Adrian Robinson, who never missed a game during four seasons playing linebacker atTemple, died Saturday. He was 25.
Robinson leaves behind a young daughter. The cause of his death is currently unknown.
His agency, Symmetry, confirmed the news Sunday morning:
It deeply saddens all of us to share with you that Adrian Robinson Jr. passed away last night at the age of 25. Adrian was a beloved father, son, brother, friend and teammate. We ask that you please respect his family’s privacy during this difficult time, and especially keep his daughter Avery Marie in your prayers. Thank you for all of your support and consideration.
Robinson finished his collegiate career with 156 tackles, 22.5 sacks and eight forced fumbles.
A native of Harrisburg, Pa., Robinson signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012 as an undrafted free agent and went on to appear in 12 games for the team, primarily on special teams. His last NFL season came in 2013, which he split between theDenver BroncosSan Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins.
Robinson had recently been taking classes to finish his degree and was looking to continue his career in the CFL, according to OwlScoop.com.
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An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing. Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:

“When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day. My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them.” He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.”

Courtesy: Black Dads Rock.


Travel is expensive. Between flights, hotels, meals, transportation, and the barrage of tourist traps, it is hard to keep to a strict budget when traveling in a foreign land. 
However, it's even harder if you don't do your due diligence. 
In the recently published 2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report, the World Economic Forum ranks 141 world economy's based on the price competitiveness of each economy, or how cheap/expensive it is to travel in that country. This takes into account things like average cost of a flight to and from that area, average cost of hotel accommodations, cost of living, fuel prices, and purchasing power parity (PPP) *.
Knowing the costliness of visiting an area can make all the difference between traveling sensibly and hitchhiking back to the airport.
Note: Hotel and gas conversions are based on the US Dollar and information from theWorld Bank and are subject to change. PPP is relative to the country's home currency.
*An example of PPP: If the PPP in the United States is 1 and the PPP in Poland is .6, then a cup of coffee in Poland is 40 percent cheaper than it is in the US, relative to the Polish zloty. PPP is based on the GDP of each economy.
21. Finland
Flying to Finland won't break the bank, because it ranks 30th of 141 economies based on cheapest airfare. To stay in a first-class hotel will cost you an average of $123.40 per night, making it the 39th cheapest. 
On the negative side, the PPP in Finland is 20 percent more expensive than the United States – ranking it at 134th. In addition, gas stands at a whopping $7.86 per gallon, ranking it 131st of 141.
20. Ireland

Ireland ranks 79th of 141 economies in terms of plane ticket affordability, making it a middling destination for air travel. A first-class hotel costs about $126 per night, making it the 46th cheapest.
The PPP will hurt you, as goods and services cost 10 percent more in Ireland than they do in the US, which ranks 124th. Gas will run you $7.63 per gallon, ranking it 128th.
19. Seychelles
Seychelles is an island nation in the Indian Ocean between Somalia and Madagascar. Airfare is not particularly cheap, as Seychelles ranks 89th of 141 in cheapness of air travel. If you want to stay in a hotel in Seychelles, you can expect to pay an average of $374.70 per night, ranking it 101st of 102 economies for which data was available
The PPP in Seychelles is .6, which is 40 percent less than that of the United States, but still 84th on the overall rankings. Gas costs $5.62 per gallon (82nd).
18. Canada
Flying to Canada is not cheap, as it ranks 130th of 141 economies surveyed. A hotel in Canada costs an average 0f $124.40 per night, good for 41st cheapest. 
Goods and services in Canada – according to PPP – are roughly 20 percent more expensive than in the US, ranking it at 132. Gas costs $5.98 per gallon, ranking at 60th cheapest.
17. Myanmar
The average cost of a hotel room in the Asian country is $185.20, ranking it 80th overall. In addition, gas costs roughly $3.93 per gallon, good for 30th cheapest.
The World Economic Forum was unable to determine the airfare costs or the PPP of Myanmar.
16. Germany

