MIN. WAGE BEING RAISED

 

TRENTON — New Jersey voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question today that will raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour in January and amends the state Constitution to tie future increases to inflation.

Voters also approved a ballot question that allows veterans groups to use the proceeds from the bingo, raffles and other games of chance to repair their meeting halls or cover other building expenses.

The business community put up a tough fight to defeat the minimum wage measure, spending about $1 million to persuade the public the measure will lead to job losses and undermine their ability to move past the lingering effects of the recession.

 But they were outspent by unions and other supporters who raised $1.3 million to wage a very public campaign that included large rallies in cities across the state...

  (READ MORE ON NJ.COM)

  By Susan K. Livio/The Star-Ledger
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on November 05, 2013 at 9:25 PM, updated November 06, 2013 at 1:47 PM

YOUNG PROSTITUTES MURDERED IN CUBA

 

Death of 12-year-old girl forces Cuba to confront sex tourism

  SO SAD AND I CAN RELATE...

 LAST TIME I VISITED CUBA I WAS AMAZED AT HOW PREVALENT PROSTITUTION OF MEN, BUT MOSTLY WOMEN, WAS- AND BY WOMEN, I MEAN YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL "GIRLS".

I BECAME THEIR TRUSTED INTERPRETER AT A DANCE CLUB NEAR THE RESORT WHERE I WAS STAYING. THEY KNEW I WAS GAY SO I WAS ABLE TO SOCIALIZE WITH THEM WITHOUT AN AGENDA. IRONICALLY, THEY OFFERED  ME MEN/BOYS THEY KNEW FOR MY "NEEDS" BUT I PASSED, I JUST WANTED TO HANGOUT AND DANCE WITH THEM.

SO MANY GERMANS, CANADIANS AND PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER WERE THERE-NOT TO DANCE-WELL NOT VERTICALLY ANYWAY; OF COURSE, MOST OF THEM WERE FUGLY MIDDLE AGE MEN WHO PROBABLY COULDN'T GET LAID FOR FREE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. IT DISGUSTED ME!

I'M NOT NAIVE, IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES IT'S THE LAW OF THE LAND TO FIND CHEAP PROSTITUTES, BUT IT'S SAD WHEN THEY BECOME YOUR FRIENDS; REGARDLESS OF HOW BRIEF.  I ALSO HAVE SISTERS, NIECES AND MANY WONDERFUL WOMEN IN MY LIFE  THAT I TREASURE SO IT BROUGHT IT TOO CLOSE TO HOME .

THE YOUNG LADIES WOULD HAVE SEX ON THE BEACH AND OTHER CLANDESTINE PLACES IF THEY WERE REALLY IN A BIND OR THE CUSTOMER WAS TOO CHEAP FOR THE "PACKAGE" DEAL--REALLY???
 HOWEVER, MOST OF THE HORNY TOURISTS ACQUIESCED TO THE PACKAGE DEAL: HOTEL, CAB & SEX FOR $35.00--EVERYONE INVOLVED GOT A CUT. 
CAN YOU IMAGINE?

IT BROKE MY HEART. 

MANY WERE DESPERATE TRYING TO RAISE KIDS, AS YOUNG MOTHERS, OR TRYING TO HELP THEIR PARENTS/FAMILIES. 

SOME EVEN WROTE TO ME WHEN I GOT BACK. THEY ALL WANTED TO COME TO THE US FOR A BETTER LIFE, WHICH AT THE TIME, WAS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE.

I THINK OF THEM OFTEN .

GOD BLESS ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN OVER THERE BUT ESPECIALLY THESE VICTIMS OF MURDER.


(FROM "THE MIAMI HERALD"NEWSPAPER)

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/17/3292240_death-of-12-year-old-girl-forces.html#storylink=addthis#storylink=cpThese stories are the result of a joint investigation by Toronto Star reporters Robert Cribb, Jennifer Quinn and Julian Sher, and El Nuevo Herald reporter Juan O. Tamayo.

