Friday, 13 December 2019

Netflix comedy sees 1 million petition for its removal for offending Christians with depiction of Jesus as gay

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/netflix-comedy-1-million-petition-removal-offending-christians-jesus-gay


A Netflix Christmas special from a Brazil-based YouTube comedy group offended more than a million Christians by depicting Jesus as gay.
The film premiered on Netflix Brazil on Dec. 3 and has since sparked a ton of controversy online for its politically incorrect satire that paints Jesus as a closeted homosexual on Christmas.


As of Friday morning, 1.34 million people signed a petition calling on Netflix to do something about the 46-minute holiday special after it seriously offended many Christians viewers. “The First Temptation of Christ” sees Jesus and a friend named Orlando arrive at Mary and Joseph’s house where they’ve thrown a birthday party for their son, according to the New York Daily News. Jesus attempts to downplay his relationship with Orlando, who constantly hints that they’re more than just friends.
Representatives for Netflix did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
The outlet reports that the comedy group Porta dos Fundos is responsible for the special, which actually marks their second religious satire following “The Last Hangover,” which depicts Jesus’ disciples looking for him on the morning after the Last Supper. They recently earned an International Emmy Award for best comedy web television special for "The Last Hangover."

The petition quickly formed and people continue to sign it in a push for the streaming service to take action against the group’s latest special for its alleged insensitivity toward Christians.
Porta dos Fundos remains undeterred, however. Per Yahoo Entertainment, they posted a tweet linking to a different petition calling for its removal from Netflix and blasted their own comedy special as “tragic and sad.”
“Porta dos Fundos values artistic freedom and humor through satire on the most diverse cultural themes of our society and believes that freedom of expression is an essential construction for a democratic country,” the group said in a statement to the outlet.

“The First Temptation of Christ” is available to U.S. Netflix subscribers.
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Colorado mom lets porch pirates take out her trash with decoy packages: 'They deserve it'

https://www.foxnews.com/us/colorado-mom-lets-porch-pirates-take-out-her-trash-with-decoy-packages



A Colorado woman reportedly gave some porch pirates a taste of their own medicine this week by leaving trash-filled Amazon packages outside her front door.
Christine Hyatt told KKTV in Colorado Springs that thieves have stolen at least 20 packages from her porch and last Wednesday was the third time she was able to dupe the criminals into removing her garbage for free.
"We forgot to set our trash out for Thanksgiving, so we were overflowing with trash," she told the station. "I've had packages stolen and I went, 'You know what? I have extra boxes -- let's see if someone will take our trash!'"

Hyatt said the thefts are more than just inconvenient. Among the items that have been stolen was her daughter’s diabetes medication.
"She can't afford to have her own medication stolen just because people are jerks," Hyatt said. "This is my way of fighting back."
In her next package, Hyatt plans to include cigarette butts, kitty litter and fast-food wrappers, KKTV reported.

"My daughter told me that it was gross," Hyatt said. "But they deserve it."
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$37 million: Bank Error in Your Favor :)

Bank mistakenly deposits $37 million into woman’s account

UPI
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Dec. 13 (UPI) — A Dallas woman discovered her bank account had more than $37 million in it — but it turned out to be a clerical error.
Rush Balloon said she checked her account balance at LegacyTexas Bank and was shocked to see $37,203,337 in the account that she couldn’t explain.
“I was like, ‘wow, we have a lot of money,’” she told KTVT-TV.
Balloon said she told her husband about the mysterious fortune and he called the bank.
LegacyTexas Bank told the couple the money was the result of a clerical error and the mistake was corrected.
“I was a millionaire, I have a screen shot of it so I can say that now,” Balloon said. “It’s quite a story.”
The bank explained the incident in a statement.
“Our client made a foreign currency deposit into her LegacyTexas account,” the statement said.
“Due to the fluctuation in exchange rates, all foreign currency transactions must be manually entered into our system through our back office. When our client’s deposit was being keyed in, our representative entered her account number into the amount field by mistake,” it said.
A New York man was sentenced to probation in 2010 when $5 million was mistakenly deposited into his bank account. Benjamin Lovell, 50, said he repeatedly tried to work the situation out with his bank, but ended up spending a chunk of the funds on investments, gifts and medical costs.
Lovell was originally charged with larceny, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge as part of a deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced to probation.
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World's deepest land canyon discovered beneath Antarctic glacier

https://www.foxnews.com/science/deepest-land-canyon-discovered-beneath-antarctic-glacier


Scientists have discovered the world's deepest land canyon thousands of feet below an Antarctic glacier.
Glaciologists led by the University of California, Irvine have unveiled what they describe as the most accurate portrait yet of the contours of the land beneath Antarctica’s ice shelf. The research was presented this week at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco and published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The Antarctica topography map, dubbed BedMachine, helped experts discover our planet's deepest land canyon beneath Denman Glacier in East Antarctica.

