CrimeWatch: Two email scams you shouldn’t fall for

This week I am going to share with you some scam emails that are going around. People are falling for them, but many could have been avoided with some common sense. If you get an email like the one below, please call the person before sending cash, which many have done and have lost their money.

Caught out of the country

Omg!! I’m writing this with tears in my eyes, my family and I came down here to Perth, Scotland, in United Kingdom for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed, all cash, credit card and cell were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us. We’ve been to the embassy and the police here but they’re not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in less than 19 hours from now, but we’re having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won’t let us leave until we settle the bills, I’m freaked out at the moment.

Sandy scams

Dear Friend, in light of what happened in the Northeast, here is a great opportunity for you to help and make some money. FEMA needs clean-up crews for South Jersey. It’s $1,000 for seven days, hotel and food included. Call this number... [The fraudster’s number would be here.] We will contact you as soon as possible. Thank you for applying.

The latter is a scam that is truly deplorable, but due to the kind hearts of many, they have fallen for it and have given their social security number, date of birth and other information that probably will be used in identity theft. Here the first thing one should have done is gone to the FEMA sight to see if it’s true.

The above scams were emailed to me from several readers, so please be careful, and as I always say, learn to use the “delete” key because if it involves money you have to dish out, it’s a scam.

Assault weapons

Now on to a subject that we should all be adamant about, and that is the murders that have been caused by assault weapons this past year.

On Sept. 13, 2004, the federal assault weapons ban expired. This ban was put in place in 1994, and outlawed 19 types of military-style assault weapons. A clause directed that the ban expire unless Congress specifically reauthorized it, and our congressional leaders did not. Shame on them! These are the consequences we are now seeing across the country. As stated by many in the law-enforcement community, these weapons are nothing more than “cop-killer guns”.

I always tell you that we need to get involved, we need to be part of our community, and we must demand that our community be a safe place to live. Therefore I ask you to please contact your representatives in Congress and ask them to support this ban. I truly believe that the killing of 20 little children should be sufficient for our congressional leaders to take the appropriate action. If you don’t know who your House member is, go to www.house.gov/representatives/find and you can find your representative.

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Monti, in Twitter Q&A, says new voting law priority for Italy

ROME (Reuters) – Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Saturday if he wins February’s parliamentary election one of his first acts would be to overhaul the voting law to improve democracy and government stability.

Monti, 69, who last week confirmed he would lead a centrist coalition in the February 24-25 vote, called himself a “bit of a pioneer” in politics during nearly 2 hours of #MontiLive tweets.

The electoral law is unpopular because party leaders select candidates and voters cannot choose their representatives. For technical reasons, it also makes forming a stable majority more difficult, leading to broad and unwieldy coalitions.

“This electoral law is not worthy of a country like Italy,” said Monti of the 2005 legislation passed when centre-right rival Silvio Berlusconi was in power.

Monti and Berlusconi trail the centre-left in opinion polls and have made multiple appearances, mainly on TV, over the past week as they seek to recoup support and motivate voters who have said they do not intend to vote.

A poll by the Tecne research institute released on SkyTG24 on Friday showed Monti’s grouping would likely attract slightly more than 12 percent of the vote.

That compared with 40 percent for the centre-left bloc led by Pier Luigi Bersani’s Democratic Party (PD); and 25 percent for the most likely centre-right coalition of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) and the Northern League.

In a separate tweet, Monti indicated he would “dialogue” with anyone after the vote whether he wins or not, as long as they are “reformists”.

BERLUSCONI BROADSIDE

Speaking at the same time in a live interview on the website of Corriere della Sera newspaper, Berlusconi said he would never again ally himself with Monti even though he offered him the leadership of the centre-right just a few weeks ago.

“All Italian citizens, in one way or another, are suffering” as a result of Monti’s 13 months in power, said Berlusconi, who says austerity has led the country into a recessionary spiral.

Monti took over in November 2011 when Italy was scrambling to avert a financial crisis and after Berlusconi, besieged by a sex scandal involving an underage prostitute, stepped down.

Berlusconi repeated on Saturday that his resignation was the result of an international plot to oust him and denied having made mistakes during his more than nine years in power.