"For the two Cuban girls, 12 and 13 years old, it was just another sex party with foreign tourists — videotaped, fueled with marijuana and alcohol and sometimes involving sex with both men and women.
But this time 12-year-old Lilian Ramírez Espinosa, an asthmatic, gasped and blacked out.
Her badly decomposed body was found five days later on the isolated outskirts of the eastern city of Bayamo.
The girls “had been prostituting themselves for six months, but one of them had to die before the authorities noticed,” said Havana lawyer Laritza Diversent, who is helping with the appeal by one of the defendants in the case.
Lilian’ death on May 14, 2010, is the best documented and most horrifying example of child prostitution to emerge from Cuba since sex tourism began to blossom there in the early 1990s.

Canadian, Spanish and other tourists are flying to the island for sex with minors, a joint investigation by The Toronto Star and El Nuevo Herald has shown, although the extent of the problem remains unknown.

Cuba’s government “resists discussion of issues that might suggest weaknesses in the governing and social system,” said one report on child sex trafficking, written by U.S. diplomats in Havana in 2010.
Diversent said she was not surprised that girls as young as the ones in Bayamo were having sex-for-pay in a country where kids generally start having sex at the age of 12 or 13 and families face shortages of everything from tomatoes to shoes.

“The only thing never rationed was sex,” she said.

What was surprising, Diversent added, was that three Italians and 10 Cubans were tried and convicted in Ramírez’ death..."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/17/3292240_death-of-12-year-old-girl-forces.html#storylink=addthis#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/17/3292240_death-of-12-year-old-girl-forces.html#storylink=addthis#storylink=cpy

LORENZO & MARIA'S RESTAURANT - NYC -SUED FOR ABUSE

( A VERY GOOD FRIEND HAD CONVEYED THIS WOMAN'S BEHAVIOR A WHILE BACK & I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. HE SUFFERED SIMILAR ABUSES BY ARMANDARIZ. THIS LAWSUIT CONFIRMS OUR CONVERSATION ).

SOME NOTABLE, LOCAL CELEBRITIES BUY FROM HER DAILY.

I THINK A BOYCOTT IS IN ORDER.
 THIS WOMAN NEEDS TO LEARN A LESSON WHERE IT MOST HURTS HER--SINCE SHE DOESN'T APPEAR TO HAVE A HEART--IN HER POCKET!!!

 HOW DARE SHE?


UPPER EAST SIDE EATERY SUED (WTF???):

Address: 1418 3rd Ave, Manhattan, NY 10028

Phone:(212) 794-1080

 "The proprietress of a popular neighborhood catering company hit workers and called them "dirty Mexicans" and "whores" — and reprimanded these employees when her boyfriend exposed himself to them, a recently filed lawsuit claims.

Maria A. Armendariz, who owns and operates Lorenzo & Maria's Kitchen at 1418 Third Ave., not only abused her workers with racial and sexual epitets, but also failed to pay now ex-employees Enriqueta Luna and Inelia Gabriela Ortega wage and overtime, the civil complaint states.

According to the March 8 court filings in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York and telephone interviews with DNAinfo.com New York, trouble started for these women almost as soon as they took jobs with Armendariz.

Luna, whose tenure at the Kitchen lasted 12 years, said she worked for approximately 14 hours per day, six days per week from the get-go, never receiving overtime, the filings state.

Meanwhile, Armendariz and Nicodemus Pedraza — a co-defendant described as Armendariz' boyfriend in the filings — racially and sexually harassed Luna.

"She told me everyday that I was a 'Mexican whore. She told me I was a prostitute. She told me I was an 'a-- -faced Mexican,' and that I came to the U.S. to rob Americans' money," Luna, 48, said in Spanish.

"I never robbed anyone of anything. I didn't come here to rob anyone. It offended me a lot."
The complaint papers also claim that Armendariz, "who is light-skinned and is from Uruguay, would regularly call Luna a 'dirty Mexican'" and "also yelled at Luna and told her that she was an old, fat woman with a 'big a--' that was 'darker than a donkey.'"

On several occasions, Luna added, Pedraza "lowered his pants and showed me his [penis.]"...

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130318/upper-east-side/upper-east-side-caterer-called-her-workers-dirty-mexicans-lawsuit-says?fb_comment_id=fbc_162789493879625_486766_162962987195609#f1a2e6454a60224#ixzz2NvDMNy00

JESSE JACKSON JR. & WIFE GUILTY OF THEFT-WTF?

