Attorney Lisa Bloom, Gloria Allred’s Daughter, Offered to Pay Woman $750K to Accuse Trump

Lisa Bloom, a California lawyer and daughter of Gloria Allred, who also represents Trump accusers, arranged payments for women to publicly accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconduct before the election. Bloom’s efforts included offering to sell the story to TV outlets in return for a commission for herself, arranging a donor to pay off the accuser’s mortgage, and attempting to secure as much as $750,000 to another woman who ultimately declined. The unidentified woman had an email from Bloom indicating that a Clinton Super PAC would help finance her legal costs if she agreed to do it. Earlier this year, Bloom was shamed into dropping Harvey Weinstein, asexual predator and alleged rapist, as a client. -GEG

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Trump disses Gloria Allred: ‘Any time you see her, you know something’s going wrong’

President Trump mocked women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred after her client, Beverly Young Nelson, admitted Friday she added “notes” to what she says is Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore’s signature in her yearbook in 1977.

“So, did you see what happened today? Do you know the yearbook? Did you see that? There was a little mistake made. She started writing things in the yearbook,” Trump continued. “Oh, what are we going to do? Gloria Allred, any time you see her, you know something’s going wrong.”

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Gloria Allred blocked Judge Roy Moore from Jeff Sessions open Senate Seat. Now it will be harder for Trump to move an agenda.

Will The Trump Administration Impact The Legal Marijuana Movement

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…California began allowing the sale of recreational marijuana on Monday, joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Nevada. Massachusetts and possibly Maine are expected to begin sales this year.

…“It puts the industry on notice in these states who thought they had cover from the states and the feds,” he said. “All these people are going to wake up today with a bit of a heartache because they thought were scot-free, when in reality, they’re not.”

‘Medical-grade marijuana’ won’t get you high, cannabis amendment supporters say

We rate the statement Mostly False.

Read below:

The level of THC in a plant varies based on the strain, the part of the plant used, and how it is processed for consumption.

Also present is a substance called cannabidiol, known as CBD, which is an antioxidant and has properties that are thought to protect the brain. It’s also not psychoactive like THC.

Florida’s 2014 law approved low-THC cannabis oil or vapor products containing CBD for patients with muscle spasms, cancer, epilepsy and terminal illnesses. Fifteen other states have similar laws. Even the National Institute on Drug Abuse says CBD may prove useful in treating epilepsy as well as inflammation and mental illnesses or addictions.

Products like cannabis oil are made from strains of marijuana already bred to be high in CBD and low in THC, although THC still is a part of the equation. Research shows that compound is what brings CBD into the brain.

Now for how this applies to McCray’s statement.

While there are non-euphoric strains of cannabis that are already being used as treatments for some conditions, it’s not accurate to say that no form of medical marijuana will get you high. High-THC medical cannabis will still produce the same intoxicating effects as the street form of the drug will.

We rate the statement Mostly False.

ORIGIONAL

Canopy Growth: Best Way To Play The Cannabis Industry – Canopy Growth Corporation (OTCMKTS:TWMJF) | Seeking Alpha

Summary Recreational cannabis is slated for legalization in Canada this July. Medical and recreational markets estimated to be at least $7 billion. Canopy is a leader in medical marijuana market and has most potential for recreational market once legalized. Current valuation seems lofty; suggest you establish a small position and accumulate shares during any potential pullbacks. All amounts in C$ unless otherwise noted and market data as of January 4, 2018. Canopy trades on the TSX where the stock has

Source: Canopy Growth: Best Way To Play The Cannabis Industry – Canopy Growth Corporation (OTCMKTS:TWMJF) | Seeking Alpha

Why are French police committing suicide in record numbers?

SUICIDE rates among police officers in France have hit record levels leading to serious concerns about the mental and emotional health of people whose duty is to serve and protect the population.

39 police officers have committed suicide since January this year and a further two deaths are suspected suicides.

The majority of those who committed suicide over the course of the past 11 months lived in the Paris region, where some 36,000 police officers are based. Out of the 10 police officers who committed suicide in the last two months, seven were based in Paris.

Radio station France Bleu, which reported on the figures, added that male police officers are more likely to take their own lives than their female counterparts: out of the 39 law enforcement officers who died this year, only three were women.