Germany ranks 110th of 141 economies in airfare. A first-class hotel room is $125.90 per night, coming in at 44th cheapest.
In terms of PPP, goods and services in Germany are about equal with the US (i.e. a cup of coffee costs about the same), ranking at 121st. A gallon of gas in Germany costs an exorbitant $7.40 per gallon, ranking 122nd.
15. Hong Kong (SAR)
Airfare to the Chinese region of Hong Kong is relatively cheap, ranking 41st in the world. But if you want a hotel, expect to pay an average of $229.50, ranking 94th.
Goods and services in Hong Kong are 30 percent cheaper than they are in the US at .7, but rank 101st overall. Gas costs an abysmal $8.16 per gallon, ranking 135th of 141.
14. Iceland
Flights to Iceland rank as the 19th cheapest in the world. Goods and services in accordance with PPP are 10 percent more expensive in Iceland than in the US at 1.1 (124th overall).
Gas costs roughly $7.52 per gallon (125th).
The World Economic Forum could not determine the average price of a hotel.
13. Barbados
The Caribbean island of Barbados features reasonable airfares that rank 52nd in the world. But you will more than make up for it with hotel rates that average $337.50 per night – good for 100th. 
The PPP is equal to that of the United States at 1, and ranks 118th overall. Gas costs $4.72 per gallon, which is tied for 48th in the world with several other countries.
12. Netherlands

Visiting the dutch will require an expensive flight, as the Netherlands ranks 97th in airfare. To get a first-class hotel will cost an average of $137.50 per night, which ranks 54th. 
The PPP is about 10 percent greater than the United States, coming in at 125th overall (1.1). And Dutch gas is the third most expensive of all economies surveyed. A gallon of gas will cost $8.80, which ranks 139th of 141.
11. Senegal
If you want to visit the west African nation of Senegal, be prepared to pay a hefty fee. Flights to Senegal rank 136th of 137 economies from which data was recovered. 
But the PPP in Senegal is 50 percent less than that of the US at .5, and 49th cheapest overall. Gas runs you around $6.50 per gallon, good for 98th of 141.
Average hotel rates in Senegal could not be determined.
10. Austria

Austria ranks 125th in airfare and 45th in hotel accommodations, with a room costing $125.90 per night on average.
Goods and services in Austria are roughly 10 percent more expensive then they are in the US, and Austria PPP ranks 127th overall. Gas costs $6.84 per gallon and ranks 111th overall.
9. Italy
Italy ranks 83rd in airfare rates while a  hotel room will run you $170.50 per night; good for 76th in the world. 
In terms of PPP, Italy is equal to the United States and ranks 120th in the world. The price of gas in Italy is $8.61 per gallon, ranking near the bottom at 137th.
8. Sweden

The Swedes can boast about the 26th cheapest airfare rates in the world, but that is where the bargains end. They rank 70th in hotel accommodations, with an average night costing you about $159.80.
In addition, goods and services in Sweden cost 30 percent more than in the US, and rank 135th overall. Gas costs a bloated $7.93 per gallon, which puts Sweden at 133rd of 141.
7. Denmark
The Danes rank 57th in cheapness of flights and offer hotel accommodations at an average of $150.20 per night (66th).
Travelers will be hit hard when it comes to PPP, as Danish goods and services are roughly 40 percent more expensive than what Americans are accustomed to. Denmark also ranks 128th in gas prices, with a gallon costing about $7.63.
6. Israel
Israel sits at 77th in the world in airfare prices and 83rd in hotel room accommodations, with a room costing an average of $201.30 per night.
Thanks to a 10 percent difference in PPP, goods and services in Israel are slightly more expensive than in the US at 1.1 (126th). And despite being in the Middle East, gas in Israel costs about $7.59 per gallon, good for 127th.
5. Norway

