Kansas woman makes $80 an hour to cuddle with complete strangers
LAWRENCE, Kan. – A woman in Kansas is getting paid to cuddle with people.
Robin Marie is a ‘professional cuddler.’ She provides a safe place for clients to receive platonic touch while also setting boundaries.
“I really believe in the power of touch and how it can heal people,” Marie told WDAF. “It can be as simple as me sitting on the couch just sitting next to someone. It can be holding hands with someone all the way to we’re laying horizontal on the bed and we are spooning.”
Marie got involved with therapeutic touch a few years ago after realizing she was touch-deprived.
“I wasn’t dating for a few years, and I saw a massage therapist in Kansas City and told her I realized the only time I was getting touched was when I got a massage,” she explained.
It took her three to four months to receive her certification as a “professional cuddler” from an online site called Cuddlist.
“There is a training process that you go through and practicum as well, and then you get certified by going through an evaluation with a specially-trained cuddlist,” she said.
Marie now has about 30 clients, ranging in age from 20-75 years old, and she charges $80 an hour.
“It’s really an opportunity for people to be able to explore how they would like to experience platonic touch for themselves,” Marie said. “It’s comforting, nurturing, soothing and, again, platonic.”
The sessions take place at a neutral home, and her clients must agree to the code of conduct, provide a copy of the driver’s license and participate in a video chat pre-screening before meeting in person.
“The baseline agreement that I have with every client is if either of us are ever uncomfortable, we agree to speak up and say something,” Marie said.
She said professional cuddling can help people feel more comfortable in their skin and, most importantly, connect with another person.
“That is something touch those for us through oxytocin release and neurotransmitter release. It really helps you feel connected and in touch with another human being when nothing else does.”
On Tuesday, Amy Thompson experienced her first professional cuddling session with Marie. The 27-year-old believes this kind of contact can help with understanding consent, especially in the #MeToo era.
“There’s this huge consent crisis where people don’t know how to explicitly communicate with each other and being a safe space like with what Robin does could be extraordinarily beneficial to myself and others,” Thompson said.
Marie admits therapeutic touch may not be for for everyone, but she thinks – with time – it won’t be as unconventional as it’s presently considered.
“It’s not going to be that long, maybe another 10 years or so, where it will be, ‘Oh yeah, that person’s a cuddler,’ like you say ‘That person’s a massage therapist,’ and I really look forward to that.”
via: https://pix11.com/2019/01/10/this-woman-is-a-professional-cuddler-getting-paid-for-platonic-touch/
Man who raped dying teen gets less than 3 years in prison
LYNNWOOD, Wash. – A Washington state man will spend less than three years in prison after drugging and raping an 18-year-old girl as she died of an overdose, a sentence the victim’s mother called “a joke,” according to KCPQ.
Brian Valera, 20, was sentenced Thursday for giving 18-year-old Alyssa Noceda drugs, raping her, then trying to hide her body after she died.
Alyssa’s mother, Gina Pierson, told KCPQ she feels anything but a sense of justice after the man responsible for her daughter’s death will spend less time in prison than a car thief.
“She was a very outgoing person, bubbly, smart, beautiful,” according to Pierson, who said she’ll never forget the happiness in her daughter’s eyes. “Just an overall great human being.”
Alyssa Noceda died last February of a drug overdose at a party. On Thursday, Brian Varela, the man prosecutors say was responsible for her death, was sentenced for his crimes.
“I’m heartbroken,” said Pierson. “She deserves justice and she’s not receiving it.”
Police say it happened inside a mobile home near Martha Lake. Court documents say Noceda used marijuana and snorted prescription drugs Valera shared with her – but she soon lost consciousness, and her lips turned blue.
Court documents say Valera sent pictures and text messages to his friends saying she had passed out and that he had had sex with her, but he never called first responders for help.
“She died from an acute combined overdose of fentanyl and a generic for Xanax,” said Pierson.
One of Valera’s friends eventually called police, and when they searched his home days later they found Noceda’s body stuffed into a crate.
