Many Americans awoke this morning to discover that (a) the mayor of Toronto is a guy named Rob Ford, and (b) Rob Ford smokes crack. Gawker reported last night that a cell-phone video clearly showing Ford lighting up a crack pipe -- which was supposedly filmed within the last six months, while he was mayor -- was being shopped around for six figures. Gawker's John Cook saw the video in person with his own two eyes, as did two reporters from the Toronto Star. Ford's lawyer calls the video "false and defamatory" and asks, hilariously, "How can you indicate what the person is actually doing or smoking?"
If you didn't know anything at all about Rob Ford, the revelation that he smoked crack on video might come as an absolute shock. Marion Barry aside, this is not something that mayors do. But if you were familiar with Ford, you might not even be that surprised. For the uninitiated, here are the twenty most important things to know about Rob Ford.
-- In a dramatic departure from existing White House procedures, President Obama requested today that his staff start cc'ing him on stuff.
"Look, I know a lot of you think I'm really busy and you don't want to bother me," the President reportedly told his staff in an Oval Office meeting. "But cc me anyway. It's good for me to keep up on what's going on around here."
"It's not good when I turn on the news and they're talking about something at the White House and I'm like, whoa, when did that happen?" Mr. Obama added. "I think cc'ing me would go a long way toward fixing that."
"Maybe put a Post-It note on your computer saying, ‘CC POTUS,' so you don't forget," he said as the meeting broke up.
Afterward, the President told aides that he "felt really good" about the meeting and was "really looking forward to people looping me in on stuff." read more
Portland police officer Mark James was in pursuit of a speeder caught going 52 mph in a 35 mph zone when his chase was abruptly interrupted by a family of ducks trying to cross the street. As shown in dashboard video, James stopped his patrol car in the middle of the road and exited the vehicle to ensure that the ducks had safe passage. The speeder got away.
NPR: A new rifle goes on sale on Wednesday, and it's not like any other. It uses lasers and computers to make shooters very accurate. A startup gun company in Texas developed the rifle, which is so effective that some in the shooting community say it should not be sold to the public. It's called the TrackingPoint rifle. On a firing range just outside Austin in the city of Liberty Hill, a novice shooter holds one and takes aim at a target 500 yards away. Normally it takes years of practice to hit something at that distance. But this shooter nails it on the first try. read more
A man whose family is a Canadian aviation business dynasty is being charged with the murder of an Ontario man who went missing after taking two men on a test drive of his truck. Dellen Millard faces the murder charge in the death of Tim Bosma, 32, who disappeared May 6 after meeting two men who said they were interested in buying his Dodge Ram truck. His badly burned remains were later discovered by police. His truck was found at the home of Madeline Millard, the mother of suspect Dellen Millard. "He's not the type of person to be involved in something like this," said his attorney, Deepak Paradkar.
Compare that to some "intellectuals" who scorn organized religion no matter how many people it helps.
Why??? Religious people are sure full of hate to use the deaths of these good men to attack intellectuals. The general attacks from religion on knowledge are so blatant that it makes you wonder why they fear a man who can think for themselves.