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Oscar Pistorius case police
admit investigative blunders
Guardian [UK], by Davis Smith
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Original Article
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Posted By:SoCalGal, 2/20/2013 4:44:27 PM
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| The prosecution case against the Olympics and Paralympics star Oscar Pistorius suffered a blow on Wednesday as South African police admitted a series of blunders in their murder investigation. Hilton Botha, the detective leading the investigation, crumbled under defence cross-examination after he wrongly claimed to have found boxes of "testosterone" in Pistorius´s bedroom and admitted that police had no evidence contradicting the athlete´s version of events.(Snip)The state prosecutor´s office later said there was an error in the detective´s testimony when he identified the substance as testosterone.
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Comments:
The "testosterone" turned out to be an herbal supplement used by many athletes and not banned. The prosecution witness to "shouting" turned out to live 300 meters away (Botha first said "600 meters", then brought her closer) and couldn´t identify the voices as belonging to Steenkamp or Pistorius. The defense investigator found a spent bullet cartridge in the toilet bowl that the prosecution detective had missed.
One interesting exchange involved the magistrate questioning the prosecution´s contention that a double amputee as recognizable as Pistorius could successfully make a run for it if bail was granted.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
droopydog, 2/20/2013 4:49:21 PM (No. 9187472)
If the leg don´t fit, you must aquit.
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Reply 2 - Posted by:
droopydog, 2/20/2013 4:50:09 PM (No. 9187476)
Sorry...acquit
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Reply 3 - Posted by:
earlybird, 2/20/2013 4:52:29 PM (No. 9187481)
Megyn Kelly, Fox News, noted today that during the last few days there´d been no more mention of a bloody cricket bat. Is it a coincidence that that was about the time the autopsy was completed and the report handed over to authorities? No bashed head?
Pistorius said he used the bat, which he´d said months ago that he kept nearby for protection, to break through the toilet compartment door.
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Reply 4 - Posted by:
schnapps, 2/20/2013 4:57:14 PM (No. 9187492)
Seems like Pistorius has some smart attorneys. They´ll be calling Botha "Clouseau" soon if he doesn´t sharpen up.
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Reply 5 - Posted by:
SoCalGal, 2/20/2013 4:58:09 PM (No. 9187496)
Wondered about South Africa´s not having jury trials. Here´s the answer.
ury trials were scrapped more than 40 years ago because all-white juries were seen as unlikely to give black defendants a fair trial. A single judge is considered less susceptible to public opinion or media comments
So the South African media is more free to report details about the Oscar Pistorius case than the media in many other countries where such reporting would be seen as prejudicial.
http://www.anorak.co.uk/348485/sports/oscar-pistorius-murder-kak-handed-policing-and-an-empty-bladder.html/
Also explains why everyone seems to be talking so freely - and not always accurately, or so it seems today.
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Reply 6 - Posted by:
lakerman1, 2/20/2013 5:29:55 PM (No. 9187548)
In most countries, there are no jury trials - and there is no exclusionary rule on evidence, as there is in the U.S.., created by the Warren court. (In other countries, the judge decides whether or not to admit otherwise tainted evidence.)
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Reply 7 - Posted by:
coldoc, 2/20/2013 8:30:14 PM (No. 9187800)
Cops in too big a hurry to get famous in front of a camera. Like a bunch of chucky schumers.
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Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "SoCalGal"
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Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
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Most Recent Articles posted by "SoCalGal"
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Mother of the Movement
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New York Times, by NELL IRVIN PAINTER
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/29/2013 6:27:29 PM
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Beautiful Rosa Parks sits alone in the Montgomery, Ala., city bus she desegregated, an image endlessly replicated, most recently on an American postage stamp issued in February to commemorate Black History Month and what would have been Parks’s 100th birthday.(Snip) President Obama voiced the familiar view that she was “just wanting to get home after a long day at work” and “may not have been planning to make history.” But as Jeanne Theoharis shows in her insightful biography, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” this perspective obscures Parks’s lifelong activism and “fierce determination.”
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Watch Out, World Bank.
Here Comes the BRIC Bank.
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Associated Press, by Staff and Reuters
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/27/2013 7:13:37 PM
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Leaders of the five BRICS nations plan to create a development bank in a direct challenge to the World Bank that they accuse of Western bias. The bank would use $50 billion of seed capital shared equally between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa but would undoubtedly be dominated by China. It would be the first institution of the informal forum started in 2009 amid the economic meltdown to chart a new and more equitable world economic order.
