Posts - Americans

Las Vegas Rocked By Earthquake

News

Highlighting just how vulnerable the United States is to a Nepal style disaster, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Nevada on Friday near the small town of Caliente, just northeast of the tourist hub of Las Vegas. The relatively mild quake was followed by a series of aftershocks, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Saturday.

The epicenter was 24 miles from Caliente, a town of just over 1,000 people, close to the border with Utah.

The earthquake had been felt widely across the county, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake could be felt as far away as Las Vegas, about 100 miles to the southwest.

The initial earthquake was followed by a smaller 3.8 magnitude temblor, and then by three more aftershocks of magnitudes of 2.5 to 3.4 less than 20 minutes later.

The quake, hitting close to densely populated Las Vegas, shows that even communities not directly on top of fault lines remain vulnerable to sizable natural disasters.

Bank Of England Studying UK Exit From European Union

Entertainment News

The Bank of England is actively assessing the implications of a British exit from the European Union, it said in a statement, confirming an email it accidentally sent to a newspaper about the confidential research project.

On Friday British newspaper The Guardian reported on an email from a senior aide in the bank that said the project should be kept secret from most BoE staff. It further specifically addressed how to handle media inquiries, instructing staffers to lie and say that the Bank was looking at a broad range of European economic issues.

Hard-line conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was just re-elected on May 7, has pledged to reshape Britain’s ties with the EU and then hold an in or out membership referendum by the end of 2017.

The BoE, as with last year’s referendum on Scottish independence, is keen to avoid any suggestion it is entering a political debate.

After the embarrassing email leak on Friday evening, the Bank confirmed its intention to launch the assessment.

“It should not come as a surprise that the Bank is undertaking such work about a stated government policy,” it said in the statement posted on its website in response to the leak.

“There are a range of economic and financial issues that arise in the context of the renegotiation and national referendum. It is one of the Bank’s responsibilities to assess those that relate to its objectives.”

Deutsche Bank, whom readers may remember from its record settlements for illegal activities, said on May 19th it had begun initial preparations for a British exit from the EU.

The BoE said it would not talk about its assessment in advance but would disclose details “at the appropriate time”, adding it had taken a similar approach when it considered the implications of last year’s Scottish referendum.

“While it is unfortunate that this information has entered the public domain in this way, the Bank will maintain this approach,” the statement read.

Chris Leslie, finance spokesman for the opposition Labour party, said it was vital Britons were given a full analysis of the facts ahead of time, with “no hidden agendas”.

“We now need to know whether the Bank of England report will be published in time for everyone to consider the facts before a referendum,” he said, adding the Bank should provide a clear timetable and identify the people involved in the research project.

ISIS Threat To Buy Nuclear Weapon Nothing But Propaganda

Entertainment News

In the latest issue of its propaganda magazine, Dabiq, the Islamic State (ISIS) has that it will buy its first nuclear weapon from Pakistan within a year. The threat comes mere days after Saudi Arabia was reported to be in the process of acquiring Pakistani nukes, having already purchased them through a multi-year payment arrangement.

And while there is no doubt that ISIS has surpassed its roots as “the most explosive Islamic ‘group’ in the modern world” to evolve into “the most explosive Islamic movement the modern world has ever seen” over the last twelve months, dreams of a nuke appear far fetched.

In the piece, titled “The Perfect Storm”, the terrorist group mentions other terrorist organisations such as Boko Haram, which recently joined forces with ISIS, uniting across the Middle East, Asia and Africa to create one global movement.

The article claims this arrangement of groups has coincided with ISIS militants seizing “tanks, rocket launchers, missile systems, anti-aircraft systems,” from the U.S. and Iran and then goes on to detail a deluded desire for nuclear weapons.

“Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table,” the article states. “The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilāyah in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region.”

“It’s the sum of all fears for Western intelligence agencies and it’s infinitely more possible today than it was just one year ago.

“And if not a nuke, what about a few thousand tons of ammonia nitrate explosive? That’s easy enough to make.”

An attack launched by ISIS against the United States would ridicule “the attacks of the past”.

And yet a nuclear armed ISIS would be subject to an attack that would ridicule the international response to date. Pentagon staffers are meeting all weekend to work out a plan to deal with ISIS and the terrorist outfit is widely condemned by major superpowers, inlcuding Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UK, virtually all of Europe, Australia and of course the United States.

While ISIS may have high hopes of getting a bomb it is unlikely. The terror outfit is enjoying some recent success but expect a harsh set of counterattacks by western forces in the coming weeks and months. Such attacks will notable weaken the state and could even lead to ground troops.

Fierce Shootout Leaves 43 Dead In Latest Mexican Drug Violence

Entertainment News

Mexican security forces left 42 of the gunmen dead in a three hour long shootout on Friday which also killed one federal police officer, officials said.

Three gunmen were also arrested.

The battle erupted in the town of Tanhuato, Michoacan state, when a joint force of federal and state security forces encountered the armed resistance in the course of a narcotics investigation, Mexican National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido stated at a news conference.

The gunmen belong to a gang from the violence plagued neighboring state of Jalisco, Rubido said.

The governor or Michoacan, Salvador Jara, said during an interview that it is “very likely” that the shootout was with the brazen Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.

The investigation which prompted the shootout began Thursday after a property located in Tanhuato was taken over by a large group of armed men.

The property was described as a 275-acre stretch of land with a main residence, warehouse, and agricultural buildings. It is unknown what, precisely, the gunmen were doing there although narcotics activity is suspected.

The gun battle stretched for hours because of the large size of the property, Rubido said. There were at least three standoffs in various parts of the property, he stated.

Ireland Votes To Legalize Gay Marriage

Entertainment News

While final results are not yet known early polls show that Ireland has voted in favor of same-sex marriage. The measure was on the ballot in a landmark referendum.

If the measure passes, it would make Ireland the first in the world to legalize same-sex marriage through voting.

According to Irish TV broadcaster RTE, turnout for the vote was above 60% in some parts of the country, considerably higher than in other referendums.

Based on exit polls and voter turnout data there was speculation that opposition to the measure might have been understated because, amid the heated debate, people hadn’t been publicly saying they would vote yes.

