IN JAMAICA: Woman chopped viciously, allegedly by neighbour after she is assumed to be a lesbian.... Victim says her sexuality should not be an issue....but she is questioning whether it is a situation where her case is being stalled, because when she turned up for the initial December 12 court date, she found out that there was no case file.

BY ANIKA RICHARDS Sunday Observer staff reporter richardsai@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, January 04, 2015    

A young woman was allegedly chopped by her neighbour just over a month ago, and has, since then, been spending most of her time away from her apartment with friends and relatives, because she no longer feels safe at home.

The victim’s wound on the mend

She told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview that it is apparent something is wrong, she just does not know what.

"Apparently she has an issue with me, I don't know what it is really. She is making all kinds of assumptions," the victim disclosed. "Because I live in a two-bedroom house with another female, she is automatically assuming that I am a lesbian."

Questioned as to whether there was any truth to the assumptions, she responded: "But me being a lesbian or not being a lesbian has nothing to do with me being chopped and that's what this is about. My sexuality has nothing to do with it, whether or not I am straight or gay, people can assume; I have nothing to say, no comment on that."

The victim told the Sunday Observer that the matter should now be before the courts, but she is questioning whether it is a situation where her case is being stalled, because when she turned up for the initial December 12 court date, she found out that there was no case file.

The situation came to a head on November 21, according to the victim, when she was involved in a tussle with her neighbour, after which she received chop wounds.

The victim displays the wound she
 received to her left side.

She related that everything started on November 16. She said she got into a scuffle with her housemate, who is also her business partner, after which she turned the music in her apartment on. The victim told the Sunday Observer that she heard banging on her door and when she opened it, her neighbour from the apartment in front of hers was standing there.

She said her neighbour complained that her music was too loud, so she turned it off. She said about 15 minutes later, the security guard for the compound knocked on her door and told her that a complaint was made about her music. She said that she then left the apartment and went for a walk, only to return sometime later and was told that the police had also visited her apartment. more

St. Ann, JAMAICA: Facebook users assist needy St Ann family..AMELDA Schlifer and her family, which includes her three sons and a nephew, will soon have a new home... Five share a small, one room zinc dwelling

BY RENAE DIXON Sunday Observer staff reporter dixonr@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, January 04, 2015  

AMELDA Schlifer and her family, which includes her three sons and a nephew, will soon have a new home.

The house which the family of five
 call home. (PHOTOS: RENAE DIXON)

The family has Facebook users to thank after they responded to a post made on the social network that the family, which lives in a deplorable condition, needed help.

The family has called a one room dilapidated zinc structure in Orange Hill, Brown's Town, St Ann their home for many years, but was unable to do anything to change their situation because of poverty.

"Mi can't stop thank dem and it no finish yet," a happy Amelda Schlifer, 35, told the Jamaica Observer recently as four men worked busily on a new building that she expects to call home later this month, pending further assistance.

"Every day when they come dem say how mi a laugh so," she said, adding that she was happy for the assistance as she has been struggling for many years.

"When rain fall, in here wet up and mi have to put basin to ketch water," Schlifer said in reference to the challenges she faced in the room which was built by her father for her children and herself.

The mother of five added: "It rough, rough. Sometimes mi go out and people give mi little work."

These men volunteer their time to
ensure that the family gets a new home

According to her, she was praying and asking God for help but she never expected a house.

Schlifer, who often depends on the assistance of people to support her children, said that she received help from their fathers, but rarely.

Jamaica Labour Party councillor/caretaker for the Brown's Town division, Kim Brown Lawrence, who made the post on Facebook, said that there was nothing political about the assistance being given to the family.

She said that the concrete house being constructed was solely through donations from compassionate Facebook users.

Brown Lawrence, who is expected to represent the JLP in the local government elections due in March, said that she was doing house-to-house visits when she found out that the family needed help.

A happy Amelda Schlifer says she
 appreciates the help.

"I was doing house-to-house when I met Amelda Schlifer, otherwise known as Spider," Brown Lawrence said.

"When I came here I saw her son coming from under the cellar so I said, 'what is he doing there' and he said that's where he sleeps during the night," Brown Lawrence commented, a clear indication that help was needed urgently.