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Store owner cancels
Mark Kelly gun buy
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Politico, by Kevin Robillard
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/26/2013 12:19:18 PM
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The owner of a gun store in Tucson, Ariz., has canceled Mark Kelly’s purchase of an AR-15 because the gun control advocate doesn’t plan on keeping the assault weapon. Kelly,(Snip)bought the gun earlier this month to show how easy it is to buy an assault weapon. He said he planned on turning the gun over to Tucson police. "While I support and respect Mark Kelly’s 2nd Amendment rights to purchase, possess and use firearms in a safe and responsible manner, his recent statements to the media made it clear that his intent in purchasing the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm rifle
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Audio: ´Witness 8´ interview
in George Zimmerman case
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Central Florida News 13, by Amanda Evans
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/26/2013 11:59:28 AM
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SANFORD -- For the first time, we are hearing from the teenager believed to be the last person to talk to Trayvon Martin moments before his deadly confrontation with George Zimmerman. The teen, known only as "Witness 8," is considered to be the prosecution´s key witness, but Zimmerman´s attorneys said she lied during a deposition by the Martin family´s attorney, Benjamin Crump. A new motion filed Monday said the state knew Witness 8, said to be a girlfriend of Trayvon Martin´s from Miami, had been lying, but never came out with it.
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George Zimmerman´s lawyers
file witness list with 130 names
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Orlando Sentinel, by Rene Stutzman
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/26/2013 11:52:58 AM
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SANFORD - Attorneys for George Zimmerman have filed a new defense witness list, and it includes more than 130 people. Among them: Trayvon Martin´s mother and father, their attorney Benjamin Crump, former Sanford police Chief Bill Lee Jr. and former State Attorney Norm Wolfinger. It also includes Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte and several other members of Trayvon´s family, including his step-brother and the Oviedo cousin with whom he´d spent the night the evening before he was fatally shot. Attorneys seldom call all the witnesses they list, still the list placed in the official court file Monday is extraordinary
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Years of video game playing earns
unemployed illegal immigrant
Obama’s ‘deferred action’
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Daily Caller, by Vince Coglianese
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/26/2013 11:47:19 AM
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An unemployed illegal immigrant who has spent the last few years playing video games reportedly used records of his playing time to apply for and receive President Obama’s “deferred action” status. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jose Muñoz was an out-of-work 25-year-old Mexican immigrant who graduated with honors from his Sheboygan, Wisconsin high school in 2005. Since that time, Muñoz — who was brought to the United States at the age of one — has been out of school and out of work, instead spending time helping his family with household chores and countless hours playing sports
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Shell casings from Texas gunfight
match those at Colorado slaying
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Los Angeles Times, by Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Jenny Deam
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/23/2013 9:11:05 PM
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Investigators have matched the brand and caliber of shell casings from a Colorado parolee´s gunfight with north Texas authorities to those found at the home of Colorado´s prisons chief, who was killed earlier this week.(Snip)Hornady 9-millimeter casings were found at the Texas scene, the same type found at the home of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements, according to an application for a warrant to search the car filed by officials in Wise County, Texas. Clements, 58, was shot on Tuesday when he answered the front door of his home north of Colorado Springs.
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Marine shooter identified
in Quantico killings
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Washington Times [DC], by Kristina Wong
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/23/2013 8:19:23 PM
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Marine Sergeant Eusebrio Lopez, 25, shot and killed two fellow Marines before turning the gun on himself last Thursday evening at the base they were stationed at in Quantico, Virginia. The two victims included Marine Lance Corporal Sara Castro-Mata, 19, from Oakley, California and 23-year-old Corporal Jacob Wooley from Guntown, Mississippi. All three were staff at the Officer Candidate School, where they trained new Marine officers. (Snip)Investigators are still trying to figure out the motive behind the incident, and a “love triangle” scenario is only speculative at this time, according to Marine Corps officials. Sgt. Lopez worked as an instructor
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Critics of State Bill Say
It Would Restrict Abortions
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New York Times, by Becca Aronson
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/23/2013 8:15:12 PM
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A bill advancing through the Texas Legislature could drastically decrease the number of legal abortion facilities in the state. Supporters of Senate Bill 537, which would increase regulations for abortion facilities, say it will improve women’s safety. But abortion rights advocates say that the bill is a thinly veiled effort to close 37 of the state’s 42 abortion facilities, and that it would reduce women’s access to legal abortion. “I understand the suspicion, but this really is about improving health care for women getting abortions,” said the bill’s author, State Senator Bob Deuell, a Republican
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Man in Texas shootout, possibly
linked to Colo. prison chief’s
death, ID’d as paroled inmate
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Associated Press, by Staff
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/21/2013 9:25:50 PM
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DECATUR, Texas — A man who led Texas authorities on a 100 mph car chase that ended in a shootout Thursday and may be linked to the slaying of Colorado’s state prison chief is a paroled prison inmate, officials said. The Denver Post reported that the man is 28-year-old Evan Spencer Ebel. A federal law enforcement official confirmed that identity to The Associated Press.(Snip)Ebel was driving a Cadillac in Texas that matched the description of the vehicle seen leaving the home of prisons chief Clements around the time he was shot Tuesday night.