Valera was sentenced to less than three years in prison for second degree manslaughter, third degree rape and unlawful disposal of remains.
“He chose not to do anything. He knew what was going on, he made that obvious in the text message and the photos he sent to his friends,” said Pierson. “He knew every single thing that was going on with her and he chose to do nothing. There were no mistakes in there.”
Valera could have called for help and avoided drug possession charges thanks to the state’s Good Samaritan law. Instead, court records say he raped his victim, tried to conceal his DNA evidence on her body and planned to bury her in a hole near Marysville.
Noceda’s mother says she hopes lawmakers pay attention to this case – and change state law to make sure other offenders face harsher punishments for similar crimes.
“I’m just appalled. It’s a joke. A slap on the wrist for taking someone’s life and violating another human being,” she said.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/19/its-a-joke-man-who-raped-dying-teen-gets-less-than-3-years-in-prison/
Man reportedly ate woman’s pet fish, later sent gross picture with caption ‘found your fish’
BATON ROUGE, La. – A man who allegedly ate a woman’s fish in her dorm room at LSU and later sent her a picture of his feces has been arrested.
The incident occurred on October 22, 2016, after LSU took on Ole Miss in Tiger Stadium, according to WBRZ.
21-year-old Maxwell Taffin, who was 18-years-old at the time of the incident, has been booked on one charge of cruelty to animals and one charge of improper telephone communications, according to WBRZ.
Taffin and two of his friends to stayed in one of the trio’s ex-girlfriend’s dorm room after the Ole Miss game.
When she returned to her room, Taffin reportedly said “check your fish tank” as he left.
The victim noticed Bumba, her pet Siamese fighting fish was missing, and soon received a text message showing feces in a toilet.
The photo was captioned “found your fish.”
When questioned by LSU police, Taffin reportedly said “Yeah, I’ll be honest with you. I ate [the victim’s] fish,” according to WBRZ.
Taffin told police “a lot of people” use his phone, which isn’t password protected.
LSU police issued a criminal summons for Taffin, but he failed to appear, leading to his arrest on January 8th.
Photo of black, white students segregated in South African classroom draws fire Elizabeth Llorente By Elizabeth Llorente | Fox News
A photo that an elementary school teacher in South Africa took of her classroom to soothe parents nervous about their children’s first day of school instead generated shock and outrage after it showed four black children sitting at a small table in a corner, separate from the white children seated at a larger table.
The teacher at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke in South Africa’s North West province, shared the picture on the school’s WhatsApp group, intended as an update for parents.
However at least one of the children’s mothers, who does not wish to be identified, was furious with the connotations.
All I saw was messages from the white parents saying ‘dankie, dankie [‘thank you, thank you’] but no one was saying anything about the separation of the learners,” she told the South African Times.
The chairman of the school’s governing body, Jozeph du Plessis, said the teacher thought she was helping the students feel at ease on their first day of school, by seating them with children from their own racial group.
“We saw the photo and we were also angered by what we saw,” he said. “The kids were quite unsettled – you must realize they were five years old on their first day at school – and she grouped them in a way she thought would settle them quickly and comfort them.
“There was no intent of racism or segregation from the teacher’s side. We are investigating – perhaps it could be a language issue, perhaps those kids are not speaking Afrikaans, but I can’t speculate.”
The controversy prompted a protest outside the school on Thursday, and some white parents retrieved their children from class.
Sello Lehari, the provincial Education Minister, said after stopping by the school: “From the information I got from the meeting, it seems that there are a lot of cases here of racism.
“I will send a team to do an investigation into all schools… to deal with issues of racism in totality,” Lehari said.
Student activist Mcebo Dlamini said on social media the most “provocative” thing about the whole situation “is not that black kids are ostracized from white kids, that is common in our supposedly post-apartheid Africa.”
“Rather what becomes painful is that there are black people who still insist that racism has ended and who think that blacks and whites can have peaceful relations that do not have undertones of racism.”