She then went to view the house where the children slept on the floor while their mother slept on a sponge.

"It was full of water; she had a milk can on the wood fire inside her home with one egg boiling," Brown Lawrence recalled, describing the situation as a picture of suffering.more

IN JAMAICA: Paralysed mother, Althea McFarlane seeks help with wheelchair, child's education....Family living without electricity as challenges mount ...."Mi would really like to get a wheelchair because most times I would sit on the veranda," McFarlane said.

Sunday, January 04, 2015 BY RENAE DIXON Sunday Observer staff reporter dixonr@jamaicaobserver.com      

ALTHEA McFarlane's biggest dream is to be able to attend her daughter's high school graduation.

Althea McFarlane tells her story lying in bed as she is
 paralysed from the waist down

Since going to her daughter's school-leaving ceremony from basic school, McFarlane has not been able to attend any major functions in which her daughter participates. The mother of two has been paralysed from the waist down for the last six years and lays at home unable to do anything.

"The only graduation mi go a basic school. Mi no go a primary and mi no know if mi can go to high school," she told the Jamaica Observer at her Middle  home, outside Brown's Town recently.

Her dream is that when her daughter leaves the York Castle High School in 2016 she will be able to attend the graduation. According to McFarlane, life has not been easy for her since she became paralysed as she is dependent on her elderly parents to care for her. To make matters even more complicated, she said that doctors have not been able to identify the cause of her illness.

Now, she lies in bed, not able to be active in her children's lives and especially in the life of her 15-year-old daughter who also helps to take care of her.

"They can't find no complaint," she said of medical personnel after she spent several months in hospital doing various tests, without finding out the reason for her ailment.

"Mi just feel some pain in mi back and mi could barely raise up. Then mi can't raise up at all," she recalled how it all started. Her family rushed her to the doctor, but things have only got worse. As a result of lying in one place for years, she sometimes gets bed sores.

"Mi would really like to get a wheelchair because most times I would sit on the veranda," McFarlane said. more

Controversial dancehall artiste Alkaline is giving a thumbs up despite a shooting in a nightclub in which he was performing

Saturday, January 03, 2015 

DESPITE a shooting in a nightclub in which he was performing, controversial dancehall artiste Alkaline is giving his first North American gig thumbs up.

According to the Hartford Courant, a man was placed in critical condition after a shooting inside the West Indian Social Club in Hartford, Connecticut, recently.

Alkaline

"Alkaline had no involvement with the shooting which took place in Hartford. The deejay gave his usual performance. Upon exiting the club, shots were fired. It is our understanding that the persons involved had some form of altercation prior to show night and took action," said Kereena Beckford, the deejay's manager.

The man, whose name was withheld, was shot in the chest. According to police, he is in critical but stable condition at Saint Francis Hospital. The city's Major Crimes Division is investigating.

This is not the first time police had to be called to the venue.

Four people were stabbed and a man fired shots in the club in 2012, while a man was shot and killed on the dance floor the year before.

Alkaline, whose given name is Earlan Bartley, is known for both his controversial lyrics and looks. His bleached skin and tattooed eyeballs make him the topic of many conversations.

The December 7 jaunt, which recently ended, saw the artiste performing at Club Amazura in New York and the Loft Ballroom in Washington, DC. more

TRELAWNY, JAMAICA: Brutal end, 79-year-old retired nurse, Hyacinth Hayden, who was butchered at her home in this usually peaceful community on New Year's Eve. Killed hours before 2014 closed...."There was blood, from living room come right down. Every drawer pull out, everything turn upside down," the widower said.

BY HORACE HINES Observer staff reporter hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com  Friday, January 02, 2015 

GREEN PARK, Trelawny — The Trelawny police were yesterday trying to locate the whereabouts of a suspect in connection with the murder of retired nurse Hyacinth Hayden, who was butchered at her home in this usually peaceful community on New Year's Eve.

Ashley Hayden, husband of slain retired nurse, Hyacinth Hayden.
(PHOTO: MARK CUMMINGS). An undated photo of slain
retired nurse Hyacinth Hayden

The police said they wanted to question a "particular individual" in connection with the grisly murder of the 79-year-old Hayden, who was said to be well-loved in her Green Park, Trelawny, community.

