Weird News Thread ....

[Jolie Rouge]

Third prominent banker found dead in six days
Trey Garrison - January 31, 2014

Bloomberg is reporting this morning that former Federal Reserve economist Mike Dueker was found dead in an apparent suicide near Tacoma, Washington. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...ound-dead.html

Dueker, 50, a chief economist at Russell Investments, had been missing since Jan. 29 and was reportedly having troubles at work.

Normally HousingWire wouldn’t cover deaths in the industry, but what’s strange is that Dueker is the third prominent banker found dead since Sunday.

On Sunday, William Broeksmit, 58, former senior manager for Deutsche Bank, was found hanging in his home, also an apparent suicide.

On Tuesday, Gabriel Magee, 39, vice president at JPMorgan Chase & Co’s (JPM) London headquarters, apparently jumped to his death from a building in the Canary Wharf area.

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/...ad-in-six-days

Two top American bankers commit suicide in London http://dailym.ai/1fajY0M

One jumps 500ft to his death from JP Morgan skyscraper and another hangs himself in luxury home. This makes 4 in ONE week

http://rt.com/business/russell-inves...mist-dead-564/

> Gabriel Magee, a 39-year-old JP Morgan bank executive, died this morning after he threw himself off the top of the bank's European headquarters

> On Sunday, former Deutsche Bank senior manager, William 'Bill' Broeksmit, 58, was found hanging in his home in South Kensington

> Both deaths have been ruled non-suspicious by the Metropolitan Police

> Magee had lived in London for seven years after transferring from the Unites States with JP Morgan

> Broeksmit had been in London many years but still owned an apartment in an exclusive Central Park building in New York

> Both were thought highly of by their bosses and colleagues, sources said


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2sIsON1MY

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[Jolie Rouge]

When Reagan Met Putin: The Chance Encounter Between the President and the KGB Agent

By Top Right News on March 6, 2014



On a presidential visit to Russia, Ronald Reagan had an unlikely encounter with a KGB agent posing as a tourist: future Russian president Vladimir Putin (pictured above with a camera around his neck).

Iconic Photos (via Rare) has the backstory for the photo: http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/20...in-met-reagan/

In May 1988, President Ronald Reagan travelled to Moscow for his 4th summit with Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviets prepared a grand welcome; buildings across from the Kremlin were repainted, streets repaved and trees and flowers planted along the boulevards. [...]

The most telling incident was only revealed 20 years later. In the above photo, the man with the camera around his neck standing behind the boy was the current Russian Prime Minister (and former president) Vladimir Putin. He was pretending to be a tourist on his capacity as a KGB agent.

While on his visit, former Russian Premiere Gorbachev directed Reagan towards a number of “tourists” who then asked him politically charged questions about human rights.

At one point, Pete Souza, the photographer who snapped this picture, turned to the secret service and commented, “I can’t believe these tourists in the Soviet Union are asking these pointed questions.” The agent replied, “Oh, these are KGB families.”

Reagan called Russia a “police state” during his visit, and was well-known for his view that the Soviet Union was an “evil empire.”



Wonder what Reagan would say about Vladimir Putin now?

http://toprightnews.com/?p=1859

[Jolie Rouge]

44 Facts About United States Presidents That Will Blow Your Mind

Common fact: They’re all weirdos.
posted on March 18, 2014 at 3:53pm EDT

1. George Washington grew large amounts of cannabis.

2. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson went to see William Shakespeare’s home in 1786. They then ripped off a piece of Shakespeare’s chair with a knife to take with them as a memento.

3. Thomas Jefferson invented the swivel chair.

4. James Madison weighed under 100 pounds and was only 5’4”.

5. James Monroe chased William Crawford, the secretary of the Treasury, out of the White House with a pair of fire tongs.

6. John Quincy Adams and Herbert Hoover both had pet alligators.

7. Andrew Jackson taught his parrot how to curse — it was so bad that the parrot had to be removed from Jackson’s funeral for swearing too much.

