How Obama Answered a Question on the Po-Po

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By Fred Lucas. President Barack Obama said police officers need to be aware of their “biases” when it comes to black men and vowed to put “federal muscle” behind improving police practices and training.

During a series of interviews with YouTube personalities Thursday, one of the interviewers, GloZell Green, said she “cut all the hoods” off of her husband’s hoodies because, “I’m afraid when he goes outside, that somebody might shoot and kill him.”

“And it’s not, like, regular folks. It’s the po-po,” she said. “How can we bridge the gap between black, African-American males and white cops?”

“First of all, we always have to remind ourselves that the overwhelming majority of police officers, they are doing a really tough job and they’re doing it well,” Obama said. “What we also know is that there are still biases in our society, that in split-second situations when people have to make quick decisions, that studies have shown African-American males are seen as more threatening, which puts them in a more vulnerable position. Young African-American males are typically seen as older than they are.” (Read more from “How Obama Answered a Question on the Po-Po” HERE)

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Teen Busted for Threatening Police with Emojis

By Dana Sauchelli. A Brooklyn teen was arrested Sunday for making threats against police — using emojis on social media, sources said.

The District Attorney’s cyber-unit issued a warrant to arrest Osiris Aristy, 17, at his home on Wyckoff Avenue near Himrod Street in Bushwick after flagging the “terroristic threats” on his Facebook page, law enforcement sources said.

One threat appeared on Jan. 15 around 10:10 p.m. stating, “’N—- run up on me, he gunna get blown down,’ followed by an emoji of a police officer and three guns pointing at the officer, according to a criminal court complaint.

About an hour later he posted, “F**k the 83, 104, 79, 98, 73 PCTKKK,” the complaint states. (Read more from this story HERE)

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‘American Sniper’ Star Gives Wounded Veterans Memories They Won’t Forget

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Photo Credit: IJreviewBy Chris Enloe. Bradley Cooper has been in the limelight a lot lately, after his Oscar-worthy performance in the box-office smash hit American Sniper.

Two days before the American Sniper premiere of the movie, Bradley Cooper made an appearance at the Brooke Army Medal Center in San Antonio, Texas, for a special preview of the film.

Close to 260 service members and staff at the hospital, including Bradley Cooper and Chris Kyle’s father, Wayne, came together for the screening.

While the movie was being viewed in the hospital’s auditorium, Cooper was in the Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center Rehabilitation Gym handing out signed movie posters and t-shirts to wounded warriors and hospital staffers.

To take on the role of Chris Kyle and to portray him as best he could, Cooper put on 37 pounds of muscle before shooting started on the movie. Cooper dove deep into Kyle’s personal life with his wife Taya, and altered his voice to more accurately sound like Kyle. (Read more about the star giving wounded veterans memories the won’t be forgetting HERE)

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Trial of Eddie Routh, Killer of Chris Kyle Upcoming

By Abby Phillip. Eddie Ray Routh barely knew Chris Kyle when he shot and killed the famed Navy SEAL sniper on a remote Texas shooting range on Feb. 2, 2013.

Routh, who admitted to police that he killed Kyle and the marksman’s friend Chad Littlefield, will have his day in court early next month. By then, news of Kyle’s life, his “unverifiable” legacy and his tragic death will have already ricocheted around the world, thanks to the box office hit “American Sniper.”

The circumstances of Kyle’s death aren’t discussed in detail in the Oscar-nominated biopic, which mostly focuses on Kyle’s career as one of the country’s most praised and skilled snipers. (Read more from this story HERE)
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Ex-Marine Standing Trial for Murder of Chris Kyle to Plead Insanity

By K.C. Baker. On Feb. 2, 2013, nearly four years after Kyle quit the military, he and his friend, Chad Littlefield, were allegedly shot and killed on a Texas gun range while helping former Marine Eddie Ray Routh, then 25, cope with his PTSD. Routh’s trial is set to begin Feb. 11.

“My client will plead not guilty by reason of insanity,” Routh’s attorney, J. Warren St. John, tells PEOPLE. Prosecutors for the State of Texas have said they are not seeking the death penalty in the case.

One growing issue: With the film’s success, finding an impartial jury may be difficult. (Read more about this story HERE)

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Domino’s Pizza to Obamacare: Fed’s Calorie Rule is a Disaster

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Photo Credit: Free Beacon
The final Obamacare regulation forcing restaurant chains to display calorie information is causing headaches for companies who say it is “impossible to comply” with the new rule.