According to a distraught Ashley Hayden, husband of the slain retired nurse, shortly after 3:00 pm he left the family home to purchase a phone card and other items for his wife at a community shop.

He said that on his return, about 15 minutes later, he discovered the blood-drenched body of his wife slumped on the kitchen step. She was found with multiple stab wounds to the upper body, he said.

"... Her mouth [was] open and [there was] blood all over her chest. They (attackers) must have been around watching me. Is only someone who know that the dog was chained and could only reach a certain distance that could have done it," said Hayden. "When me come back the dog a raise hell!"

There was speculation that the killer or killers, who might have been known to the retired nurse, lurked near her house until her husband left the premises to commit the crime.

Hayden said that when he went inside the ransacked house, blood was spattered all over the floor, which suggested that the killers may have been searching for money and other valuables.

"There was blood, from living room come right down. Every drawer pull out, everything turn upside down," the widower said.more

50 y-o Gully Bop and his 25 y-o girlfriend/manager, Shauna Chin.....Chin found Gully Bop. After a brief conversation, she realised he was not a 'madman' as he was often labelled, but suffering from depression....But Chin insists this is not the end of his career. He has several projects — including a collaboration with Mr Vegas — in the works

BY SIMONE MORGAN Observer reporter morgans@jamaicaobserver.com  Friday, January 02, 2015 

ONE month ago, the life of a down-and-out deejay called Gully Bop was transformed after a video of him 'freestyling' went viral.

Shauna Chin and deejay Gully Bop

The 50-year-old artiste, whose given name is Robert Lee Malcom, became an Internet sensation. His newfound fame made him a headliner at Sting where he turned in an impressive performance.

Among Gully Bop's most loyal supporters is his 25-year-old girlfriend/manager Shauna Chin.

"The age doesn't matter. I have grown to love him and I was the one who proposed to him. He knows how to tick me off, then know, exactly what to do to make me laugh," she told Splash. "This has always been the type of love I wanted."

Chin said she first heard about the deejay from her mother, Donna McLean, a lover of vintage dancehall.

"I saw the video of him freestylng and I instantly posted it in on Groupie.net in September. I saw his potential and I just knew I had to find him, so I took a cab to Grants Pen to locate him," she recalled.

After some difficulty, Chin found Gully Bop. After a brief conversation, she realised he was not a 'madman' as he was often labelled, but suffering from depression. Having worked with other entertainers including Vybz Kartel and Tommy Lee, Chin said she used her 'links' to get him media interviews.

Shauna Chin

She is not affected by criticisms of the unlikely relationship. "I have been called a money-grabber and that I was just trying to get fame, but that's not the case. I love him. We have both been through a lot so we blend well...it's pure love," she stated.

Chin was born in Portland. After completing her studies at Port Antonio High School, she migrated to Philadelphia where she has lived for almost a decade.

It has not been all roses for Gully Bop. This week, Claims Records, the label which produced most of his songs, severed ties with the entertainer, saying he has become disrespectful. But Chin insists this is not the end of his career. He has several projects — including a collaboration with Mr Vegas — in the works.

KINGSTON, JAMAICA: Downtown fire leaves 9 homeless....."I am not sure what started the fire but all I know, I lost everything in the blaze," said Novelette Golding

Friday, January 02, 2015    

NINE people were left homeless yesterday when fire gutted an eight-bedroom board house on North Street in downtown Kingston.

Moya Jackson points to the remains of her home
 (PHOTOS: DONISHA WILLIAMS)

Neighbours said they saw smoke coming from the building about 3:30 am and called the fire brigade.

"No one was injured in the blaze as the six adults and three children were not at home during the fire," one of the tenants told the Jamaica Observer.

Novelette Golding, another tenant, said she was on her way from church when she got the call that the house was on fire. "I am not sure what started the fire but all I know, I lost everything in the blaze," said Golding, as she sat on a stool with her hands cupping her face.

Novelette Golding is a picture of
grief as she ponders her next move
 after yesterday’s fire

Moya Jackson, a mother of one, said she also lost everything in the fire.