8. Martin Van Buren was the first U.S. president to be born a citizen of the United States, but his first language was Dutch, because he grew up in a Dutch part of New York called Kinderhook.

9. William Henry Harrison commissioned bottles of hard cider in the shape of log cabins as part of his campaigning.

10. John Tyler was born in 1790, and he still has two living grandchildren.

11. When James K. Polk was 17, he had surgery to remove gallstones without any anesthesia or antiseptic.

12. Zachary Taylor died suddenly, and while his exact cause of death is still disputed, it most definitely originated from eating cherries and fresh milk.

13. Millard Fillmore had a schoolboy crush and married his teacher.

14. While president, Franklin Pierce was arrested for running over an old woman with his horse; the charges were later dropped.

15. James Buchanan was rumored to be gay.

16. Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service hours before his assassination.

17. Andrew Johnson was completely hammered at his vice presidential inauguration in 1865.

18. Ulysses S. Grant once got a speeding ticket on his horse. He was fined $20.

19. Rutherford B. Hayes signed the act that allowed women to plead cases before the Supreme Court, making it legal for women to practice in the court system.

20. James Garfield was ambidextrous, and could write Greek with his right hand while simultaneously writing Latin with his left.

21. When Chester A. Arthur was 24, he successfully represented Elizabeth Jennings, a black woman who sued a streetcar company for kicking her out of the white section of a streetcar. As a result, all New York City streetcars were forced to desegregate.

22. Grover Cleveland allegedly date-raped a woman, got her pregnant, forced her to put the child in an orphanage, and committed her to an insane asylum.

23. Benjamin Harrison was nicknamed “kid gloves,” because he always wore goat-skin gloves, allegedly to protect himself from infection.

24. Grover Cleveland is the only president to have ever served as a hangman. He carried out multiple executions.

25. William McKinley’s wife suffered from epileptic seizures, and when she had seizures during public events, McKinley would gently place his handkerchief over her face and carry on.

26. The teddy bear got its name from Teddy Roosevelt. During a hunting trip, a guide tied a bear to a tree for the president to shoot, but he refused, stating that it was unsportsmanlike.

27. William Taft was a member of the secret Skull and Bones society at Yale, which his father co-founded.

28. Woodrow Wilson is the only president to have earned a Ph.D., and he didn’t learn to read until he was 10 years old.

29. Warren G. Harding drank during prohibition, had extramarital affairs, and allegedly had a child out of wedlock with a woman who was 31 years his junior.

30. Calvin Coolidge had a pet pygmy hippopotamus named Billy.

31. While living with his uncle on a Native American reservation in Oklahoma, Herbert Hoover learned to make bows and arrows.

32. Franklin Roosevelt wore dresses up until the age of 5.

33. To help his early political career, Harry S. Truman briefly considered joining the KKK, but turned them down after he learned that he would be banned from appointing Catholics to any government jobs.

34. Dwight Eisenhower was a painter, and he produced more than 250 known pieces.

35. John F. Kennedy was a massive fan of James Bond author Ian Fleming, and upon meeting Fleming at a dinner party in 1960, he asked the author about overthrowing Fidel Castro.

36. Lyndon Johnson had so many extramarital affairs while in office that his male aides referred to the girls he met with as his harem.

37. Richard Nixon pursued his wife for two years, and would even chauffeur her on dates with other men during that time.

38. Gerald Ford was once a male model on the cover of Cosmopolitan, and he could have played in the NFL.

39. Jimmy Carter went on record as having seen a UFO, and he’s the first known president to do so.

40. The only U.S. president who has been divorced is Ronald Reagan. He divorced actress Jane Wyman in 1948, and married Nancy Davis in 1952.

41. While captain of Yale’s baseball team, George H.W. Bush met and posed for a photo with Babe Ruth. It was just a few months before the Bambino’s death.

