LifeDaily

Most people “color inside the lines,” so to speak, when it comes to matters of legality. They obey the law and don’t violate the rights of others, not just for moral reasons, but also because of the potential risk of jail time.

But there’s a third, often-overlooked reason why people don’t break the law. To put it as simply as possible: you never know who you’re messing with. One would-be criminal happened to overlook this reason when he broke into the house of a martial artist…

Heading Home

Sergio Hernandez Jr. Story — www.voiceofsandiego.org

At around noon on a Monday in July, two guys named Sergio were heading to their home in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego. They shared a name because they were a father and son, junior and senior pair. While it was normal and beautiful day in sunny San Diego, the father-son duo had no idea what they were in for when they got home.

Unexpected Sight

They were chatting with each other as they walked up to the house when Sergio Jr.’s heart rate jumped when he saw something unexpected in their backyard. “I noticed this guy standing in our property nearby dad’s window,” he said. It was highly unusual as neither father nor son were expecting any guests that day.

Who is He?

With a quick glance at his father, Sergio Jr. could tell from the look on his face that he wasn’t expecting this guy and like him, had no idea who he was. The guy was a bit on the bigger side but despite that fact, Sergio Jr. moved forward to confront the man and find out what was going on.

A Likely Story

The man said he’d hopped the fence into their backyard as he was running from a large dog and was staying there hiding out until he was sure the dog was gone. Though skeptical of the explanation, both Sergios took it at face value for the time being. Then they noticed something that didn’t fit the man’s story.

Damage Done

“I saw [one of our windows] ripped apart completely,” Sergio Sr. said. Not only was the screen removed but the glass was wide open. When the intruder realized that his charade was up, he bolted toward the fence and hopped it.

Giving Chase

As the man tried to escape, Sergio Jr. hopped the fence right after him. Thankfully for him the guy didn’t have a vehicle, so the chase would be entirely on foot. Unfortunately for the would-be-robber, Sergio Jr. had somewhat of an unfair advantage.

No Contest

The younger Sergio just happened to be a professional athlete. While he wasn’t a track star, he had the much better stamina of the two men and closed the distance between them in roughly a block as the intruder began to slow down.

Wrong ‘Victim’

Even more of a nightmare than a sprinter for the fleeing crook, Sergio Hernandez Jr. was a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter with 13 years of experience. MMA is a combative sport with a number of techniques that are off-limits. Because of organizations like Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator, millions of people pay good money to watch two people go toe-to-toe in a bout to see who’s the better fighter.

Got Him

Even though the guy had been apparently trying to break into his house, Sergio Jr. felt merciful. “I see my son coming on the sidewalk holding this guy,” his dad said. Sergio hadn’t harmed the man, just kept a hold of him and forced him back to their house.

‘Let Me Go!’

Unable to free himself from Sergio Jr.’s grip, the man pleaded with him. He apologized for breaking into the home and asked that they just let him go without getting the police involved, claiming he had a two-year-old son.

History of Mercy

If the circumstances were different, the father and son might have let the guy go. “When I was younger,” Sergio Jr. said, “someone stole my bike and [he was a minor] so my dad didn’t want to get the cops involved.” After having a talk with the kid’s parents and getting the bike back, they just let it go at that.

Not This Time

But this was a grown man who’d ransacked several rooms of the house. When Sergio Sr. insisted on calling the cops, the man managed to break Sergio Jr.’s grip on him and tried to run. That’s when Sergio Jr. really put his martial arts skills to use.

Applying Skills

Sergio grabbed hold of the man’s neck and arm and executed an uchi mata, a classical Judo throw, that sent the man’s feet toward the sky and head toward the pavement. “He fell on his face first and there was a little bit of blood but then he was going to get back up,” Sergio Jr. said.

Triangle

That’s when the black belt applied a jiu jitsu technique called a “triangle choke,” where the head and one arm of the victim are trapped between the legs of the martial artist who, if he wants, can increase the pressure and cause the person to pass out or attack the exposed arm and break it.

I Could, But I Won’t

But Sergio Jr. did neither of those things. “Deep down in my heart I guess I kinda wanted to break the dude’s arm but at the same time, I don’t get a kick out of inflicting pain on people,” he said. So he simply held the man down until the police arrived.

Pressing Charges

When police arrived, they arrested the would-be robber and the father and son decided to press charges. But even though they felt pressing charges was the right thing to do, they still wanted to help the man out.

Fighting Family

Like his son, Sergio Sr. was a fighter. The retired man had been a boxing coach and a school counselor, so he knew something about helping young people find a good path in life through combative sports.

Not Too Late

“I would like to invite him to a boxing gym,” Sergio Sr. said. “He’s young. There’s is still time to save him, to guide him in the right direction.” His son had words of compassion for the alleged criminal too…

Hard Lesson

Sergio Jr., who owned and operated Pop’s Tattoos when he wasn’t fighting, had mixed feelings about involving the police, considering that nothing was taken from the house during the break-in. But ultimately, he agreed with his father, saying “I just didn’t want to take him at his word that he wasn’t going to do it again. I hope he doesn’t have any hard feelings.”

Not a Hero

“I’m not a hero,” Sergio Jr. said. “I was just doing whatever anybody else would have done. Fortunately for me I knew how to do jiu jitsu so I didn’t have to get hurt or hurt somebody else more than I had to.”

Intruder Learns Hard Lesson After Targeting Home of MMA Fighter is an article from: LifeDaily

There’s almost never a good reason to settle a personal dispute with violence. We live in a society where there’s always a better way to deal with our problems without having to resort to hurting another person.

But still, our violent tendencies tragically persist. And when there is senseless violence, it’s even more heartbreaking when a victim is completely innocent. It’s a lesson one woman would learn firsthand in the most painful way.

Throwback

Genesis Wilson Story — The 8-Bit Guy / YouTube

Genesis was an 18-year-old boy defined by his passions. He was a video game enthusiast, earning him the nickname “Sega,” a play on the Sega Genesis console that rivaled the Nintendo in the 90s which he happened to share names with. But gaming was only one of his wide-ranging interests.

Other Interests

Genesis liked to dance and cook, and was very active in sports, playing for basketball, soccer, and football teams. It’s not hard to imagine that he was the kind of person with a vibrant social life as well. Popular among his teammates and peers, he even had a steady girlfriend for two years.

Future Career

But one thing that appealed to Genesis above all of his other hobbies was his dream to become a veterinarian. “He loved animals,” said his mother Paula. “He used to bring home stray cats and dogs all the time.”

On My Way

Just a few months away from graduating high school, Genesis had plans to make that dream a reality. Also having just earned his driver’s license, Genesis was just on the cusp of truly leaving childhood and becoming an adult.

Still a Kid

But at the moment, it was not yet time to completely do away with childish things. On a Friday toward the end of May, Genesis was hanging out at a friend’s house. He’d talked with his mother about spending the night and the two kids got down to the very serious business of playing video games.

Trouble Around the Corner

After playing games for a while in his friend’s bedroom, Genesis’ friend stepped out for a minute, leaving him to mess around on his phone for a little while. Unknown to him, something terrible was about to happen.

Creeping

As he peered into his phone screen, three men wearing dark hoodies and masks over their faces were coming around the side of the house, looking in the windows. When they got to the window of Genesis’ friend’s bedroom, they saw him sitting there, his back turned.

Cowardly Attack

Genesis never had any idea that, as he was looking at his phone, one of the men was raising a firearm, taking aim at him. The gunman fired, striking Genesis in the back of his head. Wounded horribly, it seemed as if the bright future that was laid out for the young man was snuffed out in an instant.

What Happened Next?

As she raced to the hospital, Genesis’ mother Paula was initially angry with her son. That’s because she thought he’d put himself in a situation where he could be hurt. But her anger softened when she got to the hospital and learned the reason for the attack.

Wrong Guy

Apparently, Genesis was never the intended target of the three masked killers. Instead, they’d been trying to kill the friend whose house Genesis was staying in. Seeing the unfortunate teenager only from behind, they simply assumed they had the right guy for the cowardly attack.

Stupid Dispute

The whole thing apparently boiled down to some kind of dispute between Genesis’ friend and a girl who may have been his girlfriend, according to Paula. They had been arguing on the phone and in their heated argument, the girl had reportedly said, “I’m going to send people over to your house right now.”

Pointless End

She’d made good on that threat of senseless violence, made doubly foolish by the killers bungling their target. It would prove to be a mortal mistake when Genesis died in the hospital the next day.

Broken

“My heart is already broken,” Paula said. “This broke me in the worst way, because it had nothing to do with him and they know it had nothing to do with him.” Genesis was a good kid with no enemies who “doesn’t get involved with stuff like that.”

No Leads

Despite Paula and police investigators knowing that Genesis wasn’t the intended target of the shooting, they couldn’t get any useful information on the killers or the girl who had apparently ordered the attack.

Tight-Lipped

That’s because Genesis’ “friend” and anyone else who might have information on the suspects’ identities weren’t saying anything. Perhaps they feared reprisal or they simply didn’t want to be thought of as a “snitch,” but whatever the reason, they were standing between a bereaved mother and justice for her murdered son.

Please Help

Paula did whatever she could to find out who was responsible for the attack. She put out flyers around a memorial erected for her son and around the neighborhood. She also took to social media such as Facebook, imploring anyone with information to come forward.

Nothing

But in the months that followed, no one came forward and the police investigation uncovered no new information. The search for Genesis’ killers would continue, but the cooperation of Genesis’ friend or any other witness, would probably never come to a useful conclusion.

Not on My Worst Enemy

“I would never, ever wish this pain on anyone. It’s heart-wrenching,” Paula said. “Do you know the agony and the pain I go through daily — knowing they are walking around freely and my child is not here?”

One Question

When asked in a television interview if she had a message for the killers, Paula said, “I’m never going to see my son again because of what you thought. It doesn’t even matter why. I don’t care about the why. I just want to know who do you think you are?”

Final Words

Without justice, Paula was left only with her grief and the memories of her son. The last time they spoke, Paula said to him “I love you.” Genesis replied, “I love you more.”

Brooklyn Mother Fights for Justice for Her Son After Tragic Case of Mistaken Identity is an article from: LifeDaily

Many have experienced the joys and pains of being young and in love. It’s a difficult set of emotions to process at first, considering the lack of experience and maturity at the time it happens. But though there’s pain when it’s all over, most have at least some fond memories of their first love.

Nate and Lauren were teenagers in love. High School, however, was almost over and the two of them had to face the reality of their situation: they would both soon be going off to college. It was going to be a difficult decision for at least one of them…

Lots in Common

Lauren Astley Story — www.dailymail.co.uk

During the course of their relationship, even Lauren and Nate’s parents had gotten close. They spent a lot of time together and Nate always seemed to have a lot to talk about with Lauren’s dad. Nate was a football player who played the same positions that Lauren’s father had when he was in high school. They even went to see a few of Nate’s games.

Prudence

But the looming certainty of college was a wedge that was slowly pushing the two young lovers apart. Lauren, the more prudent of the two, decided that it might be better if they broke up before graduation. Not just because of their inevitable parting, but because she noticed a change in Nate in the last few months…

He Changed

Nathanial had always been an outgoing young man. His position on the football team and the popularity of that position made it so that he was well-liked by most of his peers. In the months leading up to graduation though, he had become withdrawn and much more aggressive. It was because of this change that Lauren ended their relationship.

Drunk and Disorderly

Despite their separation, Lauren still had Nate come to her graduation party. Unfortunately, he showed up drunk and his ex-girlfriend refused to talk to him. He was so angry at this snub that he shoved a tent pole and almost knocked the whole thing over. Lauren’s mother demanded that he leave. Nate was heartbroken and humiliated…

The Meet-Up

The two continued to talk on the phone now-and-then, but their friendship was strained and felt to both of them as if they were just fooling themselves. Finally, Nathanial told Lauren that he wanted to meet her after she finished work. According to her coworkers, she finished her shift and went to meet him.

Disappeared

Lauren’s parents waited for their daughter to get home that night, but when she didn’t return, they thought the worst. It was not like the 18-year-old to be late and not call. They called her job, who informed them that she had gone to meet Nate. They didn’t know it yet, but this would be the worst decision of their daughter’s life.

Dead on Arrival

When Lauren showed up at Nate’s parent’s home, he was alone. No one really knows what started it, but a few moments later he was strangling her with a bungee cord, then slashing her throat open with a serrated knife. Apparently, the cord hadn’t done the trick and he had to cut her throat to finish the job. It took only minutes for Lauren to bleed out.

Dump the Evidence

After that, he dragged her body to the nearby swamp and dumped her into the marsh. On the way home, late in the evening, someone spotted him driving shirtless with his car windows down and the music blaring. Did Nate have some kind of mental breakdown after the breakup, causing him to lash out violently?

Searches and Posts

When he got home, he noticed that there were a number of Facebook posts regarding Lauren’s disappearance. He decided that he would try to prove his innocence by joining the Facebook group helping to find her. He also searched a phrase online: “Does water remove fingerprints.” Both decisions would come back to haunt him later.

Arrest

Despite his somewhat ill-conceived efforts at obfuscation, Nate was arrested soon after a search of his family’s home found blood in the garage and bloody clothes stashed in the attic. They also found wet sneakers and a sweatshirt covered in mud.

His Defense

When the time came for the trial, the defense argued that Nate killed his ex-girlfriend in a fit of temporary insanity and rage. They alleged that his hostility had been “boiling below the surface like a crock pot” since the break-up and that he killed Lauren uncontrollably. Of course, there was more to it than that…

Primal Rage

The theory was that Nate’s reaction was little more than a primitive instinctual reaction that came out in an explosive and violent way. And that this was something that he couldn’t help due to of years on the football field, suffering repeated head injuries that rendered him incapable of stopping himself…

Severe Injuries

Rhode Island Hospital’s Dr. Wade Myer was brought in to testify for the defense to lend credence to this theory. He told jurors that after 11 years of football injuries, Nate’s mind was no longer controlling his body when he killed Lauren. He likely had these issues for some time prior to their breakup.

Damage Over Time

These injuries can lead to severe mental illness and suicide, and though there was no evidence of it, Nate may have developed the same chronic brain condition as NFL stars like Junior Seau. “If you repeatedly subject the brain to these things, this pattern of getting hit, over and over and over again, you start to develop chronic brain problems like trouble with concentration and your attention,” explained the doctor. Then there was Nate’s family history…

In the Family

There was some evidence within the Fujita (Nate’s surname) family that indicated a history of mental illness. This mental illness went back a generation and two of the young man’s great uncles and aunt had severely schizophrenic tendencies. It was a valid theory as to why Nate snapped, but the prosecution had another theory.