“My only error is that I have not been able to explain what I have done for the country,” Berlusconi said.

“By now (Monti’s) image has become that of a person with whom I could not possibly collaborate,” Berlusconi said, calling the prime minister’s new alliance with two of Berlusconi’s former allies a “triple disaster”.

Berlusconi said a renewed accord with the Northern League may be finalized on Sunday. The Northern League has said the 76-year-old billionaire must not be the bloc’s prime ministerial candidate for a sixth time.

“Monti is an enemy of the north, and stopping him from returning to government is a categorical priority for us. Who is against Monti is an ally of the League,” Northern League leader Roberto Maroni tweeted on Saturday.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Cher Signs Development Deal with Logo

Logo just announced at The Television Critics Association in Pasadena, CA that the network has signed a development deal with the ultimate gay icon, Cher.

AUDIO - Listen to Cher's New Song

The show, which is in its earliest stages of development, would mark Cher's first regular TV gig since The Sonny and Cher Show ended in 1977.

While this could change before the show hits the air (if it actually does), Cher's Logo show is set to revolve around Hollywood in the 1960s. It's unknown what Cher's on-screen participation will be like at this time. 

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That’s hypocritic-Al

Michael Goodwin

As Oscar Wilde said, “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” In that spirit, I give up resisting the urge to shout “HYPOCRITE.”

Not once, but a thousand times.

Start with Al Gore, the low-hanging fruit in the “say one thing, do another” culture. With his sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera, the almost-president instantly doubled his charlatan quotient.

The blowhard who often proclaims the end of the world is nigh because of fossil fuels sold his TV business to the emir of Qatar, king of the oil patch. But Gore’s scheming didn’t stop there. He also reportedly wanted to finalize the deal before the end of the year so his $100 million windfall wouldn’t be subject to new higher tax rates he zealously supported.

He’s not alone in urging tax hikes he tried to avoid. From the Washington Post to Costco to Warren Buffett to Hollywood, the woods are full of devotees to that Sage of Selfishness, Leona Helmsley. The Queen of Mean insisted that “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes,” just before she was marched off to prison for tax evasion.

Her acolytes are hypocrites, but not felonious. President Obama’s Tinseltown pals got lucrative tax breaks and, after declaring themselves eager to pay their fair share, the Post and Costco pushed 2013 dividends into 2012 so higher taxes this year wouldn’t hit their wallets. Sharpies for sure, especially Buffett, who is on the Post board and is a big stockholder. He made himself the poster boy for soaking the rich, though “Taxes for thee, but not for me” is his real creed.

There’s no telling how many wealthy Obama supporters helped fuel the surge of apartment sales in deep-blue Manhattan, but brokers say the coming hikes played a role. With capital-gains taxes going from 15 percent to 23.8 percent, including an ObamaCare hit, sellers took the money and ran. A friend tells of a rich liberal who did exactly that — sold before the ball dropped and moved to Connecticut to avoid New York City and state taxes as well.

Liberals, of course, don’t have a monopoly on failing to practice what they preach. Republican Gov. Chris Christie is famous for insisting that New Jersey live within its means, and good for him for showing it can be done. But when he gets to the federal trough, he eats with both hands.

Christie, along with Long Island Republican Congressman Pete King, leveled savage attacks on House Speaker John Boehner. Boehner’s “crime” was not instantly approving every penny of the $60 billion of aid New York, New Jersey and Connecticut demanded after Hurricane Sandy.

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Billionaire Phillip Frost an ‘entrepreneur’s entrepreneur’

For that blind first date, a half-century ago, the young doctor, Phillip Frost, showed up at Patricia Orr’s family house in suburban New York, with an unusual gift: a miniature mushroom garden.

In the 50 years since, Frost, the son of a shoe store owner, has gone on to amass a fortune of $2.4 billion, according to Forbes magazine, becoming the 188th wealthiest man in the United States by developing and selling pharmaceutical companies. Along the way, he and Patricia have become major philanthropists in Miami-Dade County and they’ve signed a pledge to give away at least $1 billion more.

“He’s a relentless guy,” says Miami banker Bill Allen, who’s know him for more than 40 years. “He’s not afraid to take risks. ... He knows the intimate details of the chemistry of products, and he’s the kind of guy who can examine 50 deals while eating a sandwich.”