Domino’s Pizza, one of the regulation’s most outspoken critics, said the rule from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is vaguely written and carries the possibility of jail time.

“Essentially we think this rule is a kind of disaster for everybody,” Lynn Liddle, executive vice president of Domino’s, told the Washington Free Beacon. “Not just pizza but restaurants, and anybody that’s going to fall within this law. It’s still not workable.”

One problem, Liddle said, is that the final rule broadly expanded the definition of what qualifies as a “menu.” Under the rule “menu” can refer to any writing that “used by a customer to make an order selection at the time the customer is viewing the writing,” which could apply to advertisements.

“We no longer know what a menu is,” Liddle said. “It’s really hard to interpret. Essentially they’re saying anything that a consumer can look at and make a potential ordering decision from is a menu.” She said this could apply to flyers, ads in the newspapers, or signs in the window. (Read more on how the calorie rule is unworkable HERE)

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Scientists Achieve DNA Editing at Conception, Say ‘Designer Babies’ Debate Must Start

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Photo Credit: BBC News
Rapid progress in genetics is making “designer babies” more likely and society needs to be prepared, leading scientists have told the BBC.

Dr Tony Perry, a pioneer in cloning, has announced precise DNA editing at the moment of conception in mice.

He said huge advances in the past two years meant “designer babies” were no longer HG Wells territory.

Other leading scientists and bioethicists argue it is time for a serious public debate on the issue.

Designer babies – genetically modified for beauty, intelligence or to be free of disease – have long been a topic of science fiction. (Read more about the ‘designer babies’ debate HERE)

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Director Michael Moore Slams ‘American Sniper,’ Labels Chris Kyle as a ‘Coward’

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Photo Credit: The Daily Caller By Derek Hunter. Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore is not a fan of “American Sniper.”

The biopic of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle directed by Clint Eastwood and staring Bradley Cooper is setting box office records, and the “Sicko” director is not too happy about that.

Taking to his Twitter account, Moore wrote, “My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren’t heroes. And invaders r worse.”

— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 18, 2015

Kyle, the most lethal sniper in military history, saved countless lives of American soldiers in his four tours of duty in Iraq. He was killed in February 2013 by a fellow soldier he was trying to help who was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress. (Read more from “Michael Moore Slams Chris Kyle as a ‘coward'” HERE)

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Seth Rogen Says American Sniper is Just Like a Fake Nazi Propaganda Film

By Derek Hunter. Last month comedian Seth Rogen was the cause célèbre of Hollywood when terroristic threats caused Sony Pictures to cancel the release of his latest movie “The Interview.” Americans from across the political spectrum spoke out in favor of Rogen’s right to make any movie he wanted, and when it was released online, Americans supported the movie. Many may now regret that purchase.

American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that’s showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds.

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) January 18, 2015

Rogen, like all Americans, was born with the right to say anything he wants, no matter how offensive. That’s why he was able to make a movie in which he kills the leader of North Korea. But that right is always under threat, to varying degrees, by outside forces. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Hero Cat Saves Baby From Freezing to Death

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Masha, a long-haired tabby cat, saved the life of a baby abandoned in the streets of Russia — after she climbed into the box he was discarded in and kept him warm, health officials said.

“The baby had only been outside for a few hours and thanks to Masha … he was not damaged by the experience,” a hospital spokesman told Central European News.

The whiskered hero even meowed to get the attention of a passerby.

“She is very placid and friendly, so when I heard her meowing, I thought that perhaps she had injured herself,” said Obninsk city resident Irina Lavrova. “Normally she would have come and said hello to me. You can imagine my shock when I saw her lying in a box next to a baby.”

Masha is a communal cat who is looked after by local residents. When she found the baby — who appeared to be in great shape — she immediately took to him as if he were her own, according to CEN. (Read more from “Cat Saves Baby from Freezing to Death” HERE)

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Fascinating New DNA Technique Putting a Face on Four Year Old Double Homicide Case

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Carl Alston of Columbia, South Carolina, has been waiting for this day for four years. On 9 January 2011, his daughter, Candra Alston, 25 and her 3-year-old daughter, Malaysia Boykin, were brutally murdered in their Brook Pines Apartments home.

That day marked the beginning of a long journey to bring the murderer of his only child and granddaughter “LayLay” to justice.

Investigators have interviewed over 200 people, traveled to several states and collected DNA samples from 150 people. Leads have come from everywhere, but without a DNA match or an eyewitness, the trail to the killer has remained cold. Mr. Alston has not been able to rest knowing the murderer is still on the loose. For the past four years, he has kept the memory of his daughter and granddaughter alive with consistent outreaches to the public through the media, asking for any information that might help the investigation.