Sentenced

The prosecution believed that Nathanial Fujita was completely in control of his mental faculties when he killed his ex-girlfriend in a fit of rage. As it happened, the jury agreed with them. Nate was sentenced to a mandatory death sentence for the pre-meditated murder of his ex-girlfriend Lauren Astley. Tears came from every corner of the room when the verdict was read…

Victim Impact

Lauren’s parents came up to speak after the verdict to discuss how they were impacted by their daughter’s death. Lauren’s mother said, “Never again will I be called mom, mommy, or mother. Lauren was my only child and she brought instant light and joy into my life. I treasure and miss her voice desperately.”

The Loss of Nate

Her father, however, was not just upset with the loss of Lauren, but with the loss of Nate. “There’s hardly a day still after nearly two years when I, and I think her mother, do not sob over the loss of Lauren, or the affront she experienced … but also a loss of Nate as she and I thought we knew him.” Then, Malcolm Astley, Lauren’s father, did something that no one in the courtroom expected him to do…

One Kind Gesture

Malcolm walked over to Nate’s devastated parents and hugged them. They had been civil during the trial and had spoken to one another several times over the past few years. The two families had been so close while their children were dating. Now Nate was going to spend the rest of his life in prison, while Lauren had lost hers.

Shared Pain

Malcolm spoke to the press after the trial about how he lamented that it was not one young person who was lost in the murder but two. “I know Nate’s parents are in the deepest of pain. I talked with his mother. And we just shared our pain together and cried together.”

Teenage Love Turns Tragic After Dumped Boyfriend Loses Control is an article from: LifeDaily

The everyday struggle of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals for full equality under the law is considered by some to be the most important civil rights movement of this generation. Despite the advances made toward equality, such as the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, these communities continue to experience discrimination on many levels.

The reality is that when it comes to certain court rulings, the verdict is often not in the favor of a same-sex couple. That was until recently, in cases such as the following one. This Philadelphia Federal Court Ruling is being hailed as “historic” and the first of its kind.

Discovery

Same-sex Adoptive Parents Story — www.dcfoffices.org

It all began in March 2018 when the commissioner of Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services (DHS) discovered that two of the 30 foster care agencies with which it has contracts with had policies that deny their publicly-funded services to same-sex couples. Those agencies were the Catholic Social and Bethany Christian services.

Filing a Lawsuit

After the unsettling discovery, the department stopped working with the two organizations since their policies regarding LGBTQ families violated the nondiscrimination clause in their contract. In response, Catholic Social Services and three foster families were not happy and filed a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia…

Federal Court

This led us to the Federal Court case where the plaintiffs claimed that the city’s suspension of referrals of new children to their care violated their freedoms of speech and religious expression. According to NBC News, court documents showed that Catholic Social Services had a $19.4 million contract with Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services, making their actions rather questionable, unprofessional, and inhumane to say the least.

In Favor of Same-Sex Couples

Judge Petrese B. Tucker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania was the judge in the case and she ruled in favor of same-sex couples. The ruling found that Catholic Social Services’ practices violated the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance, which prohibits discrimination…

Refusing to Place Foster Children With Gay Families

This includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and the agency violated these policies so naturally they were not entitled to continue to receive public funding. The ruling was against the religious organization that refused to place foster children with gay families citing religious grounds.

Judge Petrese B. Tucker

According to NBC News, Judge Tucker found that and the city of Philadelphia has a “legitimate interest” in ensuring that public services are “accessible to all Philadelphians who are qualified for the services.” Judge Tucker added that “the pool of foster parents and resource caregivers is as diverse and broad as the children in need.”

Equal Protection Clause

Judge Tucker also made it clear that the Department of Human Services and the city has a legitimate interest in “avoiding likely Equal Protection Clause and Establishment Clause claims that would result if it allowed its government contractors to avoid compliance” with the city’s nondiscrimination provisions “by discriminating against same-sex married couples.”

A First Time for Everything

“This decision marks the first time a federal court has ruled that such agencies may not turn away same-sex couples who don’t meet the agencies’ religious criteria,” according to NBC. The ruling came one day after House Republicans advanced an amendment that would allow adoption agencies that receive public funding to refuse to work with same-sex couples on religious grounds…

Discrimination

The amendment permits the Department of Human Services to withhold “15 percent of the federal funds the state or local government receives for a program that provides child welfare services” from any local or state government that was found to “discriminate” against one of the religious agencies.

Unwilling to Accept the Ruling

Catholic Social Services and its lawyer, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, plan to fight Judge Tucker’s decision in court. The fund’s senior counsel, Lori Windham, slammed the policy in a statement. “Foster children deserve loving homes,” she said, implying that a same-sex home is not a “loving home.”

Fighting Back

“The trial court allowed the City to continue its harmful policy — a decision we expect to change with this appeal.” This wasn’t the first big case for the Becket Fund, who has a track record for successfully representing clients in religious liberty cases. One such case was the Hobby Lobby case in 2014.

Religious Group

The Green family who owns Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a national arts and crafts chain with more than 500 locations and thousands of employees, has organized its business model around the principals of the Christian faith. It has explicitly expressed the desire to run the company according to Biblical precepts, one of which is the belief that the use of contraception is immoral…

Hobby Lobby Stores

The company ran into a moral dilemma when they realized that under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also nicknamed Obamacare, employment-based group health care plans must provide certain types of preventative care, such as contraceptive methods. While there are exemptions for religious employers and non-profit religious institutions, there were no exemptions for for-profit companies like Hobby Lobby.

Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores

In September 2012, the Greens sued Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and challenged the contraception requirement. The plaintiffs argued that the requirement that the employment-based group health care plan cover contraception violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. But one question remained…

Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993

Did the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 allow a for-profit company to deny its employees health coverage of contraception to which the employees would otherwise be entitled based on the religious objections of the company’s owners? The answer is yes.

Ruled in Favor of Hobby Lobby

Since the contraception requirement forces religious corporations to fund what they consider abortion, which goes against their stated religious principles, it creates a burden that is not the least restrictive way of satisfying the government. Consequently, the ruling was in favor of Hobby Lobby…

Same-Sex Couple

The Philadelphia case is similar to one just a few months ago when a same-sex couple was hit with the disparaging news that their marriage was not recognized in Romania. Coman and Hamilton sought a declaration of discrimination based on sexual orientation from Romanian courts.

Not Recognized by the European Union (EU)

In response, Romania’s Constitutional court asked the Court of Justice to make the decision of whether or not Hamilton could be considered a spouse of an EU citizen. Interestingly enough, the court ruled in their favor saying that the term “spouse” does indeed include same-sex partners and member states must treat them the same as any other spouse…

Major Strides Forward

Advocacy groups hailed the court’s decision as the first of its kind to include same-sex couples in the definition of spouse for the purpose of free moment. However, the ruling still leaves the state of same-sex marriage in limbo, although Coman and Hamilton called it a win.

What Will the Future Hold?

Both of these cases are just another step forward for the LGBTQ community. There’s still a ways to go, but things are improving.

In ‘Historic’ Ruling, Philadelphia Judge Sides with Same-Sex Adoptive Parents is an article from: LifeDaily

There are thousands of unsolved or “cold” cases in the United States. They remain a mere collection of inconclusive evidence piled in dusty evidence lockers in police precincts all over the country. Yet every so often, something comes along and sheds light on a long-forgotten crime.

The police officers of Longview, Washington, believed that solving one of their oldest cases was an all-but-impossible dream. Then, more than three decades after that heinous crime was committed, someone came along with some rather specific information about that night, which was enough to reopen the case…

Dead in a Hotel

The police found the body strangled in a hotel room at the Oregon Way Hotel. The position of the body and the amount of destruction in the room pointed to an ambushed robbery. The problem was, surveillance at the hotel was lacking, and there was no way of knowing who’d done it.

No Leads

Police ran through many scenarios — ambush, robbery, serial killing, thrill-killing, even gang violence. None of these scenarios seemed to fit the crime. There was no evidence of the killer’s identity or true motive and they had left no fingerprints. With no solid leads to go on, the killer’s identity couldn’t be determined. He or she was going to walk free…

Stuck for Decades

“We didn’t have any suspects that had sufficient evidence to charge at that point. The case was cold,” explained Sgt. Chris Blanchard of the Longview Police Department. Like so many other unsolvable cases, it was put to the bottom of the pile. The identity of the killer would remain a secret for more than 30 years.

Easily…

What the Longview Police didn’t know, even as they tossed the evidence into the cold case room, was that the true killer had already confessed his crime to a family member. The family member, however, didn’t really know what to do with the information. After all, her son had always been a bit extravagant.

Homeless Man

Her son had been an outcast as well. In fact, 32 years after he committed the heinous crime, he was living on the street and had been for some time. He lived in places all over the Pacific Northwest, including California, Oregon, and Washington. At one point, he even lived at the Oregon Way Hotel.

Hotel Resident

The now-homeless killer had been living at the hotel at the time of the crime. At that time, the Oregon Way was a men’s only hotel that also served as temporary or low-income housing. This probably meant that its clientele were not exactly what one would call “savory,” even at the best of times. Still, the killer thought it was safe.

Festering Guilt

The man who would eventually confess to the murder, Glenn Adams, had been living with the guilt of his actions since that fateful day in 1986. The memory of his brutal act festered in his mind for over 32 years, but he was too afraid to come clean. Though, in his defense, he did try at least once before…

First Attempt

In July 2017, Adams went to the police station in Santa Barbara, California. He had every intention of turning himself in. After mentioning the case, he waited to speak to a detective. But he got cold feet and left before an officer could conduct an official interview.

Reopened

Still, someone coming forward to talk about a 30-year-old unsolved case raised some red flags. Sergeant Blanchard and his team re-opened the case and within a few months, they had almost tracked down the man who was either the killer or knew something about who the killer was.

Arrest

Two months later, Longview investigators tracked down Adams who just so happened to be jailed for a separate crime. Adams relayed specific details of the murder to officers and even gave them a DNA sample to test against evidence. But Adams was not ready to give a full confession until he spoke to his brother.

Come Clean

Adams was 58 years old when he turned himself in for the murder of Russell Haines. Despite having no leads for 32 years, the police now had what they believed to be the killer. They had to dig deeper though. After all, as remorseful as he was, he still seemed unsure about providing a confession.

Some Idea

Glenn’s mother, Emma Adams, had a little bit of an idea of what her son had done, though she had always just brushed the confession aside. Two decades earlier, he had come clean to her and told her that he thought he might have killed someone. She didn’t realize it at the time, but he had been telling the truth.

Admission

Finally, after speaking with his brother, Adams decided to relay a full account of the happenings of that night. Sergeant Blanchard believed that Adams wanted to right the wrong he’d done that night, and his mother agreed and was sad that he held it in the whole time. “It makes me feel like he still has a conscience,” she explained.

The Why of It

Adams began by telling police that he was desperate for money. He knew that Haines kept large amounts of cash on him. which made him the perfect target. He had to wait until Haines was ready though, to make sure that things didn’t escalate or get out of control … which invariably happened anyway.

Knocked Out

Adams decided he’d waited long enough and one night, he crept into Haines’ room at the hotel and waited. Haines was coming back from the grocery store and when he arrived, Adams grabbed hold of him and put him into a choke-hold. His goal was to knock him unconscious and take his money, not kill him.

The How of It

The problem was, Adams wasn’t efficient enough to render Haines unconscious for long enough to steal all his money. Haines began to wake up and Adams, now panicked, wrapped a cloth around his neck and throttled him even more … before he knew it, Haines was dead.

Not the Story

Adams got away with $400, enough for a few more weeks rent at the hotel. This wasn’t the story he’d confessed to his mother two years prior, however. What Adams told her was that he accidentally hit somebody who then fell into the creek and drowned. The real story was no accident.

Going Through

The revelation of what Adams had actually done was devastating to his mother. Her own daughter had been murdered several years before. So she understood what Haines’ family was feeling. She hates what her son did, but is happy that rather than let it go, he came forward at last.

Broken Heart

Emma Adams had a message for her son, though she declined to speak to him directly. “I would say that he has broken my heart for one,” she said. “The fact that he didn’t ever tell me the real story.” Then, speaking to her son, she said, “You’re going to have to suck it up and do your time.” Given the 32-years-delayed confession, it appears that time may last rest of his life.

No Word Yet

Glenn Adams plead guilty in his first court appearance and while he awaits an answer as to sentencing, the Longview Police are reviewing the case to make sure all the 32-year loose ends are tied up nice and tight. It remains to be seen what sort of sentence he will be given, but one assumes it will be significant.

Cold Case Reopens After Unsuspected Man Comes Clean is an article from: LifeDaily

The solar system we call home surrounds a star located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Our star (the Sun) has planets that orbit around it and countless smaller bodies such as moons, asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.

The fifth planet from the Sun is Jupiter and it is the most massive in our solar system. Known to surprise scientists, Jupiter’s gifts date way back to 1610, when Galileo Galilei found the first moons beyond earth. While that discovery changed the way we see the universe, Jupiter has done it once again as astronomers recently made a fascinating discovery…

Jupiter

Jupiter, our solar system’s oldest planet, has many moons. But just recently, twelve new moons have been discovered orbiting the behemoth. This raises the number of natural satellites known to be circling our solar system to 79.

Discovery

The discovery was by Scott Sheppard, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution to Science in Washington D.C. The finding was published by the International Astronomical Union. But, oddly enough, Sheppard didn’t initially set out to detect new moons…

Looking for Possible Planets

His team, along with collaborators at the University of Hawaii and Northern Arizona University, were actually hunting for objects far beyond Pluto. “We’re looking for new possible planets and dwarf planets in our solar system, just seeing what is out there,” Sheppard told the Washington Post.

New Moons

The astronomers initially spotted the moons in the spring of 2017 while using a telescope in Chile to search for Planet X, a massive body that is believed to orbit the sun far beyond Pluto. The moons were positioned exactly where their telescope was facing at the time, making the discovery practically unavoidable.

Our Solar System

“Jupiter just happened to be in the sky near the search fields where we were looking for extremely distant solar system objects, so we were … able to look for new moons around Jupiter while at the same time looking for planets at the fringes of our solar system,” Sheppard said.