Flights to Norway are relatively cheap, as the Scandinavian nation ranks 21st in the world for airfare. The average one night stay in a hotel will cost $151.70, making it 67th in the world.
When it comes to PPP, the Norwegians rank second-to-last in the world at 138th. Norwegian goods and services cost on average 50 percent more than comparable goods in the United States. Finally, Norway is only behind Turkey as the country with the highest gas prices in the world. The average price of a gallon of gas? $9.56 (140th).
4. Australia
Not surprisingly, flights to the isolated Australian continent are among the most expensive in the world at 127 of 141. Hotel accommodations are slightly more reasonable, but still incur an average fee of $162.30 (74th)
In terms of PPP, Australia is dead last at 139 (Argentina and Myanmar could not be ranked). The average cost of goods down under are 50 percent greater than they are in the United States. Aussie gas is a little cheaper at $5.25 per gallon, which ranks 68th in the world.
3. France
France cracks the top three, aided by airfare rates that rank 114th in the world. To stay in a nice French hotel, one can expect to pay about $219.80 per night, which ranks 93rd of 102 economies from which data was recovered.
Goods and services in France are about 10 percent more than the US and sit at 128th overall with a 1.1 PPP. Gas costs about $7.21 per gallon, good for 118th in the world.
2. United Kingdom
If you want to visit the United Kingdom, don't fly. The United Kingdom ranks dead last in terms of airfare, making flights to the old empire the most expensive in the world. Hotel rooms come at a much more reasonable price of $139.10, good for 56th in the world.
The PPP in the UK is 10 percent greater than that of the US, making goods and services slightly more expensive (123rd overall). Gas (or "petrol" as the English say), costs $8.20 per gallon, which is 136th in the world.
1. Switzerland
Switzerland is the most expensive country in the world to visit. Flying to Switzerland is not cheap, as Swiss airfare rates rank 101st in the world. Once you get there, expect your hotel to cost you an average of $241.60 per night, good for 97th of 102 economies surveyed.
The PPP of Switzerland is 1.5 (137th), which means that goods and services in Switzerland will cost 50 percent more than they do in the US. Finally, gas costs $7.10 per gallon, which is 117th in the world.
Some of these areas are among the most popular tourist destinations in the world. But before you get on that plane make sure you packed enough cash.


Elizabeth Wilson, a character actress who appeared in films including “The Graduate” and “9 to 5” but also had a long career on the stage, died on Saturday in New Haven, Conn.. She was 94.
In a career that spanned almost seven decades, she won a Tony in 1972 for her portrayal of a Vietnam veteran’s emotionally scarred mother in David Rabe’s antiwar drama “Sticks and Bones.” She won Obie Awards for performances in “Taken in Marriage” in 1979 and “Anteroom” in 1986.
She was nominated for an Emmy for the based-on-a-true-story miniseries “Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder” (1987) in which she played the wealthy but helpless mother of a woman (Lee Remick) who’s plotting to kill her father.
Her best-known film performance was in the 1980 hit “9 to 5,” in which she played Roz, the office snitch and the nemesis of the workers played by Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.
Wilson specialized in mother roles — even though she never had children. She first played a mother while still in her 20s, in a production of “Springtime for Henry” that toured Japan through the U.S.O. after WWII.
On screen, she played the rather befuddled mother of Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock in “The Graduate” (1967), the patrician mother of Ralph Fiennes’ Charles Van Doren in “Quiz Show” (1994) and the scheming mother of an impostor (Christopher Lloyd) claiming to be Uncle Fester in 1991’s “The Addams Family.” Earlier, she played the personal secretary of Kim Stanley’s doomed movie star in “The Goddess” (1958) and a waitress in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” (1963).
Stage roles included Mrs. Peachum, whose daughter marries Mack the Knife, in a 1976 revival of “The Threepenny Opera.”
Wilson’s last role of any kind was in 2012’s “Hyde Park on Hudson” — in which she played the mother of Bill Murray’s Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Elizabeth Welter Wilson was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., and studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.
She made her Broadway debut role in 1953 in “Picnic,” playing the spinster schoolteacher — a role she would reprise in the movie version two years later. She last appeared on Broadway in the 1999 revival of Noël Coward’s “Waiting in the Wings.” She was acclaimed for performances in the 1980 production of “Morning’s at Seven” and the 1996 revival of Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance.”
She began her smallscreen career with the 1955 Rod Serling drama “Patterns” and last appeared on TV in an episode of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” in 2002. She played Edith Bunker’s cousin in an episode of “All in the Family” and Barnard Hughes’ wife on the sitcom “Doc” in 1975-76.
Wilson appeared in a number of films directed by Mike Nichols, starting with “The Graduate” and continuing with the films “Catch-22” (1970), “The Day of the Dolphin” (1973) and “Regarding Henry” (1991) and, on Broadway, in his 1973 revival of “Uncle Vanya.”
The actress, who never married, is survived by a sister and several nieces and nephews.
White House officials watch the 2011 raid to kill Osama bin Laden (Pete Souza/The White House via Getty)