The teacher has subsequently been suspended, according to South Africa’s News24.
Article via FoxNews
American Boy, 16, Caught Fighting for ISIS in Syria, Militia Says
A 16-year-old American boy fighting on behalf of the Islamic State was captured on the battlefield in Syria, an American-backed force fighting the militants said Wednesday.
If the teenager is proved to be a United States citizen, he would be the first American minor to be caught fighting on behalf of the terrorist group overseas.
His arrest follows the capture of Warren Christopher Clark, 34, a former substitute teacher from Texas whose seizure in the same area was announced on Sunday. They are among the handful of American citizens — just five so far — who have been taken alive on the front line in the battle against the Islamic State, according to a database maintained by the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.
The militia that announced the boy’s capture, the Syrian Democratic Forces, said he was among eight foreign fighters who were apprehended this week in the last sliver of Islamic State-held territory in northeastern Syria. The others included citizens of Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
United States officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and over the weekend the same militia announced the capture of what they said was another American citizen. There were indications, however, that that person might be from Trinidad, according to Simon Cottee, a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Kent.
Mr. Cottee also said that he had a name very similar to that of the teenager said to be American in a database kept to track Islamic State fighters from Trinidad.
The captures were announced three weeks after President Trump declared “We have won against ISIS,” another name for the Islamic State, and ordered the withdrawal of 2,000 American troops from Syria.
While United States officials have estimated that 295 Americans either have joined or tried to join militant groups in Iraq and Syria, they have not said how many of those recruits successfully made it to the battle zone, nor which group they joined.
The database maintained by the Program on Extremism has identified just 55 American nationals who joined the Islamic State. That is a small fraction of the number from countries like France, from where at least 1,400 people are believed to have joined, according to the Paris-based Center for the Analysis of Terrorism.
While the 16-year-old would be the only American minor caught on the battlefield, other American teenagers have been found in Islamic State-controlled territory.
A 15-year-old girl from Kansas was repatriated from Syria, after being forced to travel to the war zone by her father. She was forcibly married to an ISIS fighter and was pregnant at the time of her capture.
And several other American teenagers have been arrested for trying to carry out attacks on behalf of the militants in the United States. Prosecuting them has proved difficult because of their age, said Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the George Washington University Program on Extremism.
In South Carolina, for instance, Zakaryia Abdin was accused of plotting an attack against soldiers on behalf of the Islamic State at age 16. He initially pleaded guilty to a firearms offense and was sentenced to one year in a juvenile facility. Only when he tried to travel to Syria following his parole, then age 18, did the Justice Department charge him with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
In New Jersey, Santos Colon, 17, pleaded guilty in 2017 to participating in a plot to kill Pope Francis during a Mass in Philadelphia two years earlier. He was released to a halfway house pending sentencing; he faces up to 15 years in prison.
“Here’s the concern with this case,” Mr. Hughes said, referring to the teenager apprehended in Syria. “How long has this young man been in Syria? Did he go early on with family? Or is it a more recent case of traveling? And he is purported to have been fighting for ISIS. It’s one thing to say it and another to prove it in a court of law, and authorities may well decide not to prosecute him given his age.”
Article via NYTimes
Florida Woman Breaks into Police Station, Eats Officer’s Chicken and Asparagus, Gets Arrested After Leaving ID Behind
Police have arrested a woman in Florida after she broke into a police station, stole food from an officer, and left her wallet behind.
Yvelande Jean-Pierre, 29, is believed to have smashed a window to enter the police station on 2210 S. Congress Avenue, in the early hours of January 3, according to a report by Boynton Beach Police Department.
She then took two readymade chicken and asparagus meals from the fridge, and heated one of the meals in the microwave.
“One of the meals appears to have been consumed inside of the kitchen area, as the asparagus was left on the counter next to the microwave,” the police report stated. She then left the premises.
Officers Darin Hederian and Gregg Koch arrived at the station at around 8:30am, to find that the window on the south side of the building, leading to the kitchen area, had been broken. Police believe Jean-Pierre stood on two recycling bins in order to access the opening.