Confirmed by Telescopes

The discovery was later confirmed by additional astronomers worldwide. “I love this result,” Jackie Faherty, an astronomer with the American Museum of Natural History, told NBC News.

What is Out There?

Faherty continued: “We’ve been studying this planet for as long as we have been looking up, and it is still yielding surprises for us. It also reminds me that the question of ‘what is out there’ is always an open one to be explored.” Another astronomer, Tabetha Boyajian also told NBC that she was not surprised that Jupiter was “hoarding more moons.”

How They Found These Moons

Sheppard says that along with his team, they were able to go a little bit farther than anyone has been able to go in the past. That, he says, is the reason they were able to see the news moons.

Photographing the Sky

The researchers discover these new solar system bodies by photographing the same part of the sky weeks or months apart. Then they look for objects that shift position between the two images. The team first spotted most of the new Jovian moons using the Blanco 4-metre telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, according to Nature.com.

Sizes of the Moons

“Jupiter’s moons range in size from shrimpy satellites to whopping space hulks,” says the Washington Post. All the newfound moons are small, between one and three kilometers across. Seven of them travel in remote orbits more than 20 million kilometers away from Jupiter, in the opposite direction from the planet’s rotation…

Naming the Moons

All of Jupiter’s moons are named after Gods with connections to the mythological Jupiter or Zeus. Sheppard has named the smallest moon, Valetudo, after one of Jupiter’s descendants, the Roman goddess of hygiene and health.

Valetudo

He compares Valetudo with “driving down the highway on the wrong side of the road.” It’s reportedly the smallest Jovian moon ever discovered. All the other moons are farther-flung, each no more than two miles in diameter…

Dating Back to 1610

Galileo discovered Jupiter’s first four moons in 1610. All of them were large in size and the largest Galilean moon, Ganymede, is bigger than the planet Mercury. Ganymede has a diameter of about 5,300 kilometers (about 3,300 miles). The smallest is Valetudo…

Composition

Valetudo’s composition is likely “half ice and half rock,” according to Sheppard. However, astronomers don’t know the composition of the dozen newly identified moons. “The only thing that we know at the moment are the orbits and the approximate size,” says Gareth Williams, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and director at the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.

Very Close

Williams also predicted that “there aren’t any bigger objects undiscovered out there,” around Jupiter. However, astronomers can expect to discover many more tiny moons in the coming decades, most of which may even be in the hundred-meter range.

Prograde Orbits

Many moons, including Earth’s moon, have prograde orbits. This is when a planet moves west-to-east relative to the stars, so from night to night, it falls behind the stars around it. The Sun, and Earth’s moon, always move prograde. Two of the newly discovered moons, the ones that are closest to Jupiter, also have prograde orbits…

Retrograde Orbits

The other nine discovered moons, which are grouped into clusters of three, reportedly have retrograde orbits. It’s believed that those moons were probably once part of a larger moon that fragmented into smaller objects. Astronomers are currently running computer simulations to see how the moons fragmented in the first place.

Oddball

But Valetudo is something of an oddball. Its prograde orbit is at a distance, with the rest of Jupiter’s moons having retrograde orbits. Even more interesting is that the orbits intersect, offering the possibility of a moon-to-moon collision…

Last Remnants?

Sheppard explains that these moons may be the “last remnants of a once much larger moon that has been ground to dust from collisions … By looking at these outer moons, we can get an insight into what the objects were like that ended up forming the planets we see today.” Still, one must wonder if there are any other undiscovered moons out there?

Are There More Moons?

Sheppard told Nature.com that there still might be a few more moons of Jupiter to discover, although they are yet to be seen. It’s possible that they were hiding in the Sun’s glare when the scientists weren’t looking. The total number of moons orbiting Jupiter is still the highest, although Saturn is a runner-up with a confirmed 62 moons.

Jupiter has 12 More Moons We Didn’t Know About, Including One Tiny ‘Oddball’ is an article from: LifeDaily

Oscar Wilde once began an essay with the words: “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Wilde’s maxim suggests that our actions depict things we see in art more so than art depicting things we see in life.

People spend their youth looking for “storybook romances.” Just about every technological advancement was predicted in some form or fashion by a science-fiction novel years ago. And there’s no limit to the amount of revolutionary acts that were inspired by someone’s literature. When investigators looked into one particular case, they would find the culprit had once again proved Wilde’s maxim to be true…

Living Well

Alan was a 71-year-old man who lived in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, who by all accounts was living a great life. Originally from West Hartford, Connecticut, he had plenty of money from a family flooring business. And though he’d recently spent five years working as a developer for an LED lighting company, he was now semi-retired.

Loving Husband

Alan’s social life was going well, too. He was married to a woman named Linda — a second marriage for both of them — who described him as “the love of her life.” He seemed equally devoted to her and promised she “would always be taken care of.”

Boston Trip

Toward the end of January in 2018, Linda and Alan traveled north together to Boston where they planned to visit with Linda’s daughter for a couple of weeks. Spending time with her was enjoyable as always. But after a week, Alan grew tired of the cold and decided he would return to Florida early.

Time for Friends

Once back in the beautiful Florida weather, Alan spent the time away from his wife by hanging out with his friends. That mostly meant meeting them in the morning for coffee at a local shop or getting lunch or dinner later in the day.

Great Guy

And there was never a shortage of friends for him to spend his time with. One friend described Alan as “a fun guy that everybody wanted to be around.” An avid golfer, Alan had scheduled a tee time as part of a foursome on January 25th. But he never showed up for that tee time.

Where’s Alan?

At first, his friends thought he was just running late. But as the minutes went by and they were unable to get a hold of Alan on his home or mobile phones, they started to worry. As they would later find out, their concerns were all too valid…

Found

Earlier that morning around 7 am, a man was out walking his dog when he came across what looked like a man lying down in the middle of a field. When he got closer, he saw a circle of blood on the man’s shirt around what looked like a bullet hole. That man was Alan Abrahamson.

Looks Like Murder

When police showed up on the scene, they had every reason to believe that Alan had been murdered, though there was little evidence to explain why. There was nothing to indicate a struggle or that he’d been mugged. Later investigation would show that he’d had no enemies. There was only one strange thing to suggest what had happened…

That’s Weird

Investigators noticed a “linear blood transfer pattern on [Alan] Abrahamson’s sweatshirt.” In other words, it looked like something about the width of a piece of thread had passed through the blood on the outside of his shirt. There was also a curious object — a small pair of scissors — found near his body.

Inescapable Idea

One of the detectives working on the case couldn’t get that strange quirk of the crime scene out of his head. Several days later, a far-fetched idea had wormed its way into his brain and as unlikely as it seemed, he couldn’t find his way to dismissing it…

No Killer?

The most obvious fact of the case was that Alan had been killed by someone else but the detectives theory directly contradicted that. What if, he proposed, Alan’s death had been a suicide staged to appear like a murder?

Far-Fetched Theory

It was the string-like pattern in the blood that had started it all. The theory was that the string had been attached to a balloon that was tied to a gun Alan had used to shoot himself. After the shot, the balloon carried the gun away but not before dragging through the blood stain forming around the gunshot wound…

CSI Plot

If this sounds to you like something out of a procedural TV crime show, that’s because it is. Investigators discovered a 2003 episode of the show “CSI” where someone had used a gun tied to a weather balloon to make a suicide appear to be a murder.

It’s Been Done Before

Not only was the idea out there, it had apparently been tried before. In 2008, a New Mexico man tried to copy the CSI plot, which was only uncovered because the balloon — with the pistol still attached — got caught in a nearby cactus…

Evidence Needed

So the outlandish idea was now a possible but unlikely explanation for Alan’s death. However, police would soon uncover evidence that made it appear more and more that this balloon-ruse suicide was what actually happened. A further investigation of the crime scene found “pieces of white string/twine with knots tied and some colored rubber bands” more than 40 yards away from where the body was found.

No Reason for It

Detectives would find similar string and rubber bands in a draw at Alan’s home. They also found that Alan had purchased two weather balloons, one in October and another on Christmas Day. “No family or friends knew of any interest in weather balloons, aerial photography, or weather,” a police document would later say…

String of Emails

They also uncovered a series of emails between Alan and the balloon vendor about the logistics of the balloons he’d purchased, including information about how far the balloon would carry a one pound load, how soon before a launch you can fill the balloon, and how a field was the optimal place to launch.

Incriminating Searches

Back on January 23rd and 24th, Alan bought two helium tanks, paying cash each time. Investigators also found a history of Google searches he’d made going back to 2009. Those searches included questions about whether life insurance policies will pay in the event of a suicide, ways to commit the act, and how fast a gunshot victim dies…

Long Gone

Ultimately, police concluded that Alan’s death had indeed been a suicide, as outlandish as it initially seemed. The balloon used would have lifted a handgun approximately 19 miles into the air and winds would have carried it somewhere north of the Bahamas in the open Atlantic. Neither the balloon, the tanks, or the weapon were ever found.

Please Seek Help

If you or a loved one is struggling and considering self-harm, there are people who want to help you. Please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

CSI Episode Offers Insight Into Baffling Florida Investigation is an article from: LifeDaily

In a world where selfishness is too common, the citizens of one Illinois town set themselves apart. Abiding by a four-point system designed to help newcomers, they helped a fellow neighbor, father, friend, and police officer when he fell ill but refused to stop working in order to support his family.

The town came together in a way that is not seen in many places in the U.S. — they even received national recognition for it. Here’s what it’s like in North Riverside, Illinois, a place where being kind is “in its DNA.”

Code 1078

A police department in the suburbs of Chicago put out a 1078, which means a police officer needs emergency assistance. The code was in regards to a fairly new officer with the Riverside Police Department in Illinois.

Riverside Police Officer

Chris Kudla has been with the police force since March 2017. He previously worked for the Village of Lyons as a police officer from 2003 to 2014, and then the Montgomery Police Department until March 2017. But just eight months after starting his new position at Riverside, Chris received some disparaging news…

Awful Diagnosis

On November 25, 2017, just one day before his 46th birthday, Chris was diagnosed with cancer. His official diagnosis being stage four metastatic papillary renal cell carcinoma. After noticing a lump on his neck and going to the doctor, Chris received a CT scan which showed a baseball-sized tumor on his right kidney.

Stage 4 Cancer

The cancer was also spreading through most of the lymph nodes in his body. This particular form of cancer is extremely rare and possibly genetic, and Chris’ siblings and children were also suggested to get tested to see if they’re OK. Chris lives in Romeoville with his wife Tricia and his two daughters Amanda and Ashley.

Concerned About His Family

When Chris’s fellow officers first spoke to him about his diagnosis, they learned that his first concern was his family. He didn’t want them burdened by any financial strain or medical bills. But as Chris was in the early stages of treatment, it was unclear what the financial strain would ultimately be.

Grim Prognosis, Great Attitude

After receiving the diagnosis, Chris’s attitude remained great. He was determined to be strong and stay in peak condition so that he could do his job. The chief of the Riverside police force Tom Weitzel told CBS News, “From the first day [Chris] came in and met with me and told me about his diagnosis, he told me, ‘Chief, I’m not stopping working.’” And he hasn’t…

Unstoppable Officer

Through all the doctors appointments and twice a month chemotherapy, Chris stayed on the beat. But because of his short time with the Riverside police force, he earned far fewer sick days than he would need to manage his appointments and keep his job.

The Chief’s Reaction

Chris recalls that his chief’s reaction right off the bat was, “Let’s see what we could do to help you out.” The response was overwhelming. As a means of helping their police brother, fellow cops decided to donate all of their sick days to Chris.

Donating Sick Days

Then, municipality workers, local civil servants, and staff members all joined together in donating their sick days to him. “They want to donate, they could,” explained Weitzel. With all the help, Chris was able to receive roughly six months worth of sick days.

The Entire Town Stepped Up

“Everybody without hesitation stepped up to help out,” Chris told CBS News. “Sometimes when you start to lose faith in humanity and you think that this world’s gone down the wrong path and there ain’t no coming back, something like this happens.” Additionally, the police department started raising money to support Chris’s family through a GoFundMe campaign. This may seem like a rare case of neighborhood altruism, but what many don’t know is…

The Golden Rule

Riverside is notorious for helping out those in need. In fact, there is often no competition when it comes to the village of North Riverside, where strangers and village staff are more than just fun and friendly. For more than 25 years, residents have made the Golden Rule the town mantra and it has changed many lives.

North Riverside, Illinois

The population in Riverside is about 6,500 people and they are some of the most caring people in the U.S. The town has an active neighborhood services committee that helps all residents in need and they even wrote a manual on how to do so.

The Art of Caring

An excerpt from the manual reads: “The Art of Caring truly can transform any town or organization. However, the transformation does not happen overnight. Instead, the experience has to be … heard again and again as a group.”

Transforming a Town

“Sharing positive stories together at every meeting gives the captains the courage to care because they know they are not alone. Then all can go ahead with hope and perseverance. They try to care concretely about each neighbor each day.” The four points the neighborhood abides by “lead to reciprocal caring and the spirit of family.” The points are…

‘Be the First to Reach Out’

The first point is that they encourage citizens to be the first to reach out. The community gives welcome bags to new residents, sometimes with homemade cookies. The block captains (one assigned to each block) also give little decorated trees at Christmas to one person on a block each year. “Through this network, we have truly tried to reach every single person in our village,” the manual explains.

‘Reach Out to Everyone’

In the town, the captains knock at everyone’s door on their block, including those who are not easy to meet or know. The captain also presents residents with resource handouts, which are distributed once or twice a year. Handouts which include the dates of garage sales or block parties, and no one is left out, not even the mailman…

‘Be One With Your Neighbor- Sharing Their Joys And Sorrows as if They are Your Own’

The third point is to be as caring toward neighbors as you would be toward your own family. If a resident or a block captain is sick or worried, neighbors are encouraged to send cards, bring food, or just listen. One time, the village’s former mayor called because he was worried about a resident that he met that was depressed.

Former Mayor’s Concern

He asked for the community leaders to call and offer resources because he couldn’t get the depressed woman out of his thoughts. He was so concerned for her that even if she didn’t accept the help, at least he did his best. The community feels for one another and those that are suffering and then make use of emails to share concerns or communicate to the captains if someone is in trouble.

