Paisley shopkeeper exposed as a drug kingpin who ran £1.5 million cannabis farm and stashed machine gun ammo

Gangster Parmdeep Singh ran illegal empire from a hardware store in Paisley's Orchard Street

The boss of a Paisley hardware shop has been unmasked as a drug kingpin who ran one of Scotland’s biggest cannabis farms.

Gangster Parmdeep Singh, 34, served unsuspecting locals as he masterminded his criminal empire from Pomy’s Hardware, in Orchard Street.

The bodybuilding thug’s firm in the former Guthrie Plus unit in the town centre lent him an air of respectability.

But, secretly, he was stockpiling 800 deadly machine gun bullets, a shotgun and raking in £1.5million every year for his gangland bosses, dealing dope from his Langbank home.

A worker from a nearby shop, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said she was shocked when the brute’s shady dealings were exposed.

She told the Paisley Daily Express: “I used to go into the shop sometimes and he’d serve me.

“I never had any clue he was up to this. He seemed like such a nice guy.

“It’s really shocking to hear he was involved with drugs and guns.

“It’s actually quite frightening.”

The yob was last week jailed for eight-and-a-half years after cops snared him with Kalashnikov rounds at his £600,000 five-bedroom house in Langbank, in June 2012.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Singh operated a sophisticated hash cultivation plant in a purpose-built windowless outhouse in the grounds of his home.

He spent £30,000 on equipment to grow the drug, fitting an elaborate fan system to mask the pungent smell of his crop to visitors.

Cops say the operation was one of the most profitable that they had ever discovered.

Defence advocate Dale Hughes told judge Lord Glennie that his client had mental health problems and he had turned to a life of crime after an unnamed Scots crime boss threatened him.

But Lord Glennie told Singh that he had to go to jail.

He added: “You stored ammunition for military grade weapons and cultivated drugs.

“The most appropriate sentence available to me for such serious offences is the imposition of custody.”

Singh pleaded guilty last November at Paisley Sheriff Court to the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

He also pleaded guilty to operating the massive drug farm.

Sheriff David Pender referred Singh to be sentenced at the High Court.

At previous proceedings, the court heard how Singh’s criminal operation came to light during a separate police probe into the theft of gym equipment from a health club in Morpeth in the north of England.

Fitness freak Singh, nicknamed Pomy, was thought to have swiped the gear and hid it at his house.

Detectives raided his home on June 10, 2012, and uncovered the hash set-up, the shotgun hidden under a sheet in his bedroom cupboard and 825 bullets.

After his arrest, Singh denied the charges for more than two years until he went on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court last month.

He initially blamed a cousin now living in India.

But he pled guilty after a jury heard a recording of an interview with detectives where he admitted the drugs, gun and ammo stashes were his.

Mr Hughes told the court that a split from his fiancée triggered a breakdown in Singh and he tried to commit suicide, threatening to jump from the Erskine Bridge but was coaxed down.

He said that Singh had poor judgment and came into contact with an unnamed gangland figure who took advantage of his weak character.

Mr Hughes added: “He was extremely naive and was exploited because of his vulnerability.

“He was prevailed upon to store the illegal items by a gentleman who issued threats about what he would do to his family if Mr Singh did not comply with his request.

“This man was an ex-army man. He had a military background.

“He was groomed by this man.”

JEREMIAH 49:

35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:

White police officer who ranted against 'black racism' investigated after pulling a GUN on an innocent elderly black man

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole has reassigned an officer involved in the arrest last summer of a 69-year-old man who refused to drop a golf club he was carrying on a city sidewalk.

Officer Cynthia Whitlatch ordered the man to drop the golf club, saying he had swung it at her patrol car in a threatening manner and struck a stop sign.

A video of the encounter last summer shows that after driving around a block, the officer pulled her cruiser up to a corner where the man, William Wingate, was standing, and yelled at him to drop the golf club. 

Never swung: William Wingate, 69, was arrested last summer when Seattle police officer Cynthia Whitlach claimed he'd swung a golf club at her

Bizarre encounter: Whitlach repeatedly screamed at Wingate to put the club down after she pulled up to him in her police cruiser when she spotted him holding it at his side in the street

She told him he had swung it at her, and that audio and video recordings from her cruiser would back up her allegations. 

Wingate appeared surprised, seemed to have trouble hearing the officer, and then insisted he had done no such thing. 

He said he had used the golf club as a cane for 20 years.

Wingate was eventually convicted of unlawfully using a weapon under a plea deal in which the charge would be dismissed if he had no other offenses for two years.