Agent Andrew Berben later arrived at the police station, and confirmed that the meals were his, and he had paid $7 for each.
The police officers were able to track down the suspect after crime scene investigator Amanda Eichorst discovered a plastic shopping bag on top of a trash can at the front of the station.
At first, officers thought the bag was garbage, but soon noticed it contained Jean-Pierre’s Florida ID card, and a State of Florida Security Officers card.
Footage recorded by the station’s CCTV cameras showed Jean-Pierre walking to the front of the station at around 1:25am, and squeezing past a locked gate. She is then shown trying to open windows at the front of the station, but is unsuccessful. Fetching two recycling bins to the back of the building, she takes these to its south side.
By around 2:21, she is seen climbing over the police station gate, and heading south on S. Congress Avenue.
Police officers found the recycling bins depicted in the video underneath the broken window. Jean-Pierre is thought to have caused $300 worth of damage.
On January 9, detectives arrested Jean-Pierre and charged her with burglary to an unoccupied structure, theft and criminal mischief.
“Her first mistake was breaking into our substation,” Boynton Beach Police Department wrote in a caption to a statement on a document-sharing website.
“The second was eating Agent Berben’s chicken and asparagus (although she’s clearly not a fan of asparagus). Her third mistake was leaving her wallet and FL ID behind.”
Officers made similar remarks on Twitter, alongside a photo of the crime scene.
Article via NewsWeek
Dr. Bernice King Weatherman Who Said ‘Martin Luther Coon King’ Should Not Have Been Fired
Martin Luther King Jr.‘s daughter thinks the meteorologist who used a racial slur while saying her father’s name deserves a shot at redemption … but only after some rehabilitation.
Dr. Bernice King tells TMZ … the recent firing of Rochester, NY weatherman Jeremy Kappell went too far. If you haven’t seen it, Kappell referred to a park named for MLK … “Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Park” while he was on air last week.
Shocking, but still … Bernice believes there’s a better way to handle the situation than 86ing the guy.
Bernice says, in this instance, Kappell’s racial slur seems to be a one-time flub … so the station should have cut him some slack. She agrees there needs to be repercussions — along with an apology — but suggests it doesn’t do anyone any good to just fire the guy.
She told us what she think the better course of action would have been.
As for Kappell, he issued a public apology with his wife on Facebook, insisting he accidentally jumbled his words and didn’t do it with malice. He also criticized the TV station for letting him go and not supporting him, adding … “I would never intend harm that way to anyone.”
Speaking of intent, we asked Bernice about that too, and she tells us someone who says “coon” publicly has probably heard it frequently in private or even said it in the past, which is why rehabilitation is so important.
And, for what it’s worth — maybe the most famous meteorologist, Al Roker, is on Jeremy’s side.
Article via TMZ
Florida Woman, 86, Kills Husband With Walking Stick
A “confused” 86-year-old Florida woman was arrested this week on suspicion of murdering her 89-year-old husband with a walking cane, police said.
In a Monday press conference, law enforcement officials from the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office confirmed cops were called to a home in Pace, Florida, at around 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Upon arrival, deputies found a man, later identified as Francis Lund, deceased on the property with blunt force trauma to the head. The murder weapon, it appeared, had been a cane.
“We have got a warrant signed for manslaughter, $250,000 bond, for Ramona Maxine Lund, the 86-year-old spouse,” Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said during the briefing. He said it was likely the oldest murder suspect the department had ever had to investigate.
As reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, officials said the suspect may suffer from dementia. “It’s clear that she’s confused,” William Eddins, a Florida state attorney, said.
“It’s important that, while we are going to focus on the mental confusion and that aspect, it is important to remember and be reminded that she is charged with a very serious crime that resulted in the loss of a human life,” Eddins added.