"I got a call about minutes to 4:00 to say that fire was at my house; I could not even save a thing," said Jackson.

Firefighters from the York Park Fire Station said that four units were used to put out the blaze.

The fire brigade said loss was estimated at $2 million.

Reference Jamaica Observer-- Donisha Williams

Kingston craft vendors hoping for better business in 2015...."You no see say craft is dead. Nothing not happening for us vendors and for the year 2015 we are hoping Government will do more to attract more tourists to downtown (Kingston)," added the craft vendor.

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com  Friday, January 02, 2015    

VENDORS who operate in the Kingston Craft Market are hoping that 2015 will bring about a change in fortune for their business, which they say is slowly dying.

The vendors told the Jamaica Observer that in addition to a decline in customers visiting the facility, located on Ocean Boulevard, they did not feel Government was doing enough to attract tourists to the craft market, which she said has been promoting Brand Jamaica.

"The year 2014 has ended and we are hoping that the New Year will bring about a change for us vendors," said Winston Graham, a 54-year-old Rastarafian who had a worried look on his face while speaking with the Observer.

"You no see say craft is dead. Nothing not happening for us vendors and for the year 2015 we are hoping Government will do more to attract more tourists to downtown (Kingston)," added the craft vendor.

"Things can't continue like this as 2014 was a very slow period for craft vendors," said 85-year-old vendor Ruby Toques, who has been operating at the craft market for more than 30 years.

"We are calling on the Government to speed up [development] plans to get the Kingston Harbour up and running so we can see more tourists coming to downtown [Kingston}," said Toques. more

Mario Cuomo, Former New York Governor, Dies At 82 of Heart Failure.....Cuomo died just six hours after his son Andrew was formally sworn in to a second term as governor of the Empire State (NY)

The Huffington Post  |  By Mollie Reilly & Paige Lavender Email Posted: 01/01/2015 8:14 pm EST

Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo has died at the age of 82, NY1 and the New York Daily News report.

Mario Cuomo

Cuomo died just six hours after his son Andrew was formally sworn in to a second term as governor of the Empire State. Cuomo's swearing-in was initially set to take place in Albany, but the governor relocated the ceremony at the last minute so he could spend New Year's Eve with his father, according to Newsday.

"He couldn't be here physically today ... but my father is in this room," Andrew Cuomo said in his inaugural address Thursday, according to the New York Daily News."He's in the heart and mind of every person who is here. His inspiration and his legacy and his spirit is what has brought this day to this point," Cuomo added.

When Mario Cuomo was hospitalizedin late 2014 with a heart condition, a spokesman said he was "in good spirits," and CNN's Chris Cuomo -- the former governor's other son -- tweeted that his father was "doing well enough." (In addition to Andrew and Chris, Mario Cuomo had three daughters -- Maria, Margaret and Madeline.) First elected to the post in 1982, Cuomo served three terms as governor of the Empire State, making him the longest-serving Democratic governor in state history. more

SISTER Nancy's Bam Bam, recorded 30 years ago, is one of two songs written by Jamaicans on the soundtrack for 2014's most controversial movie, The Interview....Pon de Floor, written by Vybz Kartel and performed by Electronic Dance Music group Major Laser, is also part of the soundtrack

SISTER Nancy's Bam Bam, recorded 30 years ago, is one of two songs written by Jamaicans on the soundtrack for 2014's most controversial movie, The Interview.

Sister Interview

Pon de Floor, written by Vybz Kartel and performed by Electronic Dance Music group Major Laser, is also part of the soundtrack which includes songs by Eminem, Usher and Isaac Hayes.

Sister Nancy (given name Ophlin Russell-Myers) had a resurgent year with Bam Bam which she first recorded for producer Winston Riley in the mid-1980s. Bam Bam was also featured in a Reebok television commercial.

The Interview had a limited release by Sony on Christmas Day in the United States. The comedy, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, surrounds a plot to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

The movie angered North Korea, which threatened military strikes against the United States if it was released. Sony initially postponed the release but opened on Christmas Day in only 331 cinemas.

The Interview has so far made a modest US$2.8 million at the box office. Digitally, it has fared better, earning US$15 million through rent or purchase online.

