Trump tower fire

Ominous signs in ominous times ..

The person who died was a resident of the building's 50th floor who had been taken to the hospital in critical condition, department spokeswoman Angelica Conroy told CNN.

The victim was a 67-year-old man who was unconscious and unresponsive when firefighters pulled him out, the New York Police Department said, adding the medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death.

The fire was contained to the 50th floor of the tower, located on Fifth Avenue in New York. It was ruled under control around 9 p.m., about two hours after it was originally reported, the FDNY said in a tweet.

SATURDAY APRIL 7 2018

As part of its "media monitoring," the DHS seeks to track more than 290,000 global news sources as well as social media in over 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian, for instant translation into English...

THAT ESCALATED: On Monday Trump tweeted about the border.. on Friday he sent the military.

A South Carolina congressman pulled out his own loaded handgun during a meeting with constituents Friday to make a point that guns are dangerous only in the hands of criminals. Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman placed the .38-caliber gun on a table during the "coffee with constituents" meeting at a Rock Hill restaurant, news outlets reported. .. he went on to say he is "not going to be a Gabby Giffords"..

Bill Maher defends Laura Ingraham in face of Hogg's call for boycotting her show..

FEDS seize Backpage.com..

All the Facebook scandals being tracked by Forbes..

ohnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $37 million in the case of a man who said he got cancer from the company’s baby powder, which he believes contained talc laced with asbestos...

#MeToo hits the Breakfast Club: Molly Ringwald "shocked" now by re-watching the film..

QUIET PLACE called most effective horror movie in years..

DAILY BEAST reviews the ENDLESS

NICK SHAGER WRITES,

The Endless is, in one sense, about a crazy UFO sex cult situated in rural California. It’s also, however, a rumination on rebellion, the cyclicality of life, and the dangers of becoming trapped in corrosive, repetitive patterns of thought and behavior. Moreover, it functions as an intricate portrait of the ties that bind siblings, and the way those familial bonds can both hold us back—from finding ourselves, and a place in this world that we can call home—and set us free.
And it also features a demon god that may or may not be malevolent.

Trump will skip the White House correspondents dinner for the second year

MORE..

“The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year’s dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend,” Margaret Talev, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said in a statement on Friday.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, plans to appear in Mr. Trump’s stead.

BACKPAGE.COM IS NOPAGE..

Federal law enforcement agencies have seized Backpage.com, a controversial classified-ads website known for its numerous sex-related postings.

“Backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized,” said a large notice plastered on the site. The action was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Internal Revenue Service and included participation from state authorities.


Backpage, already the subject of multiple criminal probes, has become a lightning rod for critics of websites accused of turning a blind eye to sex trafficking. It has galvanized lawmakers to pass a law limiting the immunity of websites for the actions of their users.

FAMILY REUNION! MENENDEZ BROTHERS BACK TOGETHER AGAIN

For the first time in more than two decades, the Menendez brothers are back in the same place — a housing unit at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility outside San Diego, where the inmates are “able to interact with one another as they pursue rehabilitation opportunities,” corrections department spokeswoman Terry Thornton told The Washington Post.

Lyle, now 50, was transferred in February to the prison, where his brother had been for years, Thornton said. Then on Wednesday, she said, Erik, 47, was moved into the same housing unit at the prison where his brother is held.

It has been nearly 30 years since the Menendezes’ lives unraveled on a Sunday night in August 1989.

Authorities said the two brothers had bought two 12-gauge shotguns and two movie tickets for “Licence to Kill” — their alibi, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Police said the brothers opened fire on their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, as the couple watched TV in the library in their Beverly Hills home...

The crime would go on to become a media feeding frenzy and global sensation as the Reagan era ended and the 1990s began..

NIGHT SWIMMING DESERVES A QUIET NIGHT

Thirsty Thursday news roundup. All the lunacy under the spring sun

Just another day in the world at large..

A day when an award winner dropped dead on stage after singing and dancing.. Vishnu Pandey, 53, had a heart attack on stage seconds after being filmed dancing along to a popular Bollywood music tune - and looking happy to win..