Labour lawmaker Kevin Humphreys, Ireland’s Minister of State for Employment, Community and Social Support, said that vote totals in Dublin on a “historic day” showed the “yes” vote was “big and fat.”

Did Saudi Arabia And Israel Just Use A Nuclear Weapon In Yemen?

Entertainment News

Shocking reports are starting to surface from the Yemen battlefield that Saudi Arabia has contracted Israel to use tactical nuclear weapons in the struggle against Iranian backed Houthi rebels.

In a video believed to be taken on May 20th, a large explosion can be seen that is likely a neutron bomb, a small atomic weapon designed to kill a large area with radiation while leaving structures intact and free of evidence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7UHl3CxP-A#t=26

According to analysis from VeteransToday.com, the explosion is:

A. Its not a conventional 2k lb bomb. It’s much bigger.
B. Its either a very large MOAB bigger than 4,000 lbs. or; ???? Max weight for an F-15 / 16 is about 2,000 lb payload per bomb rack making the deployment of a MOAB impossible.
C. Its appears to be a small neutron bomb. The size, color, lightning effect and duration of the fire ball being suspended in mid air and the very large mushroom cloud is the main give away. The CCD cameras imaging device was “scintillating” (detecting Neutrons) That is the white pixel flashes in the video. When the photo has white pixel flashes in it, that is because it is being hit by neutrons from the nuclear fireball blast. It overloads the ccd’s electronic circuit producing white flashes.
If the radiation is too high it will burn out the chip. They had big problems with this in Japan with the Fukushima robots cameras failing due to very high radiation counts.
D. Delivery is most likely by an IDF F-16 with a Saudi paint job on the plane. They are not even hiding their use anymore, they just don’t publicly admit it and the IAEA does nothing or says nothing. That is the true war crime. The UN just ignores it unless the US, France or GB complains…….. Russia and China say nothing.
E. This is now the second known use of nukes in Yemen by Saudi Arabia…………..

There is another video making the rounds that purports to show another Israeli tactical nuclear weapon. Tactical nukes are smaller than full-sized bombs and leave visible evidence of an attack. Yet they are devastatingly large, much moreso than even the largest conventional weapons.

They are also smaller than the largest bombs, which must be dropped by slow-flying large bombers whereas tactical nuclear weapons can be launched by regular jet fighters, such as those operated by Israel.

Israel is well known to possess a vast arsenal of nuclear weapons while the Saudis have been looking to purchase them for some time now. It seems logical Israel would sell such a service given their mutual enemy Iran.

If the claims can be verified this will mark only the second time in human history nuclear weapons have been used in combat.

Special Forces Using High Tech Tools To ID Terrorists

News

Fingerprints are so 20th-century. When special forces operators are deep behind enemy lines in the middle of the night in Pakistan or Syria, they need to know who they’ve found and they need to know fast.

Rather than rely on fingerprints, the troops are now using rapid DNA profiling technology.

This past Wednesday, the U.S. Special Operations Command revealed that they are testing two rapid DNA readers in the field. The soldiers feed in a DNA sample, and the reader compares it against a database of DNA tied to identities.

The machines are early versions, weighing over 60 pounds. They are also expensive: each costs about $250,000. But in 90 minutes they can get a result where the old process takes weeks.

“These things are downrange and we’re spending a year gathering data — on the utility, on how well is it working, the match rate, how well are the operators keeping them up and running,” stated Michael S. Fitz, manager of the Sensitive Site Exploitation Special Reconnaissance, Surveillance & Exploitation program at U.S. Special Operations Command.

The devices being tested are the RapidHIT 200 from IntegenX, of California, and the DNAscan from NetBIO, of Massachusetts. Both are the size of a photocopier, but compared to an entire DNA lab, require less manpower and are more portable. Just one operator can get quick results. “In the past, when we captured DNA, the guy would put it in an envelope, send it back to the States and two or three weeks later, he would get a result on who it was that he had. By then, he moved on to other missions and he had forgotten who the guy was,” said Fitz.

The major use case? Verifying the identity of targets, such as Osama Bin Laden, either before raids or after. “Our whole program is built around follow-on targeting. We don’t gather biometrics for criminal prosecution,” Fitz said. “Our primary objective is actionable intelligence for follow-on targeting.”

The Bin Laden raid actually used this approach, but with traditional processing methods that took weeks. The hope of the Defense Department is that all missions in the future will use such technology to improve both mission accuracy and speed.

Everyday Beverage Shown To Improve Erectile Dysfunction

Health & Wellness

Erectile dysfunction affects more than 18 percent of American men 20 and older and has led to the creation of multiple billion dollar blockbuster drugs. But new research suggests that expensive pills are not the only way to combat the condition.

Coffee, it turns out, may be quite effective as well.

A new study from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, found that men who consume more caffeine have a lower risk of erectile dysfunction.

The only exception is men with diabetes, who were unaffected by caffeine intake.

“Even though we saw a reduction in the prevalence of erectile dysfunction with men who were obese, overweight and hypertensive, that was not true of men with diabetes. Diabetes is one of the strongest risk factors for erectile dysfunction, so this was not surprising,” lead author Dr. David Lopez, assistant professor at UTHealth School of Public Health, said in a press release.

“These findings also support the latest U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee position that drinking three to five cups a day reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease; two conditions that are well established as significant risk factors for erectile dysfunction,” said Dr. Natan Bar-Chama, director of Male Reproductive Medicine at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

Lopez and colleagues looked at data on more than 3,700 men observed by the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The men answered questionnaires asking them to recall their caffeine intake over the past 24 hours.

The level of caffeine needed to reduce the risk of impotence was equal to two to three cups in a given day.

When men consumed zero to 7 milligrams of caffeine a day versus when they consumed 85 to 170 milligrams of caffeine a day, the men who consumed more were 42 percent less likely to report erectile dysfunction, while those who consumed 171 to 303 milligrams of caffeine a day were 39 percent less likely to report the condition, the Texas team said.

The study was not limited to just coffee as the study included beverages such as coffee, tea, soda and sports drinks.