The suicide risk among police officers in France is “at least three times higher” than the national average, France Bleu said, adding that while most people committed suicide for “personal reasons,” an increasing number of deaths were being linked to work-related stress, especially among France’s police force.

Police trade unions believe that the anti-social nature of the job as well as the increased workloads and stress levels in part triggered by the wave of extremist violence in France have gnawed away at police officers’ mental wellbeing.

“Most police officers work five weekends out of six, when in fact they should be getting a weekend off every other week,” Louis-Guy Dubois, a member of Police Force Ouvrière trade union, told France Bleu.

According to Mr Dubois, the growing threat from Islamist terrorism has put French police under severe strain: “Giving officers more time off is an administrative headache, especially now that they are needed to help patrol the streets and prevent attacks. The number of officers working overtime (since the wave of attacks) has exploded. Police are under unprecedented pressure.”

Some 1,133 police officers have committed suicide in France in the last 25 years. Around 50 per cent killed themselves using their service weapon, according to France Bleu.

Original

French government forced to act after new wave of police suicides

Eight French officers including a high-profile former police chief have committed suicide in just a week sparking renewed concern among the forces of law and order and the government.
The worrying issue of the high number of suicides among French police officers is once again back on the agenda.

These latest suicides brought the number of French police officers to have taken their lives this year to 45. There have also been 16 suicides by members of France’s military police the gendarmerie nationale.

The most high profile death came on Sunday when it was revealed that France’s former police chief in charge of fighting hooliganism had been found dead in his office.

Antoine Boutonnet, whom The Local interviewed in June 2016 on the eve of Euro 2016 is believed to have used his service weapon to commit suicide.

Boutonnet’s death shocked those who knew him including the president of the French Football League Frédéric Thiriez.

“He wasn’t just a great professional but also a humanist. He became a friend,” said Thiriez.

France’s Interior Minister Gérard Collomb will meet with police unions after eight officers took their lives in a week.

He has also asked police chiefs to put together a list of recommendations aimed at cutting the number of suicides.

But French authorities seem powerless to prevent the loss of life given that in January 2015 the government had already unveiled its new plan aimed at cutting suicide numbers in the police forces.

That plan came after a black year for the forces of law and order when 55 police and 30 gendarmes took their own lives.

As part of the government’s measures seven extra psychologists were to be recruited for the police forces most in need. More psychologists were also to be recruited in police training schools.

Police officers were to get individual lockers where they can leave their weapon after work. This measure was aimed at stopping officers committing suicide using their service firearms in their own homes.

The then Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he also intended to “improve the quality of life at work” by promoting a healthier work-life balance.

He also said he would also consider changing working hours to allow more time for a private life.

Speaking to The Local at the time David-Olivier Reverdy from the police union Alliance said that there was a real crisis in the police force.

While he accepted there are always “multiple factors” behind suicides, he says the fact remains that there are fundamental problems within the French police force that is pushing many over the edge.

“Some of these suicides are clearly down to problems in their personal lives, but there is clearly a malaise among police officers,” he said.

Reverdy pointed to “archaic” management systems, working conditions, pressure from bosses, and a lack of protection from the government given the fact that “no one these days seems to be too scared to physically attack police officers”.

In recent years police officers in France have been under extra strain as they have become the targets of choice for jihadist violence.

In April last year and officer was gunned down on the Champs-Elysées and in June 2016 a police officer and his wife were stabbed to death at their home in front of their young son.

They have also been targeted by violent protesters and in May 2016 took to the streets to protest against a rise in anti-cop hatred.

“Confronted on a daily basis by human misery, violence and the worst that you can find in humans, police can no longer put up with a lack of consideration towards them, which is a factor in these tragic acts,” said the Unité-SGP-Police union.

Original

French cop who attempted suicide twice tells why more colleagues take their own life

Police in France choose to take their own lives more easily than other sections of society, an officer who attempted suicide twice has told RT. She believes her colleagues suffer trauma from their work and from public anger directed at them.
Aurelie hides her face from the camera and will not disclose her real name. She has served in law enforcement for more than two decades, after joining at the age of 19. There was a time when she was very excited about her job. But then the pressure of it became harder and harder to bear.


