Cracks in China’s Social Fabric Emerge: Accused of Rape, Son of Chinese General, Plays Victim Card

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Photo Credit: APLawyers of a well-known Chinese general’s son accused of taking part in a gang rape are waging a rare, Western-style war of words against his critics in a reflection of the growing perception that public opinion counts.

The airing of accusations surrounding the high-profile criminal case via the Chinese Internet has been all the more unusual because the teenage defendant is a member of one of China’s wealthy and privileged families, who usually prefer to bury salacious scandals – if they can.

Li Tianyi, 17, the photogenic, baby-faced son of Li Shuangjiang, 72, a military singer who holds the rank of general, has become the newest target of popular anger over abuses of power by the country’s elite.

“At the moment, public opinion is not on Li Tianyi and his family’s side,” said Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University. “China’s public mood is this way when some wealthy or powerful people are involved and the opposing side is a weaker victim,” he said.

“It’s a protest against Chinese society’s lack of fairness,” Zhan added.

Read more from this story HERE.

Michael Savage Slams Study Linking Fish Oil to Cancer

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Photo Credit: AlamyBy WND. Talk-radio host Michael Savage, who has a Ph.D. in epidemiology and nutrition from Cal Berkeley, condemned on his show last night the highly publicized study linking prostate cancer to fish-oil supplements.

Savage, who read the study, said the research presented in what he called a “very, very dangerous report” does not support the conclusion that there is a higher risk of prostate cancer among men who consume omega-3 fatty acids.

Savage interviewed an expert on prostate cancer, Anthony Victor D’Amico, M.D., who has a doctorate from M.I.T.

D’Amico agreed that the study “really cannot make the conclusion that it’s trying to, because these types of studies are not cause and effect; that is, if you take the fish oil you’re going to get an aggressive or some kind of prostate cancer.”

The study, reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found a 71-percent higher risk for dangerous high-grade prostate cancer among men who ate fatty fish or took fish-oil supplements. Read more from this story HERE.

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Taking Omega-3 Fish Oil Supplements May Increase the Risk of Aggressive Prostate Cancer by 70%

By Fiona Macrae. Fish oil supplements credited with a range of health benefits could trigger prostate cancer.

Experts found that omega-3 fatty acids may raise the risk of the most lethal form of the disease by more than 70 per cent.

Researchers warned against omega-3 pills, and recommended eating just one or two meals of oily fish per week.

Fish-oil supplements are said to protect against heart attacks and strokes, stave off arthritis, boost brain power and prevent behaviour disorders in children.

However, scientists found that those with the highest levels of omega-3 in their blood were 71 per cent more likely to develop fast-growing, hard-to-treat prostate tumours.

They were also more likely to contract the slower, less deadly form of the disease, with the overall prostate cancer risk raised by 43 per cent. Read more from this story HERE.

Why the Zimmerman Prosecutors Should Be Disbarred

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Photo Credit: werthmediaToward the end of his closing statement on Thursday, Florida Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda posted a slide on a screen in a fifth-floor Seminole County courtroom.

“Which Owner would be more inclined to yell for help?” read the banner on the top of the slide. The slide was divided in two. On the left was a photo of George Zimmerman’s Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm handgun, and on the right was a can of Arizona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail. Beneath the photo of the gun was the question, “Who followed?” Under the can was the question, “Who ran?”

So absurd was de la Rionda’s presentation, and the whole case for that matter, that the can was turned sideways so the label could not be read. Throughout the trial, prosecutors have called the drink “iced tea” lest the word “watermelon” be said in court. “F***ing” was okay. De la Rionda said it more times than the average rapper, but “watermelon,” apparently because of its racial connotations, was not.

Hiding the word “watermelon” was the least of de la Rionda’s dishonesties. This one slide had several built in. As to who ran, Martin had four minutes to run the 100 or so yards to the house he was visiting. When he attacked Zimmerman, he was still 70 or so yards from that townhouse. Do the math.

