Lobbyist names California lawmaker she says masturbated in front of her in hotel bathroom

A Sacramento lobbyist said Monday that Assemblyman Matt Dababneh cornered her in a hotel bathroom in Las Vegas last year and masturbated in front of her.

The explosive allegation, which comes more than six weeks after lobbyist Pamela Lopez first publicly discussed the incident without naming the perpetrator, prompted an Assembly investigation and a sharp rebuke from Dababneh, a Los Angeles Democrat.

“This is a moment. This is a moment of collective action,” Lopez said in a press conference at her Q Street office. “I find strength in that collective action, and I find strength in their numbers. I want to stand with them and show that there is a path to stepping forward and seeking justice.”

Dababneh denied the allegation in a statement released by The Rose Group, a Santa Monica public relations firm.
“I affirmatively deny that this event ever happened – at any time,” he said. “I am saddened by this lobbyist’s effort to create this falsehood and make these inflammatory statements, apparently for her own self-promotion and without regard to the reputation of others. I look forward to clearing my name.”

Extreme winds are fueling uncontrollable fires in Southern California. Here’s what we know

Massive wildfires that burned across Southern California on Wednesday have destroyed hundreds of homes, closed schools and set off mass evacuations. Five fires are currently ablaze, and the largest — the Thomas fire in Ventura County — has reached the Pacific coast after starting 30 miles inland, according to the Associated Press.

The Thomas fire erupted late Monday. By Wednesday morning, it had ripped through 65,000 acres, the Ventura County Fire Department said on its website. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency after at least 150 homes were destroyed, and 50,000 people were forced to evacuate.

Cal Fire officials reported that several of these fires ignited earlier this week and have now rapidly spread across 85-square-miles of land. Emergency responders dispatched quickly to evacuate residents and shut down roads, but the fires became unruly and violent. It’s been deemed unsafe, especially at the Thomas fire, for rescuers to enter the area.

Pope Francis calls for Lord's Prayer to be altered

Pope Francis has called on the Roman Catholic Church to alter the Lord’s Prayer because he believes the current translation suggests God is capable of leading us “into temptation”.

He has suggested he wants to make a change to The Lord's Prayer,popularly known among Catholics as the “Our Father.”

According to Reuters, the Pope during a televised interview Wednesday he would prefer to adjust the phrase “lead us not into temptation,” saying that it too strongly suggested that God leads people to sin.

CRISTIANO RONALDO WINS FIFTH BALLON D'OR TO EQUAL LIONEL MESSI

The Real Madrid star took home the prize after guiding his team to a La Liga and Champions League double in 2016-17
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 2017 Ballon d'Or.
It is the fifth time the Portugal international has won the prize, drawing him level with his great rival Lionel Messi for the most Ballons d'Or of all time. Ronaldo scored 42 goals across all competitions during the 2016-17 season, leading Real Madrid to a La Liga and Champions League double.

Lessons From a Dad Who’s Fostered More Than 50 Kids

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My wife and I lost our first child to a brain condition. Years later, when we had three healthy kids of our own, we saw a lot of children around us who were suffering abuse and neglect as well as children who had been abandoned. We thought: “We lost our first child. How can we help other kids?

 

For fifteen years now, we’ve had over 50 kids come into our home. We averaged nine children in our house at a time for a great long time but have had as many as 11, from as young as 27 hours old to 18 years of age — and everything in between. One year, we had seven kids in diapers on Christmas.

 

When I was a teacher, I saw the need for foster parents in my classroom every day. Fifty-five percent of kids in foster care will quit school before they age out of the system. Sixty-five percent will end up homeless, and 75 percent will end up in jail. The cycle will just repeat itself for the next generation. Two of the three kids I have adopted, their parents, and grandparents were all in foster care. That’s when I knew foster care could be the way we help.
The kids that come to our home have suffered tremendous abuse and are suffering from great anxieties. So it’s hard for them. They don’t want to be in our house. They want to go back to their own home. Our norm is not their norm. I’m not their daddy, my wife’s not their mommy.         

