UnrepentantLiberal
UnrepentantLiberal's Journal2012 was worst year for whooping cough since 1955
AP
Jan 5, 2013
Health officials say 2012 was the nation's worst year for whooping cough in nearly six decades.
About 42,000 cases were reported last year, the most since 1955. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still gathering information, and the number could rise to as much as 50,000.
Whooping cough tends to run in multi-year cycles, and experts say last year appears to have been a peak. Also, a newer version of the whooping cough vaccine doesn't last as long as expected.
The good news: Deaths from the disease were down last year, to 18. Experts think that doctors were faster at diagnosing and treating the disease during outbreaks.
Whopping cough used to be a bigger problem until a vaccine was developed in the 1940s.
More: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=8943229
"I want the world to know my daughter's name is Jyoti Singh Pandey"
Source: The Mirror
She is known to the world only as India’s Daughter following her sickening gang rape and murder.
But today, with permission of her devastated father, we can reveal her name: Jyoti Singh Pandey.
Brave dad Badri, 53, told The Sunday People: “We want the world to know her real name.
“My daughter didn’t do anything wrong, she died while protecting herself.
“I am proud of her. Revealing her name will give courage to other women who have survived these attacks. They will find strength from my daughter.”
Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/india-gang-rape-victims-father-1521289
Justin Bieber Let's Be Blunt ... Whatcha Smokin?
Justin Bieber kicked off the new year on a real high note -- clutching a smoldering blunt at a big party inside a Newport Beach hotel room this week ... and TMZ has the photos.The pics were snapped on January 2nd -- the day after a paparazzo was killed while trying to take photos of Bieber's Ferrari -- and it's pretty obvious ... Bieber wasn't feeling too bad about the whole situation.Sources at the party tell TMZ, Bieber's BFF Lil Twist was there too -- the 19-year-old rapper who was driving the Biebs' Ferrari at the time the paparazzo was killed.According to sources, Twist and his brother were rolling all the blunts and smoking everyone up ... and there was a LOT of pot smoke.It's pretty ironic -- considering sources close to Bieber were insistent ... the photog who was killed lied when he said Justin was smoking weed hours before the fatal accident.And there's this -- we're told Bieber had security present ... but no one seemed to mind that people were snapping photos.As for talking points -- sources tell us Bieber was chatting it up about how tired he was because he'd been staying up late recently. Shockingly, we're told the conversation eventually turned to late night fast food ... and where they could get it.We're told a girl also crashed in the hotel room with Justin -- NOT Selena. It's unclear if they hooked up.Bieber's people had no comment.
More: http://www.tmz.com/2013/01/04/justin-bieber-marijuana-pot-blunt-smoking-picture-photo/
Steubenville Officials, Under Scrutiny, Launch Website Regarding Alleged Teen Gang Rape
As Steubenville, Ohio, prepares for the high-profile rape trial of two high school football players, officials, battling allegations of a cover-up, announced the creation of a new website today to debunk rumors and create what they said would be a transparent resource for the community.
"This site is not designed to be a forum for how the Juvenile Court ought to rule in this matter," the website, called Steubenville Facts, said.
A timeline of the case, beginning with the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl at a party on Aug. 11-12, 2012, is posted on the site. Summaries of Ohio law relating to the case and facts about the local police force including statistics on how many graduated from Steubenville schools, is included.
The case gained national attention last week when hacking collective Anonymous leaked a video of Steubenville high school athletes mocking the 16-year-old female victim and making crude references to the alleged rape.
More: http://abcnews.go.com/US/steubenville-officials-launch-website-alleged-teen-gang-rape/story?id=18139460
Steubenville Officials, Under Scrutiny, Launch Website Regarding Alleged Teen Gang Rape
Source: ABC News
As Steubenville, Ohio, prepares for the high-profile rape trial of two high school football players, officials, battling allegations of a cover-up, announced the creation of a new website today to debunk rumors and create what they said would be a transparent resource for the community.
"This site is not designed to be a forum for how the Juvenile Court ought to rule in this matter," the website, called Steubenville Facts, said.
A timeline of the case, beginning with the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl at a party on Aug. 11-12, 2012, is posted on the site. Summaries of Ohio law relating to the case and facts about the local police force including statistics on how many graduated from Steubenville schools, is included.