“Be Concrete in Caring”

The fourth point North Riverside lives by is to be concrete in caring. They offer residents informational handouts on health, safety, and financial resources. They even have speakers at their neighborhood services meetings to inform captains of services they can share with their neighbors. “Very often, those who have experienced this type of caring then turn around and show it to others.”

Practice What They Preach

Being that North Riverside is such a kindhearted and warm place, they’ve received recognition from Reader’s Digest, where they were nominated as one of the “Top 10 Nicest Places in America.” Reader’s Digest wrote, “North Riverside, Illinois: Where being kind to neighbors is part of the town’s DNA — they even wrote a book on the topic.”

Town’s ‘Four-Point’ Plan Helps Local Cop Care for Family is an article from: LifeDaily

The ocean covers about 70 percent of Earth’s surface, yet only one percent of the ocean floor has been explored so far. So every time humans explore the underwater environment, there’s no telling what might turn up.

In 1998, a team of divers had no idea what to expect when they went out into the ocean surrounding a remote island. During their exploration, however, the team found a groundbreaking piece of history that hadn’t been seen in over 500 years…

Making History

Diver Finds Navigation Tool Story — www.westernsentinel.com

In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama made history when he became the first man to establish a western maritime route to India from Europe. During that expedition, Da Gama and his men sailed from Europe, around Africa, and into the Indian ocean where they reached their final destination in Calicut, which is now Kozhikode, India.

The India Route

The groundbreaking trade route later named the Carreira da India or India Route, allowed Europeans to access the spice markets controlled by Muslim rulers. The expedition, which occurred during Europe’s Age of Exploration, also lead to an age of global imperialism…

The Fourth Voyage

In 1502, Dom Manuel I, the King of Portugal who ruled from 1495 to 1521, sent Da Gama to lead Portugal’s fourth voyage from Lisbon to India with an armada of 20 ships and a crew of between 800 to 1800 men.

Trouble From the Start

According to historians, the expedition was troubled from the start when only 15 of the 20 ships were ready to set sail on the launch date. At the last minute, the Armada was reorganized into three groups. Da Gama would lead the first group of 10 ships, he uncle Vincente Sodré would lead the second group of five ships, and the last group of five ships would set sail on a later date and catch up to the group on the way…

The Mission

However, that wasn’t the last of the issues the fleet experienced. Da Gama’s main goal in sailing all the way back to India was to force Hindu rulers of the Malabar Coast to surrender control to the Portuguese. Sadly, Da Gama failed this mission.

Returning Home

During the trip back to Portugal in February, 1503, after the failed expedition, Da Gama ordered his uncle, Vincente Sodré, and his five-ship squadron to stay behind to protect Portuguese factories on the southwest coast of India. However, Sodré didn’t follow orders…

Disobeying Orders

Instead, Sodré, who was sailing on the ship Esmeralda, ordered his squadron to sail to the Gulf of Aden, which is situated between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, to seize and loot Arab ships. By May of 1503, the Esmeralda and the rest of the squadron was anchored at Al Hallaniyah, one of the Khuriya Muriya Islands off what is southern Oman today.

A Warning

While anchored not far off the small island, local residents warned Sodré that their ships were not safe where they were since a big storm was coming. Sodré and his men ignored the warning, which they would soon come to regret.

The Storm

On April 30, the dangerous storm came just as locals had warned. All of the ships were badly damaged and two ships, including the Esmeralda, actually sunk in deep waters during the storm. Sodré and all the crew members died as a result of the shipwreck and everyone thought the ship was lost for good.

Lost Forever

Hundreds of years passed, yet no one ever found any trace of the sunken Portuguese ships. About 500 years later, however, Bluewater Recoveries Ltd., a shipwreck recovery company from England, made it their mission to find the historical ships.

A New Mission

The team from Bluewater Recoveries Ltd., which is lead by David Mearns, spent six months researching archives and any historical information about the shipwreck from survivors and eyewitnesses in the hopes of finding something that would point them in the right direction to the shipwreck location.

500 Years Later

After spending months scouring the archives they eventually zeroed in on several potential locations. In 1998, Mearns and his team traveled to the Khuriya Muriya Islands to begin their search. “Our team stood on top of the island and watched the waves come in,” Mearns said…

The Search Begins

According to Mearns, being on the island helped put the team, “in the place of the Portuguese, where they would have anchored and where the storm would dash them along the coastline.” Then the crew went down to the water where they believed the ships had been anchored.

A Good Sign

“Then they snorkeled around and in 20 minutes started seeing cannonballs that were obviously from a European ship,” Mearns said. The team believed they may have found one of the sunken ships from Da Gama’s fleet, however, they couldn’t be sure yet…

The Excavation Begins

It wasn’t until Blue Water Recoveries Ltd. returned to the island off the coast of Oman in 2013 with Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Culture that they began to properly excavate the site to try and figure out what they had found.

The Proof

As divers started to explore and excavate the area, they quickly started uncovering countless artifacts from coins to ammunition and cannons. However, when divers found a “ghost coin,” an extremely rare Indio silver Portuguese coin minted specifically for trade with India, as well as cannonballs engraved with the initials of Vincente Sodré, they realized what they had actually discovered…

Rare Artifacts

According to experts, the shipwreck found off the coast of the island was, in fact, the wreckage of the Esmeralda, which made the discovery the oldest shipwreck from Europe’s Age of Exploration. In addition to the rare ghost coin, which is one of two that have ever been found, the divers uncovered the ship’s bell making it the oldest ship bell ever found.

The Mysterious Disc

One of the most groundbreaking discoveries, however, was a mysterious disc that featured the Portuguese royal coat of arms and the personal emblem of Dom Manuel I. At first, experts weren’t sure what the copper-alloy disc was, but scans revealed that it was actually an astrolabe, a marine navigation tool used to measure the height of the sun. This one was the oldest astrolabe ever found…

A Piece of History

“It’s a great privilege to find something so rare, something so historically important, something that will be studied by the archaeological community and fills in a gap,” Mearns said about the astrolabe, which is estimated to have been made between 1495 and 1500. “It was like nothing else we had seen and I immediately knew it was something very important because you could see it had these two emblems on it.”

Unlocking the Past

“Together they provide tangible proof of the military objectives of this fleet as ordered by Dom Manuel I and brutally carried out by Vasco da Gama and his two uncles Vicente and Brás Sodré,” Blue Water and Oman’s Ministry of Heritage & Culture said in a statement. “The historical and archeological importance of the wreck site, based on future studies of the artifact assemblage, could be enormous.”

Diver Finds Pivotal 500-Year-Old Piece Of History Lying On The Seafloor is an article from: LifeDaily

Today, Alexandria is far from the brilliant beacon of an empire it was in 332 BC. Founded by Alexander the Great, it was a new way to link Greece to the rich Nile valley in Egypt. It was a city of knowledge, but today, it is a city of secrets.

For centuries, archaeologists have endeavored to understand the secrets of the past by digging deep beneath the modern world. Every now and then they unearth something even more unusual, and in this case, terrifying, than anything they’d found before…

Alexandria Excavation

Black Sarcophagus Discovery Story — uk.blastingnews.com

Despite the presence of the encroaching and ever-growing modern world, Alexandria still has its share of secrets buried deep beneath the city. This latest find, originally discovered while clearing a site for a new building excavation, was not something anyone, least of all the construction workers, anticipated to unearth.

Over the Years

Over the centuries, Alexandria has developed to be quite a bustling city. This means that locating new relics of Egypt and even Greece’s storied past is a difficult and challenging enterprise. So when someone does manage to find something that’s clearly ancient, it’s a big deal. And this find was particularly big, as it turned out…

Deep Underground

They found the object 16 feet below the ground. The location of the find dated back to the Ptolemaic period, between 305 and 30 BCE. It was a difficult time for the city and for Egypt as a whole. This was the period between the death of Alexander the Great and the rule of Cleopatra; before the Roman Empire took over.

Alabaster

The site was apparently a tomb, where a large alabaster head sat half-buried in sand and earth. The diggers and archaeologists didn’t quite recognize the head, but they wondered if it had something to do with the rather large and very unique sarcophagus sitting in the corner of the tomb…

2000 Years

Ayman Ashmawy from the Egypt Ministry of Antiquities was brought in to examine the head and the sarcophagus. He noticed that, in addition to the unique coloring and dimensions of the burial casket, it also possessed a layer of mortar between the lid and body, which meant it was still perfectly sealed, and that it had been for more than 2,000 years.

Solemn Sarcophagus

The still-sealed and solemn-looking coffin was one of the largest that the archeological team had ever found in Alexandria. It was 72.8 inches tall, 104.3 inches long, 65 inches wide. This meant that whoever it held was either very large or held a prominence place in Egyptian culture…

Still Sealed

It was rare for a tomb of that size to remain sealed after 2,000 years, especially considering so many other tombs in the area had been plundered of their treasures. Still, the sarcophagus was sealed and in great condition. But why had grave robbers so vehemently avoided this particular burial cite?

The Largest

Then there was the fact that this large sarcophagus wasn’t just abnormally huge, it was also made of black granite — an unusual color for a sarcophagus. Ashmawy and his team believed that it would likely have been a place of rest for someone of high status or, as we learned in the movie “The Mummy,” someone infamous …

Movie Plot

Almost immediately, the black tomb was put under guard. Alexandria officials and Egyptologists all worried that such an object, immense as it was, would be a prime target for vandals or thieves. Of course, some of them were also worried about who the ancient Egyptians might have buried in a black casket.

Speculation

Many debated over whether or not the team should even open the sarcophagus. If you look back at history, tales of the Pharaoh’s curse being released with the opening of a tomb are as popular as the mummies within them. People speculated not only of the possible curse within the coffin, but also of the inhabitants therein…

Alexander the Great

As soon as the story hit the internet, many began to guess who might be inside. Because the casket was dated back to the Ptolemaic period, after Alexander’s death, many thought the black sarcophagus might contain the remains of the famous Alexander the Great. Though this seemed as unlikely as the curse…

The Pharaoh’s Curse

Despite the ridiculousness of believing either theory, many believed the sarcophagus should remain closed indefinitely. There were even protests about opening a potentially royal coffin. That didn’t stop the march of scientific exploration, however. A few weeks after finding it, the archeological team decided to open the coffin…

Disgusting Smell

The sarcophagus was tough to pry open at first. Finally they were able to pop it open and were met by the most disgusting smell most of them had ever encountered. It was so bad that they had to evacuate the building site entirely.

Three Bodies

That smell was coming from a red, viscous liquid in laying in the bottom of the black sarcophagus. Swimming in the foul-smelling funk were three average looking skeletons, all forced into a single casket. What was it that the builders had unearthed and what sort of toxic sludge had pooled in the granite coffin?

Raw Sewage

As it happens, the red goo in the bottom of the coffin was indeed toxic, at least in some ways. It was not, however, the physical evidence of some ancient blood curse. It was just raw sewage from the Alexandria above that had leaked into the sarcophagus.

Soldiers

The three skeletons found inside were alleged to be soldiers. The team believed this because even in an initial investigation, one skull showed signs of fractures caused by a sharp instrument. Who they were, what they fought for, and where they came from, are yet to be determined. In the meantime, people started talking about doing something strange with the liquid…

Drink What?

Some people wanted to drink the red liquid that was found inside the coffin. They wanted to drink what could have been 2,000-year-old mummy juice mixed with raw sewage. What’s worse, they started a petition for it too.

Strange Endgame

Innes McKendrick, the man who launched the petition in the first place, did so in order to turn the liquid into some sort of carbonated energy drink. His “goal” was such that people who drank it could assume the skeleton’s powers.

Labyrinth

Recently, archaeologists also found a hidden network of tombs south of Cairo that has also remained untouched for upwards of 2,000 years. This site, unlike the Alexandrian sarcophagus, may take upwards of five years or more to excavate completely.

More to Find

There was also a Greco-Roman temple found about the same age in a remote settlement in Egypt. Both these finds, along with the black sarcophagus, represent new strides in archeology and prove that there is much still left to be discovered. In the meantime, the team continues to find out who the three skeletons belonged to and what their find means to our understanding of Ancient Egypt.

Egyptian Builders Find Spooky Tomb Beneath Ancient Alexandria is an article from: LifeDaily

It may seem like an impossible thing in the Western world, but the idea that a town of any kind could be without internet is almost inconceivable. And yet, in the small town of Michaelston-y-Fedw, Wales, that was exactly the case.

Michaelston-y-Fedw is a picturesque Welsh village that is, for most people, the perfect place to live. If you’re one of the many disconnected young locals of the town, however, you live in little more than a “not spot.” Something had to be done about the lack of connection to the outside world. But what could they do?

Disconnected

Villagers Wales Broadband Story — Safaa Al-Hayali / YouTube

Imagine a place where people couldn’t watch Youtube, stream music on Spotify, do mobile banking, or download a movie off Amazon Prime. This was what the people of Michaelston-y-Fedw were dealing with. Villagers young and old were dealing with the problem, but as the world outside moved at high speed, they continued to crawl along at a snail’s pace.

Impossible Internet

Caroline Hill and Ben Langman are pub owners in Michaelston-y-Fedw who have been running the Cefn Mably Arms for nearly two years. Unfortunately, the slow to sometimes nonexistent internet speeds have begun to negatively impact the business in a big way. For example, as soon as a patron connected to Wifi, their credit card machine would crash…

Slow Play

Then there were the payroll issues the co-owners experienced when they tried to organize online banking for their staff of 26 people. Everything had become unwieldy when it came to the business and the village governance could do nothing to help. Meg Cope, who is attending Cardiff University and lives in the village, experienced similar issues while trying to connect.

Falling Behind

“The internet is so important for my university work,” Meg explained. “I read a lot of articles and journals so I have to go into [university] to download them and then come home to read them.” All of this back and forth has put her behind with her degree program. And that’s not counting all the extra data she’s had to buy just to browse the internet. Meg, Caroline and Bill weren’t the only villagers experiencing issues, either …

Revolution

Now though, after being so long on the tail-end of the Internet age, the fed up locals decided to take matters into their own hands. This wouldn’t be an easy task, however. Upping the entire village’s Internet speed was going to take some know-how that very few of the residents possessed. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Village Meeting

An idea was mentioned at a village meeting, and rather than argue against what an undertaking it might be, over 30 volunteers, all of them local villagers, decided that since no one else was helping them, they’d do it themselves. Everyone was enthusiastic and ready to bring Michaelston-y-Fedw into the 21st century…

Grants

The first thing they had to do was apply for grants to get the financing for the project. They did this by applying for every government grant that they possibly could. These grants included the Welsh Government and Access Broadband Cymru. Getting either grant was a long shot of course, but the village’s needs were very clear.