No recordings surfaced to bolster Whitlach's version of events, and after a state lawmaker questioned the arrest, the city attorney's office took another look. 

Prosecutors dismissed the conviction, and the police department apologized for the arrest and returned his golf club. 

The department said this week the officer had 'received counseling' from her supervisor — which O'Toole initially deemed an appropriate resolution.

But then the chief became aware of troubling Facebook posts made by Whitlatch about a month after the arrest — at a time when protests in Ferguson, Missouri, had gripped the nation's attention.

The weekly newspaper The Stranger reported that Whitlatch said she was tired of 'black peoples paranoia' and wrote of 'chronic black racism that far exceeds any white racism in this country.'

Whitlatch is white; Wingate is black.

In a written statement Thursday, O'Toole said she was 'shocked and disappointed' on Wednesday to read Whitlatch's comments. 

She reassigned the officer to desk duty, where she would have no interaction with the public, pending a review of her cases, and asked the Office of Professional Accountability to launch an independent investigation. 

Whitlach was initially just given 'counseling' when the dash cam footage emerged. She was placed on desk duty when her Facebook posts were revealed

OFFICER WHITLACH'S QUESTIONABLE FACEBOOK RANT

'If you believe that blacks are NOT accusing white America for their problems then you are missing the point of the riots in Ferguson and the chronic black racism in this country. I am tired of black peoples paranoia that white people are out to get them. I am tired of hearing a black racist tell me the only reason they are being contacted is because they are black solely because I am NOT black. I am tired of black people saying poor poor me when other races and genders and homeless and gays suffer far more prejudice than any black man does in the US.'

'We are working to reform the Seattle Police Department, and behavior of this nature seriously undermines our efforts,' O'Toole said. 'I was hired because of my track record for reform and my commitment to bias-free policing. I knew this would be a difficult job, but days like this make me even more determined.' 

The Seattle Police Officers Guild did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Whitlatch's behalf.

The Seattle Police Department has made several changes prompted by a Justice Department investigation that found signs of biased policing, as well as evidence that officers are too quick to use force, especially in low-level situations.

Wingate has filed a $750,000 claim against the police department.

DEUT. 28:

50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:

ECCLESIASTES 7:

7 Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

Black Principal Fires Teachers For Teaching Black History

Principal Angelicque Blackmon

Parents are furious after a black middle school principal has fired teachers for teaching Black History in her school.

Howard University Middle School is a school that I guess you wouldn’t expect this type of thing to happen. This is especially true given that the school has an African American principal.

Parents were asking questions regarding why there were so many teachers being fired or quitting in the middle of the school year.

“As parents we just want to get some answers,” said Dorothy Lowery. “We deserve to know what’s going on.”

In the past week, there have been three Social Studies teachers that handed in their two week notices.  Parents say that the new principal, Angelique Blackmon, confronted the teachers a day prior with pink slips.  According to parents, the pink slips were handed to the teachers right in front of the students.

“While students are still present in the classroom? How unprofessional,” said parent Delrica Battle. “These children are crying. They said they couldn’t say goodbye. The teachers are upset, the students are upset.”

Another parent, Michelle Payne said, “They were given to them in front of our children and I think that our children do not deserve to see that type of behavior.”

This middle school is a public charter school on the campus of Howard University. Some parents described the new Principal as an abrasive woman from Atlanta, GA.

Parents found it strange that the new principal would want the teachers to stop teaching African American History, given that they are on the campus of an HBCU. Many also stated that the students needed to know their culture, with the school being 90% African American.

Blackmon has not responded to ABC 7 News’ request to give an interview or answer any questions, and parents who have met with Blackmon say that they were not satisfied by their meeting with her.

This is strange in every way, I must admit. Why wouldn’t she want the students to know about Kwanzaa, Marion Barry, George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, Madam C.J. Walker, Martin Luther King or Malcolm X? This woman has a lot of explaining to do, and she may end up losing her job.

She could at least talk to the media about what happened, this press isn’t very good for her professional reputation.

JEREMIAH 17:

4 And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.

ISAIAH 30:

1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

Shoving match erupts at St. Louis police board earing

 

ST. LOUIS — A shouting and shoving match erupted at St. Louis City Hall Wednesday during the first public hearing on a police oversight board.

Proposed after the Aug. 9 shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the civilian panel would hear complaints about police actions, be able to review evidence from internal affairs investigations and evaluate police policies.

For nearly an hour people peacefully took to the podium at the public safety committee meeting to tell aldermen why they were for or against the civilian review board. Then audience members yelled, interrupting a police officer addressing officials.

