When hate-mongers give you lemons, set up a lemonade stand
(Photo: Megan Rogers / Equality House)
A five-year-old girl set up a lemonade stand “for peace” right across the street from a notorious church in Kansas whose mission has been spread hate and homophobia wherever they go.
Tracks
Colorado wildfire evacuees return to charred neighborhoods, devastation
(Photo: Jerilee Bennett / Colorado Springs Gazette via AP)
Five days after a massive wildfire began to cut a lethal path through Colorado Springs, killing two people and destroying 473 homes, some residents were returning home over the weekend to face the devastation.
Someone in Boston bought those two parking spots on the right next to the fence for $560,000. I hope a dog poops all over them, every day. (Photo: Michael Dwyer / AP via The New York Daily News)
Marijuana May Improve Stamina, Rejuvenate Brain Says Study
(GMANetwork) Contrary to the warnings about its ill effects, marijuana may actually have some benefits, including improving stamina and removing damaged brain cells.
This was suggested in a new study by Andras Biokei-Gorzo at the Institute of Molecular Psychiatry at the University of Bonn in Germany.
But lest people think of marijuana as a wonder drug, Biokei-Gorzo also cautioned that more studies about their therapeutic effects may be needed, saying clinical evidence of their efficacy is “either inconclusive or still missing.”
“In preclinical models of neurodegenerative disorders, cannabinoids show beneficial effects, but the clinical evidence regarding their efficacy as therapeutic tools is either inconclusive or still missing,” Biokey-Gorzo said.
An article on Collective Evolution said the study suggested the activation of the brain’s cannabinoid system triggers the release of antioxidants, which act as a cleansing mechanism.
Such a process may remove damaged cells and improve the efficiency of mitochondria, the energy source that powers cells, it added.
Protesters embrace to protect each other from tear gas as Brazil bus fare demo turns ugly
(Photo: Tasso Marcelo / AFP - Getty Images)
Two demonstrators hug each other tightly as they are surrounded by riot police using tear gas during a student protest in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.
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Washington Pigs Eat Weed
One butcher and hog farmer in Washington state has been feeding his pigs marijuana, which he’s noticed has made their meat “redder and more savory.” It’s unclear whether the pigs feel any salutary effects from the new diet, but the stems, leaves, and root bulbs that the farmer gets from a local medical marijuana dispensary make for cheap, convenient feed either way. [NPR]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/43455eecc864ac47e456bdcb4f20feb4/tumblr_mn66qhn8781qjczh3o1_500.gif)
One butcher and hog farmer in Washington state has been feeding his pigs marijuana, which he’s noticed has made their meat “redder and more savory.” It’s unclear whether the pigs feel any salutary effects from the new diet, but the stems, leaves, and root bulbs that the farmer gets from a local medical marijuana dispensary make for cheap, convenient feed either way. [NPR]
Lightning strikes the Willis Tower in Chicago
(Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images)
Tornado watches and warnings stretched over the Midwest on Wednesday night as a massive storm system menaced the biggest cities of the Midwest, pushing tornadoes, extraordinary winds and heavy rain — and perhaps even a derecho, an explosive wind pattern that’s like a hurricane on land.
Connecticut to Allow Undocumented Immigrants to Apply for Driving Licenses
The Connecticut state senate on Thursday narrowly approved a measure that will allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses. Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy has pledged to sign the bill, which passed the Senate by a 19-16 vote.
“This bill is first and foremost about public safety. It’s about knowing who is driving on our roads, and doing everything we can to make sure those drivers are safe and that they’re operating registered, insured vehicles,” Gov. Malloy said in a statement. “There’s a reason these measures have been supported by local police and city leaders, and that other states are taking similar common-sense steps. They’re changes that benefit everyone taking a car out onto our roads and highways.”
Malloy also called on the federal government to allow all immigrants to apply for driving licenses.
“It should also be noted that, like many issues, action on the federal level would address this problem in an even more comprehensive and sensible way. I continue to support those broader efforts at national reform, and urge Congress to follow the example being set by Connecticut and other states,” Malloy went on to say.
Immigrant rights advocates are also applauding the decision.
I know there are a lot of people who don’t think this makes sense but really it does benefit all of us in terms of reduced insurance premiums. The fact that you won’t have a bunch of uninsured drivers on the road, the fact they will be paying fee revenue to the state,” Angel Fernandez-Cavero of the immigrants right group CONNECT told WTNH.
The new law, which will make 54,000 undocumented immigrants eligible for a driving license, takes effect on January 1, 2015. (There are about 120,000 illegal immigrants in Connecticut, according to Reuters.)
Maryland, Illinois and Oregon adopted similar legislation that allows undocumented immigrants to apply for driving licenses this year. New Mexico, Washington and Utah have permitted undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers licenses for several years.
Intelligence chief declassifies PRISM details, slams ‘reckless disclosures’
(Photo: NBC News)
The United States’ top intelligence official said he was concerned about recent leaks to the media that revealed some of the country’s surveillance activities in a move that he said could damage U.S. intelligence capabilities.
Extraordinary 1939 color film of New York City compared to present day
(Photo: Rock Center / Romano Archives)
We got to see a vivid reminder this week that New York City never stays the same with an extraordinary color film that surfaced thanks to the Romano Archives. The crowning moment of the film is the at-the-time-brand-new Rockefeller Center rising up from Midtown Manhattan.
Nine people have been shot, at least seven fatally, near Caifornia’s Santa Monica College on Friday.
It was a chaotic scene that kept the seaside town on edge for hours as police tracked down the gunman through a residential neighborhood and shot him dead on crowded college campus.
The shootings began a little before noon during an apparent domestic dispute at a single-story Santa Monica home. Neighbors described hearing multiple gunshots coming from the house and saw smoke pouring from windows.
A man dressed in all black and a ballistic vest was carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic weapon left the home, police said. He then shot a woman in a black Infinity, and got into the passenger side of a purple Mazda—a car similar to the one driven by his mother—and ordered the driver to head in the direction of the Santa Monica College campus.
The gunman was carrying multiple rounds of ammunition when he got out of the car and began firing at passing vehicles, including a city bus and a police car.
“Everyone threw themselves on the floor, screams,” student Marta Fagerstroem, who was on the bus, told NBC4. “The bus driver, she panicked. She couldn’t drive away. She was able to, after a while.”
The suspect then fled police and ran onto the Santa Monica College campus where he shot one woman, and fired at several students at the school’s library.
The college was quickly put on lockdown, and the suspect was shot and killed by police at the library.
A police officer leads a group of students out of harm’s way at Santa Monica College following a shooting on campus; the students had been on a school field trip to the College’s planetarium. (Photo: Reed Saxon / AP via the New York Daily News)
Vermont Decriminalizes Marijuana Possession
(CannabisCulture) Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) signed into law Thursday a bill decriminalizing the possession of small amounts o marijuana. That makes Vermont the 17th state to decriminalize, including all of its neighboring New England states except New Hampshire.
Introduced by Rep. Christopher Pearson (P-Burlington) and passed with tripartisan support, House Bill 200 removes criminal penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replaces them with a civil fine, similar to a traffic ticket. People under 21 will be required to undergo substance abuse screening. Under current state law, possession of up to two ounces of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail for a first offense and up to two years in jail for a subsequent offense.
“This change just makes common sense,” Shumlin said as he signed the bill. “Our limited resources should be focused on reducing abuse and addiction of opiates like heroin and meth rather than cracking down on people for having very small amounts of marijuana.”
Obamacare more unpopular than before, NBC News/WSJ poll shows
(Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images)
President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform law remains unpopular with the American public just months before it fully goes into effect, according to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.