A day when we found out that not only is Facebook reading your private messages but Also trying to gain information about your private medical records. Everything is not enough for ZUCK..

A day when much of Southern California felt a 5.3 tremor.. According to preliminary reports from the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake was centered 35.4 miles southwest of Channel Islands Beach. The quake’s preliminary depth was 10.4 miles. Los Angeles county felt it..

A day when Donald Trump warned the nation of a rape epidemic! The PRESIDENT ...President.. Said: "They're not putting their good ones,” Trump said. “And remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower when I opened. Everybody said, 'Oh, he was so tough.' And I used the word 'rape.' And yesterday it came out where, this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before. They don't want to mention that"

Yes it's been a day.

Other news worth nothing from this fine Thirsty Thursday:

here were no signs of foul play in the death of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist who likely drowned, officials said Thursday. that said.. people in the SMILEY FACE conspiracy circles are going wild..

Movie theaters have been banned in Saudi Arabia since its rulers began enforcing ultraconservative religious laws in the early 1980s, but that’s set to end on April 18 with a gala premiere of Black Panther at a new AMC movie theater in Riyadh..In addition to lifting the restrictions on movies and public concerts, the prince has touted his reforms of Saudi Arabia’s repressive gender laws: Women will finally be allowed to drive and hold an increasing number of jobs

And now that SAUDI is opening up to the early 20th century, Time Warner is eyeing the nation! Time-Warner wants to bring more of its brands to Saudi Arabia, a top network executive told Arab News after a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman..

Forbes is wondering why we just found out that 2 billion Facebook users had their data harvested.. But those with logic over the past decade already knew this. The "conspiracy theorists" among us were right. Facebook status updates done with tin foil hats were best in hindsight..

MEANWHILE at Google... It is offering its resources to the US Department of Defense for Project Maven, a research initiative to develop computer vision algorithms that can analyze drone footage. In response, more than 3,100 Google employees have signed a letter urging Google CEO Sundar Pichai to reevaluate the company’s involvement, as “Google should not be in the business of war,” as reported by The New York Times. Some employees are demanding a pull-out!

Don't be evil.
They say..

Not being evil at all, but creative, this is worth noting: Scientists have grown veggies in Antarctica WITHOUT SUNLIGHT OR SOIL! .. no really. Real news here. Working out of a shipping container-sized lab in an otherwise barren snowscape, the team gathered about 8 pounds of produce from their first yield, the AP reports, including herbs, lettuce, arugula, and red radishes...

Scientists at NASA want to send drone bees to Mars! Again, real news: Engineers are developing swarms of robotic 'bees' that can hover above the Martian surface, collecting data and communicating with a mobile exploration base. It's bio-inspired engineering at its finest...

Anyone in the Northeast driving will realize how many potholes have developed after this cold and snowy winter.. but in the galaxy we inhabit, black holes abound! Chuck Hailey has had the center of the Milky Way hanging in his office at Columbia University. The picture, pinned above his desk, shows a bright orange and yellow blob—the glow of cosmic gas as it gets devoured by the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy..

In the world of horror..
The hyped new horror film 'Upgrade' from Get Out's producers looks like a right ol' gore fest

QUITE PLACE a terrifying movie..

BEASTS AT THE BOX OFFICE: HORROR ANTHOLOGY REFUSES TO DIE..

The best horror film in years released.

Best horror right now on NETFLIX..

STRANGER THINGS CREATORS DENY STEALING IDEAS..

Duffer Brothers hit by a lawsuit..

NAILED IT cakes get freaky

There is a new NETFLIX hit called NAILED IT..

Nailed It! is a Netflix original series which premiered on March 9, 2018. It is a reality bake-off competition where three amateur bakers compete to replicate complicated cakes and confectionery, in order to win a $10,000 cash prize..

The show is one of the newest hits on the online service..

But one episode in particular stands out.. The contestants are told to make a cake of President Donald Trump. One woman's creation is horrific: Below is the right version and her version that pales in comparison.



And if that does NOT give you nightmares, a newer version of the image will.. grayed out.. black and white.. darkened on the edges.. with shadows made more prominent.
The keeper of the crypt.