Sharing the Burden

The village volunteers also set up their own not-for-profit Community Interest Company which ended up raising £150,000 simply by asking local people to buy shares in the project. It was brilliant really, because all the money went back to providing a service they could all benefit from. That was only part one, however…

Together

This was not the first time such a thing was done in England, but it was the first time it was done in Wales. Using England’s examples, the villagers began contacting farmers and landowners to ask permission to dig trenches on their land. They wanted to lay fiber optic cables from the hub to homes and businesses.

Training

The volunteers educated themselves on the proper way to install the new Internet infrastructure. They pooled their skills, received training, and brought in local contractors to help dig the trenches. Because it was all volunteer work, people worked in shifts to ensure that all facets of the work were done. It wasn’t easy…

Not Easy

“We started digging on 21 February this year when the ground was frozen solid,” said Dave, a 52-year-old resident who’s lived there for eight years. They were snowed in soon after, and then had torrential rain, but when it was done, they got right back to work. Installing the new Internet had become something of a full-time job for many of the volunteers.

Making Friends

Many of the volunteers actually used the work as an opportunity to learn a bit about their fellow villagers. Jim and Carina Dunk loved making friends with people they hadn’t really gotten to know before then. Carina does fibre splicing and Jim, who was in the Merchant Navy, had a home in Michaelston-y-Fedw for 41 years. This project, he says, meant the world to him…

Home Sweet Home

Jim Dunk is now 71 years old and though he traveled the world with the navy, always came back to his hometown. Before beginning all the work though, he knew very few people besides his fellow pub patrons. Now, as he installs routers in everyone’s home, he has met so many more of his neighbors.

Changes

Now, Jim’s local pub, along with some other places, is connected to Michaelston-y-Fedw’s new ultrafast FTTP broadband. Instead of not being able to surf Facebook and process a Visa card, now bar patrons can, as Ben Langman put it, “download the whole Star Wars trilogy in three minutes.”

Fastest Speeds

As of the beginning of the year, the local pub, Village Hall, and the church have all been connected to the FTTP broadband. The village volunteers believe that by Autumn of 2018, about 175 homes in the area will have upload and download speeds of one Gbps – or 1,000 Mbps: which incidentally are some of the fastest internet speeds in the entire United Kingdom.

Huge Deal

Now, thanks to the hard work of the dedicated citizens of Michaelston-y-Fedw, the town is a place that they can all be proud of. They’ve even put up large banners along the road into the village which proclaims, “Fastest Village in Wales.” The town’s 300 residents are ecstatic, but their work isn’t finished.

Undaunted

Though the villagers still have much work to do, they are undaunted by the prospect. Indeed, many of the volunteers are anxious to see what new challenges await them as they continue. They’re looking to become experts in no time at all and it seems that many of them hope the work continues to challenge them.

Over the River

One of those challenges is the fact that they still have to connect the popular Cefn Mably Farm Park into the network. To do that, they need to get the wires across the river. “We’ll just use a directional drill to do it,” explained Dave Wilford, a local member of the village volunteers.

Worth It

David was one of the folks who stepped up to do actual groundwork, meaning digging trenches in the many fields that surround the village so wires could be installed. He feels, since now he can upload all his drone videos to Youtube, that the efforts are all worth it in the end, especially since it provides such a needed service in 2018.

Making a Difference

The fact that the work has made such a difference in the lives of the people living in Michaelston-y-Fedw has inspired other villages in the area as well. They believe that Michaelston-y-Fedw is a great example for the world and hope they’ll continue to work together in the coming years.

Welsh Villagers Come Together to Fix ‘Speed’ Problem is an article from: LifeDaily

Jealousy can be one of the most destructive and dangerous emotions contained within the human gamut. As a close relative of envy, jealousy sometimes causes people to do things that they wouldn’t normally do.

It may have been more than 20 years ago, but no one had forgotten the tragedy that had befallen the town in Oklahoma. Fast forward 22 years and the truth was about to be revealed…

Just 19

It was the September of 1996 when a small town in Oklahoma would be shocked to its core after the brutal murder of a 19-year-old girl. To make thing worse, Joannie Goodwin was the mother of a 7-month-old baby when she was slain. The details of the shocking case were almost unbelievable at first …

Bird Creek

Bird Creek, located near the Pawhuska, Oklahoma, was where the killer left the body. Having been bound with electrical wire and shot, Goodwin’s remains were found in the creek by fisherman days after her disappearance.

Fishermen Shocked

When the two fisherman realized what they’d seen, they called the police. Goodwin’s remains had decomposed badly, leaving a rather gruesome seen for the fisherman and the police who arrived shortly thereafter.

Timely Rumors

Leading up to the killing, it was rumored that Goodwin had been having an affair with another woman’s boyfriend. That woman’s name was Cherri Miller-Terry. Even though the rumors were never proven to be true, it may have been too little too late …

The Whole Story

“There’s nobody that has the whole story,” Osage County Sheriff’s Office investigator Dale Hunter told reporters. “Just people with pieces here and there that shows the whole story.” Despite no single person knowing the entire truth, enough evidence was collected that Miller-Terry, two decades after Goodwin’s body was found, was arrested and charged for the crime.

Cold Justice

You may be familiar with ‘Cold Justice,’ an unscripted true crime series originally broadcast on TNT. The series follows former prosecutor Kelly Siegler and a team of investigators who re-open unsolved murder cases with the consent and assistance of local law enforcement. The show has helped generate 35 arrests and 18 convictions.

Tracked Down

Investigator Hunter and others were able to track down witnesses across four states thanks to Cold Justice, which would prove to be more than enough to reopen the decades-old case. And the motivation for the potential murder was shocking …

Deadly Trio

Goodwin was apparently friends with a man who was considered Miller-Terry’s boyfriend, though not in a romantic relationship like rumors previously suggest. When Goodwin claimed that she was pregnant with his baby, however, Miller-Terry saw red and plotted her murder in cold blood, according to the police report.

Totally Obsessed

According to reports, Miller-Terry was obsessed with Goodwin, even though the man, who has not been named for legal reasons, was sleeping with many different women at the time. As a witness told investigator Hunter, “He could have slept with anybody in the world — just not [Goodwin].”

Whoop Her

Other witnesses came forward to confirm that, at the time, Miller-Terry had “routinely threatened to ‘whoop the ass’ out of any girl talking to” her boyfriend. The affidavit noted that Miller-Terry told witnesses at the time that she would kill Goodwin, “if she didn’t leave [her boyfriend] alone.”

Other Witnesses

Some other witnesses also came forward and indicated that Miller-Terry “hated anyone” who was in contact with her boyfriend, especially attractive women. But then something strange happened when Miller-Terry told a friend that she wanted to “bury the hatchet” with Goodwin …

New Friends

Just one week before Goodwin was killed, “Inexplicably … they’re suddenly friends and moving in together,” Hunter said. Miller-Terry told police different versions as to how and why she had made up with Goodwin. But there were a “lot of inconsistencies about that, not minutiae — major details,” Hunter said…

Just Hanging Out

On the night that Goodwin disappeared, she had been hanging out in town in Pawhuska with some buddies. At a certain point, she was left alone in a truck which had a dead battery as her buddies went to locate some jumper cables. But by the time they returned to the vehicle, Goodwin was gone.

Facts Change

While initial reports suggested that the two men who went for jumper cables were the last to see Goodwin alive, the latest investigation has revealed that she was in fact last seen alive at around 3 a.m, with Miller-Terry.

Reported Missing

In order to throw the scent off her own back, Miller-Terry went ahead that morning and reported her friend missing to the police. She also organized and led search parties to find her, thinking that everyone would assume she was innocent, and for more than twenty years, she was right.

Always Disappearing

Thinking she was smart and trying to keep one step ahead of law enforcement, Miller-Terry told investigators at the time that Goodwin was known to disappear randomly and without warning, sometimes for days on end.

Two Gunshots

At around the same time that witnesses saw Goodwin with Miller-Terry at a convenience store in Pawhuska, during the early hours of the morning, other witnesses heard two distinctive gunshots. That fact was made even more interesting when Miller-Terry allegedly told friends at the time that Goodwin “had a shotgun waiting for her,” according to an affidavit.

Not Sure Where

At the time, investigators working the case were unable to confirm exactly where Goodwin had been shot. One witness mentioned wet shag carpet at Miller-Terry’s home, while another said they saw the suspect and another person cleaning the interior of their car just hours after the murder…

Open and Shut

With all the new information that came to light, mainly thanks to the Cold Justice crew, Miller-Terry was brought to justice and is currently facing extradition to Osage County where she will face trial. By most accounts, it’s an open and shut case.

Held on Bond

For her crime from more than twenty years ago, Miller-Terry is set to face the full force of the law against her. She will spend her time in jail until her extradition date to Osage County comes around.

Love Triangle Tragedy Solved After More Than 20 Years is an article from: LifeDaily

For a new journalist, landing a dream job by securing a high position at a reputable media outlet is a dream come true, but not something that happens very often. When it does, there’s serious cause for celebration.

When Phoebe was just 23, she landed a job that most people her age could only fantasize about. Even though she had no formal journalistic experience and was just fresh out of college, she made it to associate producer at Vice’s Los Angeles bureau…

New Job

Phoebe Barghouty Story — www.linkedin.com

Phoebe had always been the type to be passionate about everything she did. Having just obtained her master’s degree in journalism, she was on the market for a new job. But when she was offered a position at Vice, she was stoked, as were her family and friends.

Press Club Awards

Even though Phoebe’s job hadn’t started yet officially, her new boss Jason invited her to meet the team at the upcoming L.A. Press Club Awards. The Vice team even received an award at the ceremony, and everyone was celebrating with more than a few drinks at the party…

Already Inappropriate

Phoebe hadn’t even started working yet, but she certainly got the wrong vibe about the culture in the place she was about to start her job. By the end of the night, having made numerous sexually charged comments, Jason asked Phoebe for a lift home then promptly passed out drunk in the back seat.

First Few Weeks

Phoebe had studied hard in college, and all she wanted to do now was to get down to some reporting. Within the first few weeks on the job, Jason invited Phoebe to his Venice Beach home on more than on occasion, and as he was her boss, Phoebe obliged. When Jason showed up shirtless, Phoebe wasn’t sure what to think.

Small Touches

Phoebe said that things only got weirder over the course of the following weeks. Jason would touch her at work in unacceptable ways, sometimes on her bare thigh. Phoebe was hardly writing news articles, and instead was being asked to accompany her boss to parties in the Hollywood Hills.

Feeling Threatened

“It felt like a threat,” Phoebe told reporters. “The way he looked at me, the way he grabbed my arm. I remember feeling scared.” But when she went to HR to formally complain about the incidents, she was told, “When it comes to talent, we can’t really tell them what to do. They bring in the money and attention, and you just have to deal with it.”

Harassing Behaviour

Phoebe claimed dozens of former Vice employees told various media outlets that the same kind of things happened to them when they worked at the company. Some claim “harassing behavior” while others claim “company indifference,” alluding to an unhealthy culture of sexual innuendo.

Speaking Out

The allegations reached such epic proportions that Vice was forced to releases an official statement on the matter. Part of that statement said: “The nature of Vice’s content runs the gamut, from travelogues and news series to more provocative programming like our shows exploring drug culture, Weediquette and Bong Appétit.” They adding that, “A non-traditional workplace agreement is often used by companies to certify employees’ comfort with content that could be considered edgy.”

Investigating Allegations

Vice went on to explain that were investigating each allegation of sexual misconduct: “However, it does not in any way sanction conduct that is disrespectful or biased, and we will investigate all allegations of such behavior, including any incidents where employees purportedly attempted to justify their conduct through the agreement. We have immediately begun reviewing this matter.”

Pipe Down

During one day at work, Phoebe was conducting an editorial meeting with her team on the East Coast. She asked producers to pipe down as she couldn’t hear herself think from all the banter around. With that, Phoebe alleges, Jason grabbed her arm, saying, “If you’re going to get anywhere with Vice guys, you’re going to have to be a lot [tougher].”

Feeling Scared

Phoebe said, “I didn’t want my career to be built on how sweet I am to the men at Vice.” When a new manager stepped in and reached out to Phoebe asking what could be done to turn the L.A. office around, her response was unexpected.

Nothing Will Change

Phoebe and a colleague, another female employee who was experiencing similar issues, wrote, “As it stands we don’t think anything will change, but we’d like to AT LEAST have these things on the record. Phoebe doesn’t like it when Kaj [another employee] touches her at all. AT ALL.”

Plain Dirty

For these two women, facing another day at work was becoming a challenge. They noted in their email to the new boss that, “hostility due to sexism, racism, religionism, ageism, idk-what-ism makes us feel not only uncomfortable but unsafe and just plain dirty.” They added, “And yes, we’ve both already talked to HR about those uncomfortable comments and situations.”

Corporate Beast

Despite coming from humble beginnings, Vice is valued today at a staggering $5.7 billion thanks to huge investments from Disney and 21st Century Fox. Today’s bosses claim they have evolved from “ignorant, disrespectful and juvenile boors” to leaders of a clean empire, but that doesn’t appear to be the case…

No Free Speech

The bigwigs at Vice protected themselves ahead of time, tying their employees into complex non-disclosure agreements which they had to sign to receive their severance pay. They also had to sign notorious “Non-Traditional Workplace Agreements,” which is an internal document forbidding Vice employees from getting offended by anything at the office.

Forced Emotions

That internal document reads, in part: Although it is possible that some of the text, images, and information I will be exposed to throughout the course of my employment with Vice may be considered by some to be offensive, indecent, violent or disturbing. I do not find such text, images or information or the workplace environment at Vice to be offensive, indecent, violent or disturbing.

More Allegations

While numerous employees came forward, one former Vice worker who was there for two years alleged, “When older men, senior reporters, or managers would hook up with young female reporter after young female reporter, [my manager] would kind of a shrug and say, ‘Well, [it’s a] non-traditional workplace environment.'”