Experts used an array of data, including information from satellites on ice flow motion, to shed new light on the land beneath Antarctica.
Scientists have released an in-depth topography map of Antarctica.
Scientists have released an in-depth topography map of Antarctica. (University of California, Irvine/UC Regents)
“Older maps suggested a shallower canyon, but that wasn’t possible; something was missing,” Mathieu Morlighem, UCI associate professor of Earth system science and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “With conservation of mass, by combining existing radar survey and ice motion data, we know how much ice flows through the canyon – which, by our calculations, reaches 3,500 meters [11,483 feet or 2.2 miles] below sea level, the deepest point on land. Since it’s relatively narrow, it has to be deep to allow that much ice mass to reach the coast.”
For comparison, the average depth of the ocean is about 12,100 feet, or 2.3 miles, according to NOAA. The deepest part of the ocean, however, is about 36, 200 feet or 6.9 miles, at the southern end of the Mariana Trench in the Western Pacific.

As a result of the new research into Antarctica, scientists say that they will be better able to predict the effects of climate change on the continent.
Other fascinating discoveries were also revealed at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. In a separate project, scientists announced the discovery of thousands of mysterious holes in the seabed off Big Sur, Calif.
Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) were surveying the deep seafloor off Big Sur when they discovered the strange holes.

The larger holes, described as pockmarks, are on average about 600 feet across and 16 feet deep. In a statement, MBARI noted that it first discovered some of the pockmarks in 1999. However, subsequent surveys by MBARI and other organizations have revealed over 5,200 pockmarks spread across 500 square miles.
Thousands of smaller holes, known as micro-depressions. have been discovered. Researchers have spotted around 15,000 micro-depressions, which are, on average, 11 feet across and 3 feet deep.

For the first time, scientists have also conducted extensive mapping of the seafloor at Bikini Atoll, the remote Pacific Ocean testing site for atomic bombs between 1946 and 1954.
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Salmonella outbreak in six provinces linked to snakes and rodents

The Canadian Press, Published Thursday, December 12, 2019
-By Holly McKenzie-Sutter in St. John's, N.L.

A salmonella outbreak in six provinces has been linked to contact with snakes and rodents. (FILE/AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

The Public Health Agency of Canada is advising exotic pet owners to practise good hygiene amid a salmonella outbreak in six provinces that's been linked to contact with snakes and rodents.

A notice issued this week counts 92 cases of the bacterial infection reported between April 2017 and October 2019.

The agency says exposure to snakes and rodents is the likely cause of the outbreak, with an investigation finding many of the affected individuals had contact with a snake, pet rat or rodent used as reptile food.

Reptiles and rodents can carry salmonella bacteria even if they seem clean and healthy, and people can fall ill from contact with the animals or places they have recently roamed, the agency says.

“There have been past outbreaks of salmonella illnesses linked to snakes and rodents,” the notice said. “The findings from these investigations have highlighted the important role snake and rodent owners can play in preventing new illnesses linked to these types of pets.”

The health notice advises frequent handwashing and safe handling of snakes, rodents and their food - including frozen rodents used as snake food - to prevent further illnesses.

It recommends pet owners immediately wash their hands after touching a reptile or rodent, their food or their habitats.

It also advises against kissing the animals, bathing them in kitchen sinks or bathtubs, or keeping their food stored in the same place as human food - with special notice that keeping frozen rodents in a freezer near human food does not kill salmonella.

The pets should be kept in their habitats, the notice says, and it advises keen attention to the pets' needs, saying “stress for a reptile can increase shedding of salmonella.”

Children under five, pregnant women, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of becoming infected with the bacteria, the agency says. The health notice advises against keeping reptiles and rodents at daycare centres or schools for young children.

Six people have been hospitalized during the outbreak, though the agency says people usually recover within a few days from symptoms that include fever, chills, diarrhea, cramps, nausea and vomiting.