Jeff Roorda of the St. Louis Police Officers Association responded to the hecklers by shouting out, urging the chairman to get the meeting under control. Then a scuffle broke out, with police swarming in to pull Roorda away from other audience members and restore order.

The police association maintains the current bill is unfair and disregards an officer's right to due process, but citizens rocked by weeks of violent protests after the Brown killing say police need to be held to a new level of accountability.

A St. Louis County grand jury declined to bring charges against officer Wilson in late November, setting off another round of protests.

After things calmed down most of the officers left the meeting.

"I've been at a lot of crazy meetings, but never one this crazy. I'm disappointed in anyone who stood up and yelled out," said Alderman Christine Ingrassia.

There will be at least several more meetings before the aldermen vote on the proposal.

REVELATION 13:

10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

GENESIS 25:

22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.

23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nationsare in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the otherpeople; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Black Homeless Man Sleeping When He Was Set On Fire By White Teens

On Saturday night, three white males decided to target a black homeless man sleeping on California’s Ventura Beach for a cruel, senseless crime. The suspects, estimated to be in their late teens or early 20s with shaved heads, doused 58-year-old veteran John Frazier and his possessions in lighter fluid before setting the sleeping man ablaze. You can watch the report below, courtesy ofNBC:
Fortunately, a Good Samaritan saw the flames and rushed to put out the fire with sand before calling the police. When law enforcement and firefighters arrived, Frazier was found with second and third-degree burns on his torso and face, covering 40% of his extremities. He is currently in critical condition at the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, but is expected to survive the attack.
The community, visibly shaken by this act of violence, has shown its support for Frazier by putting messages, flowers and candles at the location of the attack, which is defined by a black char mark on the wall.

According to Elaine Lutz, a resident of Ventura, Frazier was a kind man who kept to himself and never bothered anybody. Lutz said:
“We were talking about how beautiful the sunset was and the fish sculptures and how nice the evening was and he was just a really nice guy.”
Charon Shirk, another Ventura resident, said:
“It’s just really sad. It’s sad that a man is sleeping on the beach and then three knuckleheads just put him on fire for whatever reason. It’s just sick. It’s really sick.”
Ventura residents want to send a message that the hateful behavior behind the attack is unacceptable in the community and not a reflection of its residents. Dan Roundtree said:
“This is not representative of the Pierpont community. It’s a very tight-knit beach community, and for this to happen it’s just beyond belief, beyond belief, and whoever is responsible for this, they will be found.”
Other residents of the community are calling for serious consequences for the attackers. Kelly Moore said:
“They should be caught and they should be tried for attempted murder. This is not something to be forgot and be forgiven.”


MICAH 2:
10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not yourrest: because it is polluted, it shall destroyyou, even with a sore destruction.

DEUT. 25:
17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;

18 How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that werefeeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.

Dad who massacred family thought wife cheated

Jonathan Walker, 34, Shantai Hale (wife), 7-year-old daughter Kayla and 12-year-old sister, Christina

The Queens dad who massacred his family Saturday blasted his baby mama to death in a fit of jealousy and shot his two daughters because he’d rather see them die than go into foster care after the attack, sources said.

Jonathan Walker, 34, was overheard at a liquor store the night before the attack, telling anyone who would listen that he was convinced his common-law wife, Shantai Hale, was being unfaithful.

“He believed she may have been cheating on him — possibly with more than one person,” a law enforcement source said. “He went and got drunk that night before heading home.”

After pounding drinks, Walker skipped his nightclub security gig Friday evening. Flowing with liquid courage, the murderous man instead showed up around 5:30 a.m. Saturday at his gal pal’s Springfield Gardens home, where he methodically executed 7-year-old daughter Kayla and badly wounded her 12-year-old sister, Christina.

“He wanted to kill the two kids because he didn’t want them in foster care” after he killed their mom, a source said.

Walker then went to another bedroom and fatally shot Hale, 31, and her mother, Viola Warren, before committing suicide in his parked car at JFK Airport.

“He destroyed a whole family,” said Hale’s cousin Joseph Simmons. “There are no words to describe how angry the family is. He is a loser. He is a coward.”

Christina survived the rampage and managed to dial 911 to explain her father’s barbaric deed. She even opened the door for first responders.

Relatives said Christina is in a medically induced coma and undergoing intensive care following surgery that involved cutting open her skull to ease brain swelling.

“The doctors are hopeful,” said the girl’s uncle, Silford Warren. “Thank God the bullet passed through the part of her head that it did. She moved her head backward at just the right moment when [her father] fired and that probably saved her life.”