Toxic Environment

For her part, Phoebe couldn’t stand her work environment, claiming it was toxic and counterproductive, not to mention immoral. “The culture was that if you sleep with your boss, or with your producer, you’ll get more opportunities. That was real,” she said. “Women who were intimate with their superiors did better than women who weren’t. It created a toxic environment, where men could be abusive, and some women were manipulated into thinking that acquiescing to that abuse was the only way to advance.”

Getting Defensive

Following the numerous allegations, a Vice spokesperson attempted once again to defend the organization: “Vice has an employee handbook that spells out in no uncertain terms that we do not tolerate harassment, abusive behavior, assault or retaliation and that all accusations of this nature will be subject to an investigation and, as necessary, action will be taken.”

Worse Stories

Phoebe was happy to hand in her notice, leaving Vice and moving on to bigger and better things. She said that she knows of worse stories than hers. “There’s really an endless list,” she said. But what’s most worrying of all, hers only “scratches the surface.”

Harassment Complaints at Top Media Outlet Spark Public Outrage is an article from: LifeDaily

In times of emergencies, parents are supposed to protect their children at all costs. However, life doesn’t always go as planned, which is why some parents teach their children to call 911 if something goes wrong.

Like most parents, one Detroit mother taught her 5-year-old son to call the police in case of an emergency where she couldn’t protect him. So when that day came, the little boy remained calm and did exactly what his mother taught him. Unfortunately, the adults who were supposed to help wouldn’t listen.

An Emergency

Just before six in the evening on February 20, 2006, a 5-year-old boy discovered his mother on the floor of their home in Detroit. His mother had collapsed and was unconscious, but instead of panicking, the brave little boy stayed calm and knew exactly what to do.

Calling for Help

After seeing his mother on the floor, the 5-year-old remembered that in times of emergencies, he had been taught to call 911 so that first responders could come and save the day. So on that Monday evening, the little boy picked up the phone and dialed 911…

The 911 Call

“Emergency 911, where’s the problem?” the emergency operator said when answering the boy’s call. “My mom has passed out,” the 5-year-old told the woman. However, when the operator realized the person on the line was a child, she asked to speak to a parent or an adult.

No Adults Present

“Let me speak to him,” the dispatcher said after asking where the boy’s father was. However, at the time of the call, no one else was in the home to speak to the operator and the 5-year-old’s mother was unconscious…

‘She’s not Going to Talk’

“She’s not gonna talk,” said 5-year-old Robert Turner as he tried to explain that no adult could come to the phone to speak to her. “OK, well, I’m going to send the police to your house and find out what’s going on with you,” said 911 dispatcher Sharon Nichols.

A Prank Call

Sadly, however, Nichols didn’t believe Robert when he said that his mother had passed out and needed medical attention. Instead, she believed that the young boy wasn’t being watched and decided to play a prank on a 911 operator…

An Empty Threat

Despite telling Robert that she was going to send a police officer to his home to find out what was really going on, Nichols never actually contacted any officers, as she believed there was no emergency.

Waiting for Help

Robert, however, believed that help was on the way and waited for someone to come and save his mom. Yet minutes turned to hours and no one showed up at their Detroit home to help his mother, who was actually in desperate need of medical attention…

The Second Attempt

By 9 p.m., no one had shown up to save Robert’s mother, so he decided to call 911 for the second time.”It was taking too long,” Robert said. This time, 911 operator Terri Sutton answered Robert’s call. “Emergency 911, where’s the problem?” Sutton asked Robert.

Déjà Vu

For a second time, Robert tried to explain the situation. “My mom has passed out … in her room,” the 5-year-old said. When Sutton heard the little boy’s voice, she asked to speak to an adult just like Nichols did hours earlier…

A Similar Response

After asking where a grown-up was, Robert said that his mother was in her room. “Let me speak to her before I send the police over there,” Sutton asked even though Robert had just told her she had passed out. “She said the same thing,” Robert later said about Sutton’s response.

In Trouble for Doing the Right Thing

“She’s not gonna talk,” Robert tried to explain. “I don’t care, you shouldn’t be playing on the phone,” Sutton scolded the 5-year-old thinking he was prank calling the emergency line. “Now put her on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and you’re going to be in trouble.”

The Second Threat

“Ok, well, you know what, then she’s gonna talk to the police ok? She’s gonna talk to the police because I’m sending them over there,” Sutton said. Unlike Nichols, however, Sutton followed through with her threat to send the police.

Help Finally Arrives

Police officers finally arrived at the Detroit home and found Robert all alone. When they went into the bedroom where he told them his mother had passed out, the officers found 46-year-old Sherrill Turner just as Robert had described. Sadly, it was too late…

A Deadly Condition

By the time the officers arrived at the scene, Sherrill, who was a mother of 10, was already dead. After an autopsy was performed, it was revealed that Sherrill had an enlarged heart and died from complications associated with the condition.

A Wrongful Death

If Sherrill had received medical attention, her life could have been saved. Her family filed a wrongful death suit against the city and accused the 911 operators of mishandling a phone call after they failed to listen to a little boy trying to save his mother’s life…

The Proof

“We believe firmly that [Robert’s mom] would have survived had help come within those critical few minutes,” the lawsuit said. “We also are going to show that this is not an isolated occurrence. This is happening much more often than people think. And if this tape didn’t exist, no one would believe Robert,” said attorney Geoffrey Fieger.

The Family’s Argument

“Had somebody even followed up and sent a policeman like they did on the later call, really, to admonish Robert, rather than to help his mother, perhaps we wouldn’t be here,” Fieger said. “But no one came at all. All that happened was that Robert was threatened and, really, intimidated from doing what his mother had taught him to do, which was to make an emergency call in an emergency situation…”

The Trial

After a 5-day trial, a jury found 45-year-old Nichols guilty of willful neglect of duty, which is a misdemeanor charge. During her sentencing, the judge decided that a jail sentence wasn’t appropriate since Nichols had been a law-abiding citizen her entire life. In the end, Nichols, who had already been fired from her job, was sentenced to a year of probation and 15 days of community service. “I think the sentencing was fair,” said Prosecutor Lora Weingarden. “When she’s not serving as a 911 operator she’s not a danger to anybody… I hope that it makes every 911 operator in the city and across the country think real hard before dismissing a call as a prank.”

In Arbitration

After the sentencing, Nichols went on to complete her year of probation. In 2009, however, Nichols won an arbitrator’s ruling that allowed her to go back to work as an emergency operator. “The problem was that during a trial board process prior to that the commanding officer that first issued discipline, only issued a 1-day suspension,” new Police Chief Warren Evans said about the arbitrator’s ruling.

911 Operator has Troubling Response to 5-Year-Old’s ‘Prank Call’ is an article from: LifeDaily

A mother’s loving connection to her daughter is unsurpassed. And when a mother and daughter are especially close, it can be one of the most special and meaningful relationships in the world.

When tragedy struck and Gil Schaenzle lost her 21-year-old daughter Anna Rose to cancer, she was utterly devastated. But instead of letting the unimaginable loss bring her down, she decided to do something special about it, and spread a message of love across the country.

Born Athlete

Anna Rose Schaenzle Story — www.thehealingnet.org

Virtually since the day she was born, Anna Rose showed amazing potential when it came to just about anything athletic or sporty. He favorite sport was volleyball, while she also loved to take part in track and field training and events at her school. Anna Rose’s parents had high hopes for her future, and for good reason.

Great Friends

Anna Rose was an outgoing and chatty type of girl, which meant that she was also popular among her many friends. Whether it was her classmates or the kids she played sports with, Anna Rose was considered to be one of the more charismatic girls, and that fact boded well for her.

Numb Legs

When Anna Rose came home one day from school complaining of numbness in her legs after volleyball practice, her parents didn’t think too much of it. They assumed she had possibly pulled a muscle or maybe received a scrape, but they were blindsided by what happened next.

Serious Issues

When Anna Rose’s parents noticed that their daughter’s legs were turning a strange shade of grey, they understandably began to grow concerned. When the girl fainted and said she felt heart palpitations, they knew it was time to seek some professional medical assistance for their daughter.

Lack of Clarity

Having seen their family doctor and a few specialists, the Schaenzle family was not getting the clarity they so badly wanted and needed regarding Anna Rose’s condition. It was at that point that the family decided to take her to a renowned cardiologist in Vail, Colorado. His diagnosis would not be one the family had wanted to hear.

Different Issues

The specialist in Vail diagnosed Anna Rose with a hyperactive sinus rhythm, but there was more bad news to follow. A different specialist named Dr. Black from John’s Hospital found that the girl’s leg issues may have been what’s called popliteal artery entrapment. He told them to seek out an expert who specializes in that field.

Two Surgeries

Because the condition trapped nerves in both of Anna Rose’s legs, it also affected major veins, too. Anna Rose underwent two major surgeries and stayed in the hospital for a month to recover. It seemed as if the surgeries had worked and Anna Rose was soon discharged and taken back home to Colorado. But it’s just as well her folks made a follow-up appointment for her just in case.

Wrong Prognosis

Anna Rose and her parents were stunned when the results of that checkup came in. It had nothing to do with trapped nerves or sinus rhythms; Anna Rose was suffering from stage 4 neuroendocrine (NET) cancer. The family immediately made plans to visit a NET specialist in Denver.

More Surgery

Poor Anna Rose needed to endure even more surgery, this time to remove a 10-pound tumor which had developed in her abdomen. Furthermore, her organs needed rearranging as her spleen had been destroyed by the tumor and her kidney has been crushed to just half an inch tall (the typical female kidney is around 5-inches tall). The surgery took 10 hours and then Anna Rose needed to remain in the ICU for four days. A week and a half later and Anna Rose was back home again.

Pulling Through

The hours of surgery that Anna Rose went through were very dangerous. When she pulled through, her parents were ecstatic. “Most people die from that surgery,” Gil said. “My husband and I both felt like everyone on the floor should have stood up and cheered when she left because it was unbelievable the strength this kid had.”

Tragic Outcome

After all that surgery and the complications that were caused, Anna Rose went through intense sessions of chemotherapy in a bid to stay alive. Sadly, she lost her battle with cancer and died on March 26, 2017. She was 21 years old. The whole family was completely devastated, but Gil decided to honor her daughter in a very special way.

50 Park Challenge

Gil had spoken to Anna Rose about their mutual plans to run 50 national parks, a challenge set by Runner’s World. At the age of 61, Gil felt confident that she could pull off the challenge, and pull it off she did. She was so gutted that she couldn’t complete the challenge without Anna Rose next to her, so she decided to do it in her honor instead.

Active Family

The Schaenzle family had always been physically active and were lovers of the great outdoors. Describing Anna Rose as a “good little sprinter,” Anna Rose’s dad, Fred, told reporters that the family would often go kayaking, hiking and loved exploring the beautiful Colorado wilderness.

Three Weeks Old

Anna Rose’s first experience with the outdoors was when her mother took her skiing when she was just three weeks old. “I back country skied with [Anna Rose] from the time she was just an infant, like three weeks old … I’ve nursed her in an avalanche shoot,” Gil said. “This poor baby didn’t stand a chance; she had to love the outdoors. And she did.”

Little Voice

Due to numerous health issues which affected her drive, including Hashimoto’s autoimmune disease, it was hard for Gil to find the motivation to get out of bed, let alone run national parks. But there was a little voice spurring her on, one that got louder and louder following the tragic death of her daughter. That little voice ended with her completing her first 10K in many years.

Listening to Voices

As Gil told reporters, “If I hadn’t listened to that little voice … I would not have had that ability to see something like [the national park campaign] through. I wouldn’t have had the stamina to do this. It’s just listening to those taps on the shoulder and little voices that say, ‘Don’t listen to the negative. You can do this.'” But it was the fact that Anna Rose was in Gil’s mind and heart that spurred her on the most.

Nine Months

There was something significant about the number nine for the Schaenzle family, as Gil explained. “I carried her for nine months. Her worst symptoms were nine months before her diagnosis. Her diagnosis to death was nine months. I started this campaign nine months after she died, and I finished nine months after I started,” she said.

Running Alone

Gil would often cry hard to herself when she ran alone. Whether tackling a 5k or a half marathon, Gil felt the pain in her heart of losing her daughter at such a young age. Her first official national park run was through Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. She did that run specifically on November 10, 2017, as it was National NET Cancer Awareness Day.

Getting Strength

Gil explained that the support she received was almost overwhelming. Having met many NET cancer patients, Gil said she thinks that each and every one is “the most amazing person,” and she sees a lot of Anna Rose in those people in terms of their drive and passion for life.

Being Warriors

“I think we all need to be warriors like Anna,” Gil said. “We all need to spread light and love to our corners of the world. Just help each other. I think she had what I called a butt-kicking way of spreading love to people. She loved everyone so much and made a difference in the lives she touched.”

Dedicated Mom Runs 50 National Parks in Memory of Daughter is an article from: LifeDaily

We’d all like to believe that the civil service employees who take care of our streets, buildings, sewage, electricity, and mass transit are doing the best job they can. Unfortunately, there are exceptions.

Some employees take advantage of their positions and utilize loopholes in the system to make their jobs the one they want rather than the one they’re supposed to do. Sometimes it’s something as simple as taking longer breaks than usual, other times, the indiscretions are much more alarming.

Sounds Upstairs

NYCHA Employees Story — www.therealdeal.com

The downstairs neighbors at a housing project in the Bronx were not enjoying their stay one bit. Sure, the government subsidized housing project provided them with a much more affordable place to live, but that didn’t mean they wanted to deal with the rather offensive nonsense going on upstairs.

Nothing Sinister

It wasn’t as if anything overtly sinister was going on in the upstairs apartments. No one was being killed, no bodies were being hidden. The apartments weren’t being used as a base for drug dealers, traffickers or addicts. But, what was going on in the Throggs Neck apartment complex in the Bronx was no less shocking than all that.

Autonomy

New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) workers are given a fair bit of autonomy when it comes to doing their job. What that means is that they are allowed a certain degree of oversight over their own comings and goings. This is partly because the department is overstretched, but also because the NYCHA trusts its workers to get the job done.

Misplaced

When it came to the workers in the Throggs Neck housing complex, however, it appeared that trust was misplaced. Those NYCHA workers decided to take advantage of their free time on the job to transform the Bronx housing project into their own personal pleasure palace.

A Great Time, Anytime

Monique Johnson, who presides over the Throggs Neck Houses Tenant Association, had a feeling that there was something going on when work stopped getting done around the housing projects. “It happened on overtime, during working hours, after working hours, any day or any time of the day … I now understand why work wasn’t getting done.”