The study authors believe that caffeine may relax certain arteries and muscles in the penis, improving blood flow and the ability to maintain an erection.

Experts in the field agreed with the findings. “More research is needed, but what scientists think is happening here is that coffee and caffeine are causing cavernous smooth muscle tissue (found in the penis) to relax, allowing more blood flow to the area and leading to improved erectile function,” said Dr. David Samadi, chair of urology at New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital.

The study has been published online in the journal PLOS One.

Latest Hack Attack Exposes Sexual Secrets Of Millions Of Americans

Finance

Hackers always go after personal information but usually its to access your bank accounts and credit cards. In the latest data breach, which includes more than 3.5 million people, the data comes with lurid details about sexual preferences, fetishes and other sexy secrets.

The data was exposed publicly after dating site Adult FriendFinder was hacked in March of this year.

Despite being aware of the incident and the data leaking onto the public web, the company has thus far refused to notify members of the incident.

The reason for all the steamy details is that Adult FriendFinder asks customers to detail their interests and then matches people based on thos interests for sexual encounters. The site boasts 64 million members and claims to have “helped millions of people find traditional partners, swinger groups, threesomes, and a variety of other alternative partners.”

The information collected by the company is extremely personal in nature. When joining the site customers must enter their gender, which gender they’re interested in and what kind of sexual situations they desire.

Suggestions AdultFriendfinder provides to fill in the “tell others about yourself” field include, “I like my partners to tell me what to do in the bedroom,” “I tend to be kinky” and “I’m willing to try some light bondage or blindfolds.”

The hack was first uncovered by independent IT security consultant Bev Robb and published on her blog a month ago. Yet Robb did not name the site that was hacked and it wasn’t until this week, when England’s Channel 4 News reported on the hack, that Adult FriendFinder was named.

Personal information exposed in the attack are customers’ email addresses, usernames, passwords, birthdays and zip codes, in addition to their sexual preferences.

That data is potentially damaging if a hacker is looking to extort an Adult FriendFinder customer online.

The information exposed can be particularly compromising to people living in small towns, where it is more easy to identify them.

One person exposed in the hack is a 40-year old welder from a small town of a few thousand people. He said he “will become anybody’s slave” and lied about his age on the site, claiming to be 29.

The attack was carried out by a hacker who goes by the name ROR[RG]. In an online forum, he claims he blackmailed Adult FriendFinder, telling the site he would expose the data online unless the company paid him $100,000.

That revelation is troubling because at that point the company would have known about the attack and should have started notifying victims. Instead it kept quiet, which is the reason many states are not enacting mandatory disclosure laws for companies that suffer data breaches. When a company keeps quiet hackers have the advantage and can prey on unsuspecting customers who are unaware their details have been compromised.

SEC Commissioner Appalled By Latest Wall Street Criminal Acts

Finance

While the bandits of Wall Street sidestepped yet another criminal prosecution and yet again got off without anyone going to jail yesterday, one member of the Securities and Exchange Commission has, like us, had enough.

Yesterday the SEC announced that the large banks had agreed to a settlement, record fines (for the third time this year) and promises of not to do it again in response to a wide ranging criminal conspiracy to rig foreign exchange markets.

The banks colluded to fix the prices honest, hard working business people pay to exchange one currency for another, in order to enrich themselves and pay large bonuses for stealing from hard working Americans.

Commissioner Kara M. Stein dissented from yesterday’s sweep-it-under-the-rug settlement with the large criminal banks, instead arguing that the banks are, in fact, large criminal organizations with a long track record criminal conduct and are all repeat offenders.

Ms. Stein, who should consider running for office, went on to detail just how and when the big banks have engaged in criminal behavior and illustrated just how little punishment they have received for their actions.

Below is her dissenting opinion, which should be read in full to understand just how corrupt and criminal Wall Street has become.

Commissioner Kara M. Stein
May 21, 2015
I dissent from the Commission’s Orders, issued on May 20, 2015, that granted the following waivers from an array of disqualifications required by federal securities regulations:
UBS AG, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JPMC”), and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (“RBSG”), waivers from the provisions under Commission rules that automatically make them ineligible for well-known seasoned issuer (“WKSI”) status;
UBS AG, Barclays, and JPMC waivers from automatic disqualification provisions related to the safe harbor for forward-looking statements under Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and
UBS AG and three Barclays entities waivers from the automatic Bad Actor disqualification provided under Rule 506.
The disqualifications were triggered for generally the same behavior: a criminal conspiracy to manipulate exchange rates in the foreign currency exchange spot market (“FX Spot Market”), a global market for buying and selling currencies. Traders at these firms “entered into and engaged in a combination and conspiracy to fix, stabilize, maintain, increase or decrease the price of, and rig bids and offers for,” the euro-dollar foreign currency exchange (“FX”). To carry out their scheme, the conspirators communicated and coordinated trading almost daily in an exclusive online chat room that the traders referred to as “The Cartel” or “The Mafia.” Additionally, salespeople and traders lied to customers in order to collect undisclosed markups in certain transactions. This criminal behavior went on for years, unchecked and undeterred.
There are compelling reasons to reject these requests to waive the automatic disqualifications required by statute or rule. Chief among them, however, is the recidivism of these institutions. For example, in the face of the FX criminal action, a majority of the Commission has determined to grant Citigroup yet another WKSI waiver, its fourth since 2006. It is worth noting that Citigroup was automatically disqualified from WKSI status between 2010 and 2013 for unrelated misconduct, meaning that it has effectively now triggered WKSI disqualifications five times in roughly nine years. Further, through this latest round of Orders, the Commission has granted:
Barclays its third WKSI waiver since 2007;
UBS its seventh WKSI waiver since 2008;
JPMC its sixth WKSI waiver since 2008; and
RBSG its third WKSI waiver since 2013.
The Commission has thus granted at least 23 WKSI waivers to these five institutions in the past nine years. The number climbs higher if you include Bad Actor and other waivers.
This latest round of criminal charges also comes on the heels of the Department of Justice’s actions against UBS, Barclays, and RBSG for their collusive manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), a benchmark used in financial products and transactions around the world. The manipulation of LIBOR was flagrant and “impact[ed] financial products the world over, and erode[d] the integrity of the financial markets.” As part of the settlements in the LIBOR matters, UBS, Barclays, and RBSG each entered into agreements with the Department of Justice in which they undertook not to commit additional crimes during the term of the agreements.
Allowing these institutions to continue business as usual, after multiple and serious regulatory and criminal violations, poses risks to investors and the American public that are being ignored. It is not sufficient to look at each waiver request in a vacuum.