On Sunday, the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh finally released a story that he has been rumored to have been working on for years: the truth about the killing of Osama bin Laden. According to Hersh's 10,000-word story in the London Review of Books, the official history of bin Laden's death — in which the US tracked him to a compound in Abottabad, Pakistan; killed him a secret raid that infuriated Pakistan; and then buried him at sea — is a lie.
Hersh's story is amazing to read, alleging a vast American-Pakistani conspiracy to stage the raid and even to fake high-level diplomatic incidents as a sort of cover. But his allegations are largely supported only by two sources, neither of whom has direct knowledge of what happened, both of whom are retired, and one of whom is anonymous. The story is riven with internal contradictions and inconsistencies.
The story simply does not hold up to scrutiny — and, sadly, is in line with Hersh's recent turn away from the investigative reporting that made him famous into unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.
A decade ago, Hersh was one of the most respected investigative journalists on the planet, having broken major stories from the 1969 My Lai massacre to the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal. But more recently, his reports have become less and less credible. He's claimed that much of the US special forces is controlled by secret members Opus Dei, that the US military flew Iranian terrorists to Nevada for training, and that the 2014 chemical weapons attack in Syria was a "false flag" staged by the government of Turkey. Those reports have had little proof, and rather than being born out by subsequent investigations have been either unsubstantiated or outright debunked. A close reading of his bin Laden story suggests it is likely to suffer the same fate.

What Seymour Hersh says really happened to Osama bin Laden

The truth, Hersh says, is that Pakistani intelligence services captured bin Laden in 2006 and kept him locked up with support from Saudi Arabia, using him as leverage against al-Qaeda. In 2010, Pakistan agreed to sell bin Laden to the US for increased military aid and a "freer hand in Afghanistan." Rather than kill him or hand him over discreetly, Hersh says the Pakistanis insisted on staging an elaborate American "raid" with Pakistani support.
According to Hersh's story, Navy SEALs met no resistance at Abottabad and were escorted by a Pakistani intelligence officer to bin Laden's bedroom, where they killed him. Bin Laden's body was "torn apart with rifle fire" and pieces of the corpse "tossed out over the Hindu Kush mountains" by Navy SEALs during the flight home (no reason is given for this action). There was no burial at sea because "there wouldn’t have been much left of bin Laden to put into the sea in any case."
In this telling, the years-long breakdown in US-Pakistan relations, which had enormous ramifications for both Pakistan and the war in Afghanistan, was all staged to divert attention from the truth of bin Laden's killing. The treasure trove of intelligence secured from bin Laden's compound, Hersh adds, was in fact manufactured to provide evidence after the fact.

What is the proof?

The evidence for all this is Hersh's conversations with two people: Asad Durrani, who ran Pakistan's military intelligence service from 1990 to 1992, and "a retired senior intelligence official who was knowledgeable about the initial intelligence about bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad." Read that line again: knowledgeable about the initial intelligence. Not exactly a key player in this drama, and anonymous at that.
Hersh produces no supporting documents or proof, nor is the authority of either source established. We are given no reason to believe that either Durrani or the "knowledgeable official" would have even second- or third-hand knowledge of what occurred, yet their word is treated as gospel. His other two sources are anonymous "consultants" who are vaguely described as insiders.
Beyond that, Hersh's proof is that he finds the official story of the Osama bin Laden raid to be unconvincing. And he points out that in the first days after the raid, the administration released details that cast bin Laden in a negative light — saying he tried to use one of his wives as a shield, for example — that it later walked back. But raising questions about the official story is not the same as proving a spectacular international conspiracy.
If that seems like worryingly little evidence for a story that accuses hundreds of people across three governments of staging a massive international hoax that has gone on for years, then you are not alone.
On Sunday night, national security journalists and analysts on Twitter picked through the story, expressing dismay at its tissue-thin sourcing, its leaps of logic, and its internal contradictions.