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Chicago to shutter
dozens of schools
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CNN, by Dana Ford & Katherine Wojtecki
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/21/2013 8:59:22 PM
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Chicago--Chicago school officials said Thursday that they plan to close dozens of schools in a bid to improve education and tackle a $1 billion deficit. The move would shutter 61 school buildings, including 53 underused schools and one program. The cut represents roughly 10% of all elementary school facilities in Chicago Public Schools, the country´s third-largest school district. "Every child in every neighborhood in Chicago deserves access to a high-quality education that prepares them to succeed in life, but for too long children in certain parts of Chicago have been cheated out of the resources they
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Saturday mail delivery
should stay - U.S.
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CNN Money, by Jennifer Liberto
Original Article
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Posted By: SoCalGal- 3/21/2013 8:30:08 PM
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Washington - The U.S. Postal Service must deliver the mail six days a week, said Congress´ watchdog arm in a Thursday legal opinion. The legal opinion from the nonpartisan agency throws new questions on the Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe´s plans to stop delivering first-class mail, but keep delivering packages and express mail on Saturdays. The U.S. Government Accountability Office stopped short of saying the U.S. Postal Service´s August plan to end most Saturday mail service violates current law. The U.S. Postal Service says it's not ending six-day delivery, only changing it,
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Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
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´My bangs are getting
a little irritating´: Michelle
Obama admits she already regrets
her high-maintenance hairdo
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Daily Mail (UK), by Margot Peppers
Original Article
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Posted By: pineledger- 4/7/2013 7:43:42 AM
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Michelle Obama has admitted that she is already tired of the bangs she first sported in January. The First Lady said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight: ´Bangs are a day-by-day proposition. They´re starting to grow out, get a little irritating.´ Still, she hasn´t let her hairdo woes get her down. ´It´s okay,´ she said after her initial complaint. ´We´ll be good.´ The first indication that her hairstyle was becoming a burden came about last weekend, when Malia, 14, was spotted adjusting her mother´s hair during the White House Easter Egg Roll.
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McCain: ´I don´t understand´
GOP filibuster on guns
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Politico, by Jennifer Epstein
Original Article
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Posted By: JoniTx- 4/7/2013 12:18:14 PM
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Sen. John McCain says he doesn´t understand the threats from some of his Republican colleagues to filibuster a bill on background checks to buy guns. "I don´t understand it," the Arizona Republican said on Sunday of the threat coming from Sen. Rand Paul,Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Mike Lee and nine other Republicans. "The purpose of the United States Senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand.” "What are we afraid of? ... If this issue is as important as we all think it is, why not take ... it up and debate?"
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Christians, here´s why we´re
losing our religion
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Fox News, by Craig Groeschel
Original Article
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Posted By: STLstudent- 4/7/2013 5:13:55 PM
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Recent research indicates that the number of people who do not consider themselves a part of an organized religion is steadily on the rise. Interestingly enough, though the number of those religiously unaffiliated is increasing, there is little to no trend in the number of those who express atheist or agnostic beliefs. People aren’t saying they don’t believe in God. They’re saying they don’t believe in religion. They are not rejecting Christ. They are rejecting the church. This begs the question, “Why are we losing our religion?”