On the four year anniversary of the double homicide, Columbia police revealed new information that may soon make it possible to offer a grieving father closure, thanks to a breakthrough technology in forensic DNA phenotyping, called Snapshot.

Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company located in Reston, Virginia has been developing Snapshot for nearly four-years with funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Snapshot gives crime solvers a new way to use DNA. (Read more about the new DNA technique solving the case HERE)

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What is Snapshot?

By Parabon NanoLabs. DNA carries the genetic instruction set for an individual’s physical characteristics, producing the wide range of appearances among people1. By determining how genetic information translates into physical appearance, it is possible to “reverse-engineer” DNA into a physical profile. Snapshot reads tens of thousands of genetic variants (“genotypes”) from a DNA sample and uses this information to predict what an unknown person looks like.

Over the past four years, using deep data mining and advanced machine learning algorithms in a specialized bioinformatics pipeline, Parabon — with funding support from the US Department of Defense (DoD) — developed the Snapshot Forensic DNA Phenotyping System, which accurately predicts genetic ancestry, eye color, hair color, skin color, freckling, and face shape in individuals from any ethnic background, even individuals with mixed ancestry.

Because some traits are partially determined by environmental factors and not DNA alone, Snapshot trait predictions are presented with a corresponding measure of confidence, which reflects the degree to which such factors influence each particular trait. Traits, such as eye color, that are highly heritable (i.e., are not greatly affected by environmental factors) are predicted with higher accuracy and confidence than those that have lower heritability; these differences are shown in the confidence metrics that accompany each Snapshot trait prediction. (Read more from the company that applies this new DNA technique HERE)

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Nearly 70 Poisoned by Crocodile Fluids in Africa

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Nearly 70 people died from drinking beer tainted with crocodile bile at a funeral in Mozambique, health officials said.

The toxic brew — dubbed “Pombe” — has claimed the lives of 69 people and left another 196 suffering from the poison.

“We are waiting for the results of the tests of the samples being done at Maputo Central Hospital so that we can identify the type of the product put into the drink,” provincial health director Carle Mosse told NBC News.

The Mozambique government called for a three-day mourning period to start Monday following the deaths.

As officials worked around the clock to determine the cause of death, doctors began seeing rapid rates of incoming patients who had similar symptoms. (Read more from “Dozens Poisoned by Crocodile” HERE)

Men Who Post Selfies Show Psychopathic Tendencies (Really)

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Photo Credit: Medical News Today If you are a guy and follow in the selfie-fanatic footsteps of Justin Bieber, posting regular snaps of yourself on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram, the picture is not pretty – you could be on the line to antisocial trait central.

A new study conducted by Jesse Fox, assistant professor of Communication at The Ohio State University, with Margaret Rooney a graduate student at Ohio State, shows that men in the study who posted more photos of themselves online than the rest of the group, scored higher on measures of narcissism and psychopathy.

Additionally, men, who tended to edit their selfies before posting, scored higher up the scale in narcissism and self-objectification, which measures the extent to which they prioritize their appearance.

“It’s not surprising that men who post a lot of selfies and spend more time editing them are more narcissistic, but this is the first time it has actually been confirmed in a study,” says Jesse Fox, lead author of the study.

Narcissism is demonstrated by a belief that you are more intelligent, more attractive and generally better than others, although with some level of underlying insecurity. Psychopathy involves a lack of empathy and regard for others and a tendency toward impulsive behavior. (Read more about the psychopathic tendencies of men who post selfies HERE)

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Mysterious Booms have Oklahoma Rattled

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A spate of mysterious booms that has been shaking central Oklahoma returned for a second day Friday, again rattling houses and frightening livestock.

Oklahoma Geological Survey research seismologist Austin Holland said a series of booms, much like a sonic boom, rattled the Norman area starting at 11:19 a.m. Friday. Numerous others had been reported Thursday in the same area at about the same time.

Friday’s booms weren’t “quite as frequent” as Thursday’s, Holland said. “It’s quite interesting.”

The windows of Anthony Young’s home in the town that’s the outskirts of Oklahoma City rattled. “We thought some nut was out here, you know, with explosives,” Young told KOCO-TV. “It sounded like thunder, you could feel the ground shake, but it was nothing like an earthquake”

Both Holland and National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Day didn’t have an explanation for the booms. (Read more about the mysterious booms HERE)

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