42. During a radio interview, Bill Clinton aced a quiz about My Little Pony.

43. George W. Bush was the head cheerleader his senior year at Phillips Academy.

44. Barack Obama is an avid collector of comics, but in particular of Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/p...same-way-again ( has a resource link provided for each ... )

[Jolie Rouge]

Man poses as Secret Service agent - to avoid train fare in Boston
, March 19, 2014 - 12:19pm

BOSTON (CNN) — The secret service is on the lookout for a man accused of pretending to be an agent for a free train ride in Boston.

Authorities don't know who he is yet, but the secret service is determined to find out.

He's not one of them but pretended to be on a commuter train to get out of paying the fare.

Another passenger caught it on his cell phone then posted the bizarre encounter on youtube.

The fake agent gave the conductor a hard time, “Do you want me to pay? Do you want me to pay?”

(Conductor): Hey! I need your badge number, too.

(Fake agent): “You don't mess with the Secret Service. I'll tell you that right now. I don't care who you are. You're just a conductor on a train. Don't interrupt my investigation. All right, tough guy? Who do you work for, al Qaeda?”

It's not clear when the incident took place or on which commuter line.

But MBTA transit police confirm the feds are now investigating.

Commuters we spoke to aren't surprised the secret service isn't laughing.

“You got to take it seriously. You never know. It's the world we live in,” one commuter said.

“I'm pretty sure they have the funds to cover a train ride, and they don't need to pull that card. That's kind of ridiculous,” said another commuter.

http://www.fox44.com/news/man-poses-...in-fare-boston

[Jolie Rouge]

Teen Sacrifices Own Life to Save Girlfriend
Posted on: 10:01 pm, March 24, 2014, by CNNwire



Marysville (KTXL) — Mickayla Friend and Mateus Moore stopped to pose for a picture, on their way to a school dance. It was their last photo together. photoJust minutes after it was taken, a slow-moving train struck them both, killing Mateus. “She had the love of a young man. He just sacrificed himself to save my daughter,” Mickayla’s mom, Sandy Friend said.

Mickayla is in ICU with serious injuries, including bleeding in the brain, broken bones, a liver split in half and internal bleeding from tears to other organs.

In-and-out of consciousness, she was able to share this with her mother. “‘I remember Mateus turning and looking back. And I turned and looked back. I remember him pushing me out of the way of the train’,” Sandy said.

Saturday night, from his Marysville home, Mateus’ father talked about his son. “I’m just really proud of him and I know that if presented the opportunity, he would do it again, to save someone’s life. I know that he would. I love him. I’m going to miss him with all my heart,” Mateus’ dad, Marcus Moore said.

“Mateas saved my daughter’s life,” Sandy said. “The most heroic thing that any other human being can do on this Earth is save the person that they love.”

And it’s the love family has for each other, that will help them get through the difficult days ahead. “She don’t know that Mateus is her angel now. We haven’t told her,” Sandy said.

But she is a fighter. And aside from her new guardian angel, she’s always had one looking after her. “Mickayla is named after her brother. Her brother was kidnapped and murdered when he was eight years old in Yuba City.” Sandy added. “Mickayla was born a year later. She always had an angel on her side.”

http://fox8.com/2014/03/24/teen-sacr...ve-girlfriend/


Why wee they hit by a "slow moving train" ? They didn't hear it ? See it ? Feel the vibrations ?? I grew up near train tracks ... you can feel the tracks vibrating for a mile or so up & down the line. Why does she have such serious injuries if she was pushed "out of the way" ? Why were they taking Prom Pics on the trestle anyway ???

[Jolie Rouge]

Dead teen’s family sued ... by driver who killed him
April 27, 2014 3:28 pm

Sharlene Simon, the driver of an SUV that struck a killed a teenage bicyclist, is suing the dead teen’s family for more than $1 million. She states in court documents that the accident has caused her “great pain and suffering” and claims her victim, Brandon Majewski, was negligent in the accident saying he was an “incompetent bicyclist".

“I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach — I’m over the edge,” says Majewski’s father, Derek Majewski.