Kansas Announces Devious New Tax On The Poor

News

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback isn’t very popular with low income voters. He’s set to continue that unpopularity due to a stealthy new tax on the poor. Legislators in the state have decided they will now place a $25 daily limit on ATM withdrawals on state-issued benefits cards.

This comes in addition to reducing the overall benefits themselves.

The daily cap of $25 on cash withdrawals will begin July 1st. The effect is that it will force beneficiaries to make more trips to the ATM to withdraw money from the debit cards used to pay public assistance benefits.

But because there is a fee for every withdrawal, the limit means that families will get substantially less money.

It’s difficult to overstate the significance of this action.

Most households in the program lack enough money to maintain a minimum balance in a conventional checking account so they will pay their rent and their utility bills in cash.

A single mother with two children who needs to withdraw $200 in cash would incur $30 or more in fees, which is almost ten percent of the roughly $400 the family would receive under assistance programs in Kansas.

But it gets far worse.

Banking machines are only stocked with $20 bills so the $25 limit is effectively a $20 limit.

A family withdrawing $200 in cash would have to visit an ATM 10 times a month, which is both a financial burden and also a time burden for a parent who might not have a car and might not live in a neighborhood where ATMs are easy to find.

Looking For A Low Wage Job? Go To College

Finance

While at first it might seem like going to college is the way to break through income barriers and move up a few notches on the wage ladder, new research is finding this is anything but the case.

In 1979, 56.7 percent of low-wage workers had a high school degree, while in 2013 that number stood at 77.5 percent.

Yet this trend also holds true for low-wage workers who have attended at least some college or have a college degree. In 1979 only 23.9 percent of low-wage workers had some college experience or a college degree, while by 2013 that group had grown to 44.2 percent – nearly double!

Over the same period of time, low-wage workers’ hourly wages have not improved much either, especially adjusted for inflation.

The implication here is that almost half of U.S. graduates can do no better than a low-wage job.

That is deeply troubling and indicates it is time to rethink the “college for everyone” strategy as ‘fair’ and instead realize it is nothing more than our government delaying the inevitable of a middle-class being down-trodden and in debt.

Saudi Arabia Rocked By Unknown Terror Attack

Entertainment News

Saudi Arabia was hit early Friday morning by a deadly attack linked to mid-east terrorist group ISIS. At least 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated himself at a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

An emergency doctor at Qatif Central Hospital said at least 70 were injured, “some very critically”.

Witnesses to the scene reported a massive explosion at the Imam Ali mosque in the village of al-Qadeeh, in Qatif governorate.

The attack is the first ISIS terror incident in Saudi Arabia and underscore rising regional tension between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack at present, however ISIS is strongly suspected by Saudi officials who wished to remain anonymous.

Lebanon’s al-Manar television network showed shattered glass and debris sitting next to the tiled pillars inside the mosque, where dozens were praying at the time of the attack.

Bodies covered in bloodied sheets could be seen spread out on the floor, while injured people in bloodstained clothes were whisked away on stretchers.

Qatif hospital, where most of the casualties ended up, has issued an urgent call for blood donations and called in off-duty staff to cope with the high number of casualties.

Saudi Arabia has two enemies who could have perpetrated the attack. It is currently leading a coalition of Arab states in an air campaign against Shia rebels in neighboring Yemen, who could have executed the attack.

The country has also been threatened by the Islamic State (ISIS), which is being targeted by a US-led coalition of which the Saudis are also a part of.

Over 2,000 Saudis are believed to have joined ISIS, with hundreds having returned home forming so called ‘sleeper cells’. In response, the Saudi security forces have launched a crackdown in recent months, arresting hundreds of ISIS suspects.

Competition Heating Up In Fast Delivery Ecommerce

Finance

It’s not just Uber, Walmart, Google and Ebay that have their sights set firmly on same-day delivery services. It was revealed Friday morning that Amazon is expanding its Prime Now service to offer fast delivery of food from local stores in Manhattan.

Amazon said in a statement that customers can order groceries, prepared meals and baked goods from three stores, D’Agostino, Gourmet Garage and Billy’s Bakery, through its Prime Now app.

The service is similar to smaller food and grocery delivery service which actually makes Amazon somewhat of a laggard in the space.

To have your purchases delivered within two hours is free for Prime members, while having it delivered within one hour costs $7.99, although the latter service is only available to “select zip codes”.

The new delivery service started on Thursday in “select neighborhoods” though will become available to most Manhattan zip codes in the coming weeks, Amazon said.

More merchant partners are on tap as well with Eataly, an upscale Italian food vendor, and Westside Market, a 50-year-old chain of family-run food markets joining the site shortly.

Prime Now is an annual membership program that costs $99 a year and started in 2014. It includes free two-day shipping. Prime Now is currently available in Brooklyn, Atlanta, Baltimore, Austin, Dallas and Miami, in addition to Manhattan.

Amazon’s announcement comes just days after Walmart unveiled an unlimited shipping service that is half the price of Amazon Prime and Uber revealed secret plans for a massive same day delivery service, which we covered earlier.

The Hottest Ticket In ISIS Controlled Territory Is What?

Entertainment News

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the hottest ticket in ISIS controlled territory is their five star hotel or given their penchant for rape, the slave market.

Yet the Saudi militants in ISIS are most interested in getting to the top of the suicide bombing wait lists, according to a frustrated Chechen militant. They’re specifically using nepotism to ensure friends and family members get bumped to the top.

In a post on a website linked to a Chechen ISIS battalion, Kamil Abu Sultan ad-Daghestani loudly complained that Chechens are being robbed of their once in a lifetime chance to blow themselves up because of the Saudis.