Then, too, from the day the State took over the case, prosecutors knew that Zimmerman was the one screaming for help. All evidence supported that save for the dubious identification by Martin’s mother. If the State’s jobs were to sow the seeds of reasonable doubt, one could forgive them this deception, but that’s not the State’s job. That’s the defense’s. The State’s job is to make the case for the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Read more from this story HERE.

27-Year Veteran Punished for Objecting to Homosexual Marriage at West Point Chapel

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Photo Credit: shadysidelanternA 27-year veteran of the Utah Air National Guard said he was reprimanded after he wrote an email objecting to a gay wedding in the West Point chapel and was later told to prepare for retirement because his personal beliefs about homosexuality were not compatible with the military’s policies.

“The military is trying to make examples of people who have religious beliefs that homosexual conduct in the military is wrong,” said John Wells, an attorney representing TSgt. Layne Wilson. “The end game is to force conservative Christians out of the military.”

Last December Wilson wrote a letter to a person believed to be a chaplain at West Point. He stated his displeasure at news of a same-sex ceremony held in the Cadet Chapel.

“This is wrong on so many levels,” Wilson wrote. “If they wanted to get married in a hotel that is one thing. Our base chapels are a place of worship and this is a mockery to God and our military core values. I have proudly served 27 years and this is a slap in the face to us who have put our lives on the line for this country. I hope sir that you will take appropriate action so this does not happen again.”

Instead of responding to the private email, the Commandant of Cadets notified the Utah Air National Guard – leading to an accusation that he had brought disgrace and discredit upon the Air National Guard and his conduct was inconsistent with the United States Air Force.

Read more from this story HERE.

Microsoft Giving NSA Access to All Encrypted Files from Skype, SkyDrive, Hotmail, and Outlook

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Photo Credit: Patrick Sinkel/APMicrosoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users’ communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company’s own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

The files provided by Edward Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the last three years. They also shed new light on the workings of the top-secret Prism program, which was disclosed by the Guardian and the Washington Post last month.

The documents show that:

• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;
• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;
• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;
• Microsoft also worked with the FBI’s Data Intercept Unit to “understand” potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;
• In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;

Read more from this story HERE.

Fort Hood Terrorist Trial: Court Denies Nidal Hasan’s Motion to Access NSA Surveillance Evidence

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Photo Credit: APBy Associated Press. The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, cannot access evidence obtained through secret electronic surveillance, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans also denied Maj. Nidal Hasan’s motion to suppress the evidence the government plans to use against him. The court’s decision Wednesday upheld a lower court’s ruling issued before Hasan recently began serving as his own attorney.

Hasan faces execution or life without parole if convicted in the 2009 rampage that left 13 dead and nearly three dozen wounded on the Texas Army post. Jury selection in his court-martial started Tuesday at Fort Hood, and testimony in the trial is to start Aug. 3.

In his motion, Hasan’s attorneys had argued that without access to the evidence obtained through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, his legal rights would be violated. But the appeals court said “it cannot be said that this exclusion rises to the level of a constitutional violation.” The ruling said every appeals court that has considered a constitutional challenge to FISA has upheld the statute. Read more from this story HERE.

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Fort Hood massacre trial: Hasan goes on the defense

By Rick Jervis. Kimberly Munley has spent countless hours rehabilitating a shattered knee while trying to erase haunting images of a rampaging killer’s 10-minute onslaught here four years ago.

Now Munley faces another ominous challenge: the prospect of answering questions from her would-be murderer in a military courtroom.

Munley, 38, is one of several dozen survivors of the shooting assault by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist accused of opening fire on soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood in 2009. Hasan is charged with killing 13 people and injuring nearly three dozen more before police shot him, paralyzing him from the waist down. The American-born Muslim, who has acknowledged his role in the shootings, faces the death penalty in a case that spawned congressional hearings as well as an ongoing debate as to whether the shooting was a terrorist attack or “workplace violence,” as the Pentagon has classified it.

“It’s hard when the guy who tried to kill you is up there asking you questions,” said Munley, a federal police officer at Fort Hood at the time who was the first person to confront Hasan, exchanging gunfire with him. “That’s a whole different monster.” Read more from this story HERE.