Fifty-two cases were reported in Quebec and the rest were in British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. The majority of cases, 57 per cent, were reported among women and girls.

The agency says cases continue to be reported.

Dr. Bryna Warshawsky, a physician with Public Health Ontario, said the findings suggest a common rodent breeder as the source of the strain. The rodents may have been sold as pets or as food for a snake, then infected a snake or person with salmonella.

“It all probably traces back to a similar breeder or a connected series of breeders, but we don't know that for sure,” Dr. Warshawsky said.

She said it's not recommended to have a pet reptile, rodent, frog or toad in a household with children under five because young children don't understand the necessary hygiene precautions.

Adults can better understand the risks, but Dr. Washawsky stressed that all pet owners should wash their hands after touching animals or their food, even when a salmonella outbreak is not ongoing.

A previous salmonella outbreak in Canada spanning from 2012 to 2014 was eventually linked to feeder rodents for pet snakes. An investigation found snake owners were thawing frozen mice in mugs and pots that they would later use for drinking or cooking, causing the infection to spread.


Wade Samson, co-owner of Dartmouth exotic pet store Into The Wild, said he hasn't heard of any of his staff or customers becoming ill with salmonella after touching the animals, but said he generally agrees with the hygiene recommendations in the notice.

“If you have something dead, you don't want to put it next to your food,” he said by phone. “I think a lot of people just avoid that because it's gross to most people.”

Samson said common sense hygiene around pets like snakes and rodents is always advisable to avoid a variety of transferable illnesses, not just salmonella.

“I always recommend simple hygiene. That has obviously saved our civilization from a lot of stuff.”


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Thursday, 12 December 2019

Judge blocks Los Angeles law requiring potential city contractors to disclose NRA ties

https://www.foxnews.com/us/judge-blocks-los-angeles-law-requiring-city-contractors-to-disclose-nra-ties



A federal judge Wednesday temporarily blocked a new Los Angeles law that requires prospective city contractors to disclose any ties with the National Rifle Association.
U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson granted the injunction at the request of the NRA, which sued the city of Los Angeles last summer, claiming the law violates the right to free speech and equal protection.
The NRA also called the ordinance “modern-day McCarthyism,” claiming that NRA members would have to choose between contracting with the city or keeping their memberships.

The injunction stops enforcement of the law as the case goes forward. The judge removed Mayor Eric Garcetti and the city clerk as defendants in the lawsuit but didn’t entirely throw it out.
The city may appeal the ruling or the NRA could request that the injunction be made permanent.
The law, which went into effect in April, says that contracting with NRA-linked businesses "undermines the city's efforts to legislate and promote gun safety and would lead "to more pro-gun advocacy, laxer gun laws, and inevitably more mass shootings," according to Wilson.
"Even if this chain of logic was supported by fact, the city is not permitted to restrict political speech as a means of achieving its goal of safer cities," he ruled.

The NRA dropped a lawsuit against San Francisco last month after the board of supervisors declared it a “domestic terrorist organization.”
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North Carolina school district apologizes over math assignment comparing value of slaves to white people

https://www.foxnews.com/us/north-carolina-school-district-apologizes-over-math-assignment-comparing-slaves-to-white-people



A school district in North Carolina apologized this week after a parent posted a photo on Facebook of a middle school homework assignment that appeared to mix a lesson about the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787 with math word problems, according to reports.
Two of the questions on the assignment were: “How many slaves would be needed to equal at least 4 white people?” and “How many slaves would you have if you equaled 2 2/5 whites?”

The other questions were similar in nature.
The Kannapolis City School System responded directly to the parent in a statement on social media.
“Thank you for bringing this assignment to our attention,” the district wrote, according to WBTV.  “In addition to reaching out to you personally to apologize, we also are posting here on behalf of Kannapolis City Schools to say that we agree that the assignment was not appropriate. We have taken steps to address it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. All of us at KMS and in Kannapolis City Schools sincerely apologize to you and all who were rightfully offended, and we’re making sure the assignment does not count toward any student’s grade. We expect and promote racial equity in our schools, and this assignment did not meet that standard or expectation at all. We are very sorry for that and are working to help make sure it won’t happen again. We hope you will accept our sincere apology and assurance that we are responding swiftly to correct the situation.”
The teacher who gave out the assignment has been disciplined, the school district said, according to WCNC-TV.

The Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787 was an agreement reached between the northern and southern states that allowed three out of every five slaves to be counted as part of the population for taxation and representation.
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