NUMBERS 5:

12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

13 And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;

14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:

15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenthpart of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

16 And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:

17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:

18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:

EPHESIANS 5: 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

 17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Overdosing drivers becoming major problem, police say

Cincinnati Police say overdosing while driving is a problem that is out of control on Tri-State streets.

More and more crashes are being reported from addicts shooting up heroin while driving, overdosing and losing control of their vehicle.

Sergeant Michael Hudepohl with Cincinnati Police traffic division says last year the city averaged around 50 heroin related accidents all year. Now they are running on multiple calls a day. On Friday, he estimated they responded to at least 4 heroin related crashes in the last 24 hours.

A suspected overdosing driver crashed into New Emmanuel Baptist Church Friday afternoon and on Thursday, Interstate 75 slowed to a crawl during the afternoon rush hour when police suspect a heroin addict rolled his car while shooting up.

"It's a continuous circle to keep the drug in your system and these people go to any length to get it,” said Sgt. Hudepohl. "They get in their car, they use it, they OD, the crash and then we get involved."

"Sometimes when they are paying for the gas, they even nod out at the register. We've actually had a couple of people overdose in the bathroom,” said Samantha Hilliard, an attendant at a gas station in Queensgate.

Driver Tracey Tolliver says it's hard to ignore how far heroin is reaching.

"I think I've even seen a couple people that has probably been high on heroin driving and falling asleep at lights and it's really been a big concern of mine. Something needs to be done because innocent people lives are going to be taken. This is just getting out of hand,” said Tolliver

As for why this is happening, police believe addicts are getting heroin in one place and are trying to shoot up as soon as possible to keep from experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

Police say if you see someone on the road you suspect may be driving under the influence call 911 for their safety and for your own.

"If you believe you are behind and impaired driver, call 911 before they crash and hurt somebody,” advises Sgt. Hudepohl.

EZEKIEL 8:

17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

PROVERBS 4:

19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Steve Harvey Doesn’t Care About Slavery

Steve Harvey

Steve Harvey has found success as a talk show host and radio personality, but sometimes he finds himself the target of controversy for voicing some of his interestingopinions.

Steve has been getting slammed online for the last couple of days because he told his talk show audience that he doesn’t care about slavery.

Apparently all of this came up when a white woman asked for his advice on how to handle it when someone brings up historical issues she isn’t comfortable with discussing. Of course she wasn’t bold enough to say slavery.

She was quite pleased when Steve told her it was totally okay for her to tell folks she doesn’t care about slavery though.

Steve says:

“When I’m sitting around socialites and they start talking about the past, that’s my line. I just say it and walk off. I have a drink in my hand, I just say it and walk off. ‘I don’t really care for slavery,’ and walk off. I don’t give a damn if they talking about Christopher Columbus. I don’t give a damn if they talking about a treaty…an amendment…a bill. I don’t care what the subject is.

“When you get through saying it and I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, my favorite line is, ‘I don’t give a damn about slavery!'”

Zechariah 11:

4 Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

JEREMIAH 23:

4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.

Office space being used for ‘wild sex parties': suit

A Manhattan landlord says he was shocked to find that the office space he rented out in Murray Hill was being used to host wild sex parties.

Laurence Gluck filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying he rented the space to Bytelair Inc., only to discover that instead of pushing papers, the corporation was throwing illegal sex parties for transsexual, transvestite and cross-dressing participants.

Gluck’s company, the ironically named Hole in One Associates LP, rented the sixth floor of 12 E. 32nd St. to Bytelair in December for “general office and meeting space,” his suit says.

Shortly after Bytelair moved in, other building tenants started complaining about “excessive noise coming from the subject premises which continued until early morning hours on Friday and Saturday nights,” the suit says.

The landlord’s reps were horrified when they visited the floor and heard people “engaging in sexual activity” behind hanging sheets, without a copy machine or stapler in sight.

Tlust.com and Daytimet.com advertise “day time play part[ies] for Tgirls (ts/tv/dc) & those who love them.” There are two upcoming parties listed on the websites for Thursday, Feb. 5, from noon to 8 p.m and Saturday, Feb. 7, from 3 to 8 p.m.

Gluck says the parties are held in his office building, where participants have accosted fellow tenants at all hours of the day and night asking, “Coming to the party?”

“Tenants are now fearful for their safety and the safety of their loved ones when entering and exiting the building,” according to the filing.