“They always say that these are personal issues. We must stop saying that,” Aurelie tells RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij. “Police officers are traumatized by their work. They decide to commit suicide more easily than the others. Why? Not because they have weapons on them. How many of them hang themselves, throw themselves under trains, take pills? My female colleague, 49 years old, killed herself last week with a hunting rifle.”

Aurelie attempted to kill herself twice, with the latest incident coming just seven months ago. She does not deny there was a personal aspect to it: “I was considered a trouble-maker. I also had problems in my private life and with my children. I felt abandoned. You spend your entire life to build your personal and professional life – and one day you say to yourself: everything would be better without me.”

But the personal troubles were worsened by professional burnout. Although a nearly two-year state of emergency in France ended recently with President Emmanuel Macron’s tough counterterrorism law, the impact it had on the police was vast.

“We suffered enormously physically and psychologically from the terrorist attacks. We worked extremely hard – but that was our duty. What was really bad was that we were not given the tools to fight terrorism. Some police officers received new weapons, some received training – but not all of us. The measures that they introduced were miniscule.”

Aurelie also blames the government for the French police force’s tarnished image.
“Our administration is taking decisions and the people’s anger is turning against us. We are suffering from the image our government created for us. Today many people are calling for policemen to be killed.”

It was Aurelie’s children who helped her to pull through eventually. “I realized that my child will come home that day – and it saved my life. But the lack of humanity in police nowadays leads to the situation when many of my colleagues prefer to die instead of fighting.”

But dozens of other police officers have succumbed to the extreme pressures they face. This month, the French Interior Ministry revealed figures on police suicides, saying 2017 alone has seen 46 officers and 16 members of the gendarmerie take their lives. Last weekend, another officer committed suicide after going on a killing rampage.

“Faced with daily human misery, violence and with the worst that can be found in humans, police can no longer stand this lack of respect, a factor in coming closer to the dramatic act [of suicide],”said the SGP police union.

General secretary of the National Police Commissioners’ Union (NPCS), Céline Berthon, added her thoughts. “Police and gendarmes have been very busy defending others for two years, maybe that has led them to taking less care about themselves and maybe it has also led to exhaustion,” she said.

In the past, the grim statistics of some 85 suicides in 2014 triggered the then interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, to unveil a set of measures aimed at cutting the numbers. These included recruitment of additional psychologists, lockers for storing service firearms after work, as well as a change to working hours. The number of suicides went down after that, but apparently not for long, as the 2017 statistics show. For officers such as Aurelie and many like her, the struggle will continue until their voices are heard and the strain they are under is properly addressed.

Original

French police in crisis as suicide rate spirals

With the number of suicides in the French police in 2014 passing 50 on Friday the government is under pressure to deal with a growing crisis. The Local asks a police union chief what is pushing so many officers to end their lives.
On November 24th a young policewoman based near Paris was sitting in a friend’s garden when she took out her service weapon and turned it on herself.

Just days earlier in Bastia, on the island of Corsica, a young police captain took her own life when she grabbed a colleagues gun and shot herself.

These incidents were not isolated.

On Friday a tweet from a police union announced that a policeman in the north of France had shot himself at home to become the 50th officer to take his own life since the start of the year. That compares to 40 last year and 43 in 2011 and 2012, with another month still to come.

France’s police union leaders say officers are suffering from what the French call a “ras-le-bol”, a fatigue or malaise, that basically means they’ve had enough.

The country’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is under pressure to act and he has called for measures to be introduced in early 2015 to prevent police suicides.

David-Olivier Reverdy from the police union Alliance told The Local on Thursday that there was now real crisis in the police force.

While he accepts there are always “multiple factors” behind suicides, he says the fact remains that there are fundamental problems with the French police force that is pushing many over the edge.

“Some of these suicides are clearly down to problems in their personal lives, but there is clearly a malaise among police officers,” he said.

Reverdy points to “archaic” management systems, working conditions, pressure from bosses, and a lack of protection from the government given the fact that “no one these days seems to be too scared to physically attack police officers”.