Dominicans Outraged Over Obama’s Gay Ambassador Pick

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Photo Credit: Foreign PolicyOpposition to President Obama’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic reached a fever pitch this week as religious organizers stage a “Lunes Negro” or Black Monday protest against James “Wally” Brewster.

If confirmed, Brewster will be the first openly gay ambassador to the country, a prospect that is not going over well with some segments of this conservative Christian country of 9 million people. Local reports indicate that church leaders are pressuring the government to reject Brewster’s nomination and calling on the faithful to dress in black on Monday in solidarity against him.

Praise Christian Church Pastor Sauford Medrano is quoted in Diario Libre as saying that Brewster could cause “the U.S. promotion of gender beliefs in the country.” That supposedly violates a general education law in the country that “all the Dominican education system is based on Christian principles.”

The report was flagged by Cable reader and Dominican expat Will Williams, an architect in New York City. He said he witnessed the animosity toward the ambassador in a visit last weekend. “I could confirm myself that the opposition has been even worse from what have been reflected in the news,” he said. “As a Dominican, I feel ashamed this is happening in my country … The evangelical church is convoking the general public to reject this ambassador … [It’s] asking the public to show a black band, black banner or ribbon on cars or dress showing rejection.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Sen. Rand Paul Stands by Aide Amid Reports Over Shock Jock ‘Southern Avenger’ Past

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Photo Credit: APIt could be a politically perilous affiliation but Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says he’s standing by longtime aide Jack Hunter following reports about the former radio shock jock’s past. Those reports have centered on Hunter’s pro-secessionist comments and his habit of wearing a Confederate flag ski mask in YouTube videos.

Moira Bagley, Paul’s communication director, told FoxNews.com there is no proof Hunter made any racist remarks and says the Republican senator will continue to support his friend and employee.

“Our office policy is that all employees treat individuals with the equal protection of the law. We find no evidence that this policy has been violated by any employee,” Bagley said.

The affiliation, though, could trail Paul as he considers jumping into the 2016 presidential race.

“If he remains a staffer, he’ll be an albatross around Senator Paul’s neck,” GOP strategist Ron Bonjean told FoxNews.com, speculating that it will be harder for Paul to distance himself from Hunter the longer he hangs around.

Read more from this story HERE.

Shocker: Liberal Host Bob Beckel Lets Loose With Anti-Muslim Tirade (+video)

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Photo Credit: The BlazeBob Beckel, the liberal co-host of Fox News’ “The Five,” on Tuesday said that if it were up to him, there would not be any new mosques built in the U.S. until “we got it worked out who was not a terrorist.”

He was reacting to a story about a radical Islamic group called Boko Haram, a militant group suspected of killing dozens of children at a school in Nigeria recently.

Read more from this story HERE.

Where’s the Shame? Scandals May No Longer End Political Careers

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Photo Credit: Alejandra VillaSex. Drugs. Cheating on a spouse. Those words used to add up to shame. Put them in the same sentence as a politician’s name, and they ended careers.

Not anymore. The latest batch of unlikely back-from-the-swamp hopefuls are Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer. Weiner resigned his New York City congressional seat two years ago after revelations that he’d tweeted a sexually suggestive picture of himself to a woman who was following him on Twitter. Spitzer left the state’s governorship in 2008 after reports surfaced that federal investigators had tagged him as “Client 9,” soliciting high-end prostitutes.

Each now has a decent shot at a big prize, Weiner New York’s Democratic mayoral nomination, Spitzer the city’s comptroller job. Spitzer led his closest rival by 9 percentage points in a Wall Street Journal-NBC 4-Marist poll released Thursday.

They join the growing roster of comebacks, or at least serious attempts, by scandal-tarred politicians:

Mark Sanford was elected to a South Carolina congressional seat in May, after admitting an affair in 2009 that resulted in the then-governor paying a large ethics fine and led state lawmakers to consider impeaching him.

Read about more scandals at this story HERE.