Some of the problems with Hersh's history of Abbottabad

Perhaps the most concerning problem with Hersh's story is not the sourcing, but the internal contradictions in the narrative he constructs.
Most blatant, Hersh's entire narrative turns on a secret deal, in which the US promised Pakistan increased military aid and a "freer hand in Afghanistan." In fact, the exact opposite of this occurred, with US military aid dropping and US-Pakistan cooperation in Afghanistan plummeting as both sides feuded bitterly for years after the raid.
Hersh explains this seemingly fatal contradiction by suggesting the deal fell apart due to miscommunication between the Americans and Pakistanis. But it's strange to argue that the dozens of officials on both sides would be competent enough to secretly plan and execute a massive international ruse, and then to uphold their conspiracy for years after the fact, but would not be competent enough to get on the same page about aid delivery.
And there are more contradictions. Why, for example, would Pakistan insist on a fake raid that would humiliate their country and the very military and intelligence leaders who supposedly instigated it?
A simpler question: why would Pakistan bother with the ostentatious fake raid at all, when anyone can imagine a dozen simpler, lower-risk, lower-cost ways to do this?
Why not just kill bin Laden, drive his body across the border into Afghanistan, and drop him off with the Americans? Or why not put him in a hut somewhere in Waziristan, blow it up with an F-16, pretend it was a US drone strike, and tell the Americans to go collect the body? (Indeed, when I first heard about Hersh's bin Laden story a few years from a New Yorker editor — the magazine, the editor said, had rejected it repeatedly, to the point of creating bad blood between Hersh and editor-in-chief David Remnick — this was the version Hersh was said to favor.)
If Pakistan's goal is increased US aid, why do something that will virtually force the US to cut aid, as it indeed did? For that matter, why retaliate against the US for the raid that you asked them to conduct? Pakistan's own actions against the US, after all, ensured that it had less influence in Afghanistan.
By the same token, why would the US cut a secret deal with Pakistan to allow that country "a freer hand" in Afghanistan — essentially surrendering a years-long effort to reduce Pakistani influence there — rather than just taking out bin Laden without Pakistan's permission?
There are smaller but still troubling inconsistencies. Why, for example, would the US need to construct a massive double of the Abottabad compound for special forces to train in, if the real compound were going to be totally unguarded and there would be no firefight?
See also, for example, the intelligence material that the US brought back from bin Laden's compound and then displayed to the world. Hersh says that, in fact, bin Laden had spent the previous five years a hostage of Pakistani intelligence rather than an active member of al-Qaeda. The intelligence "treasure trove" was thus a fabrication, cooked up by the CIA after the raid to back up the American-Pakistani conspiracy.
This is a strange thing to argue, as Carnegie Endowment Syria research AronLund points out, because al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri subsequently said the intelligence materials were real, and had quoted from them himself. So either Hersh is wrong or, Lund writes, "Zawahiri is helping Obama forge evidence to boost US-Pakistan relations, which seems like an unusual hobby for an [al-Qaeda] leader."
In other words, for Hersh to be correct that the intelligence material was faked, and thus that bin Laden was a secret prisoner of Pakistani intelligence, and thus that the raid to kill him was a staged American-Pakistani ruse, then al-Qaeda would also have to be in on it — even though al-Qaeda was also the supposed victim of Pakistan's plot.
As for Hersh's story of what really happened to bin Laden's body — "torn to pieces with rifle fire" and thrown bit-by-bit out the door of the escaping helicopter, until there was not enough left to bury — it is difficult to know where to begin. It is outlandish to imagine small arms fire reducing a six-foot-four man "to pieces," not to mention the sheer quantity of time and bullets this would take. Are we really to believe that special forces would spend who-knows-how-long gleefully carving up bin Laden like horror movie villains, and then later reaching into the body bag to chuck pieces of him out of a helicopter, for no reason at all? On the most sensitive and important operation of their careers?
When Hersh acknowledge the vast evidence against his theory, he typically dismisses it out of hand, at times arguing that it is in fact proof that the Pakistani-American-Saudi architects of this plan were so brilliant that they spent years meticulously engineering their actions at every level so as to appear to be doing the opposite of what Hersh suggests.
For example, Hersh says the CIA station chief in Islamabad, Jonathan Banks, was a key player in helping the Pakistanis to stage the bin Laden raid. But the year before the raid, a Pakistani journalist publicly named Banks (many suspect, and Hersh agrees, that this was done at Pakistani intelligence's behest), thus imperiling his life, forcing him to flee the country, and sparking a diplomatic incident that set back US-Pakistan relations. Hersh says this entire, months-long incident was staged, a "cover in case their co-operation with the Americans in getting rid of bin Laden became known."
Hersh's story is littered with such justifications: when facts seem to squarely contradict his claims, his answer is that this only goes to show how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Seymour Hersh's slide off the rails