“Those Saudis have got things sewn up. They won’t let anyone in. They are letting their relatives go to the front of the line” said the disgruntled terrorist.

Connections are, in fact, the only way to skip the line to become a suicide bomber. This non-merit based process is now resulting in ISIS fighters issuing complaints to their commanders.

A recently captured ISIS guidebook explicitly mentioned the large supply of suicide bombers, informing potential “martyrs” that they need to be patient after their training period, as there would be a waiting list.

This list, according to Abu Sultan, can reach up to several months. This leads to some ISIS fighters dying before getting the chance to commit suicide.

Militants are becoming so desperate to get to the top of the list that they’re travelling to other parts of the battlefield in hopes of speeding up the process, according to Abu Sultan, who heard the story from the head of Chechen ISIS militants, Abu Omar al-Shishani.

“Amir (leader) al-Shishani told me about a young lad who went to Iraq for a suicide mission, and he went there because in Sham (Syria) there is a very long queue (of several thousand people)” said al-Shishani, according to Abu Sultan.

The suicide bomber waiting lists have been a problem for ISIS since at least July 2014 when a A British ISIL member first revealed the issue to BBC’s “Panorama” TV show.

That fighter, Kabir Ahmed, was fighting in Syria during the time of the interview, and told the BBC that he was attempting to “get his name pushed up the list.”

Death by suicide bombing is in high demand from senior ISIS members for purely tactical reasons, not theological ones, says Thomas Pierret of the University of Edinburgh.

“In my view, the tactical advantage of suicide VBIEDs [vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices] largely outweighs their symbolic or propaganda value, hence ISIS’ heavy reliance on them,” Pierret said to Radio Free Europe.

California Oil Disaster Just Keeps Getting Worse

Culture

The California oil spill from a ruptured onshore pipeline continued to foul beaches and threaten wildlife along a majestic stretch of the California coast spread across 9 miles of ocean and officials said over 105,000 gallons may have been leaked.

Over one fifth of that, 21,000 gallons, has so far reached the sea, causing one of the worst ecological disasters in California history.

California has now declared a state of emergency, which will mobilize state resources to contain and mitigate the effect of the spill.

Federal regulators continued to investigate the leak as workers in protective suits began to rake and shovel the smelly black sludge off the beaches. Boats could be seen towing booms into place to corral the two slicks, located just off the Santa Barbara coast.

Ironically it was this same place where a much larger spill happened in 1969, the largest in U.S. waters at the time, which is credited with giving rise to the American environmental movement.

Federal regulators from the Department of Transportation, which oversees oil pipeline safety, are investigating the leak’s cause, the pipe’s condition and any potential regulatory violations that occurred.

The 24-inch pipe was built in 1991 and had no previous problems but the pipe underwent tests about two weeks ago and the results were not analyzed.

There is currently no estimate on the cost of the cleanup or how long the efforts will take.

The disgusting combination of soiled beaches and putrid stench of petroleum caused state parks officials to shut down Refugio State Beach and El Capitan State Beach over the Memorial Day weekend.

New Research Shows Surprising Age Of Dog Human Friendship

Culture

A newly discovered ancient wolf bone suggests that man’s best friend may have been our friend much longer than we originally thought, according to new research. A DNA analysis suggests dogs diverged from wolves 27,000 to 40,000 years ago instead of between 11,000 to 16,000 years ago, as previously thought.

In a new study researchers radiocarbon-dated a Taimyr wolf bone found in northern Siberia and concluded it to be approximately 35,000 years old. The ancient wolf appears to be the most recent common relative of modern wolves and dogs.

Two scenarios could have played out about 40,000 years ago, with the simplest being that dogs became domesticated by humans around that time.

“The only other explanation is that there was a major divergence between two wolf populations at that time, and one of these populations subsequently gave rise to all modern wolves,” study co-author Love Dalén of the Swedish Museum of Natural History stated in a media release.

With that theory, however, the second wolf population would had to have gone extinct at some point.

“It is possible that a population of wolves remained relatively untamed but tracked human groups to a large degree, for a long time,” another study co-author, Pontus Skoglund, of Harvard Medical School said in the same release.

Earlier research estimated that genetic mutation rates were much faster than what the most recent research found. The mutation rate in the Taimyr wolf genome was, however, just half of what had been thought, Dalen told Reuters

“The difference between the earlier genetic studies and ours is that we can calibrate the rate of evolutionary change in dog and wolf genomes directly, and we find that the first separation of dog ancestors must have been in the older range,” Skoglund said.

An important implication of the study is re-imagining how dogs came to be an important part of human social groups. The prevailing theory is that dogs became domesticated once humans settled into agricultural-based communities and were no longer nomadic wanderers.

But humans may well have “caught wolf cubs and kept them as pets and this gradually led to these wild wolves being domesticated,” Dalen told the BBC. “If this model is correct, then dogs were domesticated by hunter gatherers that led a fairly nomadic lifestyle.”

The researchers published their study Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

Health Officials Warn Of Tuna Linked Salmonella Outbreak Affecting Nine States

Health & Wellness

Food and Drug Administration officials are investigating a salmonella outbreak that has been linked to raw tuna. The deadly bacteria has thus far sickened 53 people in nine states.

The California Department of Public Health reported 31 cases as of late Thursday. Other states reporting incidents include Arizona, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

So far ten people have been hospitalized in serious condition but no deaths have thus far been reported.

The precise source of the outbreak is still being determined but most people who fell ill reported eating sushi containing raw tuna.

Salmonella is the most common source of food poisoning in the U.S. It is a bacteria that causes diarrhea, cramping and fever. If untreated it can lead to death, especially in those who are already weak.

The FDA advises that the elderly, young children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems should not consume raw fish or raw shellfish.

Human Rights Groups Denounce Facebook’s Internet.org Scheme In Open Letter To CEO

Finance

Facebook’s duplicitous Internet.org initiative continues to gather opposition as over 60 rights groups from several nations across the globe, including the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Austria, India and others, criticized Facebook, saying that the initiative undermines net neutrality. The rights groups assert that the low-cost internet-to-the-masses plan is self serving, giving Facebook effective control of the internet is developing countries.

