by NYU.

Bob Fu runs the Christian group ChinaAid, which supports underground churches and victims of forced abortions,  and his wife presented the I-Pad gifts. 

"These people supposedly were out to help him and they give him a kind of Trojan horse that would have enabled them to monitor his communications secretly,".

The spyware issue was not publicized at the time and has only surfaced because of the recent scrutiny of NYU's arrangement with Chen. 

So, it's unclear if the software was added by ChinaAid, spies infiltrated NYU's tech department, or the entire incident was made up. The bugged Apple equipment certainly isn't as exciting, but what it lacks in innovation it makes up in intrigue.

I think it is a habit.  Just a thought.

Officials' ...

Senior DEA agents working overseas allegedly participated in “sex parties” with prostitutes funded by drug cartels, according to DOJ Inspector General report.

The conduct occurred over a period of years. In addition to soliciting prostitutes, the foreign officers interviewed for the report allege three DEA supervisory special agents were “provided money, expensive gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members."

Some DEA agents denied knowing about cartel involvement, but the IG report says “information in the case files suggested they should have known the prostitutes in attendance were paid with cartel funds.”

The sex parties occurred in government leased living quarters where “agents’ laptops, BlackBerry and other government- equipment were present,” posing a security risk and “potentially exposing them to extortion, blackmail, or coercion.”

In another instance, two DEA special agents allegedly solicited prostitutes for a farewell party for a senior DEA official.

An official allegedly had “sexual relations with prostitutes” and there were “ operational funds may have used as Payment”.   One prostitute [allegedly] was assaulted following a payment dispute. 

One case of alleged sexual harassment involved an FBI “Supervisory Management and Program Analyst’s repeated unprofessional behavior, including cornering his subordinates in their cubicles and displaying the size of his genitals by tightening his pants,”.  The analyst was eventually suspended, demoted and reassigned to another office.

Prostitution in these countries are legal business and the violations here is relating to the provider of the services and the funds used. Just a thought.

Sow and reap

Adam Smith, 37, was the CFO of a medical device manufacturer in Arizona. Then in 2012 he started protesting against Chick-Fil-A for the fast-food chain’s anti-gay stance.

He went through the drive-thru at his local Chick-Fil-A, where he ordered a free water, the fast food chain offers customers, and videotaped himself telling the drive-thru attendant how much he despised Chick-Fil-A.

“Chick-Fil-A is a hateful corporation,” Smith said, in part, to the drive-thru attendant. “I don’t know how you live with yourself and work here. I don’t understand it. This is a horrible corporation with horrible values. You deserve better.”

Smith then posted the video on his personal YouTube channel, but when he got back to work, he received a major shock. “I got into work and the receptionist said ‘Adam, what did you do?’ ... she said, ‘The voicemail is completely full, and it’s full of bomb threats."

Smith was fired that same day. He  was earning $200,000 annually and had over $1 million in stock options. “It was taken when I lost my employment,” he said.

After losing his job, Smith, his wife and their four children also lost their home. They were forced to sell and give away their possessions and move into an RV.

A few months later, Smith found a new CFO job in Portland, Oregon. It was the fresh start he needed. “I felt like, ‘Yeah, I got it. I am back,".

About two weeks later, Smith was fired from that job after his new boss discovered he was the guy from the Chick-Fil-A video. 

 ........   Just a thought.

Fake Abduction.

Huskins, 29, was reported missing on Monday by a 30-year-old and Boy friend Aaron Quinn who called to report the alleged kidnapping and claimed he witnessed it. Police previously said she was abducted from the home where she was staying in Vallejo, California.

"The Vallejo Police Department would like to ensure the public that there is no indication that this was a random act of violence,".

The San Francisco Chronicle  reported the contents of an email it received from an "anonymous person claiming to be holding Huskins."

Denise Huskins was found in Huntington Beach, California, Wednesday morning, Her father told ABC News that his daughter called him from Huntington Beach to say she was safe. Huskins had promised to speak with investigators but  they were unable to contact her or her family. She retained an attorney.

 "There is no evidence to support the claims that this was a stranger abduction or an abduction at all,"  Vallejo Police Department. "Given the facts that have been presented thus far, this event appears to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping

Just a confusing thought.

Blah blah blah... Cruz

Texas Senator Ted Cruz's wife Heidi is taking a leave to help her husband's campaign for the president. The Cruzes are leaving the $20,000 per year coverage she enjoyed at Goldman.

"We will presumably go on the exchange and sign up for health care " Cruz. 

 

Heidi Cruz's coverage became the subject of a small media tempest in 2013, after Cruz and House conservatives insisted on de-funding the ACA through the appropriations process. After the resultant government shutdown ended, Heidi Cruz confirmed that she was covered, and her husband benefited from Goldman's generous plan. 

 

Cruz is deftly using the oddly-enough angle of this news—Obama care-hating senator forced into Obama-care for a populist cause. He's not the first Republican to do so. 