Jesse Jackson Jr., wife agree to plead guilty

MORE ON COMCAST.COM NEWS

 

 

WASHINGTON — "In a spectacular fall from political prominence, former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife agreed Friday to plead guilty to federal charges growing out of what prosecutors said was a scheme to use $750,000 in campaign funds for lavish personal expenses, including a $43,000 gold watch and furs.

Federal prosecutors filed one charge of conspiracy against the former Chicago congressman and charged his ex-alderman wife, Sandra, with one count of filing false joint federal income tax returns for the years 2006 through 2011 that knowingly understated the income the couple received. Both agreed to plead guilty in deals with federal prosecutors.

Both face maximum penalties of several years in prison; he also faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and forfeitures. But the government did not immediately release the text of its plea agreements. Such agreements almost invariably call for prosecutors to recommend sentences below the maximum..."

IF MICHAEL PHELPS WERE A COUNTRY (cute)

"He would be ranked #52 in the medal count, tied with the country of Georgia for 19 total medals, better than 148 other countries in the Summer Olympics.

– He'd have more twitter followers (674,730) than Luxembourg has in total population (509,074).
– He'd be making more money than certain entire countries. He is estimated to make $100 million over the course of his lifetime. This is more than twice the estimated GDP of the Tuvalu Islands ($37,470,000)-- Phelps, standing 6-foot-4, would be taller than the average Dutch man (6 feet), considered to be the world’s tallest people..."
( I KNOW WHAT ELSE YOU WANNA KNOW--ME TOO!!!)

APARTMENTS IN NYC FOR RENT-TINY, YOU CARE?

CAN YOU LIVE IN A COMPACT /TINY APT. (ABOUT THE SIZE OF 2 PARKING SPACES) JUST TO LIVE IN NYC?

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG SAYS, "WHY NOT?"

 ( I believe the rents are in the $2000.00-$2700.00  range)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday invited developers to propose ways to turn a Manhattan lot into an apartment building filled mostly with what officials are calling "micro-units" — dwellings complete with a bathroom, built-in kitchenette and enough space for a careful planner to use a fold-out bed as both sleeping space and living room.
If the pilot program is successful, officials could ultimately overturn a requirement established in 1987 that new apartments here be at least 400 square feet.

For critics assuming this is an askew version of tenement living, modern-day building codes and improved refrigeration and public health have changed what it means to live small, Bloomberg said. A typical mid-19th century tenement apartment on Manhattan's Lower East Side might have been larger than one of the micro-units, measuring 325 square feet, but would have typically housed families with multiple children. The micro-units are to be leased only to one- or two-person households.

WE'RE NOT ALONE IN THIS CONCEPT

In places within the US & abroad the concept is certainly not innovative.

Similar programs have been proposed in other cities. In San Francisco, developers are seeking permission to rent out apartments as small as 150 square feet.

The home pictured above is 344 sq. ft. and shared by a couple and their adult daughter (that's a bedroom on the top left!) in Japan.

"HAPPY DAYS" CAST VERY HAPPY-$$$

'Happy Days' actors settle lawsuit with CBS

 

 Ironically, Paramount Pictures was just in the news for celebrating 100 yrs of entertainment. Now they're part of CBS settling $$$ with stars Anson Williams, Don Most, Marion Ross and Erin Moran. they just settled a $10 million lawsuit for CBS neglecting them $$$ for merchandising carrying their images throughout all these years.

 Of the cast members, Moran stands to benefit most from the settlement. She has been the subject of tabloid reports that she and her husband have been living in a trailer in Indiana since losing her home to foreclosure in California. While Most, Williams and Ross continue to act or direct, acting work dried up for Moran, who did not return a call from CNN.

GO CELEBRATE WITH A MALTED & A DRIVE-IN MOVIE FOR JUSTICE AT LAST!

CANCER CURE/ EARLY DETECTION BY A 15 YR. OLD?

JACK ANDRAKA (remember that name),

He is the 15-year-old who has created a new diagnostic test especially for pancreatic cancer (his uncle died of it when he was younger-sparks happened within the scientific mind of this already scientific knowledgeable young boy!) The kid reads medical journals for fun...WTF? GREAT!

The test also works for ovarian and lung cancer among other types of cancers. The possibilities are endless now many professionals in the medical field agree.