CNBC’s Jim Cramer recently praised Frost’s “incredible track record” for developing companies, calling Frost’s latest endeavor, OPKO Health, a “very risky” investment while noting it could offer huge gains under Obamacare.

But back in 1962, Patricia’s first impression was that Phil Frost was a bit of a nerd, finishing his medical internship with a strong interest in research — including mushrooms. She figured an academic career loomed.

“My mother was very impressed,” recalls Patricia, not so much by the M.D. behind Frost’s name but by the gift, something more serious than the usual flowers or candy. Serious was fine with Patricia, who was living at home while working toward a master’s degree in education at Columbia University. For their first date, they listened to a classical music concert.

Frost’s rise to riches may seem highly distinctive, but in an odd coincidence he has much in common with another prominent Miamian. Frost, 76, and car dealer Norman Braman, 80, both frequently appear on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans. Both grew up in Philadelphia — Frost the son of a man who sold shoes, Braman son of a barber. Both are Jewish, well-known art collectors and philanthropists.

“He’s an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur,” says Braman. “We have a lot in common, coming from very poor families. But he went to Central High (a public school for exceptional students) and I was not qualified to go there.”

There are other differences. While Braman is voluble and highly visible in the causes he supports, Frost tends to be a reticent, almost shy speaker, given to careful pauses.

‘Lucky chances’

Told that a former colleague had called Frost “lucky,” Frost thought for a long moment. He could have cited many national business stories about his business acumen. Instead, he responded crisply: “I’ll be satisfied with lucky. I benefited from chance meetings.”

Frost spent his first years living above the shoe shop within an Italian market in South Philly. His two brothers were 15 and 16 years older. “I was an afterthought.”

The family was religiously observant, and Frost recalls his father singing him songs in Yiddish when he was small. He lived at home while attending the University of Pennsylvania, except for a year abroad in France. He took many science courses, but his major was French literature.

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In Miami’s Wynwood district, the party has overtaken the art

First there was the woman who sat down in the middle of the gallery and spilled her drink on the floor. Then there was another woman who snuck into the gallery’s parking garage, her pants halfway pulled down, desperately looking for a bathroom.

But what made Pan American Art Projects Director Janda Wetherington decide to stop participating in Wynwood’s Second Saturday Art Walks was when someone spilled wine onto a $15,000 painting, then bailed before anyone noticed.

“By that point, we had already stopped offering wine or water to people who came into the gallery, and we even had someone guarding the door to make sure no one brought any food or drink inside,” Wetherington said. But even that tactic failed. “That’s when we started opening earlier in the afternoon on Second Saturdays and close by 8 p.m. at the latest.”

The monthly art walks, which are held the second Saturday of each month, draw thousands of young people and usually wind up as boisterous block parties. On Tuesday, ARTtuesdays/MIAMI will present a panel discussion titled “What’s Next for the Wynwood Art Galleries?” at Books & Books in Coral Gables to explore whether the neighborhood’s increasingly bustling nightlife, combined with the large number of empty warehouse spaces and a lack of a geographical center, may have a negative impact on the galleries.

“Wynwood now has an international profile,” says Helen Kohen, the art historian and critic who will moderate the panel. “It’s been written about a lot. All the people who come to Art Basel have been to Wynwood for various reasons. So here Miami finally has developed a viable arts center, and it seems to be imploding.”

Wedged between 20th and 36th streets, just east of I-95, Wynwood’s Art District is currently home to more than 70 museums, galleries and collections. One of the neighborhood’s most popular attractions are the Wynwood Walls, giant murals that line the streets painted by renowned graffiti artists. There is even a movie theater, O Cinema, that specializes in art film fare.

But the neighborhood is also dotted by vacant warehouses, industrial businesses and eyesore buildings that get in the way of the intended art village vibe.

Fredric Snitzer, one of the few Miami gallerists invited to exhibit at Art Basel Miami Beach, says he doesn’t even bother to open on Second Saturdays any more. He is also pessimistic about the future of Wynwood as a thriving art district, even though he was one of the area’s pioneers (his gallery opened in 1977).