 

One day after announcing himself as presidential candidate, Texas Senator Ted Cruz fired a few shots across the bow of Wall Street, and the firm that employs his wife as managing director. 

 

He promise to repeal Obama care by 2017. After my wife goes back to work.

After five years of the Affordable Care Act, more than 16 million uninsured Americans have gained the security of health insurance.

 

Just a thought. 

Lorena Bobbitt again

Image is not related.

Investigators determined that the appendage of a 32-year-old man had "completely disappeared" following December attacks in the central province of Henan, government-owned media outlet HNR said.

Fan's wife took the radical step of chopping off his .... after she found out he was in a relationship with a 21-year-old woman.

Fan "rushed to a hospital" after the incident, and doctors re-attached his penis.

But his wife crept into a ward as he slept to claim the organ again.
The two subsequently clashed outside the facility, with a naked and bleeding Fan repeatedly beating his wife, until police arrived.

The double attacks appeared to have strengthened the romance between Fan and his mistress, with the two deciding to marry.
She was quoted as saying: "It doesn't matter if he turns out to be infertile, he has five children anyway."

The story may be, as reported, is fake. Just a thought.

What for?

Suicide bombers attacked a pair of mosques Friday in the Yemeni capital, unleashing monstrous blasts that ripped through worshippers and killed 137 people targeting Shiite rebels.

Shiite rebels known as Houthis have taken over the capital, Sanaa, and nine of the country's 21 provinces over the past six months, raising fears of a civil war tinged with sectarianism. The government has fled to the southern port city of Aden.

 

Yemen is already home to the most powerful branch of the al-Qaida network, which has been battling the Houthis for months.  Al-Qaida militants seized control of a southern provincial capital, al-Houta, in the group's most dramatic grab of territory in years. 

 

Both mosques are controlled by the Shiite Houthis, but they are also frequented by Sunni worshippers. Two suicide bombers activated during midday prayers, when large crowds turn out to attend weekly sermons. 

 

It also reported that a fifth suicide bomb attack on another mosque was foiled in the northern city of Saada a Houthi stronghold.

 

Can someone explain what is happening?

Just a thought.

Dance the Alternative?

Noted conservative commentator and talked-about Republican presidential contender Ben Carson cut to the chase about the fate of Obamacare.  There is absolutely no reason politicians can’t unravel, reinvent or outright repeal the health care plan and those who say otherwise are selling a lie.

“Health care is a gigantic issue, and there’s no question that the system was broken and that we needed to do something about it”. “What we did not need to do is create another massive government program, and we need to be looking at different ways of taking care of it.

There are things that can be done. We keep listening to people saying ‘the horse is out of the barn, you can’t get it back in there, end of story,’ [and] that’s a bunch of crap.

Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, also decried how Obamacare shifted the role of power in the nation and took health care out of the hands of the people and put it into the control of government.

All what I'm getting from the Republicans is "we can do it differently". When and who is going to have a healthcare system similar to what we currently have with more people covered?  So what is it? Give us the plan......

Just a thought.

Defending a terrorist...

He married his rehab nurse.

A long-time friend of the Boston Marathon bomber testified in court  that he gave Tsarnaev the gun later used in the shooting death of an MIT police officer.

Silva was the subject of an undercover federal investigation and pleaded guilty to charges including distribution of heroin, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

 

Silva testified he gave Tsarnaev a 9-millimeter handgun to use "for a rip" a robbery.

He "talked religion not in depth, not all the time" and described the suspect as not-violent and well liked. He emphasized that the pair enjoyed "typical teenage things," . In one dramatic moment, Silva was reminded that Tsarnaev once told him, "You don’t want to meet my brother."

 

Defense lawyers  elicit testimony that Tsarnaev was under the influence of his older brother and that he was not himself a committed terrorist.

 

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to the 30 counts against him, including charges of using a "weapon of mass destruction resulting in death," but his defense attorney has said that he participated in the bombing.

 

What a real uphill battle defending this guy.. He got caught, and got medically treated.

If you didn't liked it here you could have gone back. 

Just a thought.

Minimum Wage fight.

The contentious issue that is the minimum wage fight was never going to be a slam dunk. Now as the nation's biggest minimum wage hike ramps up in Seattle beginning next month, a top franchise lobby has been fighting back with a lawsuit that seeks to grant small businesses more time to comply with the law.

Seattle's City Council voted to raise the minimum wage in increments—to $15 an hour by 2017 for larger businesses with at least 500 staffers. But the International Franchise Association argues Seattle's ordinance discriminates against its members by lumping smaller franchisees with big businesses.

The national franchise group and five franchisees in the city filed the suit against the city last year. Oral arguments took place last week on a preliminary injunction motion potentially buying franchisees more time to implement the increase.

Under the ordinance, franchises are treated as large businesses because they receive the benefits of being associated with the larger franchisor network of many more than 500 employees," spokesman Viet Shelton said in an email to CNBC.

As a result, franchises have distinct advantages over the typical independent small business training, product development, and marketing support to name just a few.

We are big business when the money comes, small to pay. Franchises will pay.

Just a thought.