The dad's attorney Brian Cameron told the Sun that in all his years as a lawyer, he had never seen anyone ever sue a child that they killed. “It’s beyond the pale,” he said. He is representing the elder Majewski in a seperate lawsuit that seeks $900,000 in damages from Simon.

The accident happened early in the morning of Oct. 28, 2012, on a dark, rural road in Innisfil, about 55 miles north of Toronto. Brandon’s two friends were both 16. One was seriously injured; the other escaped injury. They are also defendants in Simon’s lawsuit, as is the county where the accident occurred.

Simon, a 42-year-old mother of three, said she was going about 55 mph in her KIA Sorrento when she hit the boys -- about 5 mph more than the speed limit, the Ottawa Citizen said. No criminal charges were ever filed against her.

“It’s a tragedy what happened to the boys, but it’s also a tragedy that’s happened to (Simon),” her lawyer Michael Ellis told the Toronto Star. “I understand their grief and I understand what they must be going through is awful, but my client is also living with this nightmare every day.”

http://www.hardenpost.com/2014/04/de...ho-killed-him/

Click for the story from the Toronto Sun. http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/25...ad-boys-family

[Jolie Rouge]

Spicy News of the Day: Judge Orders Sriracha to Partially Shutdown

After residents of Irwindale, California sued the maker of Sriracha hot sauce due to headaches, burning eyes, and irritated throats, a superior court judge sided with the community. The company was ordered to shut down the local sauce-making plant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=G1dEQTZvxVg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=G1dEQTZvxVg

Sriracha plant leaving California? Texas woos Sriracha as neighbors complain.

Sriracha plant under fire: Local lawmakers say more than 30 residents have signed sworn complaints that the Sriracha plant's chili-grinding operation hurts their eyes and lungs.

By Associated Press / May 12, 2014

The maker of the popular hot sauce Sriracha said Monday that he has no plans to move his contested plant out of California but would consider expanding into Texas if the Lone Star State can produce peppers as hot as the ones grown especially for him in Southern California.

A pair of Texas lawmakers toured the Huy Fong Foods plant Monday in the small Los Angeles suburb of Irwindale, where officials are moving to declare David Tran's operation a nuisance after dozens of residents complained about flaming hot odors burning their throats and eyes.

State Sen. Carlos Uresti and state Rep. Jason Villalba held a news conference after the visit to extol the virtues of doing business in their state. "We're not here to offer any specific incentives, but just to let it be known there are incentives," Uresti said. He and Villalba noted Texas has no personal income tax, among other benefits.

Tran said Texas must prove it can grow chili peppers as hot as the hybrid jalapenos he gets from a farm that specifically developed them to make his Sriracha sauce the hottest possible. "If there is not chili peppers, we cannot build the plant," he told reporters.

Although Tran had the Texas flag flying outside the facility on Monday, he said it was just meant to welcome his visitors. Inside the plant's employee parking lot, and out of public view, a large sign declared, "No Tear Gas Made Here."

Huy Fong, located in the small, mainly industrial city of Irwindale, has come under fire from local lawmakers who say about three dozen of the city's 1,500 residents have signed sworn complaints that the odors from the plant's chili-grinding operation make them sneeze and cough, their eyes burn and in some instances, caused them to see doctors.

The City Council is scheduled Wednesday to give final approval to an ordinance declaring the plant a public nuisance, although city staff members have asked that the vote be delayed. If the ordinance is approved, city officials say they could enter the plant and make changes to mitigate the smell. "I don't think they can do that," a defiant Tran said in an interview. He added that he doesn't plan to attend Wednesday's council meeting or cooperate with the city any further.

He took a softer tone toward the people of Irwindale, saying those he meets tell him they want him to stay, and he showed a picture of a couple who recently toured the plant with their baby. He said the smell didn't bother them. Tran said the 650,000-square-foot plant, which opened three years ago, is nearing capacity, and he will need a second facility soon. The privately held company says it did $80 million in sales last year, its best ever.

