- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Trump's obsessive desire for revenge is beginning to frustrate his close allies, report says
Close allies to Donald Trump told the Washington Post they wish he was working to protect policies from his term as opposed to holding grudges.
- ScienceUSA TODAY
After days of uncertainty, Chinese rocket reenters atmosphere over Indian Ocean
The U.S. Space Command said it could confirm that the rocket reentered over the Arabian Peninsula at about 10:15 p.m. EDT.
- PoliticsHuffPost
GOP Reportedly Hid Trump's Weak Numbers At MAGA-Supporting Lawmaker Retreats
Internal data reveal Trump could be a risky bet for GOP leadership.
- NewsRumble
Video Traffic Officer Is Exactly Where He Should Be When Needed
Traffic cops do a tough job, and yet, they are criticized by some people regardless of what they do or where they are. It's common for people to curse them when they are seen monitoring traffic, especially by those who are breaking the law. Hitting the brakes and showing resentment for the officer in the median seems to be synonymous for many. And then there are the times that we are annoyed by a reckless driver who cuts us off, tailgates, or whizzes past us. People are equally critical of the police in those cases because the person isn't caught putting us in danger. How many times have we heard: "Where are the cops when you need them?" Well this motorist found that sometimes the police are exactly where they should be when they are needed. The speed limit on this Canadian road is 100 km/h (60mph) and as a matter of etiquette, most drivers travel at about 115 - 120km/h so they are not holding up traffic, as is the case here. This black Nissan was tailgating for several minutes, even though he had lots of opportunity to go around the car with the dash camera. It seemed to be a display of aggression that might have been meant to reprimand the driver for not going quickly enough. The car with the camera is in the right lane, where slower traffic is expected to be. And despite the fact that he is actually speeding, the Nissan driver just isn't happy. He finally pulls into the left lane to pass, accelerates and continues down the road at a much higher speed than is necessary. The driver with the camera comments that the Nissan is doing approximately 45km/h over the posted speed 100km/h limit. He jokingly asks where the cops are, as we have all done at one time or another. And moments later, as the Nissan is almost out of sight, his brake lights go on. But it's too late. The officer in the median is parked in an unmarked traffic car, monitoring the speed of traffic coming at him. To the delight of the camera man, the officer pulls out from his hiding spot, which actually wasn't all that hidden, and engages his lights. For the Nissan driver to not notice the police car in the median, even though it's a stealthy plain black, is possibly a display of how oblivious he was. If he wasn't quick enough on the brakes to avoid a ticket, he wouldn't be quick enough on the brakes if a hazard suddenly appeared on the road. Everybody knows that the Nissan driver has been caught and he pulls over dutifully. The driver with the camera is quite pleased to see this officer doing such a fine job and he quietly praises him as he goes by. The officer must hear a lot of negative comments, but surely there are some positive ones as well, even if he doesn't get to hear them. In Ontario, the fine for this speed is approximately $310 and there are 4 demerit points. Wouldn't we all like the police to catch those around us for things like this? As a reminder to all, police on our roads are in danger of being hit by cars passing too close to them as they conduct traffic stops. Almost all police officers can tell at least one story of having their cruiser door taken off, or having had to jump out of the way of a car coming at them. And tragically, some are not so lucky. Moving into the left lane is the law. There is a hefty fine in most cases for not doing so. We can all help the officer stay safe, and able to focus on the stopped vehicle, if we smoothly move into the far lane when passing a stopped cruiser. In fact, this applies to all emergency vehicles and tow trucks in most provinces and states. At the end of the day, all of our public servants should make it home to their families.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Jeff Bezos' sudden keen interest in helicopters reportedly revealed his affair with Lauren Sanchez
Amazon executives sensed Bezos was poised to get divorced when he started taking an unusually keen interest in a mode of transport he had always loathed.