Reverdy blasts reforms by the Ministry of Justice Christiane Taubira that has seen community service punishments handed out for certain offences rather than prison offences – a reform aimed at easing the pressure on France’s creaking prisons which are home to a record number of inmates.

“The French people understand our problems, they support the police but at the same time, in places like Marseille, they are shooting at us, with the blessing of the Ministry of Justice,” Reverdy says.

“The government has sent out the wrong message,” he said. “They are not listening to us. We have lost trust in the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior.”

France as a country suffers from one of the highest suicide rates in Europe but a recent study concluded that police officers in the country had a 36 percent higher chance of taking of their own life than the ordinary population.

The root of the problem according to Reverdy is that police chiefs are asking already overworked officers “to do more for less”.

One officer named Paula who called a French radio station after she herself had attempted to commit suicide simply blamed: “harassment from management” for the crisis.

“We are there to help people, but no one is there to help us. We see children killed, fatal road accidents, suicides, but we can’t go home and talk to our families about our day at work,” she said.

Police also complain of being stigmatized by elements of the general public. A problem not helped by high profile incidents such as the death of Remi Fraisse, who was killed by a police stun grenade during clashes at an anti-dam protest, or a shocking incident of a Canadian tourist raped at a Paris police HQ.

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Priest comes out as gay in front of Sunday parishioners | New York Post

MILWAUKEE — A Roman Catholic priest in Milwaukee has come out as gay, writing that he will no longer live in the shadows of secrecy and plans to be authentic to his gay self. The Rev. Gregory Greiten disclosed his sexual orientation on Sunday to the St. Bernadette Parish and was greeted with a standing ovation from his parishioners, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. He also wrote a column that was published Monday in the National Catholic Reporter. It’s rare for a priest to come out. Greiten said h

Source: Priest comes out as gay in front of Sunday parishioners | New York Post

‘#MeToo’ is the fruit of Anita Hill’s brave labor: Sam Venable

Those who broke their silence about sexual misconduct have been named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year. Amid revelations about Harvey Weinstein and other men, “the silence breakers” prompted millions to share their own stories. (Dec. 6) AP(Photo: Time Magazine)CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMOREMy wife was wrong — and yet oh-so-right.For weeks, she’d been predicting Anita Hill would be chosen as Time magazine’s Person of the Year.From a literal standpoint, Mary Ann’s hunch proved incorrect. But in matters of symbolism, she nailed it.On Wednesday, the publication named “#MeToo,” the movement against sexual harassment, as its 2017 recipient.In making the televised announcement, editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal called #MeToo “the fastest moving social change we’ve seen in decades. And it began by individual acts of courage by hundreds of women, and some men, too, who came forward to tell their stories of harassment and assault.”#MeToo may have blossomed in recent months, but its seeds were sown more than a quarter-century ago by Hill.“She was the first woman to stand up on a national stage and take all the slut-shaming for accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment,” Mary Ann said. “She has never wavered in her story. She was the pioneer, like Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus.”Hill had worked for Thomas at the U.S. Department of Education and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. You may recall her testimony in 1991 before an all-male Senate committee debating Thomas’ nomination as justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. In explicit, no-nonsense words, she painted the picture of her former boss as an intimidating lecher.

Source: ‘#MeToo’ is the fruit of Anita Hill’s brave labor: Sam Venable

Dalai Lama turns to iPhone to spread app-iness

New Delhi (AFP) – He already has millions of Twitter followers and has spoken of the wonders of new technology. Now the Dalai Lama has launched a new iPhone app so devotees can keep track of his travels and teachings. The 82-year-old Buddhist monk announced the new app, which will allow users to watch live video of his teachings, to his 16.6 million Twitter followers on Thursday. It promises official news, videos and photos from the office of the Tibetan spiritual leader. However it does not appear on Ap

Source: Dalai Lama turns to iPhone to spread app-iness

Humans 2.0: meet the entrepreneur who wants to put a chip in your brain | Guardian Small Business Network | The Guardian

Bryan Johnson isn’t short of ambition. The founder and CEO of neuroscience company Kernel wants “to expand the bounds of human intelligence”. He is planning to do this with neuroprosthetics; brain augmentations that can improve mental function and treat disorders. Put simply, Kernel hopes to place a chip in your brain.