“I don’t know what is going to happen here,” he says. “One of the initial aspirations I had for the neighborhood is that there were so many beautiful kinds of raw spaces that perhaps serious galleries from out-of-town would come in and there would be a Chelsea or SoHo feel — a cluster of galleries showing solid work.

“But there are too many buildings spread out over too large of an area. The neighborhood is sprawling and it still has quite a bit of a crime problem. If it was smaller, the city could control it. But now, there’s a gallery over here and a restaurant a mile away over there. I don’t have the aspirations I used to have about the neighborhood any more.’’

Susan P. Kelley, director of the Kelley Roy Gallery, says that because her gallery is not located on NW Second Avenue — ground zero for the Second Saturday parties — she has been spared a lot of the chaos.

“We don’t get the herds; we get to cultivate our audience to come to us,” she says. “But the tide has shifted dramatically. We used to serve wine, and we stopped that two years ago because kids would come in, pick up the glasses of wine and leave. One of the purposes of a gallery is to provide entertainment to people. Not everyone is a buyer. But you still want them to come to enjoy the art and learn and have their minds expanded. Just not to the point where it isn’t respected.’’

Kelley says that “very little” art is sold on Second Saturdays, and points out that an increasing number of art dealers are holding their openings via invitation on Thursday or Friday nights instead.

But other gallery owners say Second Saturdays are an effective way to entice younger people to pay attention to art.

“People in the art world are constantly complaining that contemporary art doesn’t have a modern audience, and this is one way to fix that,” says Nina Johnson-Milweski, director of Gallery Diet. On Second Saturdays, she extends opening hours to 9 p.m. from her usual 5 p.m. closing time.

“Part of my interest in running a gallery isn’t just for the business: It’s also for the cultural benefit of the city as a whole. A lot of people who live in Miami aren’t even aware of the art scene here.”

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New Jersey man accused of trying to hire “cannibal cop” to kidnap woman

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New Jersey man offered to pay $ 5,000 to the so-called “cannibal cop” to kidnap a woman and deliver her to be raped, U.S. officials alleged on Friday.

Federal authorities arrested Michael Vanhise, 23, and charged him with conspiracy to commit kidnapping with Gilberto Valle III, a New York police officer who was arrested in October and charged with conspiring to kidnap, torture, cook and eat women.

In a series of emails last year, Vanhise tried to bargain down the kidnapping fee and urged the police officer to “just make sure she doesn’t die before I get her,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.

“No need to worry,” Valle replied in an email, prosecutors allege. “She will be alive. It’s a short drive to you.”

Vanhise admitted to investigators he sent the emails, prosecutors said.

Valle, nicknamed the “cannibal cop” by New York media, was accused of targeting women whose names were discovered in a file on his computer.

In November, Valle pleaded not guilty and said he was merely engaged in online fantasy role play.

Vanhise was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He was expected to appear in court Friday afternoon. His attorney, Alice Fontier, did not immediately return a call for comment.

The emails between the two men “read like a script from a bad horror film,” Manhattan federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said Friday in a statement.

Vanhise was also accused of emailing photos and the home address of a girl from his Hamilton, New Jersey neighborhood to two unnamed people, according to a criminal complaint, which said Vanhise solicited the girl’s kidnapping.

Prosecutors said Vanhise tried to bargain down the price for the kidnapping to $ 4,000.

“Could we do 4?” Vanhise asked Valle in an email last February, according to the complaint.

“I am putting my neck on the line here … $ 5,000 and you need to make sure that she is not found,” Valle responded. “She will definitely make news.”

Valle’s estranged wife tipped off authorities after she discovered a disturbing file on his computer, a law enforcement official said at the time.

The file, called “Abducting and Cooking: A Blueprint,” contained the names and pictures of at least 100 women, and the addresses and physical descriptions of some of them, according to court documents.

Authorities charged last fall that Valle had undertaken surveillance of some of the women at their places of employment and their homes.

Valle was denied bail by a judge who called the charges “profoundly disturbing.”

Both men face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. The case has disturbed even veteran criminal investigators.

“No effort to characterize the defendant’s actions is necessary,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos in a statement. “The factual allegations more than suffice to convey the depravity of the offense.”

(Reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Alden Bentley)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Rare Photo Of Teenage Princess Diana

A never-before-seen photograph featuring the late Princess Diana has been made public in the weeks before the rare pic is set to go up for auction.

The black-and-white snapshot displaying a "not to be published" marking shows a teenage Diana lounging next to an until-now mystery pal, reportedly dating back to 1981.

Pics: Remembering Diana 15 Years After Her Death

"The young man was Adam Russell, the great-grandson of former prime minister Stanley Baldwin," Andrew Morton, Diana's biographer, revealed to the U.K.'s Guardian. Through his investigation, the writer discovered the context of the photograph was not intimate, as it appears at first glance. Apparently the twosome had been injured while skiing and simply kept each other company for the afternoon.

Now that's not to say the young man didn't escape Diana's charms.

Related: Naomi Watts Talks Princess Diana Movie - Exclusive

"Adam was somewhat smitten," adds Morton. "But absolutely nothing happened."

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Oscars in ‘Bond’age

LOS ANGELES — This year’s Academy Awards will feature a celebration of Bond, James Bond.

Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced yesterday that the show will pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the James Bond franchise, which they describe as “a beloved global phenomenon.”

The most recent Bond film, “Skyfall,” was released in November and has made more than $1 billion.

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Needle reaches the inner groove for Spec’s

In the end, even the almighty Adele and Taylor Swift could not hold back the inevitable.

Spec’s, one of the last great record stores, will close its flagship location in Coral Gables on U.S.1, thus joining once-favored chains like Virgin, Tower and Peaches, locally and abroad, that have withered from Internet shopping.

With the closing, sometime in January after the merchandise is liquidated, 64 years of history becomes memory for countless people who discovered a love of music in the home Martin “Mike” Spector built in 1948 when U.S.1 was but a two-lane road.

The original store, which sold cameras alongside 78-rpm records, was a few blocks south on the highway in South Miami and is now an Einstein’s bagel spot. The present location, opened in 1953 in Coral Gables, lived through the bobby sox era, Beatlemania, disco, punk, hip hop/rap, grunge, electronic dance music and all the format changes including 12-inch vinyl, 45-rpm, reel to reel, 8-track, cassette, compact disc and mp3.

After the first music industry recession in the late 1970s, Spec’s still managed to double in size by breaking through the walls of two restaurants in 1980 on its north side. The original room on the south side of the building would house, first, Spec’s’ VHS movie rentals and sales — Saturday Night at Spec’s! — and, later, one of the most expansive collections of classical music in town.

“It’s the soundtrack of our lives,” said store manager Lennie Rohrbacher, who spent 23 years of his life working at Spec’s, from Clearwater to Coral Gables

Music sales

At its peak, the Spec’s chain grew to some 80 stores in Florida and Puerto Rico. In 1993, annual sales exceeded $70 million. Spec’s went public in 1985 and, in 1998, the Spectors sold to Camelot Music Group, which was acquired by Trans World Entertainment Corp.

Trans World, which did not return several telephone messages, shrewdly kept the Spec’s name attached to the flagship store as goodwill even though, technically, it operated under the company’s retail subsidiary, F.Y.E. (For Your Entertainment).

But those are the cold, hard business facts.

Spec’s was “not like another Eckerd’s,” a drug store chain that also slipped into oblivion amid changing times, said Rohrbacher. “This was part of the community, part of my life. It’s not another store going under.”

Indeed, Spec’s was, first and foremost, a community gathering spot to share a love of music. In the ‘70s and ‘80s Spec’s resembled a makeshift camp site where people would sleep overnight in the parking lot to get the best shot at concert tickets in a pre-Internet world. Spec’s, a hop-skip from the University of Miami’s music school, served as its own music education outlet thanks to a knowledgeable sales staff.

Music education

“The proximity to the UM is prime real estate. Not to have it there will really be different. Even if they didn’t have what I was looking for, the staff was knowledgeable and you were sort of tapping into this knowledge base of people who could turn you on to new music. That’s what I’ll miss about it and the community around the store,” said Margot Winick, an employee at the Coral Gables Spec’s in the mid-1980s when she was a freshman at the UM.

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