In early 2004, Hersh reported one of the most important stories of the Iraq War: the torture of detainees at the American-run prison complex in Abu Ghraib, Iraq. In a series of articlesfor the New Yorker, Hersh revealed horrific and systemic American torture, as well as its authorization at the highest levels of the Bush administration. While earlier investigations by the Associated Press and Amnesty International had uncovered aspects of this story, the depth of Hersh's reports proved both damning and shocking, contributing to a public backlash against both Abu Ghraib and the war itself.
The Abu Ghraib stories were in line with Hersh's reputation as one of the most respected investigative reporters alive. That reputation goes back to 1969, when Hersh uncovered the My Lai massacre, in which American troops killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians. He later broke elements of the Watergate story while working for the New York Times.
In recent years, however, Hersh has appeared increasingly to have gone off the rails. His stories, often alleging vast and shadowy conspiracies, have made startling — and often internally inconsistent — accusations, based on little or no proof beyond a handful of anonymous "officials."
Supporters of Hersh will often point to his earlier stories in defense of his more recent work, saying that we should trust his sources and not dismiss his reporting so easily. Fair enough. But Hersh's stories on Abu Ghraib or My Lai or Watergate were sourced with documented evidence (in the case of Abu Ghraib, a damning internal military report) and interviews with first-hand participants.
For his bin Laden story, however, he has no documented evidence, and his sources are limited to a couple of "consultants," one "retired official with knowledge," and a Pakistani spymaster who left that world 23 years ago. If Hersh still has his once-famous connections in the American intelligence world, they do not show up here.
Similarly, Hersh's earlier blockbusters were all quickly confirmed by dozens of independent reports and mountains of physical proof. That's how such exposés typically work: the first glint of sunshine brings a rush of attention, which uncovers more evidence and encourages more sources to come forward, until the truth is incontrovertible.
That is not how things have gone with Hersh's newer and more conspiratorial stories. Rather, they have tended to remain all alone in their claims, and at times have been debunked. This is not, in other words, the first time.

The growing list of conspiracy theories

The first hints came in the latter years of the Bush administration, when Hersh reportedrepeatedly that the US was on the verging of striking Iran. These included reports statingthat the US might even bomb Iran with a nuclear warhead, and later that the administration had considered using US special forces disguised as Iranians to launch a "false flag" attack as a premise for war.
These reports seemed a bit far-fetched, particularly since Hersh kept predicting a strike that never came. And, troublingly, they were often sourced to perhaps one or two anonymous "consultants" or "former officials" who were said to "have knowledge" of high-level discussions.
The Iran stories were difficult to accept on anything much more than faith. How do you prove that Dick Cheney never had a meeting in his office where someone verbally proposed pinning a false flag attack on Iran? You can't. In any case, Hersh had a long record of excellence, and who was going to doubt Cheney's capacity for hawkishness?
The moment when a lot of journalists started to question whether Hersh had veered from investigative reporting into something else came in January 2011. That month, he spoke at Georgetown University's branch campus in Qatar, where he gave a bizarre and rambling address alleging that top military and special forces leaders "are all members of, or at least supporters of, Knights of Malta ... many of them are members of Opus Dei." He suggested that they belong to a network first formed by former Vice President Dick Cheney that is steering US foreign policy toward an agenda of bringing Christianity to the Middle East.
They do see what they’re doing — and this is not an atypical attitude among some military — it’s a crusade, literally. They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They’re protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function.
... That’s the attitude. "We’re gonna change mosques into cathedrals." That’s an attitude that pervades, I’m here to say, a large percentage of the Joint Special Operations Command.
As Blake Hounshell pointed out at the time, there is no evidence for any of this, many of the US military leaders that Hersh named are known as personally liberal and not outwardly religious, and in any case both Opus Dei and Knights of Malta are Catholic service organizations very different from the shadowy forces portrayed in Dan Brown novels.
The next year, in 2012, Hersh reported in the New Yorker that the Bush administration had secretly armed and funded an Iranian terrorist group known as the MEK in 2005. Two sources, neither with direct knowledge, told Hersh that American special forces had flown the Iranians all the way to Nevada to train at a base there. This detail was both spectacular and puzzling: the US has bases throughout the world, including several in the Middle East; why bring terrorists to Nevada?
To be clear, the story was never specifically discredited, but neither has it ever been confirmed by any subsequent investigations into Bush-era national security policy, of which there have been many. His story was greeted skeptically by many reporters and analysts. Hersh is still employed by the New Yorker, but he has not written an investigative piece for the magazine since.