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Broadcasters worry
about ´Zero TV´ homes
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Associated Press, by Ryan Nakashima
Original Article
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Posted By: Ribicon- 4/7/2013 2:43:40 PM
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Los Angeles — Some people have had it with TV. They´ve had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don´t like timing their lives around network show schedules. They´re tired of $100-plus monthly bills. A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don´t even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. (Snip) Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from
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Mother Of Slain Benghazi
Officer To Sean Hannity:
‘They Want Me To Shut Up’
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Mediaite, by A.J. Delgado
Original Article
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Posted By: StormCnter- 4/7/2013 5:00:16 AM
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On Friday, Sean Hannity brought Pat Smith, mother of the late Sean Smith, on his radio program. The 34-year-old information management officer was one of four Americans murdered in the Benghazi embassy attack on September 11, 2012. In the chilling interview, a distraught Ms. Smith, in tears, pleaded for answers and spoke of the efforts to silence her. Ms. Smith first relayed how her son, prior to the attack, requested additional security in advance and warned the State Department: He did tell them, ahead of time, he typed it into his little typewriter over there,
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Vanishing workforce
weighs on growth
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Washington Post, by Jim Tankersley
Original Article
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Posted By: Dreadnought- 4/6/2013 11:28:59 PM
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Put out an all-points bulletin: Millions of Americans have gone missing from the workforce. Every month that those would-be workers are gone raises the odds that they might never come back, dimming the prospects for future economic growth. The vanishing trend is more than a decade old, but it accelerated during the Great Recession. Throughout 2012, economists held out hope that it had stopped. But then came Friday’s jobs report, and hopes were dashed. The Labor Department reported that the U.S. labor force — everyone who has a job or is looking for one — shrank
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Obama critic apologizes for
his ´poorly chosen words´
on gay marriage
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The Hill [Washington DC], by Alexandra Jaffe
Original Article
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Posted By: JoniTx- 4/6/2013 12:18:19 PM
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Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, considered by some to be a potential Republican contender for president, apologized to Johns Hopkins University for the "poorly chosen words" he used in expressing his opposition to gay marriage last month.“I am sorry for any embarrassment this has caused,” Carson said in the letter, reported in New York Magazine.(Snip) "Although I do believe marriage is between a man and a woman, there are much less offensive ways to make that point. I hope all will look at a lifetime of service over some poorly chosen words.” Carson will remain as commencement speaker at Johns Hopkins,
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The Secrets of Princeton
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New York Times, by Ross Douthat
Original Article
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Posted By: Oblio- 4/7/2013 8:08:09 AM
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Susan Patton, the Princeton alumna who became famous for her letter urging Ivy League women to use their college years to find a mate, has been denounced as a traitor to feminism, to coeducation, to the university ideal. But really she’s something much more interesting: a traitor to her class. Her betrayal consists of being gauche enough to acknowledge publicly a truth that everyone who’s come up through Ivy League culture knows intuitively —
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Is going gluten-free
healthier for everybody?
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The Week, by Staff
Original Article
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Posted By: NorthernDog- 4/7/2013 11:28:27 AM
Post Reply
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Gluten-free diets are all the rage, but they can be dangerous if not done right. What is gluten? It´s the spongy complex of proteins, found naturally in wheat, rye, and barley, that gives elasticity to dough and allows it to rise. When flour is moistened and either kneaded or mixed into dough, gluten molecules form an elastic, microscopic latticework that traps the carbon dioxide produced when yeast ferments, causing dough to inflate like a hot air balloon. Baking hardens the gluten, which helps the finished product keep its shape. Wheat — and gluten — is ubiquitous in the American diet.
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Adam Lanza´s murder spree at Sandy
Hook may have been´act of revenge´
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New York Daily News, by Matthew Lysiak and Rich Schapiro
Original Article
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Posted By: noproblems- 4/7/2013 9:52:58 AM
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Newtown killer Adam Lanza may have launched his murder spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School as an “act of revenge,” the Daily News has learned. A close friend of Lanza’s mother told The News that the troubled boy was a target of relentless bullying when he attended the Connecticut school years ago. “I think Adam felt betrayed by the school and this was his act of revenge,” said Marvin LaFontaine, a friend of Nancy Lanza’s. “Nancy told me he was being picked on at school. That they were just torturing him.”
Source and text corrected by Staff.
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Parents outraged that Mass.
kids were denied lunch
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Associated Press, by Staff
Original Article
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Posted By: beancounter- 4/6/2013 5:21:39 PM
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ATTLEBORO, Mass. — As many as 25 students at a Massachusetts school were denied lunch this week — with at least some forced to dump their food in the garbage — because they couldn´t pay, school officials and parents said. Outraged parents said some students at Coelho Middle School in Attleboro cried when they were told by a worker for the district´s food service provider they could not eat on Tuesday because they couldn´t pay or their pre-paid accounts were short on funds. The on-site director for the company, Whitsons Culinary Group of Islandia, N.Y., was placed on administrative leave by
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