On its website, TLust Tgurl Play Parties says it’s a “private social club held in a discrete midtown loft with private and group play areas, complimentary condoms/lube, coat check, lockers, complimentary soft drinks and snacks and of course you can bring your own bottle (liquor.)”

Gluck wants the sex club out — claiming it violates building codes, health department codes and “likely a variety of criminal statutes as well.”

Emails sent to addresses listed on the two websites were not immediately returned.

REVELATION 18:

2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

'Black Lives Matter' Course To Be Offered At Dartmouth College

“If colleges cannot address current events in an intellectually rigorous manner then what are they good for?”

Mary K. Coffey, Dartmouth College’s Art History department chair, asks a valid question -- and one that her school’s students, faculty and administration plan to answer.

Dartmouth is set to offer a course titled “10 Weeks, 10 Professors: #BlackLivesMatter,” centered around racial inequality and violence in America.

‘The Dartmouth’ student newspaper reports that professors across more than 10 academic disciplines, from the humanities to geography to mathematics, will come together for an interdisciplinary approach to modern and historic perspectives of America’s racial climate.

According to Dartmouth geography professor Abigail Neely, the course was originally born from a Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning workshop that encouraged discussion of events that took place in Ferguson, Missouri following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown.

“The course has the potential to be revolutionary insofar as the students who take it will come away with a wide ranging critical framework for thinking through not only what happened in Ferguson (and elsewhere), but also why we continue to see so much violence perpetrated against poor people of color,” Coffey told The Huffington Post. “Having the ability to address the why question will make these students capable of thinking about change, alternatives, or forms of activism that might have a revolutionary impact.”

The creative curricular development comes on the heels of recent on-campus student activism and Dartmouth community protest, and in cooperation with members of faculty and administration dedicated to addressing student concerns.

“It reflects faculty support for student activism over the past several years around issues of inclusion, social justice, and campus climate,” professor Coffey explains. “Those students took risks to raise these issues on campus. Their work has generated interest in these issues within the student body. And it has given faculty who are dedicated to these concerns a new sense of purpose and motivation.”

The course is scheduled to begin during the university’s upcoming spring term.

JOB 20:

10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

DEUT.28:

10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

Chocolate snorting offers new way to a cocoa high

Chocolate sniffer

BRUGES, Belgium - When Belgian chocolatier Dominique Persoone created a chocolate-sniffing device for a Rolling Stones party in 2007, he never imagined demand would stretch much beyond the rock 'n' roll scene. But, seven years later, he has sold 25,000 of them.

Inspired by a device his grandfather used to propel tobacco snuff up his nose, Persoone created a 'Chocolate Shooter' to deliver a hit of Dominican Republic or Peruvian cocoa powder, mixed with mint and either ginger or raspberry.

"The mint and the ginger really tinkle your nose," the 46-year-old said in his chocolate factory in the medieval city of Bruges. "Then the mint flavor goes down and the chocolate stays in your brain."

Tattoo-clad Persoone, who has collaborated with celebrated chefs such as The Fat Duck's Heston Blumenthal and elBulli's Ferran and Albert Adria, has a history of culinary innovation.

Alongside the classics, he has created chocolates flavored with bacon and onion, oysters and even grass.

It took some perfecting to create the snorting powder as chocolate itself was too dry. Before the successful formula was discovered, Persoone used a mix that included chili pepper.

"It's a very bad idea," he said.

The chocolate shooters, which sell for 45 euros ($50) each, have been exported to Russia, India, Canada, Australia and the United States.

The packaging bears a warning against excessive sniffing, but Persoone insists it is safe. He was inspired by the role of the nose when tasting food and, he says, a certain idea of fun.

"The mentality when you think about sniffing is: 'Oh it's kinky, guys who do that stuff...'" Persoone said.

"I'm not the bad boy promoting drugs, not at all ... Life is boring. Let's have fun."

ROMANS 1:

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

ROMAN 6:

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members asinstruments of righteousness unto God.

The Devil’s Punchbowl: Concentration Camps for Black People

 The Devil’s Punchbowl

When you hear the term “concentration camp”, what do you think of? For most of us who have taken a history class, images of Nazi Germany and Hitler pop into our heads. Most of us already know about the history of violence and dehumanization directed at Jewish populations [as well as Polish people, disabled people, homosexuals, etc.] during WWII where they were forced into labor  and/or death camps because of pure bigotry. However, did you know that the U.S. also had concentration camps during the civil war for former slaves who were free?

“During the Civil War authorities in Natchez, Mississippi forced tens of thousands of freed slaves into camps built in what’s known as “The Devil’s Punchbowl”…Historians estimate that in one year following Union troops’ arrivals in Natchez, up to 20,000 freed slaves died in ‘contraband camps’ below steep bluffs.”