Tran said he would be open to putting a second plant in California or another state, but key is finding a place with the weather and soil conditions to support the hybrid peppers. Uresti and Villalba said their state's agriculture officials will begin investigating conditions in Texas. "I need to stay in the USA," said Tran, a proud immigrant who arrived from Vietnam after serving as an officer in the South Vietnamese military during the war. "It doesn't matter which town or which state."

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/La...hbors-complain

[Jolie Rouge]

Some odd thing throughout this tale :

Aide serves dog treats to elementary students in PA
Monday, June 9, 2014 - 10:47am

NEW HANOVER, PA (CNN/KYW) — Shock at a Pennsylvania school after a school aide gives dozens of students dog treats to eat at recess.

Kids and their parents say it is all in poor taste. “I thought, wow did I really dog treats, something that my own dog eats,” said a student who did not want to be identified.

On Thursday, the taste of something not meant for human consumption; The next day, the flavor of mistrust and betrayal.

Friday morning school officials told parents their children were served dog treats. “I was upset that the one that we are supposed to trust in school and us supposed to care for us would do that to us,” the unidentified student told CNN affiliate KYW.

The preteen, whose family wanted to keep his identity hidden, is one of dozens of kids school officials say were served what they thought was a normal cookie on Thursday, during recess at new Hanover Upper Frederick Elementary by a school lunch aide.

The email sent home to parents says the treats came from a pet store. In a statement from the superintendent confirms that approximately 75 fourth graders in this school were handed those treats during a recess.

It also says the part time aide has been placed on administrative leave and was acting alone. “I don't know what possessed her to do something like this,” said Hanover mom Lynn McGuckin, who also said she was a lunch aide at the school for four years and explained, “We weren't allowed to hand anything out to the kids.”

District officials say no illnesses have been reported and they are investigating. But kids like Lynn’s 5th grade son Zack, says they know the difference between right and wrong, and this was wrong: “Who gives, like, children, dog treats?”

The school administration says it has contacted local authorities.

http://www.fox44.com/news/aide-serve...ry-students-pa

On Thursday, the taste of something not meant for human consumption; The next day, the flavor of mistrust and betrayal.

Who is writing this up ?? This whole thing seems odd ... the story itself and the write up

A "pre-teen" in fourth grade ?

... like ... wow ...

To hand out "treats" to 75 kids ... shows some thought went into this ... hardly random. I work in a health food store and we sell treats with peanut butter and such that are suitable for pets and kids.

[Jolie Rouge]

Killer Ride: Federal sources say van designed to kill
A normal traffic stop turned into a troubling, bizarre discovery for Jefferson Parish deputies. This van was more than it seemed at first glance."This is a classic unsophisticated vehicle that can be used for assassination," said James Bernazzani, a retired FBI special agent.
Updated: Jul 11, 2014 6:03 PM CDT Written by: Rob Masson

METAIRIE, LA (WVUE) - A traffic stop led officers to a bizarre discovery. It happened on a quiet area of Old Metairie two months ago.



According to a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office report, a deputy received a tip about two men driving a van with a stolen license plate. He spotted the van driving on Metairie Road and followed it to a home in the 200 block of E. William David Parkway. The report states that as the deputy approached the van, he saw both the passenger and the driver exit the vehicle.

While the stop was for a stolen license plate, the report details that Jefferson Parish deputies found much more. The van was more than it seemed at first glance.

"This is a classic unsophisticated vehicle that can be used for assassination," said James Bernazzani, a retired FBI special agent.

According to the report, investigators found the van stripped and rigged with custom, sliding windows, one behind the driver's seat and one at the rear of the vehicle.

Inside at both windows were sawed off kitchen chairs, facing out. In a folded piece of carpet, deputies found a Ruger semi-automatic rifle hidden in one of the side doors, a silencer, and behind the driver's seat, an eight foot long piece of cannon fuse. According to an Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms spokesperson, their bomb expert was called in to assist.