It isn’t clear yet exactly how this will work. There’s a lot of excited talk about the possibilities of the technology, but – publicly, at least – Kernel’s output at the moment is an idea. A big idea.

“My hope is that within 15 years we can build sufficiently powerful tools to interface with our brains,” Johnson says. “Can I increase my rate of learning, scope of imagination, and ability to love? Can I understand what it’s like to live in a 10-dimensional reality? Can we ameliorate or cure neurological disease and dysfunction?”

The Guardian’s Science Weekly A neuroscientist explains: the need for ‘empathetic citizens’ – podcast
What is the neuroscience behind empathy? When do children develop it? And can it be taught?
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The shape that this technology will take is still unknown. Johnson uses the term “brain chip”, but the developments taking place in neuroprosthesis are working towards less invasive procedures than opening up your skull and cramming a bit of hardware in; injectable sensors are one possibility.

It may sound far-fetched, but Johnson has a track record of getting things done. Within his first semester at university, he’d set up a profitable business selling mobile phones to fellow students. By age 30, he’d founded online payment company Braintree, which he sold six years later to PayPal for $800m. He used $100m of the proceeds to create Kernel in 2016 – it now employs more than 30 people.

But Johnson, 40, says he is about more than money. He was raised as a Mormon in Utah and it was while carrying out two years of missionary work in Ecuador that he was struck by what he describes as an “overwhelming desire to improve the lives of others”.

I spent a decade being tortured in my own mind
His subsequent decision to leave the faith only added to this sense of purpose. “For the first time in my life, I had to sit with the notion that the closest I’d ever come to my previous vision of heaven is whatever we can build here on Earth while I’m alive,” he explains.

“And when I surveyed the landscape of human history, including how we treat each other and our shared home, I thought we have to do better.”

The idea for Kernel also came from a “deeply personal” place, Johnson says. He suffered from chronic depression from the ages of 24 to 34, and has seen his father and stepfather face huge mental health struggles.
“I spent a decade being tortured in my own mind,” he says. “I have witnessed and experienced what happens when a brain isn’t at its best. Being able to treat Alzheimer’s disease went from ‘that’d be nice’ to ‘really important’ after my stepfather began showing early symptoms. Helping people overcome addiction went from ‘that’d be nice’ to ‘really important’ after my father suffered from drug addiction for the first 25 years of my life.”

He understands the scepticism around Kernel’s work, but argues that it has the potential to build a better, more equal society.

“What if everyone – not just the privileged– had the same access to information, learning, skill improvement, and cognitive evolution?” he asks.

As idealistic as Johnson’s vision for the brain is, there are still big ethical questions to consider about the process, from security to the squeamishness of having a chip in your head.

Johnson describes it as a “necessary tool” for cognitive evolution, and says he’ll happily be among the first to trial the augmentation.

Kernel is a for-profit company, however; Johnson claims that this gives the brand the best chance of producing a “usable product” at the end of the difficult and expensive road he is taking. While outside investment will be needed to keep the company going, public interest and funding in neuroscience has increased in the past few years, he says, and is likely to keep doing so. Elon Musk got into the field with the launch of his company, Neuralink, earlier this year, and the neuroprosthetics market is expected to be worth as much as $14.6bn by 2024.

Brain tree: why we replenish only some of our cells
Read more
So Johnson is keeping his focus on the future, a habit that inspired the project in the first place. He explains that, while trying to work out what to do next after selling Braintree, he hosted a series of 12 dinner parties with the brightest people he knew.

“I would begin each gathering with a question,” he recalls. “What do we need to focus on today to create a world that you would love to live in by 2050?

“With minor variations, I heard the same answers nearly every time: climate science, education, healthcare, AI, governance, and security. Not once, though, did a single person – out of the hundreds who attended – mention improving the brain itself.

“And yet, the brain is everything we are, everything we do, and everything we aspire to be. It seemed obvious to me that the brain is both the most consequential variable in the world and also our biggest blind spot as a species. I decided that if the root problems of humanity begin in the human mind, let’s change our minds.”

Random Events, Free Will, Pre-destiny or Something Darker ?