With the control the powerful social network can favor its own sites and content while excluding competitors. It also conditions new internet users to expect Facebook’s watered down version of the net rather than the real thing.

In an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg , the organizations, many of whom have extensive experience in providing connectivity to the poor, claimed that the initiative had been wrongly marketed as providing access to the real, full, Internet, even though it provided access to only a limited number of services that are approved by Facebook and local Internet service providers.

Through Internet.org, Facebook and local telecom monopolies aim to extend internet connectivity to poor areas of the world currently without internet. The program, which was roundly criticized in India for creating “walled gardens,” offers only a hand chosen set of websites and services, including those of Facebook, at no data charges to users.

The service has already been launched in select countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Get Your WiFi Toasters Ready: Google To Release Internet Of Things Operating System Next Week

Finance

Everyone’s been dying to connect their toaster to the internet and Google may be the next big company to take on the challenge. Reports indicate that Google has developed secret software that can run on low-power devices and give them the ability to communicate with other connected devices nearby. Say, for instance, your toaster telling your fridge you just had two pieces of toast.

Internally, the software is called “Brillo,” but it may debut under an Android name next week, at Google’s I/O conference, in which it showcases every new and exciting its been working on. Reports are that the software can be used on everything from major home appliances like refrigerators to smaller tech like garden monitors, thanks to its ability to consume very little power and require unsophisticated computer controllers to run – it’s reported to be designed for devices that have as little as 32MBs or 64MBs of RAM.

The software will likely be barebones at first, rather than being a complete system with apps and services.

At this point nobody really knows how it will all look but a lot of companies are diving into the area. Microsoft is releasing Windows 10 IoT Core that’s designed for ATMs, ultrasound machines, and wearable tech devices.

Chinese company Huawei, if they are to be trusted, is making an OS that’s 10 kilobytes in size and meant to connect very small IoT gadgets.

Samsung recently announced a series of chips for IoT devices as well, while Apple is rumored to be launching a set of apps that work with Apple devices to control your home.

Connecting everyday objects is going to be big and there’s lots of money up for grabs for whoever can be the central player. Everyone knows this and wants to get there first.

United Arab Emirates Sentences Four Men To Life In Prison For Tweeting

Entertainment News

Middle Eastern legal insanity knows no bounds, with mass public executions, chopping of limbs and lengthy jail terms for minor offenses the norm. The area proved just how insane it is, after four men were sentenced to life in prison for disseminating information, rumours and pictures on Twitter that were said to harm the reputation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Another man was given 10 years in prison for the same offense.

State news agency WAM reported that the sentences were handed out by the State Security Circuit at the Federal Supreme Court on Monday,

The court found the men acted with “intent to ridicule and damage the reputation and prestige of the state symbols”, WAM said.

The first defendant, identified as H.A.M.A, was present for the verdict, while the other four, identified as J.H.A, H.K.A., R.A.A. and A.M.A., were sentenced in absentia.

Each of the defendants was also fined Dhs1 million or $270,000.

The court did not identify what nationality the men were nor if it is known where the four at-large individuals are.

H.A.M.A appeared with relatives, the media and members of civil society organisations, who roundly condemned the sentence as draconian and inhumane.

The court also handed down a three-year sentence to an Emirati, identified as A.S.A., on the charge of abusing state symbols at his workplace.

Six Police Officers Indicted Over Death Of Freddie Gray

News

As Baltimore tries to recover from riots and violence that has plagued the city since, a grand jury indicted the six police officers charged in the arrest of Freddie Gray, the state’s attorney for Baltimore City, Marilyn J. Mosby, said Thursday. The officers were in charge of the arrest and subsequent death of Mr. Gray.

At a news conference, Ms. Mosby said the grand jury had returned with a wide range of charges against all six officers and had agreed with an earlier charge, the most serious, against van driver Caesar R. Goodson Jr. That charge was for second-degree depraved-heart murder.

The other officers charged are Lt. Brian Rice; Sgt. Alicia White; Officer Garrett E. Miller; Officer William G. Porter; and Officer Edward M. Nero.

The death of Mr. Gray occurred one week after he was transported by police and brought waves of violence throughout the city. That violence continues to this day, which is why we asked the question: does 1.3 homicides per day mean Baltimore is now safe?

Yemeni Hack Group Releases Thousands Of Secret Saudi Documents

Entertainment News

A supposed Yemeni hacking group announced that it has hacked Saudi Arabia’s Foreign, Interior and Defense ministries and released thousands of top secret documents. The dumped documents include names and addresses of Saudi spies as well as confidential correspondence of Riyadh officials over the last several decades.

“We have gained access to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) network and have full control over more than 3000 computers and servers, and thousands of users. We also have access to the emails, personal and secret information of hundreds of thousands of their staff and diplomats in different missions around the world,” the Yemen Cyber Army said in a statement.

The group said it has a vast trove of documents, including the contact addresses, phone numbers, emails, social account contents of not just the Saudi diplomats and foreign ministry staff, the country’s spies, intelligence agents, operatives, army personnel and hundreds of thousands of secret documents of the Saudi foreign ministry and top secret files and correspondence of senior Riyadh officials with other world countries and governments since early 1980s.

“We publish only few portions of the vital information we have, just to let them know that ‘truly the flimsiest of houses is the spider´s house’,” the statement added.

The hacking group also said that “portions of the visa secret information, thousands of documents from the Saudi Foreign Ministry automation system and secret emails will be published gradually so as to keep Saudi puppets always in fear of their identity disclosure”.

The statement threaten to automatically wipe the Saudi Foreign Ministry computer systems and servers at 12:00 Wednesday midnight.

The group warned that it would further attack the Saudi government if Riyadh refrains from attacking “Muslims in Yemen”, adding, “Do not blame anyone but yourself and expect greater harms.”

Yemen Cyber Army first came to light after it attacked the pro-Saudi news website, AlHayat, on April 14th in protest at Riyadh’s invasion of Yemen.

News of the attack was quickly picked up by Iran’s FARS news agency. Iran backs Islamist Houthi rebels in Yemen, which could indicate that it is really Iran behind the attacks. Given the broad scope of the incursion and sophistication needed for such an attack it is entirely plausible Iran is the actual responsible party.