DREAM AWAY...

SOUTHERN CALI QUAKE: 5.3 MAG

The temblor hit beneath the Pacific Ocean about 12:29 p.m., at a depth of about 10 miles beneath the surface, USGS reported. It was centered about 41 miles southwest of Ventura and 85 miles west of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is in “earthquake mode” following the shaking, as is standard protocol, LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas tweeted. He said units will be surveying the city.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, according to law enforcement and fire agencies across Southern California.

Everything is not enough.. Zuckerberg wanted your health information too

Facebook asked several major U.S. hospitals to share anonymized data about their patients, such as illnesses and prescription info, for a proposed research project. 

Facebook was intending to match it up with user data it had collected, and help the hospitals figure out which patients might need special care or treatment.

Timothy Cunningham found near river; dead

ATLANTA - Channel 2 Action News has learned that the body found near the Chattahoochee River late Tuesday night is Timothy Cunningham.

Cunningham -- who worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- left work on Feb. 12, saying he wasn’t feeling well. The 35-year-old hadn’t been seen since. 

The medical examiner said the preliminary cause of death for Cunningham is drowning but she said officials are still determining the exact cause of death. 

The massive crack in Africa

An enormous crack spanning for miles opened up in the earth outside Nairobi, Kenya.

The 50-feet-deep crevice that sliced through a major highway measures up to 50 feet deep and 65 feet across at its widest point.

Scientists have long believed that Africa would eventually split in half.. they say it will take 50 million years..

...heck or maybe just a few nights!!??

ZUCKERBERG ADMITS: 2 BILLION USERS HAD THEIR PERSONAL INFORMATION SHARED

Sharing is caring in the slums of the socials.

The INTERNET is enraged over what it knew in the back of its collective head since TIME mag named Mark Zuckerberg their person of the year..

Facebook said Wednesday that most of its 2 billion users likely have had their public profiles scraped by outsiders without the users' explicit permission!

The acknowledgment was part of a broader disclosure by Facebook on Wednesday about the ways in which various levels of user data have been taken by everyone from malicious actors to ordinary app developers.

"We’re an idealistic and optimistic company, and for the first decade, we were really focused on all the good that connecting people brings," Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on a call with reporters Wednesday afternoon. "But it’s clear now that we didn’t focus enough on preventing abuse and thinking about how people could use these tools for harm as well."

IN THE MEAN TIME.. TENDER TIME WITH TINDER GOES HAYWIRE THANKS TO FACEBOOK PROBLEMS!


When logging into Tinder using Facebook, you get a prompt that says the app “requires you provide additional Facebook permissions in order to create or use a Tinder account.” “This information is used to create fuller profiles, verify authenticity and provide support,” the pop-up reads. After pressing “Ask Me,” the app directs you to Facebook’s site to log in. Tinder then asks you to hand over “relationship interests, work history, and education history” from Facebook. Once you tap “Continue” in the Facebook app, you’re taken back to the Tinder app, where you will either see a loading “Logging In” icon or an error.

Police didn't notice anything weird about the YouTube Shooter

Eleven hours before she shot up YouTube headquarters and then killed herself, Nasim Najafi Aghdam chatted with police.

It was 1:40 a.m. Tuesday, and Aghdam was hundreds of miles away from home. Police found her car overnight at a Mountain View parking lot, about 30 miles southeast of YouTube headquarters.

A quick check of her license plate revealed the owner had been reported missing from the San Diego area.

"We contacted the woman inside the vehicle, who was asleep, to check on her and to determine if she was the same person who had been reported missing," Mountain View police said.

They obviously were not aware of her videos..

NOW YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ALREADY KNEW: FACEBOOK IS READING YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES

No surprise here.. anyone who acts like this is the first time they heard it needs their heads, or private messages, examined. Oh wait.. Facebook already examined them.

Facebook Inc. scans the links and images that people send each other on Facebook Messenger, and reads chats when they’re flagged to moderators, making sure the content abides by the company’s rules. If it doesn’t, it gets blocked or taken down.