Sister Nancy, younger sister of deejay Brigadier Jerry, started her recording career in 1980. Now a bank accountant in New Jersey, she performs regularly in North America and Europe.

TRELAWNY, Jamaica: Retired Trelawny nurse stabbed to death at home..... The deceased has been identified as 79-year-old Hyacinth Hayden of Green Park.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014 | 10:27 PM   

TRELAWNY, Jamaica -- Detectives assigned to the Trelawny Police Division are now working feverishly to find a lead into the gruesome murder of a retired nurse at her home in the parish Wednesday afternoon.

The deceased has been identified as 79-year-old Hyacinth Hayden of Green Park.

Reports are that shortly after 3:00pm, Hayden's husband returned home shortly after he left to purchase items at a nearby shop in the community to find the blood-drenched body of his wife on the kitchen step.

Upon the arrival of the police who were summoned the body of Hayden, who was a deacon at the Granville Baptist Church, was found with what appeared to be stab wounds.

New Year Message from the Prime Minister of JAMAICA, Portia Simpson-Miller

Thursday, January 01, 2015 | 12:23 AM 

Following is the New Year message 2015 from the Prime Minister of Jamaica Portia Simpson Miller:

My fellow Jamaicans at home and around the world, I greet you on this the first day of a brand new year, 2015

Prime Minister of Jamaica
Portia Simpson Miller

Like the golden rays of warm, Jamaican sunshine bursting over our majestic Blue Mountains, a New Year has dawned. The New Year brings with it,new hope and possibilities for our individual lives, our families and our nation.

Each New Year provides a time for reflection. In this time, many of us reflect on the joys and disappointments, on the mistakes and achievements of the past year. It is also a time in which we step into a new season, and take hold of new opportunities to make greater strides for our families, our beloved country and ourselves.

Come let us reflect on this together.

We can all accept that 2014 was a challenging year for many Jamaicans.

2014 was a tough economic year for our country.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you,the Jamaican people, for the sacrifices you made during these difficult times. We have laid the foundation, and we are turning the corner towards a sustained path of economic growth and development. more

Wow...mother nature is mad....massive flood swallows town....VERY SCARY

DID YOU KNOW POWER ACTIVIST AND A FOUNDER OF THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT STOKELY CARMICHAEL AKA KWAME TURE IS CARIBBEAN?

• Stokely Carmichael, also known as Kwame Ture (June 29, 1941 – November 15, 1998), was a Trinidadian activist active in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, and later, the global Pan-African movement. Growing up in the United States from the age of eleven, he graduated from Howard University and rose to prominence in the civil rights and Black Power movement
• Ture was a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party, and finally as a leader of the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party.
• At 19 years of age, Carmichael became the youngest detainee of the Civil Rights movement in the summer of 1961.He spent 53 days at Parchman Farm in "a six-by-nine cell.
• In 1964, Carmichael became a full-time field organizer for SNCC in Mississippi.
•  Carmichael became chairman of SNCC in 1966, taking over from John Lewis. A few weeks after Carmichael took office, James Meredith was shot and wounded by a shotgun during his solitary "March Against Fear". Carmichael joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Floyd McKissick, Cleveland Sellers and others to continue Meredith's march. He was arrested during the march and, upon his release, he gave his first "Black Power" speech
• In May 1967, Carmichael stepped down as chairman of SNCC and was replaced by H. Rap Brown.
•  After stepping down as SNCC chair, Carmichael wrote the book Black Power (1967)
• After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., FBI director J. Edgar Hoover instructed a team of agents to find evidence connecting Ture to the DC rioting over Martin Luther King's assassination.
• Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Ture, to honor the African leaders Nkrumah and Touré, who had become his patrons.
• For the final thirty years of his life, Kwame Ture was devoted to the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP)
• In 1998 Carmichael died of prostate cancer at the age of 57 in Conakry, Guinea. He had said that his cancer "was given to me by forces of American imperialism and others who conspired with them."He claimed that the FBI had infected him with cancer in an assassination

Information courtesy of Biography.com, Wikepedia and Caribbean American Heritage Month

First Ebola victim may have been infected by bats....The researchers explored an area in southeastern Guinea where 2-year-old Emile Ouamouno fell ill a year ago and died.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014 | 7:15 AM 

NEW YORK, United States (AP) — A team of researchers think they may have pinpointed how the Ebola epidemic in West Africa started with a small boy playing in a hollowed-out tree where infected bats lived.