Skipping Meals Shown To Increase Belly Weight Gain

Health & Wellness

It turns out skipping breakfast, or any other meal, could have a big impact on your waist line, according to a new study conducted on animals. Researchers found evidence that skipping meals sets off a series of reactions in your body that can result in abdominal weight gain.

The study found that mice who ate all of their food as a single meal and fasted the rest of the day developed insulin resistance in their livers which is a telltale sign of pre-diabetes.

The meal-a-day mice were put on a restricted diet and subsequently lost weight compared to controls that had unlimited food. The mice regained weight as they ate more caloriess and nearly caught up to the unlimited food mice by the study’s end.

But the belly fat weighed more in the restricted-diet mice than in mice that were free to eat all day long. An excess of belly fat is associated with insulin resistance, risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

“This does support the notion that small meals throughout the day can be helpful for weight loss, though that may not be practical for many people,” said Martha Belury, the senior author of the study. “But you definitely don’t want to skip meals to save calories because it sets your body up for larger fluctuations in insulin and glucose and could be setting you up for more fat gain instead of fat loss.”

“With the mice, this is basically bingeing and then fasting,” Belury said. “People don’t necessarily do that over a 24-hour period, but some people do eat just one large meal a day.”

“Even though the gorging and fasting mice had about the same body weights as control mice, their adipose [belly fat] depots were heavier. If you’re pumping out more sugar into the blood, adipose is happy to pick up glucose and store it. That makes for a happy fat cell – but it’s not the one you want to have. We want to shrink these cells to reduce fat tissue,” Belury said.

The research is published online in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Chinese Foreign Policy Falls Short As India Says ‘No, Thanks’

Entertainment News

It’s a sign of both India’s rising prominence and strained relations between the two superpowers that China failed to secure India’s backing for its mega Silk Road projects during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit last week, a Chinese state-run think tank said.

“Modi’s first journey to China since he assumed office constitutes a significant step in building the Sino-India strategic mutual trust,” an article written by Liu Zongyi, a researcher at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said.

The paper continued with glowing words, as if to soothe the fact that Modi was having none of the two headed Chinese charm offensive.

“In the first place, the state heads of the two countries have strengthened mutual trust with practical actions,” it said, continuing that Modi had been given an “unprecedented welcome and reception in China”.

“Beijing received some return from New Delhi. Modi revealed at Tsinghua University that Chinese tourists would be able to apply for Indian e-visas, which, however, is not stated in the joint statement,” it said.

But China wants to accomplish big things in Asia, even as it riles it neighbors over disputed territory and continues to talk out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to foreign policy. It claims to know nothing about widespread cyber warfare, industrial espionage or a militarized space program, yet evidence is starkly to the contrary.

The recognized the diplomacy failure, acknowledging that “China has failed to gain support from India on issues concerning its key interests, especially in building the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR).”

The Silk Road projects included road connectivity between China and Europe through Central Asia, the Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) Corridor, the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the MSR.

While India is taking part in the BCIM, it has already expressed concerns over the CPEC as it traverses Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The overall failure of the trip highlights India’s distrust for China, particularly its weaponized space program and increasing militarization. The moves have caused India to respond with its own investment in these areas, which have primarily focused on China as the enemy of choice when designing weapons systems.

It also show’s India increasing self confidence, where it is able to pick and choose the deals it wishes to do and will dictate terms not have them dictated.

Pentagon Approves Rush Shipment Of 2000 Anti Tank Rockets To Iraq

Entertainment News

In a swift response to ISIS victories in Ramadi, the Pentagon announced Thursday that the United States would deliver 2,000 AT-4 anti-tank rockets to Iraq as early as next week. That number is double that announced just 24 hours before, a sign the Pentagon is taking the ISIS threat more seriously than ever. The rocket are intended to help Baghdad combat suicide car bombings by Islamic State fighters.

Spokesman Steve Warren said the delivery was intended to help Iraq defend against approaching suicide bombers driving in vehicles packed with explosives. This tactic was heavily used by Islamic State militants last weekend to help capture Ramadi from the Iraqi forces.

“This is a good counter to that (type of bombing),” Warren said.

The capture of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, handed the Iraqi government its most significant setback in a year and highlighted the weaknesses of both the Iraqi army and the U.S.-led air strikes against the terror group.

A senior State Department official said Wednesday that ISIS had carried out about 30 vehicle suicide bombings in order to take Ramadi.

The new anti-tank weapons will allow the Iraqi forces to destroy approaching suicide car bombers at a distance instead of having to rely on small arms fire to disable the engine or kill the driver, which can be difficult..

Warren said at a Pentagon news briefing that U.S. air cover had not been impeded by the weather during the Islamic State onslaught of Ramadi. His comments came after reports that Islamic State fighters had used a sandstorm to gain an advantage in the siege of Ramadi and that the storm had prevented U.S. warplanes from launching airstrikes.

Teamsters Union Wins Right To Cut Members’ Pensions By 20 Percent

News

Big changes will be coming to those who are current Teamsters union members. The powerful union began informing retirees and current workers that their pension benefits will be cut, according to union representatives.

In a funny twist, the union spent its members’ own money on a lobbying campaign to win the right to shrink their retirement pay.

The decision could ultimately affect 410,000 current pension participants and more than 10 million U.S. workers nationwide. The cuts will begin next year.

The pension reductions were made possible after a lame-duck Congress passed the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) late last year, enabling any multiemployer pension fund to cut benefits to workers and current retirees if the plan is underfunded by 20 percent.

The Teamsters’ fund has been struggling with severe shortages for years, while the union simultaneously poured millions of dollars into political election efforts and Washington lobbying.

In 2014 the union and its affiliates spent about $5.9 million on lobbying and political contributions, with its main objective the passage of the pension reform law that gave it the right to start reducing benefits.

To date this year the union has spent $397,000 into Washington lobbying.

“Like many of our nation’s multiemployer pension funds, Central States Pension Fund has become severely underfunded and is headed toward financial failure if we don’t take immediate, decisive action,” said a CSPF letter to pensioners, dated April 8th.