The company confirmed the practice after an interview published earlier this week with Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg raised questions about Messenger’s practices and privacy. Zuckerberg told Vox’s Ezra Klein a story about receiving a phone call related to ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. Facebook had detected people trying to send sensational messages through the Messenger app, he said.

“In that case, our systems detect what’s going on,” Zuckerberg said. “We stop those messages from going through.”

The current debate has shifted from the private message links and photos to the bigger question: What ISN'T Facebook reading? ... 

You can most likely deduct the answer using reasoning and common sense.

HEATHER WADING INTO DANGER: ART BELL RESPONDS

Heather Wade announced that she was going to go to Area 51 this coming June.. People have been responding fast and furious, with some stating she is in danger of being arrested--or even killed!

Talk show legend and original MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT host Art Bell is responding in kind to people on Facebook..

What Heather is doing is a brave act. For all my life people have talked Disclosure and talked and talked. I have no illusion that she will get to any Alien anything but at least she feels the need to do something, anything to move beyond talk and raise the stakes in trying to get to the truth. If we have been visited (and I believe we have) we have a right to know. It seems to me we have a moral right to know, will it change people’s basic faith? Not any more than the Pope suddenly being quoted as saying “There is no Hell”. We have a right to know, she is right and if a act of Civil Disobedience helps I am all for it.

On acts of civil disobedience..

Not much has ever happened in America until people have engaged in some act that ended up with jail or a sore head

On whether he would join..

I completely understand what she is doing and why, if I was younger I would join. I guess if you really want change you have to do more then ask

When asked about the famed pilot who called into his show while flying directly into Area 51 in the 1990s,

They don’t know when she is coming, like I have said I have no illusions that she will meet any Aliens or even get close, I think it just makes the point that talking won’t get it done, I feel we have a right to know and have always hoped it would be before I go...

MYSTERIOUS YES.
BUT REASSURING? MAYBE...

DEVELOPING FROM THE HIGH DESERT..

YOUTUBE SHOOTER DEAD

A woman opened fire at YouTube's California headquarters Tuesday afternoon before dying of a gunshot wound, multiple law enforcement sources told NBC News.

Multiple injuries were reported.

 It wasn't immediately known whether the woman killed herself or was killed by responding security or law enforcement officers.

DEVELOPING..

Shooting at YouTube headquarters!

A spokesperson for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital confirms they're receiving patients from the shooting at their facility. They added patients are also being transported to other Bay Area hospitals.

SKY7 is over the campus, where law enforcement were seen approaching the building with guns drawn. Employees were evacuated with arms overhead, and the campus is flanked with dozens of police cars and emergency vehicles.

A law enforcement source confirms to ABC7 News reporter Dan Noyes that the shooter is a white, adult female wearing a dark top and head scarf.

Developing 

The new Andre the Giant documentary is criticized for being more one of the WWE

Andre The Giant was literally larger than life in appearance but also in pop culture. He helped define 1980s profeessional wrestling..  That is why lots of fans were excited to hear that the WWE and HBO teamed up to do a documentary on his life.

https://uproxx.com/prowrestling/andre-the-giant-documentary-hbo-review/ ....BUT A REVIEW BEING WRITTEN MAY NOT LEAD MANY TO LOOK FORWARD TO THE TREATMENT. </a> Brandon Stroud laments that the documentary ends up being a story of the WWE Giant as opposed to the human being Andre..

The money quote:

Ric Flair shows up for the first time about 26 minutes in just to make a dick joke. At times, it’s exactly right. It’s maybe never as right as when Vince and Hulk spend about two solid minutes doing impersonations of Andre’s farts.At the same time, the “winner writes the history” version of WWE storytelling is heavy. Heavy. You’ve got Vince McMahon explaining how he took over the territory system by announcing that his product was “vastly better,” with no argument or even a conversation. It was just accepted as fact. Hulk Hogan’s the guy they go to when it’s time to talk about how Andre hated Macho Man Randy Savage, because of course he is, and at one point the documentary straight-up almost becomes a Hogan doc. They push Andre aside to explain Hulk Hogan, which takes time, but in fairness is somewhat necessary for the non-wrestling fan viewer to grasp the big WrestleMania III part. Hogan is there to talk about himself, wearing a Hogan’s Beach T-shirt. WrestleMania and how great WrestleMania is dominates the second half of the film. Mean Gene Okerlund is there to explain how he’d never seen anything as great as WrestleMania!