According to the Pensacola News Journal, a Santa Rosa news outlet, police were called to the elderly woman’s home by a neighbor who spotted the man’s bloody body on the home’s front porch. The neighbor tied to resuscitate the victim while waiting for emergency services. The suspect had reportedly been seen “standing over” the victim’s body at the residence.
The newspaper reported, citing the police, that the suspect had “blood on her hands and feet” when found. Her walking cane and nightgown was also covered in blood, officials noted.
Eddins conceded it was unusual for the prosecutors to be working with the public defender’s office to conduct a competency evaluation on the suspect, as they are doing in this case. He said: “It is my obligation to seek justice and it became clear…that this woman had significant indications of confusion and I felt it was important to my office to take an unusual approach.”
Sheriff Johnson said the suspect was treated at the jail infirmary. “We’re dealing probably with someone’s grandmother now,” he said as the briefing came to an end. “It’s not something that happens every day.”
Bruce Miller, defending the suspect, told the Pensacola News Journal he will now evaluate the defendant’s competency to stand trial and state of mind. “If someone suffers from dementia, they are not going to become competent,” he commented. “They are going to stay that way.”
The shutdown is about to bite
The very ones who voted for TRUMP are effected the most.
The government shutdown “is abstract for most Americans,” writes Axios’ Mike Allen, but it’s about to get very real very quickly. In the markets, nothing’s going to get SEC approval while the shutdown is in effect. That means no IPOs, just for starters.
What’s happening: The government also attempted to halt bankruptcy proceedings at a nursing-home chain, blaming the shutdown. Both debtors and creditors agree that would put patient health at risk. As Mike says, crunch time is coming. The shutdown will impose real hardship on the nation and its economy.
Show less
Most government workers’ first payday without pay is fast approaching.
Food stamps for 38 million Americans could be reduced or even run out entirely.
Taxpayers who expect a tax refund want to file their taxes early. But with no IRS workers issuing refunds, that’s not going to help them. The absence of tax refunds, in turn, is going to remove a formerly reliable boost to America’s winter economy.
Our thought bubble: Mike thinks media coverage of those hardships could end up forcing the president’s hand.
Judge: Black men are ‘more effective’ at killing each other than the KKK
A white Tennessee judge is under fire for a courthouse tirade in which he denounced black-on-black crime by comparing it to the Ku Klux Klan.
Montgomery County Judge Wayne Shelton was overseeing the preliminary hearing for Vincent Merriweather, accused of a homicide that occurred in Clarksville last November. While addressing Merriweather last week, Shelton launched into a racially charged speech, saying he was “sick and tired” of black men shooting each other.
“I don’t understand it,” Shelton is heard saying in audio posted to Instagram. “I grew up in a time where people wore white robes and they shot at black people. And now we see young black men wearing black hoodies shooting at black men. And doing a much more effective job than the Klan ever thought about doing.”
While some on social media condemned Shelton’s words as racist, others have come to his defense. Jimmie Garland, president of the Clarksville branch of the NAACP, initially felt that the judge was “on point.”
“He’s telling the young people, ‘Stop killing yourself. Stop doing the job that, back in the early ’30s and ’20s and ’10s, they did wearing robes and wearing pointed caps. You don’t have to do that,’” Garland told WSMV.
The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle noted that this is not the first time Shelton has invoked race, or the Klan, during a courtroom speech. In 2015, two teenage brothers were accused of gunning down a man after a high school graduation party, allegedly over a gut reaction of perceived “disrespect.”
Shelton compared that murder to Klan killings, saying KKK members would often kill black men whom they perceived to be disrespectful.
“That’s the absolute tragedy,” the judge said at the time. “It’s black men killing black men.”
“The Klan doesn’t exist anymore. Who doesn’t care about black lives now? I’ll let you answer that. I’m tired of black men killing black men. If I offended anyone … I can’t help it.”
Shelton told the Leaf-Chronicle that while he “might look like the whitest man in the room,” he isn’t — saying that his great-great-great-grandfather was a free man of color in the 1860s.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/01/08/judge-black-men-are-more-effective-at-killing-each-other-than-the-kkk/