The Syria chemical weapons story

Since the 2012 MEK story, Hersh has published his primary investigative work in the London Review of Books.
Two of these articles have focused at great length on the August 2013 chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, Syria, that killed hundreds of civilians. An extensive UN report, while barred from formally assigning responsibility, pointed out that the chemical weapons were delivered by munitions only used by the Syrian military, and had been fired from an area entirely controlled by Syrian military forces. Independent investigations by human rights groups pointed the finger at forces loyal to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. So did the US government.
Hersh, in his two articles, states that this is all false. In December 2013, he claimed that the Obama administration, seeking to justify its threat to strike Syria in retaliation, had willingly downplayed or ignored evidence that the chemical weapons had in fact been launched by the al-Qaeda franchise Jabat al-Nusra. He cited a handful of anonymous (and, strangely, often-retired) "officials" who warned of a "deliberate manipulation of intelligence" and compared Ghouta to the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident used to justify the US escalation in Vietnam.
Then, in April 2014, Hersh came out with a different story: the government of Turkey, he stated, had orchestrated the Ghouta chemical weapons attack with Jabhat al-Nusra as a false flag operation. Assad was innocent. Turkey and the al-Qaeda branch had cooked up the plan, intending that the attack would be blamed on the Syrian government, thus leading the United States to attack Syria. (You will notice, again, Hersh's preoccupation with false flag operations.)
The accusation of a Turkish-jihadist conspiracy to lure the US into war with Syria seemed stunning — and, to many, outlandish. Could it be true? No independent investigation has yet confirmed it, and the story has been exhaustively and repeatedly debunkedincluding by Eliot Higgins and Dan Kaszeta, two respected analysts who focus on small arms and chemical weapons in Syria.
As time goes on, Hersh's stories seem to become more spectacular, more thinly sourced, and more difficult to square with reality as we know it. Perhaps one day they will all be vindicated: the Opus Dei special forces cabal, the terrorist training in Nevada, the American plan to nuke Iran, the Turkish false flag in Syria, even the American-Pakistani bin Laden ruse.
Maybe there really is a vast shadow world of complex and diabolical conspiracies, executed brilliantly by international networks of government masterminds. And maybe Hersh and his handful of anonymous former senior officials really are alone in glimpsing this world and its terrifying secrets. Or maybe there's a simpler explanation.
) Sheriff's Department shows Krista Eve Morton. Morton, a married Palm Beach County principal has been arrested after she was caught partially clothed in a marijuana-filled car with a student. Morton, of Wellington, was arrested Wednesday, May 6, 2015, in Palm Springs. She is the principal at Mavericks High of Palm Springs, a charter school. (Palm Beach (Fla.) Sheriff's Department via AP)