Photo shows a tree repeatedly smoked by villagers to
catch bats in the Guinean village of Meliandou, some 400
 miles (600 kms) south-east of Conakry, Guinea, believed
 to be Ebola's ground zero.

The researchers explored an area in southeastern Guinea where 2-year-old Emile Ouamouno fell ill a year ago and died. Health officials believe he was the first case in the epidemic, which wasn't recognized until spring.

The Ebola virus wasn't found in the bats they tested so they weren't able to prove the source, the scientists reported in a study published Tuesday. But they believe the boy got Ebola from the furry, winged creatures that had lived in the hollow tree.

"As a scientist, I can say it's a possible scenario," said one of the study's authors, Fabian Leendertz of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.

An outside expert said the researchers' work was thought-provoking. "They didn't find smoking guns" but perhaps broadened the thinking about what sparked the epidemic, said Stephen Morse, a Columbia University infectious disease expert.

The Ebola epidemic is the worst in world history, blamed for killing nearly 8,000 people across West Africa this year, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. more

WHAT'S MY PIN # AGAIN? OH I REMEMBER... LIGHTER! This man tried to use explosives to rob an ATM in Darwin by blowing it up. Watch how his plan backfired.

Post by BBC News.

GULLY BOP, GET DROP! Claims Records says deejay behaving hype and disrespectful....Him a diss everybody whe start him ting. Him a diss the people from the community. Right now Grant's Pen nuh inna him

After a commanding performance at the recently concluded Magnum Sting stage show, Internet sensation Gully Bop will now have to find a new management team as he was recently dropped by Claims Records.

According to a representative from the record label, Gully Bop has become a bit too hype and disrespectful.

"Claims Records done wid Gully Bop. We done wid everything. Him a diss everybody whe start him ting. Him a diss the people from the community. Right now Grant's Pen nuh inna him. Him dis Boom Boom and Kibaki and a diss everybody," the representative said.

To make matters worse, the representative claims the artiste has refused to listen to their advice to voice for other producers, and provide radio disc jocks with dubs and jingles.

He said; "When we ask him to do some dubs and jingles fi the radio selectors, him say a nuh dem buss him so him nah do it. It's like we have to be forcing him to do things and that is giving Claims Records a bad name with these selectors. If a nuh money, him nah dweet."

more money

"We were trying to steer his career to keep him afloat but him nuh want hear dat. We asked him to voice for DJ Sunshine and not even dat him did waan fi do. Him say a YouTube buss him so him nuh need no selector," he said.

The decision to drop Gully Bop was made last night after his refusal to do a show for which he was booked, if he did not get 'more food'.

"We done agree wid a price with the promoter and Gully Bop say him nah dweet if him nuh get more money. Gully Bop caan even remember the lyrics fi him songs. Him know the hook but a bere freestyle him do on stage. No matter how we try wid him, him just a get hype. We tell him fi stop diss Ninja Man and other artistes because we respect Ninja Man and him nah hear. It's not a good look," the representative said.

A collaboration with the Gully Gad Mavado and Gully Bop was also in the pipeline, but Claims Records has also axed that.

"That collab was gonna be dropped in the new year, but dat nah badda happen now. We have disabled his Instagram and Facebook pages so whoever is dealing with him now, can start afresh. We are disassociating ourselves from anything that has to do with Gully Bop," he said.

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VERY INSPIRATIONAL: Never give up by Nick Vujicic

Why the Arctic is Warming Faster than the Rest of the Planet

Why the Arctic is Warming Faster than the Rest of the Planet Bad news for the new year. It looks like not only is Earth’s climate continuing to warm, but the arctic regions are warming at twice the rate of the... read more

REPUBLICAN House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Spoke At White Supremacist Conference....The notorious former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke described Scalise as "a fine family man" with whom he often agrees. GOOD EVENING, WHITE SUPREMACISTS OF LOUISIANA! The question is SHOULD HE RESIGN?