"When you look at the silencer, the .22 is an assassin's weapon of choice," Bernazzani said.

At the time of the stop, Jefferson Parish deputies had not yet realized they pulled over a pair of convicted felons - the driver, 72-year-old Dominick Gullo and the man initially believed to be his passenger, 55-year-old Joseph Gagliano.

Deputies arrested Gullo and charged him with possession of stolen property. Gagliano was released. No weapons charges were filed by Jefferson Parish authorities.

However, one month later, the federal government indicted both men for being felons in possession of a weapon and a silencer.

"Any convicted felon in possession of a weapon has a five year exposure," Bernazzani said.

This was not Gagliano's first brush with the law. He was convicted back in the 1990's in a wide ranging video poker scheme allegedly involving some of the country's biggest crime families.

Gagliano was one of 19 people arrested and convicted in the Worldwide Gaming case back in 1996 and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in a federal prison.

Now, both he and Gullo are being held without bond, awaiting federal trials as investigators try and discover what, if anything, the van may have been used for.

"I think this effort was targeting an individual and because of the good work of a police officer, that individual is alive today," Bernazzani said.

An ATF spokesperson said the case remains open and the investigation is ongoing.

Gullo's attorney, Patrick Hand, told us that his client has a heart condition which he says jailers are treating appropriately. He would not get into specifics of the case, but said his client is pleading not guilty.

Both men denied knowledge of the contents inside the van.

http://www.wafb.com/story/26000209/k...ampaign=buffer

[Jolie Rouge]

Boy snaps selfie with billionaire Buffett and Beatle McCartney
July 14, 2014 5:03 PM CDT



A 16-year-old boy snapped a selfie with Warren Buffett and Paul McCartney in Omaha, NE. (Source: John Murray/CNN))

(RNN) - Before smartphones, teenagers who would claim they saw Warren Buffett sitting on a park bench with rock 'n' roll legend Paul McCartney would have been laughed at and called a liar.

Thank goodness for camera phones and social media.

Tom White, 16, saw this unlikely pair sitting on a bench in the Dundee neighborhood of Omaha after dinner, so he did what any teenager in 2014 would do - he took a selfie.

The Beatle and the Billionaire ate dinner at an Italian restaurant and had a couple of scoops of ice cream.

http://www.wafb.com/story/26016149/b...ampaign=buffer

[Jolie Rouge]

Mystery 262ft Wide Crater Opens In Siberia's 'End Of The World' Region (VIDEO, PICTURES)
By Sara C Nelson
Posted: 16/07/2014 13:57 BST



A 262 foot wide crater has opened up in a remote region of Siberia.

The mysterious hole appeared in a mountainous area of the far north in Yamal – a name meaning “end of the world”.

It was filmed from a passing helicopter by engineer Konstantin Nikolaev.



The Siberian Times reports a team of scientists from the Centre for the Study of the Arctic and the Cryosphere Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been dispatched to the area where they will sample the conditions to determine the nature of the hole.

Speculation as to what caused the cavity – believed to have formed two years ago - is already mounting. Along with the usual UFO nonsense, some are suggesting it may have been caused by a meteorite. But the newspaper quotes a spokesman from the Emergencies Ministry as ruling that out: “We can definitely say that it is not a meteorite. No details yet.”

One Russian expert has suggested the crater is the result of a natural gas chamber heating up and then exploding.

Meanwhile Australian polar scientist Dr Chris Fogwill says the hole is likely to be a geological phenomenon called a pingo.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald: “Certainly from the images I’ve seen it looks like a periglacial feature, perhaps a collapsed pingo.”

According to the National Geographic, a pingo, or a ice-cored mound is a permafrost landform created as water freezes beneath the ground’s surface and forms ice masses that force the frozen ground layers upward.

We await the official verdict with bated breath...


http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014...tml?1405515445

A 262 foot wide crater ?!? That's wide enough to fit 7 London buses end-to-end...