Spirit Airlines passenger convicted of sexually assaulting 22-year-old woman on flight
A Detroit-area man was convicted after a five-day trial by a federal jury for sexually assaulting a sleeping passenger on a Spirit Airlines flight in January. Eight months ago, 35-year-old Prabhu Ramamoorthy of Rochester Hills, Mich., was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a fellow passenger. The 22-year-old victim accused Ramamoorthy of putting his hand in her pants and unbuttoning her shirt while she was sleeping against the window of the plane. DISRUPTIVE SPIRIT AIRLINES PASSENGER REFUSES TO LEAVE, FORCES WHOLE FLIGHT TO DEPLANEAccording to a federal complaint obtained by the Detroit Free Press, the woman said she woke up as Ramamoorthy was putting his “fingers in her (genitals) and vigorously moving them." FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWSThe jury deliberated for 3 ½ hours before reaching a verdict.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 20:14 UTC
Editorials defending the press are a nice start. Here’s where to go next.
The front page of the Boston Globe carried an editorial last week defending press freedom in the age of President Trump. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)Media columnistLast Thursday, in a show of unity, hundreds of American newspapers published editorials celebrating the press as a pillar of American democracy and defending journalists against President Trump’s attacks. Could the editorials sway those who haven’t made up their minds about the value of the news media? Are they too busy talking about President Donald Trump as a possible threat to the First Amendment?”Good point. But if last week’s publication of editorials proved anything, maybe it’s that news organizations are capable of coming together.
Source:Washington Post
August 19, 2018 20:04 UTC
Dennis Rodman crashes Pearl Jam's Chicago concert to talk politics
Pearl Jam continues to court political controversy, this time in Chicago where the band allowed former NBA star Dennis Rodman to take the stage and reportedly talk about North Korea to the crowd. “You people here are the only people on this planet Earth [that] gave me support,” he says in the video below. Meanwhile, Pearl Jam has been in the spotlight over the artwork on one of its promotional posters in Montana. Despite their opposing political stances, Rodman appears to have a soft spot for Pearl Jam given that he credits one of their albums with saving his life in a 2017 interview with Relix. You can watch part of Rodman’s Pearl Jam speech below.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 20:03 UTC
To Reach Men, Advertisers Dial In to Sports Radio
The top sports radio station in June, KFXX-AM, ranked 21st out of the market’s 35 stations, according to Nielsen. Yet the Goldberg Jones law firm in Seattle advertises on all three sports stations. Soon, though, the firm turned to radio, which was appealing for both its price and its reach. “When deciding at that point which stations to target, sports radio stations were a no-brainer because of the demographic,” Mr. Jones said. Entercom, the parent company of KFXX, says that the roughly 40 sports radio stations it owns average 11 million listeners per week.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 20:03 UTC
A New, Flourishing Literary Scene in the Real Shangri-La
“He was a remarkable man,” Mr. Tashi said. “He never got bored.”So many different Bhutanese writers are open about their sentimentality and their ache to deliver a strong sense of their place to everything they write. He writes in English, like most Bhutanese writers, because that is what he studied in school. “I love everything about the man, down to his drinking habits,” Mr. Acharya said. But at the same time, Mr. Acharya is passionate about Bhutanese folklore.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 20:00 UTC
Kentucky youth group kept off American Airlines flight over check-in delay
A youth group headed to Mexico was kept off a flight for being late – however, the group’s youth pastor feels the blame is with American Airlines. The group arrived to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport at 5:58 in the morning – two hours ahead of their 7:54 a.m. flight to Leon, Mexico on August 7. However, the early arrival was met with a chaotic check-in experience that took an hour and a half, Davis claims. Instead the youth group watched from the window as ground crew removed their bags from the plane. Their mistake hindered our trip.”Davis noted this is the first time in the 10-year mission trip history that he has booked with American Airlines.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 19:53 UTC
John Calder, British Publisher Who Fought Censorship, Dies at 91
But, he added, Mr. Calder was a “peerless publisher.”Mr. Calder wanted to be known as a publisher who would fight to protect his authors from censorship. “Tropic of Cancer” had long been banned in Britain when Mr. Calder made a deal with the book’s American publisher, Grove Press. But when Mr. Calder learned by letter that the government would not intervene, he did not share it widely; cheekily, he hoped curious readers, aware of a possible court fight, would buy copies in droves. In May 1963, even after he knew he was free to publish the book, he vowed to reporters that he would keep fighting the government. The book sold well and the lack of legal action allowed him to continue filling reorders.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 19:52 UTC
Donald McGahn, Indonesia, Pakistan: Your Monday Briefing
• In Indonesia, a series of earthquakes including a 6.9 magnitude tremor struck the resort island of Lombok, killing one person. [Reuters]• President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, over China’s objections, made two brief stopovers in the U.S. last week, meeting with members of Congress who favor closer ties. [The New York Times]• China fired 10 officials and punished dozens more in connection with a vaccine scandal that has undermined President Xi Jinping and further rattled confidence in the health care system. [The New York Times]• Aged to perfection? Archaeologists cleaning an Egyptian tomb found a jar with a 3,200-year-old piece of cheese, one of the oldest solid specimens discovered.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 19:52 UTC
Afghan President announces ceasefire if Taliban agrees, too
(CNN) Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday announced a monthlong ceasefire of action against the Taliban, which said it will release hundreds of prisoners to mark the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha. The ceasefire would start Monday, if the Taliban agrees to honor it, Ghani said. But hours after Ghani's announcement, the militant organization said it will release hundreds of prisoners to celebrate the holiday, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice. In a series of tweets, Ghani said the ceasefire would extend "till the day of the birth of the prophet (PBUH) i.e., Milad-un-Nabi, provided that the Taliban reciprocate." In June, the Afghan government called off the unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban it had announced for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.