Can You Be Successful If You Have Too Many Ideas?

Are you one of those business owners who has 17 new ideas a day?
I am, and a few years ago, when I was first starting my business, here’s what I had on my plate: a freelance design research consultancy, a research collaborative, a startup, an empowerment bootcamp for women, a speaker series, and a pop-up dinner club.
Whew.
Today I run only two companies, and they are successful: a career growth training company for creative women, and a small design research consultancy. But back then, it was tiring and exhausting, and it definitely wasn’t very financially sustainable.
My accountant once said, “I don’t understand how Mia is doing so much but making so little money.”
During this time, I picked up a book — Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky. There was a little graph in it that stopped me in my tracks, because it described my life perfectly.

8 Things a Parent Should Never Say to Their Children

 

In the absence of any real strategy, many parents opt for a stream-of-consciousness style of parenting — which is to say they react to their kid’s behaviors with a litany of seemingly parental phrases they’ve picked up over the years. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the approach — it’s certainly understandable — but unfortunately, many of the cliches at hand are based on outdated or wrongheaded assumptions about how kids work. Others phrases aren’t actually productive in the ears of children, but are merely emotional reactions to the stress of being responsible for tiny, crazed humans. These are eight of the worst and most common phrases to avoid.
“Get it Out of Your System”
Sometimes kids struggle with mysterious compulsions. They might be unable to fight the urge to run around the house naked, make annoying high pitched noises, or use potty talk. Some parents respond by offering a temporary reprieve of consequences so the kid can “get it out of their system.” Sadly, that concept is based on a tragic misunderstanding of the human brain and the concept of catharsis.

 

The fact is that children are not born with a finite desire to run naked through the house. That’s not how the human mind works. So, telling them to go ahead and run naked won’t somehow exhaust their urge to strip and sprint. In fact, it’s likely to do the opposite. A kid who is allowed to “get it out of their system” is actually delighting in having their behavior reinforced.                                  

REVEALED: The mystery buyer of Leonardo da Vinci painting sold for record $450M at NYC auction

• Saudi royal Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud has been revealed to be the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' painting
• It sold last month for a record breaking $450.3million during a Christie's auction in New York City
• Prince Bader is the Chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group
• Painting, which was authenticated in 2011, is now heading to the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum - the first museum to bear the Louvre name outside of Paris
• The museum has been billed as 'the first universal museum in the Arab world' in a sign of the oil-rich emirate's global ambitions

A Saudi prince has been revealed to be the mystery buyer of the $450.3million Leonardo da Vinci painting of Christ that is now heading to the Louvre Abu Dhabi in a coup for the bold new museum.
Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud shelled out the staggering amount on da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' during an auction last month at Christie's in New York City to make it the most expensive painting ever sold.
The New York Times confirmed that Prince Bader purchased the rare painting after citing documents it had reviewed while in the midst of an investigation into Saudi Arabia’s elite class, including his family and associates.

“He just didn’t want to upset the world” – Patti LaBelle on why Luther Vandross never Came Out as Gay

Patti LaBelle was a guest, along with Sam Smith, on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” where she discussed Luther Vandross’ sexuality.

Asked if there were any similarities between Sam Smith and Luther Vandross, LaBelle said:

There are voices in this world and once they sing it’s a stamp on everybody. Luther did that and he’s done it.

The talk went on to explore the friendship between LaBelle and Vandross, and while the latter’s sexuality has always been a cause for debate, Cohen asked if he ever struggled with coming out publicly. He said:

Obama blamed for Libyan slave trade

Former President Barack Obama has come under criticism after a series of videos showing men and women being sold in a renewed slave trade have gone viral in recent weeks.

Some critics have begun questioning how much the Obama administration contributed to the problem with its 2011 intervention in Libya. Obama has acknowledged the issue before, calling it the "worst mistake" of his presidency.