PALM SPRINGS, Fla. — Authorities say a Florida principal has been arrested after she was caught partially unclothed in a marijuana-smoke-filled car with a student.
Police say 45-year-old Krista Morton of Wellington was arrested Wednesday in Palm Springs. She is the principal at Mavericks High of Palm Springs, a charter school.
Authorities say they responded to a report of people involved in sexual activity in a car and found Morton with a high school senior. They say that when Morton opened the door, her shirt was unbuttoned, exposing part of her chest.
Police say Morton told them she'd just met the teenager.
But police say the student called Morton his principal. Officers report smelling marijuana in the vehicle.
Both were arrested. She faces possession-of-marijuana charges. It wasn't known whether she has an attorney to contact for comment on the case.
© Provided by Associated Press ) Sheriff's Department shows Krista Eve Morton. Morton, a married Palm Beach County principal has been arrested after she was caught partially clothed in a marijuana-filled car with a student. Morton, of Wellington, was arrested…


Alan Rosenbaum is never surprised when one of his Generation X clients comes to him with a long list of financial questions about buying a home. Rosenbaum, founder and CEO of GuardHill Financial Corp. in New York City, says consumers face a different set of questions and challenges when buying a home in their 30s and 40s than they do when purchasing a starter home in their 20s.
"Buying a home is a big decision no matter what age you are, but when you're older and buying a home you tend to have a family started and you tend to be more set in your career. Buying a home can impact all of that."
Here are five key factors that buyers in their 30s and 40s need to consider when buying a home:
No. 1: Don't tie up all your money
Many buyers drain all of their savings when buying a home. Blame down payment, closing costs and new furnishings.
This leaves buyers vulnerable to major unexpected expenses or events like a major surgery for a child or the loss of one of the homeowner's income due to a job loss or disability," says Keith Baker, a mortgage banking professor at North Lake College in Irving, Texas.
Pouring all of your savings into a purchase, especially retirement savings, is increasingly dangerous to buyers with teenage children as saving for college is likely to be a top concern, he says. If your savings is at risk, Baker recommends that you find a home at a lower price point or one that will require less upkeep to preserve your savings.
No. 2: The future can be costly
Brian Koss, executive vice president of Mortgage Network in Danvers, Massachusetts, says that because older buyers are more established in their careers and tend to be earning more money, they can often qualify for larger home loans.
"Just because you can qualify for it, doesn't mean that a [larger] mortgage is right for you," Koss says.
Lenders don't include such financial necessities as retirement and college savings, and future home improvements when factoring how much mortgage you can afford, says Koss. He recommends that buyers in their 30s and 40s consider all the financial responsibilities they'll face as they age, and not take on a monthly payment that leaves them too little financial wiggle room.
No. 3: Jumbo loans and credit scores
Malcolm Hollensteiner, director of retail lending sales at TD Bank in McLean, Virginia, agrees with Koss that many older buyers purchase larger homes which could require a jumbo mortgage.
Hollensteiner says that lenders typically require higher credit scores to qualify for jumbo loans. At TD Bank, Hollensteiner says that the minimum average credit score to qualify for a jumbo loan is about 720.
"Every lender is different, though," he says. "And lenders will allow a lower credit score if you put down a larger down payment. But credit scores could become a bigger issue for buyers in their 30s and 40s” as they have a longer credit history which could include some late or missed payments through the years, Hollensteiner explains.
No. 4: Good schools and short commutes

All buyers should want to live in an area with strong schools; good schools help property values. Buyers in their 30s and 40s need to take a long look at the performance of area schools before buying homes, Koss says. An area with strong public schools could save you from having to send your children to costly private schools.
Additionally, these buyers are often settled into a career at one company and they must look carefully at their commute times to work, Koss says.
"School systems, commutes, they are both more important when someone is planting their roots," Koss says. "It can get complicated in our two-income world: If I work here and you work there, where is the best place in between? And does that place have a good school system? You have to plot that out."

No. 5: City vs. suburb
Rosenbaum says more and more of his Gen X clients are interested in the urban lifestyle. Since these buyers are often purchasing forever homes, they have to be especially careful when making the choice between urban or suburban living.
Rosenbaum says that city living could cut down on commute times but could increase purchase costs. The growing popularity of urban centers means much higher priced real estate when compared to the surrounding suburbs.
"There are plus and minuses with both choices," Rosenbaum says. "Suburbia is a good value today because so many people want to remain in the city. But city living is very attractive, too."