Those bluffs are known to local residents today for their wild peach groves. Little did they know that a massive grave was hidden beneath the brush.

Researcher Paula Westbrook states that when slaves left plantations, they ran to Natchez and were trapped there in an encampment.

Black men were re-captured and forced to perform hard labor, while women and children were left in the “punchbowls” to die. Former director of Natchez City Cemetery, Don Estes, states:

“Disease broke out among ‘em, smallpox being the main one. And thousands and thousands died. They were begging to get out. ‘Turn me loose and I’ll go home back to the plantation! Anywhere but there’”

It’s going to be difficult to get further physical data from the site considering the bluffs are dangerous to navigate. Oftentimes skeletal remains will wash up after flooding occurs on the Mississippi river which is a constant reminder that unheard narratives of suffering and brutalization are waiting to be excavated.

Estes states “…There’s the devil’s punchbowl that has so many people that no one knows how they got killed or when.”

While the discovery of the massive grave is a great find for our historical record, it demonstrates just how deep the suffering was for black people who were considered “free.” Disheveled bones from brutalized bodies are all that are left to tell the stories of racism and white supremacy. This find also demonstrates just how little we still know about our ancestors. Understanding our past helps in understanding our contemporary lives.

Though slavery may be an uncomfortable topic for our postracial generation today where we act as though slave ships were cruise ships, punchbowl serves as a reminder that black people were brutally dehumanized in this nation, and no matter how equal we all think we are, perhaps we can look to the ways that  “freed” enslaved people were treated to understand how we too might still have a tradition of discrimination in our own government today.

With each peach tree that grows on punchbowl land, let it serve as an inconvenient reminder to our comfortable lives that racism is alive, and that we can never forget the horrors of slavery.

REVELATION 12:

12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

DEUTERONOMY 4:

20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

NY Federal judge slams Wells Fargo for forged mortgage docs

Judge Robert Drain has a message for Wells Fargo: “Forged” foreclosure documents don’t cut it in New York’s federal courts.

In a stunning 30-page decision on January 28, Drain, a federal bankruptcy judge in New York’s Southern District, blasted Wells Fargo, America’s largest mortgage servicer, for false documents it used in trying to prove its right to foreclose on Westchester County resident Cynthia Carrsow Franklin’s home.

Drain shredded Wells Fargo’s arguments regarding two crucial documents needed to prove ownership of a loan: an indorsement (another term for endorsement) on a note and an assignment of mortgage.

These documents have to be created properly within a certain time frame, or they won’t hold up in court.

The issue lies at the heart of the foreclosure crisis, and continues to haunt hardworking New Yorkers like Franklin, a speech pathologist for autistic children, to this day.

“… [T]he blank indorsement, upon which Wells Fargo is relying, was forged,” wrote Drain in a stinging rebuke to the bank. “Nevertheless it does show a general willingness and practice on Wells Fargo’s part to create documentary evidence, after-the-fact, when enforcing its claims, WHICH IS EXTRAORDINARY,” wrote Judge Drain with emphasis.

Drain went on to say that “it is conceivable that all of Wells Fargo’s newly created mortgage assignments and newly created indorsements were proper” but that the burden was on Wells to show that, and it didn’t.

A Wells Fargo spokesman said, “Wells Fargo’s processes ensure that all note endorsements are done legally and appropriately, and we strongly dispute the conclusions in this case,” adding, “we are troubled by the additional comments about our general practices that are unsupported by the evidence.”

The judge’s ruling delves deeply into the work of Herman John Kennerty, who was deposed for this case by Franklin’s attorney, Linda Tirelli.

Drain casts a harsh eye on Kennerty’s statements about his work as a manager heading up a “default documents” department for Wells Fargo at the time of Franklin’s foreclosure.

Kennerty admitted to signing between 50 and 150 original documents each day related to administration and enforcement of Wells’ defaulted loans, according to the ruling.

Drain added: “Moreover, Mr. Kennerty’s testimony does not stop at describing manufactured mortgage assignments. He also testified that his ‘assignment team’s’ duties were not limited to processing assignments, including, when determined necessary, creating them; in addition, the ‘assignment team’ included people tasked with endorsing notes.”

The Post first reported on Franklin’s case in March 2014, when Tirelli alleged in court papers that Wells Fargo set up detailed internal procedures in a 150-page Wells Fargo Foreclosure Attorney Procedures Manual (created Nov. 9, 2011, and updated Feb 24, 2012) to fabricate foreclosure papers on demand. Wells Fargo denied the allegations.