Stranger Things happen in the summer too

LEVY TALKS ABOUT STRANGER THINGS 3.. "The first two seasons were very much school-based. This is that time of year where it’s not about school, it’s about the swimming pool and campfires and parades and Fourth of July and fireworks, so there’s kind of a poppy fun to Season 3 that’s really enjoyable before things inevitably turn super dark"

THE SUMMER WILL BE HAUNTED IN STRANGER THINGS 3!

MONDAY APRIL 2 2018

Spring’s break. YES SOMETIMES IT DOES SNOW IN APRIL..

Trump meets the bunny..

The National Institutes of Health, which includes the alcohol institute, is looking into whether any of its workers broke federal rules prohibiting employees from asking for money when they met with alcohol companies to discuss an upcoming government study on the potential benefits of moderate drinking, according to a New York Times investigation.

The Catholic university in Steubenville, Ohio sent out a tweet on Friday saying its ad was rejected for content that is “shocking, sensational, and excessively violent.”

DOW -450 TODAY.. Monday night bar rooms are no doubt full near Wall Street..

Yet another ridiculous new fad challenge.. It’s a game called the “condom-snorting challenge” and, not unlike other dangerous dares that have swept social media, teenagers have been doing it — for years now. “There are all kinds of drugs, and kids are clever, so it’s just really: What are our kids doing? So, that’s what we try to share,” Stephen Enriquez, a state education specialist in San Antonio, told Fox affiliate KABB. He visited a school to warn parents and teachers not only about drugs and alcohol but also about these social media challenges, according to the station.

MAKERS OF GET OUT ARE BACK: THR reports that Lindelof and Nick Cuse are behind the script alongside while American Gods and Westworld’s Craig Zobel will direct. Lindelof, Curse and Zobel have previously worked together on HBO’s The Leftovers.The Hunt will reportedly take inspiration from the current political climate in the US and the tensions between the left and right leaning.

Stranger Things meets a soccer promo..

The man who plays the gruff, stern — yet wholly charming — police chief in a made-up city in Indiana came to the real Indiana for the first time ever to talk to hundreds of “Stranger Things” super fans Saturday.. David Harbour answered questions from the mostly teenage audience at Indiana Comic Con and admitted that he didn’t think the massively popular Netflix show would be successful when he first started playing Chief Jim Hopper two years ago.

DETAILS OF STRANGER THINGS 3 being revealed: A Summer Fourth of July horror!!!

“Season 3 is set in the summer, so right out of the gate that’s a big difference,” Levy told Variety at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. “The first two seasons were very much school-based. This is that time of year where it’s not about school, it’s about the swimming pool and campfires and parades and Fourth of July and fireworks, so there’s kind of a poppy fun to Season 3 that’s really enjoyable before things inevitably turn super dark.”

THE APRIL FOOLS ON EASTER

Faces of demons howl in the night..

comfort of blessings on an Easter at night.

April has fools and hounds of Hell..

the pope can close some things but torment still swells.

Farewell, Tiangong-1: Chinese Space Station Crashes in Fiery Finale Over South Pacific

Developing.

It crashed. 

Most burned up before t narrowly missed an island paradise .. 

And let's be honest.. how creepy

It appears that at around 8:15pm ET, Tiangong-1, Chinese for "Heavenly Palace", the failed space station, crashed in the South Pacific near Easter Island off the west coast of South America.

ON EASTER.

THE EASTER POEM

Easter feeling upon us.. The cherry blossoms bloom.

Grass is getting greener.. The April dangers loom.

Bunnies hop all over, dropping off their treats.

The powers pick up weapons, often non-discreet.

It is the Easter season, it should be filled with hope.

But with war and bombs and threats all over,

we can hardly cope.

HAPPY EASTER 2018!

Even if the Pope closed hell, Easter songs play on..

For those who worship, Happy Easter.