Source:CNN
August 19, 2018 19:41 UTC
A Better Way to Regulate Social Media
You don’t have to be a fan of conspiracy theories to worry about the precedent Apple, YouTube and Facebook set by banning Alex Jones and Infowars.com. Mr. Jones complained that it was like “something out of ‘1984,’ ” as he does not know how to rebut Facebook’s decision. The company does not divulge how it makes these decisions, for fear that users would deliberately push boundaries. Mr. Jones isn’t alone in being concerned with the seemingly authoritarian power of tech giants to decide what gets removed in an opaque content-moderation...
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2018 19:41 UTC
The U.S. Funds Guatemalan Abuse
The illegal incarceration of Max Quirin and five other former executive-board members of Guatemala’s national health-care institute sounds like banana-republic justice. But much of the responsibility for the state crimes perpetrated against these innocent people lies with the U.S. Congress. Congress funds almost half the budget of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG. The commission, created in 2006 to combat crime and corruption, is running roughshod over law-abiding Guatemalans.
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2018 19:41 UTC
An Interview Isn’t an Interrogation
I stepped up to the counter at Ben Gurion Airport and handed the young woman my Swedish passport. She eyed me up and down as she typed on her computer. I had taken that same flight, Stockholm to Tel Aviv, dozens of times, but this day was different. The clerk kept my passport and told me to take a seat in a room at the back of the hall. She asked about my travel patterns, my family history, my professional and political affiliations.
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2018 19:41 UTC
‘Jefferson’s Treasure’ Review: Penny-Pincher in Chief
Yeah, sure, trade wars are easy to win. Just ask Albert Gallatin, the Treasury secretary for 12 years under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Gallatin had to manage one of America’s least satisfying trade policies—the decision to keep American ships from calling on foreign ports. The Embargo Act, as Gregory May recounts in his rich biography of a little-remembered but important financier, was America’s desperate response to British and French interference in American shipping. Even after independence, neither the former...
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2018 19:41 UTC
Trump Rejects Shades of Watergate, Alleges McCarthyism in Mueller Probe
Mr. Trump said he had given Mr. McGahn and other staff permission to “fully cooperate” and rejected the notion that he was unaware of the extent of the cooperation or that Mr. McGahn was sharing damning information. When NBC host Chuck Todd interjected, “Truth is truth,” Mr. Giluliani responded, “No, it isn’t truth. Mr. McGahn factors into a number of episodes Mr. Mueller is examining. Sessions told Mr. McGahn that he would consider resigning if Mr. Trump fired his deputy, according to a person familiar with the message. Mr. McGahn was also involved in conversations with the president as Mr. Trump moved to fire Mr. Comey in May 2017.
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2018 19:36 UTC
Christmas came early for Putin
She served on President Obama's National Security Council from 2009-2013 and at the Treasury Department under President Bush. Here's this week's briefing:Christmas came early for Putin: Clearance contagionWe assess that President Vladimir Putin views your decision to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan's clearance as an opportunity to advance his mission against the United States. Putin is focused on sowing divisions in the United States and reactions among elected officials to your decision on Brennan's clearance have fallen mostly along partisan lines. This helps Putin make the US-led liberal democratic order look weak and by comparison makes him feel stronger. On the heels of your decision to cut US assistance, Putin publicly called for more humanitarian assistance for Syria.
Source:CNN
August 19, 2018 19:30 UTC