Southern California apartment complexes that doubled as "maternity hotels" for Chinese women who want made-in-America babies were raided early Tuesday, capping an unprecedented federal sting operation, officials said.

NBC News was on the scene as Homeland Security agents swept into the luxury Carlyle in Irvine, California, which housed pregnant women and new moms who allegedly forked over $40,000 to $80,000 to give birth in the United States.

"I am doing this for the education of the next generation," one of the women told NBC News.

Snip:
The organizers who allegedly ran the Carlyle site, Chao Chen and Dong Li, used a website to drum up business, touting the benefits of a child with U.S. citizenship: 13 years of free education, low-cost college financial aid, less pollution, and a path for the entire family to emigrate when the child becomes an adult.

MANCHESTER-by-the-SEA, Mass. -- A Massachusetts man has found a way to profit from the several feet of snow in his yard: He's shipping it to people in warmer climates for the bargain price of $89 for six pounds.

Kyle Waring, of Manchester-by-the-Sea, got the idea while shoveling snow earlier this winter and launched ShipSnowYo.com.

At first he shipped 16.9-ounce snow-filled bottles for $19.99, but he found the snow melted by the time it arrived at its destination.

So he came up with a new plan, selling six pounds at a time. He tells Boston.com even if the snow melts a little by the time it arrives, the package can still make 10 to 15 snowballs.
He says he'll keep selling until people stop ordering.

The maker of Beneful pet food is facing a class action lawsuit alleging that the popular dog food has led to serious illness or death in more than 3,000 pets.
the suit claims that a mold byproduct used in the eight kinds of Beneful dog food has been found to have caused internal bleeding, liver failure, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, seizures, bloat and kidney failure.

Nestle Purina PetCare, the company that produces the food, said on its website that the by-product - propylene glycol -- used in the food is an "FDA-approved food additive that's also in human foods like salad dressing and cake mix."

Propylene glycol, an antifreeze component, and mycotoxins, toxins produced by fungus found in grains, are what is sickening the dogs, the lawsuit says.

In 1967, the CIA Created the Label "Conspiracy Theorists" ... to Attack Anyone Who Challenges the "Official" Narrative

Specifically, in April 1967, the CIA wrote a dispatch which coined the term “conspiracy theories” …
and recommended methods for discrediting such theories.
The dispatch was marked “psych” – short for “psychological operations” or disinformation –
and “CS” for the CIA’s “Clandestine Services” unit.

Summarizing the tactics which the CIA dispatch recommended:

Claim that it would be impossible for so many people would keep quiet about such a big conspiracy

Have people friendly to the CIA attack the claims, and point back to “official” reports

Claim that eyewitness testimony is unreliable

Claim that this is all old news, as “no significant new evidence has emerged”

Ignore conspiracy claims unless discussion about them is already too active

Claim that it’s irresponsible to speculate

Accuse theorists of being wedded to and infatuated with their theories

Accuse theorists of being politically motivated

Accuse theorists of having financial interests in promoting conspiracy theories

In other words, the CIA’s clandestine services unit created the arguments for attacking conspiracy theories as unreliable in the 1960s as part of its psychological warfare operations

Scattered across the ocean floor in the cold waters of the Arctic are nuclear submarines and reactors dumped by the Soviets up until the early 1990s.

Now, as energy companies are seeking to drill in those same waters, the Russian government has shown an interest in cleaning up its nuclear waste. But after decades of sitting on the ocean floor, some of the most dangerous pieces may be too unstable to remove, leaving the potential for radioactive material to leak, which could disrupt commercial fisheries and destroy aquatic ecosystems.

Snip.....
Before the London Convention of 1972, an international agreement that prohibited marine dumping, countries were free to use the oceans as a trash heep for nuclear waste. Though the Soviets signed the treaty in the late 1980s, it wasn't until after the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the Russians opened up to the international community about the extent of the Arctic dumping campaign.

Two years ago, the Russian government provided a tally: two submarines, 14 reactors — five of which contain spent nuclear fuel — 19 other vessels sunk with radioactive waste on board, and about 17,000 containers holding radioactive waste. The last known dumping occurred in 1993.

US signals likely delay in troop pullout from Afghanistan

President Barack Obama's new Pentagon chief said Saturday the United States was seriously considering slowing the pace of a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, as the country faces a growing Taliban insurgency.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's comments in Kabul offered the clearest sign yet that Washington was ready to delay the closure of some bases and retain more troops after appeals by Afghanistan's new President Ashraf Ghani and advice from commanders.

To safeguard "hard-won" progress, Obama "is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of US troops," Carter said after talks with Afghan leaders.

TBS and others are using compression technology to play content back at a slightly faster clip in order to get a few more seconds of air time for ads.

Some cable channels have gotten so edit- and compression-happy that they can now fit in more than 20 minutes of ads each hour,

several minutes more than what you’ll find on most prime-time network broadcasts.

This year, O Sky-Commander, it was my privilege to witness as the Earthlings selected their new king or empress.

I am not sure what to make of these creatures. Some possess great quantities of hair. Some possess almost none. Some consist entirely of hair and do not appear to be so-called “dogs” at all.

That they are the objects of veneration on this planet is beyond question. The hairless two-legged ones tend to their every whim. Each hair-beast is sequestered apart from most others of its kind and ministered to by one or more of the hairless uprights until the moment of judgment, during which seclusion it is addressed in a reverential high-pitched tone and given access to nutrition of all kinds.

They secrete a substance which is evidently much prized, as whenever they produced it, their attendants rushed to scoop it up, place it inside a small plastic sack, and to store it with other products of a similar kind. Could this be the unobtainium we have pursued across the galaxy?