But as videos showing humans being sold into slavery shocks people around the world, the scrutiny has been renewed.

"The responsibility is on Barack Obama's administration," University of Texas professor, Alan J. Kuperman, said in an interview with Newsweek.
The United States launched an operation in Libya with NATO in 2011 in an attempt to save civilians who were targeted to be massacred by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Kuperman claims overthrowing Gadhafi led to many of the failed nation's issues, including the slave trade.

An investigation from CNN showed migrants being sold for as little as $400 at auction. Thousands of immigrants have fled Libya for Europe in an attempt to escape violence and instability.

Photos of 8yr old Boy Who Owns a Motorcycle Shop, & Hire People to Work for him is Breaking the Internet

A Young boy Kiberu Joseph is melting the hearts of internet users after photos of him reparing a motorcycle hit the internet, the 8year old had quite a challenging life during his early childhood hence growing up learning a few thing including learning how to repair motorcycles and now he uses his skills to survive.

Kiberu who also owns his own motor cycle garage in Kibaati town, Mubende District is a Primary two(P.2) pupil who takes some days off from school to repair motorcycles in order to help his poor father raise his (Kiberu Joseph) school fees of UGX 200000 per term hence enabling his study.

Life is not as easy as it looks but Kiberu here also hires a few people who help him run the garage while at school and even when he is around, these people he hires help him take care of a few heavy things he can’t handle by himself.

see mOre Photos of him below!

How often you hold your baby actually affects their DNA, study finds

A loving mother’s caress is more than simple comfort to an infant. Scientists have known for decades that touch is critically important for a child’s healthy development, according to an article in the journal Pediatric Child Health.

But now a new study shows that the amount a baby is touched can leave lasting, measurable effects — not just on behavior or growth, but all the way down to the molecular level of the DNA. Those changes, the scientists speculate, could have negative effects on the way the child grows and develops.

"A protector": Trial opens in death of teen who shielded girls from gunfire

A prosecutor said Tuesday at the start of the murder trial of three young men that at least 34 shots were fired in an attack that killed a Tennessee high school student who was posthumously lauded for courageously shielding two girls from the gunfire. Christopher Drone Bassett, Kipling Deshawn Colbert and Richard Gregory Williams III all face first-degree murder charges in connection with the Dec. 17, 2015, death of 15-year-old Zaevion Dobson in Knoxville.

Dobson's decision to protect his two friends was later hailed by then-President Barack Obama as an act of bravery.

Knox County Assistant District Attorney Phil Morton said Dobson was killed in an attack during a series of connected gang-related shootings in Knoxville that day. Morton said Dobson and his friends had gathered on a back porch after attending an evening high school basketball game when the shooters approached, firing shots from at least four weapons.

Former congresswoman Corrine Brown steals charity money from impoverished kids; sentenced to five years in prison

Former Congresswoman, Corrine Brown was yesterday sentenced to serve five years in prison for using charity donations meant for underprivileged students for personal use.

Brown was convicted months ago by a jury but on Dec 4th a federal judge sentenced her. Brown faced several allegations including fraud, lying on tax forms as well Congressional disclosures; which ended with Brown losing her seat. Amid the scandal, she also lost the primary election last year.

According to the Associated Press, officials accused Brown of using $800,000 of impoverished children’s charity money for her own. She stole money from a bogus charity, One Door For Education, which purported to give scholarships to poor children but instead filled the coffers of Brown and her associates.

Russia banned from 2018 Winter Olympics over doping scandal

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Tuesday that it has suspended Russia's Olympic team from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics over the country's doping scandal. The committee said it will allow athletes from the country to compete as neutrals at Pyeongchang Games.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic committee and IOC member Alexander Zhukov, and also banned Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vilaty Mutko from the Olympics for life. Mutko was the sports minister in 2014 and is the head of the organizing committee of soccer's next World Cup.

The Russian Olympic committee was also fined $15 million to pay for the investigation and future anti-doping work. The sanctions could be challenged at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.