(No Ratings Yet)NSA Chief Security Director Keith Alexander testified before Congress this morning and affirmed the controversial NSA data surveillance PRISM. Alexander explained the NSA is willing to make classified documents available to members of Congress for their review of 50 cases in which PRISM played a direct role in the prevention of domestic terrorism. Read More
(4 votes, average: 2.00 out of 5)In what has been deemed its most violent weekend this year, at least seven people were killed and more than three dozen wounded in a series of brutal shootings in downtown Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that city police are currently investigating the situation and the details surrounding the tragic incidents. In this tragic turn of events, there was not just one shooting but, terribly unfortunately, multiple ones. The first homicide of the weekend took place late Friday evening on the West Side of Chicago. This left 46 people injured and many others dead. The youngest reported victim was 15-year-old Michael Westley, who died Sunday. To add insult to injury, Windy City police officials confirmed that further shootings took place during the same weekend last year. It remains to be seen whether this repeated event is coincidence or not.
(No Ratings Yet)NASCAR driver Jason Leffler died in a tragic racing accident Wednesday night at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey. The late Leffler, aptly nicknamed "LefTurn", was a two-time winner of NASCAR. New Jersey State Police pronounced him dead last night around 9 p.m. EST after a fateful heat/sprint car race collision. The racer had to be extracted from the car after striking a wall on the track around 8:30 p.m." Leffler had been in second place in the first heat race, when his car "flipped several times on the front straightaway," reports witness Chris Taitt. NASCAR put out a statement shortly thereafter saying, "NASCAR extends its thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the family of Jason Leffler who passed away earlier this evening, For more than a decade, Jason was a fierce competitor in our sport and he will be missed." Immediately after the accident, the racetrack where the incident occurred, Bridgeport Speedway suspended
Read More (No Ratings Yet)Ariel Castro, the only suspect in the case of three women in Cleveland who were held captive for over 10 years, entered a “Not Guilty” plea on Wednesday in an Ohio courtroom. The 52-year-old man faces 329 counts, including 139 counts of rape, 177 counts of kidnapping, and two murder counts. Read More
(No Ratings Yet)The latest trend in the world of smokers — e-cigarettes — continues to evolve by the day. Touted to date as the new M.O. for cigarette smokers to quit their nasty nicotine habit, e-cigarettes still have their fair share of skeptics. And those skeptics are no ordinary Joes — among them are the World Health Organization, the Food and Drug Administration and the tobacco industry itself. E-cigarette supporters posit that the product in tow, an electronic inhaler containing nicotine, is healthier, less expensive and less intrusive to nonsmokers than the standard nicotine-ridden cigarette. Their advocated benefit lies in allowing the consumer to mimic the act of smoking a "real" cigarette while inhaling less nicotine in a less intrusive fashion. According to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, in excess of 45 million Americans currently smoke traditional cigarettes, with roughly half of that number trying to quit each year. So e-cigarettes
Read More (No Ratings Yet)Since Paris Jackson's cry-for-help suicide attempt late last week, all eyes have been on both her and the Jackson family. After she swallowed in excess of 20 ibuprofen pills in her home in California, her sad story has pervaded media outlets like the plague. Now, however, the story is taking a serious turn. The probate court judge who appointed the late King of Pop's mother, Katherine, and cousin TJ Jackson as co-guardians has ordered an official investigation into the 15-year-old's suicide attempt. Judge Mitchell Beckloff ordered a "written report" along with any recommendations to bolster the teen's "health, education and welfare." The order was issued on Thursday, the day after the suicide attempt. Miss Jackson remains under psychiatric evaluation after cutting her wrists and swallowing an unhealthy amount of painkillers. She also had called a suicide counseling hotline the same day.
(No Ratings Yet)The heroic — or villainous, depending on how you view the NSA’s PRISM program — Edward Snowden is currently hiding out from the U.S. government somewhere in Hong Kong. Possibly.
And now the U.S. government says it will file grave charges against the 29-year-old computer wiz for his central (if not exclusive) role in exposing one of the NSA’s deepest, darkest secrets: ongoing citizen data mining. Read More
(No Ratings Yet)Santa Monica College went on lockdown Friday afternoon after a gunman opened fire at the campus library. The school shooting already claimed the life of one individual while four others are currently receiving treatment at UCLA Medical Center. CNN reports that two of the four injured are in critical condition.
(5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)In a tragically ironic twist of fate, two life coaches who had hosted a radio show called "The Pursuit of Happiness," committed suicide together Monday morning. The late pair, motivational speaker John Littig, 48, and his psychotherapist wife, Lynne Rosen, 46, were discovered in their Brooklyn apartment with plastic bags over their heads and a tube attached to helium, CNN reports. The incident was discovered by the manager of the couple's apartment building, Hasan Boztepe, when he smelled a "strong odor" emanating from the apartment. When he received no answer to repeated knocks on the door, Boztepe broke down the door and found the bodies "sitting on a couch, holding hands." He told police that the helium canister was on Rosen's right hand. Boztepe, along with police, discovered two suicide notes at the tragic scene, one seemingly written by a man and one by a woman. The man's note conveyed a desperate state
Read More (No Ratings Yet)A building collapsed Wednesday morning on the corner of 22nd and Market streets in downtown Philadelphia. CNN reports that currently as many as 10 people are believed to be trapped inside the building. CNN reports to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that the unfortunate building collapse was an accident at a demolition site. Authorities and investigators are en route to the site to uncover the details of the incident. The building reportedly "collapsed the wrong way and landed on a thrift shop" with people inside both buildings. It is those people who are believed to still be stuck inside the rubble. Two people were successfully extricated from the remains and up to five others escaped on their own within the first 10 minutes after it occurred. Local fire department officials were called to the site of the damage at 10:43 a.m. Video captured from the site revealed two people helping another person
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