Franklin told The Post, “I feel relieved … I’m hoping this case will help other people.”

She added, “Reading this opinion … it feels very calculated. It wasn’t like I was lost in the shuffle somehow. And you know, if someone writes me a check and they forget to sign it, I can’t cash it. If in my job I turn in paperwork and I forgot to check something or to write in a code, it’s kicked out. I don’t get paid. That’s how it works with everybody else.”

Wells Fargo has about two weeks to file a notice of appeal. The megabank lost this round, but the judge also made it clear that Franklin’s debt remains.

Drain’s ruling followed another major loss for Wells Fargo in a residential foreclosure case last week — and another smackdown, this time from a Missouri state court judge. This in turn comes after Wells Fargo and three other big banks were hit with a $2.7 million penalty to settle allegations of unlawful foreclosures in Massachusetts.

On Jan. 26, Judge R. Brent Elliott of Missouri’s 43rd Judicial Circuit awarded $2.9 million in punitive damages to a Missouri couple who spent years in limbo after Wells wrongfully foreclosed on their home. Wells sold it to Freddie Mac on Aug. 15, 2008, even after agreeing to a reinstatement of the loan following a disputed debt.

Elliott also blasted Wells Fargo for “outrageous and reprehensible” decisions and “deceptive and intentional conduct” that “displayed a complete and total disregard for the rights of David and Crystal Holm.

“Defendant Wells Fargo operated from a position of superiority provided by its enormous wealth,” Brent wrote in a blistering nine-page decision. “Wells Fargo’s decision took advantage of an obviously financially vulnerable family,” the judge continued, noting that Wells Fargo showed no evidence of remorse for the harm caused.

“In fact, the Court recalls the lack of remorse and humanity illustrated by a Wells Fargo corporate representative who testified, ‘I’m not here as a human being. I’m here as a representative of Wells Fargo,’ ” the judge wrote.

The couple and their 12-year-old daughter got their home back, along with a total of $3.25 million in damages.

“We have modified more than 1 million mortgage loans and have forgiven $8.4 billion in principal since the beginning of 2009. There’s a lot more to this case than the decision reflects, and we have strong arguments to appeal the judgment and the unwarranted damages that were awarded,” a Wells Fargo spokesman said of the Missouri case.

PROVERBS 28:

8 He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.

JOHN 10:

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Hamilton man stabs another in the back over $8 argument, police say

Daesean Lynch and Jairre Muldrow

An argument over $8 ended Saturday night when one man stabbed another in the back, police said.

Daesean Lynch, 19, of Hamilton was jailed on aggravated assault and weapons charges after stabbing a 25-year-old man in the back. He was taken to Mercer County jail, Hopewell Township, in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to Capt. James Stevens.

Police also arrested Dianna Ray, 41, of Hamilton and Jairre Muldrow, 24, of Trenton. Each was charged with obstruction and resisting arrest. They were released with a court date, Stevens said.

Police were called to the 400 block of Massachusetts Avenue around 8 p.m. to break up a fight among friends that began in an apartment and spilled into the street, Stevens said.

The fight began as a verbal argument over the money that turned physical and ended when Lynch stabbed the 25-year-old in the back. The victim suffered only minor injuries and was treated at Capital Health Medical Center in Trenton and released, Stevens said.

LEVITICUS 19:

17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

DEUT 25:

1 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

Missing 86-year-old lottery winner found stabbed to death

86-year-old Arthur Neal 

DETROIT - The elderly lottery winner who went missing the day after his windfall was found murdered Sunday.

Family and friends of 86-year-old Arthur Neal hoped for his safe return, but he was found stabbed multiple times in the basement of a house on Detroit's west side.

He was found in the 15800 block of Mansfield after someone discovered a body in the basement of the house next door. 

Sources tell FOX 2 it was the body of  Neal, the man who won $20,000 in the lottery Dec.19 and disappeared the next day.

It is unknown if the winning ticket was cashed in or not. 

 "That's who was there, oh," said Fred, a neighbor next door. "That's why it's not good to identify yourself picking up that money. I'm sorry to hear that."

It is not clear if Neal's new-found fortune was a motive in his death. His family grew concerned after they had not heard from their grandfather - especially around the holidays.

They had put out a plea and searched. Days turned into weeks.

On Sunday Neal's body was hidden under a tarp. An autopsy revealed he had been stabbed multiple times.

"That's scary," Fred said. "That's scary. I have vacant houses on both sides of me - it's scary."