 HIS TESTS IS 100 TIMES MORE SENSITIVE AND 28 TIMES CHEAPER (ABOUT 3 CENTS EACH TEST)

His diagnostic test earned him first prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world’s largest pre-college science research competition.
He said modestly, “I’m incredibly excited. It’s like the Olympics of science fairs. It’s just amazing to be here—even if I don’t get a prize.” Well, Jack Andraka did win, receiving about $100,000 in prize money ($75,000 from the grand prize and over $25,000 from other smaller prizes).  The high school freshman said he will put the money toward college tuition.

ANDRAKA beat out billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies with his diagnostic test. Perhaps as a young person with no experience, he hadn’t yet learned what everyone else in the industry “knew couldn’t be done.”

I saw the video of his winning and it moved me like few similar videos have.

CHEAP BUSES-A DEATH TRAP? D.O.T. SPEAKS OUT

WHAT IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS SIDEWALK PICK-UP BUSES (CHEAP , NOT HIGHLY REGULATED, "BOLT", ETC,)) ARE BEING HEAVILY MONITORED & CLOSED...

 

Besides the shuttered bus operations, 10 people -- company owners, managers and employees -- were ordered to stop all involvement in passenger transportation operations, including selling bus tickets, the Transportation Department said.

Cheap bus rides between Philadelphia and places like New York and Washington, D.C. took a hit Thursday after local “Chinatown Bus” companies were shut down suddenly the night before.

The website for Philly-based New Century Travel Bus had the following message posted after the government shut their operation and 25 others along the I-95 corridor down:

“The Website is Temporary Close Down”

NBC10 talked to travelers needing to find another way to go after showing up to find their bus trips were canceled from the pickup point at 11th and Arch Streets in Chinatown.

Other Philly-based companies included in the government crackdown included Wahoo Tour and Charter Inc. and Universe Bus Inc.

More than two dozen bus operators -- some dubbed as "Chinatown Buses" -- that transported more than 1,800 passengers a day along Interstate 95 between New York and Florida have been closed for safety violations in what federal officials say is the government's largest single safety crackdown of the motor coach industry, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Teams of officials for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, armed with legal orders declaring the bus operations imminent hazards to public safety, swooped down Wednesday on companies based in six states: Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Officials withheld details about the operation until Thursday.

The shutdown orders were aimed at the companies' headquarters and at bus pickup locations. Most of the 233 bus routes serviced by the companies either departed from or terminated in New York City's Chinatown district.

UPDATE DECEMBER 12, 2013:
52 OF THESE BUS COMPANIES WERE SHUT DOWN TODAY  (go onlie for the complete list)--these are the NEW YORK ONES:

—Coach USA Tour Inc., not affiliated with Coach USA Inc. of Paramus, N.J., which still operates.
—Horizon Coach Inc.
—Gotham Coach Service Inc.
—Uniworld Tours, Inc.

AMY WINEHOUSE'S HOME FOR SALE

Gotta say a bit creepy--too soon???
 I know many people, esp. in Hollywood, live in dead movie stars' homes of yesteryear and some even living (ELLEN is selling her CA. home). Who's to say if this it an honor or a weird fascination (I wouldn't mind living in  the late Marilyn Monroe's NYC apt or Her former Brentwood home, so I'm no better, I guess.

"Amy Winehouse's London home up for sale

Ten months following Amy Winehouse's death, the late singer's family has decided to sell the London home in which she lived.

According to the U.K.'s Guardian, Winehouse's Camden Square apartment in northwest London is up for sale to the tune of £2.7 million, or $4.2 million.
A spokesperson for the family told The Sun that the decision was made with "great regret," but the family felt it would be inappropriate for any of them to move in.

Last July, Winehouse was found dead in the apartment at the age of 27, and mourners visited the address to pay tribute to the singer..."

JOBS--THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!

 


This year more people are being hired after college than last year.; the salaries are also higher.

If you want to get a great, high-paying job this year use your engineering degree (next is computer science).

AMERICAN IDOL RUNNER-UP SALARY

• View PhotoFILE - In this May 23, 2012 file photo, finalists Phillip Phillips, left, and Jessica …

"LOS ANGELES (AP) — Coming in second on "American Idol" may still be a path to superstardom, but it no longer offers guaranteed paychecks worthy of the next pop idol or rock star.