Posted: 12/29/2014 4:12 pm EST 

Twelve years before he was elected by his colleagues as House majority whip, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) spoke at a conference hosted by the white supremacist group European-American Unity and Rights Organization.

Republican of Louisiana, Steve Scalise (L) and David Duke (R)

Louisiana political blogger Lamar White Jr.dug up a number of posts on Stormfront, one of the original white supremacist websites, that place Scalise at the 2002 EURO gathering. According to one user who attended the conference, Scalise -- then a state representative -- spoke to the organization at a workshop "to teach the most effective and up-to-date methods of civil rights and heritage related activism."

According to another Stormfront post, the National/International EURO Workshop on Civil Rights was held from May 17 to 18, 2002, at the Landmark/Best Western Hotel in Metairie, Louisiana. The conference was also listed on an Anti-Defamation League list of extremist events for that year. more

Ezell Ford Official Autopsy Shows He Was Shot Three Times, Once In The Back....Ford, an unarmed, mentally ill black man shot to death by Los Angeles police in August, was released by the county coroner's office.... Ford, 25, was killed by LAPD officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas,

Posted: 12/29/2014 5:49 pm EST 

LOS ANGELES -- The official autopsy report for Ezell Ford, an unarmed, mentally ill black man shot to death by Los Angeles police in August, was released by the county coroner's office Monday after the Los Angeles Police Department lifted an investigative hold that had blocked the report from public view for over four months.

Candles burn at a memorial for Ezell Ford in Los Angeles.
 (Photo by Mintana Neslihan Eroglu) | Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The coroner's investigation ruled Ford's death a homicide by multiple gunshot wounds.

Ford, 25, was killed by LAPD officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas, both on gang enforcement detail, shortly after 8 p.m. on Aug. 11 in the Florence neighborhood of South LA. The report provides the first detailed account from authorities of his injuries. According to the autopsy report, Ford was shot three times, resulting in two fatal wounds and one nonfatal.

The skin around the fatal wound in Ford's back had a "muzzle imprint," which suggests that the shot was taken at close range. The second fatal wound was in Ford's side abdomen. A third wound, ruled nonfatal by the coroner's investigation, was on his right arm. "An autopsy does not prescribe motivation or indicate propriety -- in this case, is it a legal killing or not," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in a press conference later on Monday.

"There is nothing in the coroner's report that is inconsistent with the officers' accounts," Beck said, but added that the investigation is still incomplete. A trace amount of marijuana was also found in Ford's system, according to a toxicology report. Because THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, can linger in the human body, however, its presence does not mean that Ford was intoxicated at the time of his death. more

GRIM DISCOVERY : Wreckage From AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Found...Indonesian Officials Spot Several Bodies Floating In Waters Near Where AirAsia Flight Was Last Seen... Debris Also Discovered... Airline CEO: 'My Heart Is Filled With Sadness'...

The Huffington Post |  ByEline Gordts and Jade Walker Posted: 12/30/2014 4:20 am EST 
Wreckage from an AirAsia flight that went missing on its way to Singapore on Sunday was found on Tuesday in the Karimata Strait off the coast of Borneo, Indonesian rescue teams said.

Djoko Murjatmodjo, a senior official with Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry, said the debris was from the missing plane, The New York Times reported. “We’ve confirmed the wreckage was from the body of the plane,” Murjatmodjo said.

Family members cried after getting the bad news

According to The Associated Press, six bodies were spotted about 6 miles from Flight 8501's last communications with air-traffic control. Three of the bodies, which were intact and not wearing life jackets, were brought to an Indonesian navy ship, National Search and Rescue Director SB Supriyadi said.

Debris, including what appeared to be suitcases and pieces from the aircraft, were also discovered floating in the Java Sea, members of search teams told the Indonesian news media: AirAsia Flight 8501 went missing Sunday morning local time after taking off from Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya. No distress signal went out from the airplane. The Airbus 320-200 carried 155 passengers and seven crew on board, most of them Indonesians.