Fred said nothing seemed unusual until he remembered a friendly young man who he recently saw go in and out of the house.

"I thought he was staying there squatting there, not disturbing the property," Fred said.

Police are asking questions and searching for the person responsible.

In the meantime, neighbors who live near Neal's Detroit house on Trinity were saddened to hear their friend, who was missing for six weeks would not be coming home alive.

"I hate to hear he is gone," said one neighbor.

"It's sad is all I can say," said another. "A good man, just gone."

FOX 2 spoke to one of Neal's granddaughters but she declined comment saying she was too upset.

1 TIMOTHY 6:

10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

PROVERBS 1:

18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

The FAA: Regulating business on the moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.  - The United States government has taken a new, though preliminary, step to encourage commercial development of the moon.

According to documents obtained by Reuters, U.S. companies can stake claims to lunar territory through an existing licensing process for space launches.

The Federal Aviation Administration, in a previously undisclosed late-December letter to Bigelow Aerospace, said the agency intends to “leverage the FAA’s existing launch licensing authority to encourage private sector investments in space systems by ensuring that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis.”

In other words, experts said, Bigelow could set up one of its proposed inflatable habitats on the moon, and expect to have exclusive rights to that territory - as well as related areas that might be tapped for mining, exploration and other activities.

However, the FAA letter noted a concern flagged by the U.S. State Department that “the national regulatory framework, in its present form, is ill-equipped to enable the U.S. government to fulfill its obligations” under a 1967 United Nations treaty, which, in part, governs activities on the moon.

The United Nations Outer Space treaty, in part, requires countries to authorize and supervise activities of non-government entities that are operating in space, including the moon. It also bans nuclear weapons in space, prohibits national claims to celestial bodies and stipulates that space exploration and development should benefit all countries.

    “We didn’t give (Bigelow Aerospace) a license to land on the moon. We’re talking about a payload review that would potentially be part of a future launch license request. But it served a purpose of documenting a serious proposal for a U.S. company to engage in this activity that has high-level policy implications,” said the FAA letter’s author, George Nield, associate administrator for the FAA’s Office of Commercial Transportation.

“We recognize the private sector’s need to protect its assets and personnel on the moon or on other celestial bodies," the FAA wrote in the December letter to Bigelow Aerospace. The company, based in Nevada, is developing the inflatable space habitats. Bigelow requested the policy statement from the FAA, which oversees commercial space transportation in the U.S.

The letter was coordinated with U.S. departments of State, Defense, Commerce, as well as NASA and other agencies involved in space operations. It expands the FAA’s scope from launch licensing to U.S. companies’ planned activities on the moon, a region currently governed only by the nearly 50-year old UN space treaty.

But the letter also points to more legal and diplomatic work that will have to be done to govern potential commercial development of the moon or other extraterrestrial bodies.

“It’s very much a wild west kind of mentality and approach right now,” said John Thornton, chief executive of private owned Astrobotic, a startup lunar transportation and services firm competing in a $30 million Google-backed moon exploration XPrize contest.

Among the pending issues is lunar property and mineral rights, a topic that was discussed and tabled in the 1970s in a sister UN proposal called the Moon Treaty. It was signed by just nine countries, including France, but not the United States.

"It is important to remember that many space-faring nations have national companies that engage in commercial space activities. They will definitely want to be part of the rule making process," said Joanne Gabrynowicz, a professor of space law at University of Mississippi .

    Bigelow Aerospace is expected to begin testing a space habitat aboard the International Space Station this year. The company intends to then operate free-flying orbital outposts for paying customers, including government agencies, research organizations, businesses and even tourists. That would be followed by a series of bases on the moon beginning around 2025, a project estimated to cost about $12 billion.

Company founder Robert Bigelow said he intends to invest $300 million of his own funds, about $2.5 billion in hardware and services from Bigelow Aerospace and raise the rest from private investors.

The FAA’s decision “doesn’t mean that there’s ownership of the moon," Bigelow told Reuters. "It just means that somebody else isn’t licensed to land on top of you or land on top of where exploration and prospecting activities are going on, which may be quite a distance from the lunar station.”

Other companies could soon be testing rights to own what they bring back from the moon. Moon Express, another aspiring lunar transportation company, and also an XPrize contender, intends to return moon dust or rocks on its third mission.

“The company does not see anything, including the Outer Space Treaty, as being a barrier to our initial operations on the moon," said Moon Express co-founder and president Bob Richards. That includes "the right to bring stuff off the moon and call it ours.”

OBADIAH 1:

4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

JEREMIAH 49:

16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.

17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.