- CelebrityWomen's Health
Princess Charlotte Looks Just Like Queen Elizabeth In New Portrait
They could be twins! 😍
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Horrific: D.C. Sniper Boasts of Post-Shooting Sex With Accomplice in New Doc
ViceIn I, Sniper, Lee Boyd Malvo speaks at length about the 2002 reign of terror he and partner John Allen Muhammad carried out in the Washington, D.C., area, resulting in ten deaths. Yet despite using audio clips from his phone calls as narration, Vice’s eight-part docuseries (premiering May 10) is most notable for putting its prime emphasis on the pair’s innocent victims, and the countless friends, family members and loved ones left to cope with unthinkable tragedy. To its admirable credit, it’s a true-crime affair that seeks to understand its “monsters” while simultaneously recognizing—and highlighting—the fact that such comprehension doesn’t necessitate empathy, especially when the atrocities in question are as inexcusably heinous as these.Spearheaded by director Ursula Macfarlane, I, Sniper’s calling card is those phone conversations with Malvo from Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison, where he’s currently serving multiple life sentences. In them, the killer recounts, in exacting and chilling detail, both the sniper attacks he perpetrated as a 17-year-old, and the troubled upbringing in Jamaica that led him into the welcoming arms of Muhammad, a Gulf War veteran with a surplus of rage and a desire to unleash it on his homeland. Abandoned by his dad, abused by his mom, and eventually left to fend for himself, Malvo found in Muhammad a father figure who promised to love him as he did his own biological offspring. From the outset, though, theirs was a bond built on exploitation, with Muhammad becoming not only Malvo’s surrogate parent, but also his lover—as well as his mentor, pouring all of his long-simmering hate and resentment into the impressionable, desperate-for-acceptance teen.The Tragic End to Wrestling’s First Great ‘Madman’Muhammad’s gripes were many—he despised the military, white people, and just about every American institutional structure. However, he reserved his greatest enmity for second ex-wife Mildred, who dared to take back her kids after Muhammad had kidnapped them. The loss of his (abducted) brood seems to have been the proverbial match that lit Muhammad’s homicidal spark, and he soon began molding Malvo into his instrument of destruction. Friends and relatives suspected that something was up with their relationship, but no one foresaw what was to come: the cold-blooded murder of Keenya Cook, the niece of Mildred’s friend in Tacoma, Washington, followed by violent robberies, shootings and slayings in Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. All of those initial acts were merely a test run for Malvo and Muhammad’s grand scheme in Washington, D.C., the epicenter of American power, and thus Muhammad’s venue of choice to strike fear into the heart of the republic by proving that everyone was vulnerable—even children.What transpired was a 22-day nightmare in which 13 individuals (white and Black, young and old, well-off and working-class) were shot, 10 of them fatally, in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Because Malvo and Muhammad’s intention was to terrorize in increasingly escalating fashion, each victim was chosen at random at gas stations, on street corners, and in parking lots that afforded the killers ideal vantage points and easy escape routes. They committed these crimes in a customized 1990 blue Chevy Caprice, with Malvo lying in the trunk and firing through the rear keyhole. It was a stealthy plot, and the two benefited from the fact that an early eyewitness said they’d seen a white box truck near the scene—thereby sending police, for the better part of the next three weeks, on a wild goose chase for the wrong vehicle. With no other ballistics-related leads, law enforcement was stymied, which proved to Malvo that Muhammad was right: no one could stop them from exacting their revenge.The question, of course, is revenge against what? I, Sniper connects the dots of Malvo and Muhammad’s troubled pasts and despicable 2002 presents, but no convincing argument is made that Muhammad—the mastermind behind this madness—had suffered losses that weren’t of his own making. Be it his unhinged military tenure, his marital craziness, or his transformation of Malvo into an assassin, Muhammad comes across as a man righteously angry over things that were his own fault. As for Malvo, his cold, clinical recitation of his murderous conduct (and claims of remorse) neuters any sorrow one might feel for his adolescent travails. His present-day compunction is far too little, too late, just as the case he makes for his own victimhood vis-à-vis Muhammad sounds like an accurate and yet insufficient explanation. He knew that gunning down men, women and children was dreadfully wrong, and yet in order to maintain Muhammad’s affection, he actively, and enthusiastically, chose to do it—and even got a thrilling kick from it, as he explains that post-shooting sex with Muhammad was exceptionally exciting.Malvo and Muhammad’s rampage of “retribution and punishment” was unforgivable; as Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose says, “There’s just no excuse for their behavior. None whatsoever.” To hammer home that point, I, Sniper consistently juxtaposes Malvo’s recollections with prolonged, heartrending interviews with the wives, brothers, aunts and friends of the duo’s victims, as well as some of those who survived their encounters. Those accounts turn out to be vital, providing an up-close-and-personal view of the anguish and trauma that Malvo and Muhammad brought about, and the lingering scars left by this ordeal. They’re the human face of this awful tale, stricken with grief, regret, guilt and fury over senseless crimes that robbed them of loved ones who were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.Comprised of news reports, crime scene footage, 911 calls, Malvo-penned illustrations, maps and chats with patrolmen, detectives, reporters and doctors, I, Sniper is comprehensive enough to earn the description “definitive.” Yet more than its insight into the mind of its young subject—and, by extension, Muhammad, who was executed in 2009 by lethal injection—what separates it from much of the true-crime pack is its dogged refusal to forget the real, incalculable horror at the center of its story. Malvo is frequently heard but never seen, while the countenances of his and Muhammad’s victims (and those close to them) remain front-and-center throughout. That directorial decision is critical and commendable, allowing the series to pay fitting tribute to the individuals who deserve to be remembered, while keeping its central villain largely faceless, in the dark and out of sight, where he chose to live and kill with his murderous mentor, and where he’ll now remain for the remainder of his days.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