Crash and debris site 
observed from helicopter

Satellite images showed heavy thunderstorms in the vicinity of the site where the plane lost contact on Sunday. Djoko Murjatmodjo of Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation told reporters during a press conference later that day that the pilot had requested to divert from the plane's scheduled flight path due to bad weather. As footage of the grim discoveries aired on televisions at the airport in Surabaya, family members of the plane's passengers screamed and broke out into tears, AP reported. One man collapsed and had to be rushed from the room on a stretcher. more

SECURITY Minister Peter Bunting vows to ‘choke off supply of funds’ to gangs... Minister says police will be taking back parking lots as part of the Government's plan for a further reduction in major crimes operated by criminal networks

Tuesday, December 30, 2014 Jamaica Observer

SECURITY Minister Peter Bunting has vowed that the police will be taking back public property used by criminal organisations to fund their operations, as part of the Government's plan for a further reduction in major crimes.

BUNTING… several town centres across
 the island will be targeted

Criminal gangs, in a major extortion racket, have 'captured' bus and taxi parks in a number of towns across the island, collect money from drivers who use them and use it to fund their underground operations.

A tough-talking Bunting, in on interview on the JIS television programme Issues and Answers, said several town centres across the island will be targeted as the strategy is to "choke off supply of funds" from organised crime networks.

"...Wherever criminal groups have commandeered parking lots, and they proceed to operate it as commercial parking facilities, or where they have commandeered any public space, or public facility, and using it to turn a profit and to extort payment from public passenger vehicles, the police are targeting these areas to choke off the fuel for criminal organisations," said the security minister, noting that once money is dried up from the criminal groups their existence will also fade.

Bunting, meanwhile, reported that the decline in major crimes in 2014 was done with fewer arrests and less than 15 curfews. He said in the past there would have been "thousands of curfews across communities where young men were rounded up by the security forces", but it has proven that crimes can be contained when policing is intelligence- driven. more

Killer crash in Westmoreland, JAMAICA: 3 die, 10 injured in Westmoreland collision.... The deceased were last night identified as Neville Campbell of Galloway and Paulette Watt of Georges Plain, both in Westmoreland; and Pixley Ennis, who was said to be a resident of Clarendon.

BY HORACE HINES Observer staff reporter hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, December 30, 2014    

FARM, Westmoreland — Three people were killed yesterday when the minibus in which they were passengers crashed into the back of a parked truck in this Westmoreland district.

A man said to be related to Paulette Watt, one of the
three people who were killed in the accident,
wails outside the Savanna-la-Mar General Hospital
yesterday. (PHOTO: PHILLIP LEMONTE)

The deceased were last night identified as Neville Campbell of Galloway and Paulette Watt of Georges Plain, both in Westmoreland; and Pixley Ennis, who was said to be a resident of Clarendon.

Ten passengers who were injured in the crash were taken to the Savanna-la-Mar General Hospital, where some were admitted in serious condition while others were treated and released. It was not ascertained last evening how many people were still admitted and the extent of their injuries.

The ill-fated Toyota Hiace minibus, which started its journey in the Westmoreland capital of Savanna-la-Mar, was en route to Kingston.

The police said that about 7:15 am the driver of the minibus was attempting to overtake a slow-moving truck along a stretch of the recently resurfaced main road, but slammed into the back of an International truck after the driver was forced to cut back in the left lane to avoid colliding with an oncoming motor vehicle.

At least two passengers of the ill-fated minibus, who spoke to the Jamaica Observer at the hospital yesterday, questioned why the minibus driver failed to overtake the truck earlier when it was possible for him to do so on the wide road.

Police officers look inside the wrecked Toyota Hiace
 minibus which slammed into the back of this truck along
 the Farm main road in Westmoreland, yesterday, causing
the death of three people and injury to 10 others.
 (PHOTO: PHILLIP LEMONTE)

"...Mi just see the bus a drive straight, and then we realise the truck was parked. The bus driver swung to the right, but still collided into the truck; he was too close to the truck," one male passenger, who was at the hospital, told the Observer.

Another injured young man, who was a passenger of the public passenger vehicle, gave a similar account of how the accident happened.

"... When wi reach out ah Farm mi don't know what happen to the driver, because nothing nah come weh him can't go round; nothing nah try shot pass him and him drive go straight into the truck back," alleged a young man who escaped with minor injuries, but whose mother was seriously injured in the crash. more