Wednesday night's runner-up, 16-year-old Jessica Sanchez, doesn't have a definite shot at producing an album and could be paid as little as $30,000 in advances for recording singles, according to the "Idol" contract she and other Season 11 contestants signed earlier this year.
The agreement appears to be the first time in "Idol's" history that producers are not offering the show's runner-up an album deal that in previous years came with a guaranteed advance of at least $175,000, an Associated Press review of the Fox show's contracts reveals..."

But let's face it she will have endorsement deals and I have the sneaking suspicion that her future album will sell much more than the handsome Philip.

CEMETERY SCAMS-CORPORATIONS OWN THEM & WILL RIP YOU OFF

 The bottom line is that most of the cemeteries that you are familiar with in your hometown are, more than likely, run by one of the industry’s biggest corporations.

In general, it is only the very tiniest – and most remote -- of cemeteries that are run by the small, local groups. In most U.S. cities the largest, best known cemeteries are owned by the giant, national (or even multi-national) corporations that dominate the industry. These companies are Service Corp International, Stewart Enterprises, Carriage Services and, one of the newest national players in the industry, Keystone North America.

"DIGNITY MEMORIAL" is part of a huge corporation, SERVICE CORP. INTERNATIONAL, who last year made 365 million dollars on the "death care industry".
Although funeral parlors are regulated by the FCC to protect consumers, cemeteries are not..."


THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF!!!

BE CAREFUL!!!

Case in point:

BLACK CEMETERY SCANDAL

"CHICAGO, IL - An archaeologists' report says investigators found bodies dumped in an unused corner of a suburban Chicago cemetery in greater numbers than first thought.
Burr Oak Cemetery manager Carolyn Towns and several others were charged in July 2009 in an alleged scheme to unearth bodies to make way for new burials, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The site is of special significance to Chicago's African-American community because it was one of the first to allow blacks to bury their loved ones.
The exhumed coffins and bodies were allegedly dumped in an unused corner of the cemetery in numbers far greater than the original investigation found, the newspaper reported...."

All this to make way for more bodies; hence, more money for the corporation running it.

ANDERSON COOPER WINS JEOPARDY-$50K FOR THE TREVOR PROJECT

"WASHINGTON -- CNN's Anderson Cooper, playing on behalf of an organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBT youth, won Friday's "Jeopardy!" Power Players, beating New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and NBC's Kelly O'Donnell.
The Trevor Project*, Cooper's sponsored charity, won $50,000..."

This is when celebrity is used for great causes:

 Kelly O'Donnell and  Thomas Friedman both won $10,000 on behalf of their charities, the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation and Conservation International, respectively.

*THE TREVOR PROJECT-WE SAVE LIVES

" THE TREVOR LIFELINE – 866.488.7386
[U.S. CALLS ONLY]
The Trevor Lifeline is the only nationwide, around-the-clock suicide prevention and crisis intervention lifeline for LGBTQ youth. The Trevor Lifeline is a free and confidential service that offers hope and someone to talk to, 24/7. Volunteer Lifeline counselors staff our three call centers, The Randy Stone Call Center East Coast, The Randy Stone Call Center West Coast and The Harvey Milk Call Center. Each year, tens of thousands of calls are fielded from young people across the country. The Trevor Lifeline is accredited as an exemplary crisis intervention program by the American Association for Suicidology (AAS)..."


KUDOS!!!----esp. to our boy, Anderson..it's your year!!!!!!!

FACEBOOK STOCK, IS IT FOR YOU?

"Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell remotely, from company headquarters in California.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Facebook's stock market debut finally came and went -- but for all the breathless hype, shares ended right near their offering price.
On Thursday night, Facebook (FB) set its final IPO price at $38 a share. When the stock began trading at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday, the first trade came in at $42.05 per share -- a gain of nearly 11%..."

My advice is if you are able to buy, go ahead,  but you may need $250 -$500 K in the bank to even try (you may get leftovers and buy some from private traders). My real advice is if you intend on having grandchildren then buy (and leave it to them in your will), I have a feeling not too much $$$ in shares will go up in my lifetime., so I'll bow out.

I have never liked intangible things like stocks; then again, I don't know too much about it.
 I was a firm believer in real estate & look how that turned out!
 I still believe that at least with real estate you have shelter and a tangible commodity.

WHO KNOWS???
I DON'T...