“Baby Boomers are retiring in record numbers and the union workforce has been steadily declining for years. As a result, the Fund currently has more than three times as many retirees as active members — so, fewer contributions are coming in than benefits being paid out. To put this into perspective, for every $3.46 that the Fund pays out in pension benefits, only $1 is collected from contributing employers, which results in a $2 billion annual shortfall. Clearly, that math will never work,” the letter went on to say.

The new law means that the group hardest hit by reductions will be current workers and retirees under the age of 75. Retirees over the age of 80 and those with disabilities will continue to receive full benefits, and benefit reductions for those aged 75 to 80 will be done on a sliding scale.

Funnily enough, in a vain effort to defect blame, the April 8th letter blamed Congress, saying that because the MPRA wasn’t passed until December meant there was no legal solution in place that allowed the Teamsters pension fund “to develop a rescue plan from going broke.”

Russia Plans Children’s TV Channel To Recruit Child Soldiers

Entertainment News

Russian ruler Vladimir Putin continues his downward spiral of paranoia and desperation as his government announced the creation of a state-financed TV company that would seek to indoctrinate teens and younger children with state propaganda, government newspaper Izvestia reported on May 20th.

The Russian dictator has launched several initiatives, which we covered here, to recruit children into the communist party and its military.

Since he came to power 15 years ago, Putin has ruled the media and television to consolidate control over the country. Citizens now refer to television as the “zombie box” for its lack of credible content.

Viktor Vodolatsky, a puppet lawmaker for the ruling United Russia party has advocated for the idea of a channel that would help raise Russians as patriots, indoctrinating them in communist propaganda and a sense of duty to the military.

Vodolatsky told Izvestia that Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko has mandated that the Education Ministry form a working group that will create the new propaganda channel.

“The working group is already at the stage of being formed; it will soon start work,” Vodolatsky said. “Specialists are preparing concrete proposals on the issue of correctly conducting informational-patriotic work with teenagers.”

The channel will broadcast youth-oriented talk shows and programs on education, news, and other issues, according to Izvestia.

Putin’s government has stepped up its emphasis on patriotism amid the widely condemned invasion of Ukraine and biting sanctions that have been ruinous for the economy. As many as a third of Russian families are starving, according to recent reports, as shipments of vital grain and other crops have been cut due to sanctions.

As the sanctions now bite and Putin eyes an upcoming election he must rig, the increasingly desperate leader is looking for all ways to both control the vote and also avoid a popular uprising, such as Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, which are usually started by younger members of society.

He sees recruiting children to both the armed forces and communist party as a way to solidify what could otherwise be a rebellious base.

Court Rules Americans Do Not Have Right To Know CIA Torture Details

News

In a shocking blow to democracy a federal judge has ruled the CIA can keep secret nearly 7,000 pages of a Senate report on its interrogation methods, as well as an internal agency review concerning the conduct of its officers.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg concluded that the 6,963-page report compiled by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the related “Panetta review,” are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

Boasberg stated that the Senate committee report remained a document under congressional control, and Congress made sure to exempt itself from FOIA.

“Congress has undoubted authority to keep its records secret, authority rooted in the Constitution, longstanding practice, and current congressional rules,” Boasberg stated.

Despite the fact that the Senate intelligence panel forwarded a copy of the full report to the CIA, Boasberg added, “should not be readily interpreted to suggest more wholesale abdication of control.”

Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, strongly objected to the ruling.

“The direct, contemporaneous evidence shows that the full torture report is subject to the FOIA because Congress sent it to the executive branch with instructions that it be broadly used to ensure torture never happens again,” Shamsi said. “The Senate’s landmark investigation into a dark period in our nation’s history should not stay behind closed government doors, but needs to see the light of day.”

The Senate committee released a summary of the report last December, following years of back-and-forth, but refused to disclose the full contents to the American people at the request of the CIA.

As we reported previously, the CIA is fearful details of their torture activities will cause a public outcry which could end the agency. They even went so far as to destroy tapes of the evidence yet, like all spy agencies, went free of punishment for their actions.

The cost to taxpayers of the report they will not see? $40 million.

The finding shows the politicians and judges have been corrupted by the intelligence community and are deeply fearful of retribution of they act against either the CIA or the more powerful NSA.

Despite numerous public criminal acts by both agencies none have been held to account, likely because they maintain a detailed dossier on every politician, judge, civil servant and military leader to ensure they get what they want and nobody interferes with their secret information gathering activities.

Why Uber Keeps Its Driver Pay Rate So Low

Finance

Mike Novogratz, principal and director of investment giant Fortress Investments, offered an amazing anecdote about Uber in an upcoming podcast.

His comment appears to be from Uber CFO Brent Callinicos, who had previously worked at Google, and concerns why, exactly, Uber pays its drivers such a low rate. Novogratz did not mention Callinicos by name, but the anecdote was set during a period in which he was CFO.

Novogratz began his comment by noting that regardless of whether America has a Republican or Democratic administration, the percentage of earnings going to capital, versus labour, has decreased over the last 35 years.

He remarked “I had an interesting meeting with the CFO of Uber […] and they were raising capital. [They] had started their [fund-raising] roadshow at twenty five billion dollars valuation, and a week later the valuation had jumped to forty.”

“And I asked [the CFO], how do you justify the valuation? So he took me through their business model, and roughly, employees – drivers – get between twenty and twenty five per cent of the fare. And the thought was if we could raise that to twenty five to thirty per cent […] our margins would go up, and if you look at the growth and you add that extra, pure margin, we make a lot more money and we justify this forty billion dollar valuation.”

“And I asked a cheeky question,” said Novogratz. “‘Well, listen, you’ve got happy employees, you’ve got happy customers, you’ve got happy shareholders. The holy triumvirate are all really excited about your company. Why are you going to risk that and push the employees’ salary down by five per cent?'”

Without missing a beat, Callinicoss simply replied: “Because we can.”

The remark goes to illustrate just how hard-nosed Uber is, essentially waging wars on government, tax cab owner, tax cab drivers and its biggest investor, Google. All at the same time.