The case gained national attention last week when hacking collective Anonymous leaked a video of Steubenville high school athletes mocking the 16-year-old female victim and making crude references to the alleged rape.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/steubenville-officials-launch-website-alleged-teen-gang-rape/story?id=18139460
Cats Get Their Own Social Network
Fellow cat owners: ever caught your feline stealing jealous glances at your laptop? Wonder why they keep walking all over your keyboard? Turns out they're not trying to catch your attention or steal your lap heat. They just want you to get off Facebook so they can have their turn.
The world's smartest pets are long overdue for their own social network. And now, thanks to a couple of developers in Malaysia, they just may have found one worthy of them.
The site in question is Catmoji, the brainchild of Matthew Phiong and Koekoe Loo Wan Koe. "We want to be Facebook for cats," the Penang-based programmers told Betabeat.
More: http://news.yahoo.com/cats-own-social-network-215531869.html
Syrian president to give speech Sunday
Source: AP
BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad will deliver a speech on Sunday in a rare address to the nation, state media said, as rebels fighting to topple his embattled regime pressed ahead with an offensive on the capital.
The official SANA news agency said in a brief statement Saturday that Assad will speak about the latest developments in Syria. The speech would be the first by the leader since June, and comes amid intense fighting between government troops and rebels on the outskirts of Damascus.
Assad has rarely spoken in public since the uprising against him began in March 2011. In each of his previous speeches and interviews, the president has dug in his heels even as Western powers have moved to boost the opposition in Syria's civil war.
In his last public comments, Assad vowed in an interview with Russia Today on Nov. 8 that he would "live and die in Syria."
Fighting has raged for weeks in the neighborhoods and towns around Damascus that have been opposition strongholds since the Syrian revolt began. The uprising started with peaceful protests but morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people, according to a recent United Nations recent estimate.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Syrian-president-to-give-speech-Sunday-4169430.php
Some guns shows limiting displays, canceling in wake of scrutiny after Conn. school shooting
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. —Four gun shows, all about an hour’s drive from Newtown, Conn., all canceled.
A show in White Plains, N.Y., —brought back a few years ago after being called off for a decade because of the Columbine shooting —is off because officials decided it didn’t seem appropriate now, either. In Danbury, Conn. —about 10 miles west of Newtown —the venue backed out. Same with three other shows in New York’s Hudson Valley, according to the organizer.
Gun advocates aren’t backing down from their insistence on the right to keep and bear arms. But heightened sensitivities and raw nerves since the Newtown shooting have led to toned-down displays at gun shows and prompted some officials and sponsors to cancel the well-attended exhibitions altogether.
Some of the most popular guns will be missing from next weekend’s gun show in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., after show organizers agreed to bar the display and sale of AR-15 military-style semiautomatic weapons and their large-clip magazines.
“The majority of people wanted these guns out of the city,” said Chris Mathiesen, Saratoga Springs’ public safety commissioner. “They don’t want them sold in our city, and I agree. Newtown, Conn., is not that far away.”
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/gun-shows-face-scrutiny-limits-and-cancellations-after-conn-school-shooting/2013/01/05/e1548dfc-5713-11e2-8a12-5dfdfa9ea795_story.html
India rape victim’s friend recounts attack in TV interview; recalls apathy of police,
Source: AP
NEW DELHI —The suffering of a university student and her male friend who were brutally attacked aboard a bus in India’s capital did not end after the woman was gang-raped and both were savagely beaten for 2 1/2 hours. Dumped naked on a roadside, the pair encountered shocking apathy as passersby offered only cursory looks and police debated jurisdiction for 30 minutes before taking them to a hospital, where the man received no treatment as he sat without clothes on the floor, the friend recounted in a television interview.
The interview Friday marked the first time the man, who has not been named, has spoken publicly about the Dec. 16 attack in New Delhi.
The attack has outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws and reforms of a police culture that often blames rape victims and refuses to file charges against accused attackers. The nation’s top law enforcement official said the country needs to crack down on crimes against women with “an iron hand.”
The 23-year-old woman died last weekend from massive internal injuries suffered during the attack. Authorities charged five men with her murder and rape and were holding a sixth suspect believed to be a juvenile. A hearing in the case was scheduled for Saturday.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-rape-victims-friend-recounts-attack-in-tv-interview-recalls-apathy-of-police-public/2013/01/04/d9cb4186-56d5-11e2-8a12-5dfdfa9ea795_story.html
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Name: BradGender: Male
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