Transformation

What she and the other tenants didn’t realize was that the NYCHA workers had transformed the housing project into a sort of personal sex club. They would use the groundskeeper’s office and even some empty apartments as places to host wild, booze-filled orgies. Not just one of them either, nearly every member of staff was involved.

From the Top Down

It seemed that at any given time, day or night, up to a dozen people were taking part in the orgies and imbibing a great deal of alcohol, all while on the job. “There was a lot of people included,” explained Johnson. “Supervisors were allegedly having sexual relations with caretakers. There was drinking and sexual acts going on … more playing, and less working.”

Speculation

There also may have been others involved in the somewhat incessant partying besides just NYCHA employees. There were even whispers of caretakers and even tenants becoming embroiled in the fun as well. With so many people living in the buildings and coming to-and-fro, it is easy to speculate. But how did everyone eventually find out about all this?

Not all Partygoers

As it happened, not all of the NYCHA workers were happy with the “fun” their fellow employees were having on the job. Some workers got so fed up with having to witness the debauchery that they decided to do something about it. They weren’t going to let a few bad apples spoil the bunch.

Enough is Enough

These hard-working employees decided to attend some of the parties and secretly shot videos of the debauchery. They also took photographs, which they offered up to their supervisors at the NYCHA main office. The complaints were filed with the New York Department of Investigation and agents were dispatched to check on the validity of the claims.

Shooting the Messengers

Unfortunately for the NYCHA workers, reporting on your coworkers doesn’t exactly ensure your own innocence; especially when the orgies have been going on in secret for months. Vito Mustaciuolo, general manager of the Investigation Department, ordered every employee of the Throggs Neck staff to turn in their keys and leave the premises, even the workers who weren’t involved.

Fairness

NYCHA workers who participateed were subjected to punitive measures or termination, and those who didn’t were forced to relocate to a new complex. It isn’t their fault that some of their coworkers made bad choices, but it seems that transferring them all is the best way to fully “clean house,” as it were.

Whole Branch Transfer

The result of the romps is that roughly 40 people had to be transferred to other places or terminated to avoid any contamination of staff in the future. An unsullied staff at the Throggs Neck apartment complex will help ensure that no more funny business takes place. Though this is obviously no guarantee.

Starting Fresh

Johnson has said the moment is bittersweet. She admitted that the transfer gives the complex the opportunity to start anew, but it’s sad that some of the workers who had worked there for more than 20 years now have to be separated from the people they’d helped and worked alongside for so long.

Completely Innocent

Johnson added that “they had nothing to do with these allegations, and now they’ve been uprooted. I feel sad for them.” Of course, as far as the NYCHA top brass is concerned, there are still some long-standing concerns about management and performance issues in Throggs Neck.

Lingering Concerns

NYCHA spokesperson Robin Levine spoke in regards to these performance issues. “Those concerns, coupled with troubling allegations of misconduct, are why the staff was reassigned.” That being said, this most recent issue isn’t the only mark against the City of New York in the last few years…

Other Marks

These Bronx borough sexcapades are the latest issue the Housing Authority has had to deal with in recent months. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has agreed to pay as much as $2.2 billion over the next decade to settle charges for a recent, years-long coverup over a failure to conduct inspections.

Hundreds Affected

This may actually explain why the crew at the Throggs Neck Apartment complex was able to hide their boozing and partying for so long. Yet, the housing authority’s failure to conduct these inspections had much more serious consequences than just that. Many people were living in hazardous conditions without knowing it.

Toxic Behavior

This oversight potentially left hundreds of kids exposed to the toxic substances. That’s not even counting the overlooked damage to water pipes, electricity, and even the structural integrity of the buildings themselves. The long-lasting effects of the myriad oversights have yet to be seen, but the mayor is paying for them to be resolved.

Who’s Responsible?

In the end, it’s difficult to figure out who is responsible for the issues here. On the one hand, it’s the direct fault of the delinquent employees who took advantage of the system and abused their power. On the other hand, it is partially the fault of those who head the department, whose oversight allowed for such abuses of power.

New York City Employees Turn Bronx Apartment Building into Booze-Fueled Bordello is an article from: LifeDaily

Imagine you’re in your early 20’s — good-looking, athletic and ready to take the world by the horns. Now imagine that someone comes along and offers you a job on their $200 million yacht, which will undoubtedly result in you traveling around the world. The only catch: you need to travel with them for the next few months or so. It sounds almost too good to be true, and in one Instagram model’s case, may have turned out to be exactly that.

In recent years, bored billionaires have begun building these humongous luxury vessels and crewing them with beautiful young people to keep them company on their worldwide voyages. Unfortunately, not all oceanic adventures have a happy ending.

The Model

Sinead McNamara Story — sineadmcnamara / Instagram

Sinead McNamara, 20, was the type of free-spirited, adventurous soul who would absolutely have taken any opportunity she could in order to see the world. Beautiful both inside and out, McNamara grew up in the New South Wales’ Port Macquarie region on the east coast of Australia. She found her niche when she began posting pictures to Instagram.

Ambitions

McNamara had dreams of being a model and traveling the world. Instagram offered her the perfect outlet for both of those things. Her Instagram account garnered more than 25,000 followers, but it was in her native Sydney that she first met the man who would give her the opportunity to see even more of the world than she ever thought possible.

The Billionaire

Alberto Bailleres, the 87-year-old Mexican billionaire, first sailed his $200 million yacht, the Mayan Queen IV, into Sydney in 2011. It was a frequent stop for him as he made his way through the Pacific. Bailleres first made his money in mining and by 2017 was estimated to be worth $11 billion, making him the 143rd wealthiest person in the world.

Vacation Opportunities

It was during one of these Sydney stops when McNamara first received the offer to work on Bailleres’ yacht. From mainland Australia, the Mayan Queen IV traveled to Bermuda, Bali and the Whitsunday Islands. After that, it headed to Greece, and this is where McNamara’s final adventure truly began.

Big Business

McNamara joined a growing subset of young people who, enticed by the perceived glamor of the super rich, ventured onto the high seas. It’s a sector that employs more than 37,000 people globally; many of them young and unattached. Who could blame them though? The spas, on-ship theaters, multi-level swimming pools, and bottomless top-shelf liquor would be hard for anyone to resist.

Touring the Mediterranean

The Mayan Queen IV was touring the Mediterranean when it pulled up to the Greek island of Kefalonia. McNamara was having the time of her life. She even said as much in a post on her travel-centric Instagram account: “Living & working on a boat seeing all that the world has to offer. Yep, I think I have it pretty good.”

Illusory Life

Did McNamara “have it pretty good” or had she been just one more victim of an illusory lifestyle she had unwittingly found herself a part of? That final Instagram post, posted mere days before her mysterious death, would become a far more ominous statement than either McNamara or any of her fans could have realized.

Found Her

On Friday August 31st, 2018, another crew member found McNamara unconscious on the back of the Mayan Queen IV. She appeared to be tangled in a rope and was completely unresponsive when the crew member tried to rouse her. McNamara was still alive, but they needed to get her to a doctor as quickly as possible.

Airlifted too Late

The onboard doctor was called in to examine her. Knowing that she needed more intensive care, the doctor had the crew call in a helicopter to take her to a nearby hospital. She was loaded into the aircraft and flown from the yacht. Unfortunately, McNamara never made it to the hospital. She died mid-flight.

What Happened?

Oddly enough, no one on the yacht seemed to know what happened. Bailleres wasn’t even on the boat when the incident occurred. He and his family had left the yacht a few days before McNamara was found. The question remains: who, if anybody, is responsible for McNamara’s death?

Meeting the Family

While the Grecian police began the investigation, McNamara’s family mourned their loss. Tragically, her mother and sister had actually been traveling to Greece on vacation when the news of her death went viral on the Internet. They were coming to meet her after having been apart for so many months.

Helping Hands

As the family mourned, so too did the Internet, which rallied in support and joined in their sorrow. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family as they make arrangements to send her body home. McNamara’s more than 25,000 Instagram followers made tributes over social media and flooded her account with condolences.

Blessing

It seemed that McNamara inspired many people with her zest for life and adventure. “You lived life with no fear and it’s a blessing to have known you,” wrote one of her good friends. Another added that “Everyone should take a page from Sinead’s book – where she was meant to have a holiday in Bali that turned into a year and a half trip sailing across the world.”

Friendly Tributes

Australian YouTuber Alex Hayes, who has just north of 650,000 Instagram followers and is also one of McNamara’s close friends, shared a tribute via Instagram story. “Life is so precious,” he wrote in the tribute. “Gone way too soon. Such a beautiful human being. Will cherish all our memories.” Tributes and condolences aside, the police still don’t know what happened.

Grecian Police

Greek authorities have since launched an investigation into McNamara’s final hours on the boat. Their first step was to examine all of the yacht’s closed-circuit cameras. This will prove to be a difficult task given the size of the multi-level ship, so they’ve instead moved to questioning the staff.

No Longer Held

No crew member seemed to know what had happened or what led McNamara to be tangled in rope off the back of the vessel. The 93-meter yacht was held for a few days during the initial investigation, but has since been allowed to leave port. Still, police are trying to determine what, if anything, could have happened in the past four months leading to this tragedy.

Unknown Circumstances

There are some questions about the case and McNamara’s position on the ship that plague the police. The first of these has to do with McNamara’s job, no one seems clear on what it was exactly. There are rumors that her position was simply to be eye candy for the wealthy boat owner and his guests.

Cause of Death

The official cause of death released by the coroner is that McNamara died as a result of hanging. This is an initial finding, however, and results from subsequent tests in the coming months could come up with additional answers. Even if she did die from hanging, who hanged her? Or was this alleged hanging merely an accident?

Accident

The only people on board the night of McNamara’s death were the rest of the crew and McNamara herself. No one saw her fall so it’s entirely possible that nothing criminal happened at all, though there is bound to be suspicion. It’s very possible that McNamara slipped and fell, becoming tangled on the way down in a possible, albeit unlikely, boating accident.

Worried

Another curious detail about McNamara’s death is a comment she posted three days before her demise. The post alludes to her feeling worried: “My head is all over the shop today … take me back to … where my only worry was not cracking my skull open.” Had something happened to cause McNamara to fear for her life?

Mysterious Demise of Australian Instagram Model Spurs International Attention is an article from: LifeDaily

It isn’t uncommon to associate vast amounts of money with the art world. Individual pieces — like Loenardo de Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which sold for $450 million, or William de Kooning’s Interchange, which sold for $300 million — can be worth more money than most people could even imagine. How these highly-valuable works of art are paid for varies. Some buyers use personal checks, others electronic checks, and obviously there is always cold hard cash. But using a credit card to buy something worth millions of dollars seems rather unusual.

Even so, for one Chinese billionaire, using a credit card to make such a large purchase is not only one extravagant expenditure to add to a list of others, but also a highly beneficial one.

Tough Upbringing

Growing up in Shanghai, in the midst of a tumultuous and sometimes violent cultural revolution, wasn’t easy. Nevertheless, Liu Yiqian kept his head down and worked hard. He dropped out of middle school and worked any job he could afterward, selling handbags on the street, even working as a taxi driver.

Quirky Billionaire

Liu’s hard work paid off and he eventually went on to ride the wave of China’s economic reform. In the 1980s and 1990s, he made a fortune trading real estate and pharmaceuticals on the stock market. Like Howard Hughes before him, Liu became a quirky, casual, and elusive billionaire who marched to the beat of his own drum.

Why Art?

“Art collecting is primarily a process of learning about art,” Liu admitted. “First, you must be fond of the art. Then you can have an understanding of it.” His wife, Wang Wei, also shares much of his passion for art.

Flashy Collectors

Over the years, Liu and his wife have become a couple of China’s most visible art collectors. Liu used his fortune to build a vast collection of contemporary Chinese art and the two have begun adding other pieces to it over the years. All of which they display in their two Shanghai museums.

Art Museums

Wang Wei is the director of both museums — the Long Museum Pudong and the Long Museum West Bund. It was she who first decided to add international art objects to the Long Museum. Since they began, the couple has spent millions on rare pieces to add to their collection. One of which, a 15th-century silk hanging called a thangka, was bought at Christie’s for $45 million last year.

Yoga Poses

Liu also purchased a 12th-century Tibetan bronze of a seated yogi for $5 million in 2015. He celebrated the purchase by stripping down to his underwear, mimicking the statue’s lotus pose, and posting the picture of himself and the statue on social media. The latest acquisition, however, is likely to draw even more attention.

A Fine Opportunity

The painting they had been looking to add to the collection was Amedeo Modigliani’s Reclining Nude, an expressionist piece painted in 1917. Their plan is to exhibit the piece on the museum’s fifth anniversary and give Chinese art lovers an opportunity to see foreign artwork without having to leave the country.

Modigliani

The couple also sees the purchases as a major investment, for good reason. Modigliani’s works have an established value on the market and have been collected in some of the world’s top museums. Those are good things too because the hundred million dollar price tag on the painting grew almost immediately after Liu began bidding on the piece.

Over the Phone

The 52-year-old Chinese billionaire was one of six people competing for Modigliani’s Reclining Nude and he did so over the telephone. It was a near thing until the end, but when all was said and done, Liu was the winner. The piece of artwork cost Liu $170.4 million.

Final Price

To clarify, that is $170.4 million with fees. This was not just a stunning number by any metric, it was also record-breaking. The previous auction record for any of Modigliani’s work was $70.7 million. Reclining Nude became the 10th work of art to reach the elite “nine-figure club” for artworks sold at auction. As if the amount paid wasn’t staggering enough, it would be charged on one of Liu’s credit cards.

Charge It

Liu decided that when the sale finally closes, he will be putting all $170.4 million of the auction on his American Express card. This is by Liu’s own admission of course, and American Express has declined to comment for privacy reasons, but this is definitely something that can be done, even if the concept strains credulity.

Speaking Frankly

American Express spokeswoman Elizabeth Crosta addressed the issue. “In theory,” she said, “it’s possible to put a $170 million purchase on an American Express card. It is based on our relationship with that individual card member and these decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.” She added that they base this judgment on the members spending patterns.

Not the First Time

This wasn’t the first time that Liu has used his American Express to pay for fine art. He had previously charged $36 million on a teacup from the Ming Dynasty a year before purchasing the Modigliani. As those familiar with him have seen, Liu is a man who spends prodigiously.

Black Card

It is because of Liu’s high spending habits that he has an American Express Centurion Card, more commonly referred to as the American Express “black card.” For clarification, this invitation-only card is given only to American Express’s biggest spending clients. It has no official credit limit but it does earn points like other American Express cards.

How Many Points?

American Express offers a point system for it’s credit card holders, who the company considers “members.” Excluding special offers, the baseline of one point per dollar spent means Liu will earn a whopping 170,400,000 Membership Reward points for the Modigliani purchase.

Lifetime Flier

That amount, coupled with the healthy amount he’s likely earned from other purchases, means that if Liu converted his reward points to frequent flier points, he would be able to fly 3,000 times between the U.S. and Europe at no cost. Those aren’t coach flights either, he’d be able to fly in ultra-deluxe first class suites each time.

No Limitations

Now, being worth $1.4 billion, it’s reasonable to assume that Lui didn’t use his credit card for the frequent flier miles. It is likely that he used the credit card to get around China’s restrictions on its citizens transferring no more than $50,000 out of the country in any given year. The card would help him get around that limit.

Still Learning

Prior to purchasing the painting, Liu believed that Modigliani died after flinging himself out of a window. The truth, he learned later, is that the artist actually died at age 35 of tuberculosis. It was the artist’s highly distraught widow, Jeanne Hébuterne, who committed suicide the next day by throwing herself out of a window in Paris.

Mismanaged

It must also be added that Liu’s unconventional approach to museum management and security has garnered derision by other members of the art world. For example, Liu and his wife don’t have security in their museums because they think it’s “unnecessary,” a fact which many in the art world believe is at the very least bad business and at the worst, disrespect by virtue of mistreatment.

Learning Curve

Though they may lack the skills to properly care for it, it is clear that Liu and Wang truly love art. It will take time to sort out the particulars and though they are no experts on the business as of yet, they are learning. And who knows, with the help of other art lovers and experts, they’re museums may one day join the ranks of the Louvre in Paris, the Met in New York, or the National Gallery in London.

Chinese Billionaire’s $170 Million Art Purchase Pays Him Back in Highly-Beneficial Way is an article from: LifeDaily

Those that are born in a free country sometimes begin to take that freedom for granted. The rights to say, wear, think, eat and go where you like become so normal to everyday life that not having those rights never crosses one’s mind. But every once in a while a story comes along to remind them of how good they have it.

This story is about a 16-year-old girl who, though born in New Zealand, was subject to a way of life that the typical Westerner would consider anything but free…

Close-Knit Community

Located at Haupiri, on the west coast of South Island on New Zealand, is the compound of the religious community known as the Gloriavale Christian Community. This “cult,” for lack of a better term, has remained closed off from the rest of the world since its creation in 1969. Originally founded in Christchurch, the community soon grew too large for the area and had to relocate.

Fundamentally Christian

The Gloriavale Christian Community was founded by the self-styled evangelist and Australian religious leader Hopeful Christian; real name Neville Cooper. The 500-strong community is run in accordance to a strict interpretation of the teachings of the New Testament. Lilia Tarawa, Cooper’s granddaughter, was born and grew up within the community.

Prime Example

As for Cooper himself, frankly, he isn’t exactly a prime example of sainthood. In 1995, he was convicted and jailed on three charges of indecent sexual assault against three girls aged 12 to 19. These charges must have seemed somewhat surprising to Cooper, as the tenets of his community regarded women as lesser beings.

Submissive Women

Women inside Gloriavale were expected to be submissive to men at all times. They would do all the housework, cook, clean, and make themselves available whenever their husbands wanted desired them. In the same vein, they were also expected to birth as many babies as they could. If they did not submit to this domestic servitude, they were threatened with a fear of eternal damnation.

Covering Up

Lilia, like all women within the compound, was expected to cover her head and show no flesh that might tempt sin from the menfolk. Female members of the Gloriavale Christian Community are forced to wear headscarves and loose, full-length blue dresses with high necklines and long sleeves.

Working for Each Other?

The cult earns its income from several sources such as dairying, deer and sheep farms, and the manufacture of gardening products made from sphagnum moss. Essentially, everyone in the community shares a lot with one another — meals, prayers, even breastfeeding the community’s children. In many cases, young girls take part in arranged marriages to much older men.

Happy Childhood

Despite all this, Lilia’s earliest memories of her life in the community were hardly bad. She remembers her childhood quite fondly. Her cousins and siblings were among her best friends and she learned much about working as a team within a larger community. She also learned to sew, cook, and do domestic chores — things all women “should know,” according to her grandfather.

A New Humiliation

Things went from sweet to sour when Lilia, now six years old, received one of her first school reports. Her teacher indicated that she was intelligent and possessed leadership qualities. Her grandfather was not pleased with this news. He read the report aloud at dinner and mocked her openly about it.

“Not Women Like You”

Cooper had essentially told his own granddaughter that she was too bossy and that they didn’t want women like her in the community. Lilia had not only been humiliated, she felt as if she was worthless. They were feelings that would continue to affect her well into her teenage years and beyond.

Corporal Punishment

From that day on, things only got worse. Lilia frequently witnessed injustice at the hands of the community members and her grandfather. Old-fashioned corporal punishment was used at the community-run school and it was encouraged heavily. If you made a mistake or thought the wrong way, you could be beaten for it.

Staying Silent

Despite the fact that Lilia knew things weren’t right, she chose to remain silent. She saw that those who spoke up were punished or chided for the eventual damnation and hellfire they would face because of their dissenting opinions. Afraid of what might happen to her, she chose to remain silent.

‘Rewards’ for Truth

There were many occasions in her childhood where her grandfather made her feel like she was less of a person. One such instance was when she admitted to having stolen some rolled oats. Her grandfather had told her that being truthful was the best way, then reminded her publicly that the consequences of stealing involved damnation and everlasting hellfire.

Promises, Promises

When she turned 16, Lilia made a vow to her grandfather. Like all the women at the compound, she promised that she would submit to males, look after her home, and remain meek, modest, and pure. She renounced adultery, divorce, abortion, and unsurprisingly, any form of birth control. Even at 16, making such promises galled her.

Taste of Freedom

It wasn’t until two of her older siblings began a rebellion within the cult that Lilia first had her taste of freedom. The rebellion ended with the siblings running away and escaping. Unfortunately, this act of rebellion deeply hurt Lilia’s mother, who knew that the punishment for leaving the community was permanent shunning.

Two Worlds

A few years after the ill-fated rebellion incident, the Lilia’s family decided to move to a separate house outside the compound. They still remained part of the cult of course, but their newfound freedom allowed for Lilia to have a taste of the world outside Cooper’s controlling influence. She could see women in different clothes, women with ears pierced, women wearing makeup.

Freeing Herself

When she was 18 years old, Lilia and her family left Gloriavale for good. There were worries that what Cooper said was true; that they would all be damned to Hell for their abandonment. They were worried that they might not survive outside the community. But those worries began to wane. Life outside the compound was better than Lilia could have hoped.

Freeing Herself

She had been told the world outside the community was an evil, wicked place. She had been told that she had to save herself for marriage as long as she was a member of the cult. But when she finally escaped she realized that she had finally broken free. She also realized that, in reality, it was Gloriavale that was wicked.

Telling the World

Perhaps it was because her grandfather’s oppressive version of Christianity had defined her childhood in a very negative way, that Lilia decided to write her story. “I decided to write the book, ‘Daughter of Gloriavale – My Life in a Religious Cult,’ because every time there was media about Gloriavale, I felt not too great about it,” she explained.

A Way to Heal

She went on to explain that part of the reason she wrote it all down was so that she could come to terms with the fact that she needed to heal. Despite everything, Lilia felt like she didn’t belong as much in the real world as she had in Gloriavale. Her book helped her come to terms with that feeling.

Moving On

Today, Lilia is enjoying life and her newfound popularity as a writer. Gloriavale continues to be a haven for those who live there and a place where many find solace in a simple, albeit highly-regulated lifestyle. Though it’s possible that there are likely some people like Lilia who are currently living in the community that will eventually find their way out and into the free world.

Young Woman Experiences Freedom for the First Time After Leaving ‘Cult’ Compound is an article from: LifeDaily

For successful hedge fund managers, a life of luxury is part and parcel of the profession. Being responsible for managing huge amounts of money on behalf of clients can also be very high pressured and stressful, and that can start to drain a person mentally and physically over time.

When one hedge fund manager was in his younger days he was a master at controlling the finances of other people, while simultaneously making them more money through smart investments. When everything went south for him though, the consequences would be devastating.

Waldorf Astoria

Having once resided in New York’s prestigious Waldorf Astoria, Paul Greenwald was living the high life by any standards. Living in a luxury room way up high in the tower apartment building, he kept himself busy running the finances of seriously wealthy people. But all that was about to change.

Fall From Grace

For reasons which are not totally clear, Greenwald went from hero to zero literally overnight, losing client after client until he ultimately lost his job and his career. He and his wife Michelle were devastated, and understandably took the turn of events badly. They soon became estranged.

Legal Troubles

Greenwald first got into legal troubles back in 2009. His wife, an esteemed NYU professor and author, claimed her husband had attacked her. According to the police report that was filed, he lured her outside of her Horatio Street apartment after calling her and alleging she was parked by a fire hydrant … what happened next landed Greenwald in a bunch of trouble.

Street Ruckus

While it isn’t totally clear what happened that night, Greenwald was taken to the Bellevue Hospital jail after a panel of court-appointed experts concluded that he was not in his right mind at the time of the attack. Furthermore, he couldn’t even plead guilty to the charges against him due to legal mental health issues. But there was more to come.

Criminal Contempt

Without getting into the gory details, Greenwald was ultimately charged with seven counts of felony criminal contempt and was then promptly dismissed from court. There was a good reason for him to be removed from the courtroom on that day as he shouted directly at the judge presiding: “The judge is a [f***ing] crook!”

The Day After

The morning after his arrest, Greenwald phoned his estranged wife and threatened her, sending a torrent of abusive names her way. That just added fuel to the fire though, as Michelle went ahead and reported the incident to the police. As a result, Greenwald was arrested again. But that didn’t stop him from continuing to harassing his wife on a daily basis.

Speaking Out

For his part, it’s abundantly clear that Greenwald was going through some serious mental issues, and possibly even a breakdown. When he was contacted by reporters for comment, he exclaimed, “The [District Attorney’s office] has chosen the wrong person to [f***] with.” He was let out on bail, but only until his next violent incident.

Wife Stalking

Greenwald had a gripe with his ex-wife he found it impossible to let go of. She reported him to the police on numerous occasions, noting that she’d spotted him following her many times, and that’s not to mention all the abusive phone calls and text messages. Michelle didn’t know what to do but hoped that the law would come to her aide.

Protection Order

The stalking got so bad that at one point Michelle felt she was left with no choice but to apply to the court for an order of protection. But even though she was awarded the order, her husband kept harassing her, violating the order time and time again. Nothing could stop Greenwald though, who was intent on hassling his estranged wife.

Needing Help

According to Greenwald’s lawyer, Ilissa Brownstein, her client is a very sick man at the moment, mentally speaking. His actions prove as much and that’s why Brownstein thinks it best that Greenwald is placed in a psychiatric ward run to get treatment. “It’s really sad,” she said, “We need to just get him fit, get him back here and get rid of this case.”

International Foodie

Part of the reason this story got the media attention it did is because Michelle Greenwald is a well-known public figrue. Not only is she an associate professor at NYU, she also teaches at Colombia and has a specialty in teaching marketing strategy to students. As such, back in 1988, she was even named as one of Advertising Age’s “100 Best and Brightest Women in Advertising and Marketing in the US.”

The Magic Melting Pot

Michelle is also an esteemed cookbook author, something she is very passionate about. Her most famous best-seller, called “The Magical Melting Pot,” is packed with recipes but also contains interviews with famous chefs. In those interviews, the chefs go into details about their childhoods as well as talking about their favorite recipes.

The High Life

Though Greenwald had been living the high life for many years, it wasn’t going to last. Living in the luxury apartments within the Waldorf Astoria is a treat for anyone, and there’s a reason why it’s called the “Pinnacle of New York Grandeur.” Functioning both as a luxury hotel and a residential tower, the towers offer five-star apartments where Greenwald lived for many happy years.

One Lonely Mile

Following his issues with Michelle, Greenwald found himself staying just one mile away from his luxury abode but in quite a different setting. When his financial and mental issues came to a head, Greenwald relocated to the Bellevue Men’s shelter. For Greenwald, life couldn’t get much different.

Living Large

Before moving in at the men’s shelter, Greenwald had enjoyed life at the Astoria. Footing the $400-a-night bill for a room in the tower was no problem for Greenwald at the time. One Waldorf employee told reporters that Greenwald had “appeared out of nowhere” and taken up residence. “He’s kinda all over the place,” the staff member said. However, when asked what he did for a living, Greenwald would say, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”

Helping Others

For the past 30 years the Coalition for the Homeless, who are involved with the Bellevue Men’s shelter, have developed humane and cost-effective strategies to end the epidemic of mass homelessness on the streets of New York. They run 11 programs that help more than 3,5000 men, women, and children who are faced with an immediate crisis. Greenwald was lucky to have their assistance.

Risky Business

No one knows exactly which of his many misfortunes made Greenwald lose all his money so fast. However, some commenters have stated that his off-the-cuff remark to a Waldorf staffer gives the game away. His reference to “getting by with a little help from my friends” could suggest that Greenwald was involved in a sort of Ponzi or pyramid scheme, although no specific details have been forthcoming as yet.

Tough Questions

There are many tough and awkward questions to be asked here. However, for the time being, not even the cops know what the source of the friction between Greenwald and his wife was. There’s no question that something serious went down between the couple.

No Answers

As things stand right now, no one has any answers as to what happened to take Paul Greenwald down so many pegs so fast. While the police haven’t opened an investigation into his business practices, many are calling for that exact thing to take place, and many people think that should happen sooner rather than later.

Investor Fears

It’s stories like these which can even go so far as to affect the economy on the whole. With too many stories in the media of previously successful hedge fund managers going bankrupt, many would-be investors are simply too scared to put any real money into far-off investments which they have no control over and are often volatile.

Hedge Fund Manager Mysteriously Goes Broke Overnight is an article from: LifeDaily