‘Trump Museum’ is a trove of opposition research
The ‘Trump Museum’, just steps from the Republican National Convention, displays artifacts such as the Trump action figure, the Trump board game and sartorial splendour from the Trump clothing line.
So much Trump is on exhibit that at first glance it may appear to be a campaign office for Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. But this is actually enemy territory, funded by a Democratic Super Pac called American Bridge.
Inside are displays from a year’s worth of opposition research. American Bridge started looking into the Republican presidential hopefuls long before it was clear who would emerge as the winner. “One thing we learned about research is that you have to start early,” said Jessica Mackler, president of American Bridge. “We saw in the Republican field that a lack of preparation really hurt them against Trump. We wanted to make sure that didn’t happen in the general election campaign.”
People on American Bridge’s staff of 30 researchers have read the more than 15 books written about Trump plus the 16 by him. The Trump clothes, including a brown pinstripe suit from the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection, were all made abroad, a dig at the New York businessman’s rhetoric about the loss of US jobs overseas. The Trump doll speaks, repeating a signature phrase from his reality TV show. Pull the string and it says, “You’re fired!”
(Reuters)
Aussie Family finds crocodile in loo
An Australian family woke up to a bizarre discovery — someone had entered their home and left a 5-1/2-foot crocodile in their bathroom. Becky Myers said she and her family members often spot crocodiles near their home in the Bees Creek area of Darwin, but the saltwater croc her tenant discovered in their home recently was the first they had ever found inside the house. The tenant sent a photo of the croc via Snapchat to Myers’ daughter, Coralie, 16. “I woke up like ‘what the hellIJ Am I dreamingIJ This can’t be real,’” Coralie Myers told NT News. “I went into bathroom and there’s a croc sitting there on my floor. I didn’t know if it was alive or not; its eyes were open but it wasn’t moving.”
The 5-1/2-foot crocodile was indeed alive, but in poor health. Her mouth had been taped shut before being abandoned in the bathroom by an unknown prankster. “(The tenant) thought my mum put it there because she went fishing the other day,” Coralie Myers said. “But we don’t know who it was.”
“The croc didn’t creep me out, the fact someone came into our house freaked me out,” she said.
Crocodile ranger Tom Nichols said the croc put up a bit of a fight despite her poor health and taped mouth. He said she was taken to a nearby farm for medical attention.
Nichols said the prankster or pranksters could face hefty fines for interfering with wildlife.
(UPI)
Woman fires pellet gun at Pokemon GO players
A Canadian woman has been charged after she allegedly fired a pellet gun at Pokemon GO players from the rooftop of a Toronto-area home, local police said. Witnesses saw the 29-year-old woman fire at least four shots from the roof of a two-storey building, police said in a statement, adding that no players were injured.
A police spokesman said part of the street in the town of Newmarket, north of Toronto, had possibly been marked in the augmented reality game as a “gym,” where players gather to challenge each other. It is not immediately clear how many Pokemon GO players were on the street that night, though the police spokesman said the area has attracted them by the dozens. “There’s nothing to suggest mental health issues,” he said.
Police said the woman was arrested without incident and charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
(Reuters)
110-year-old lobster rescued from Florida restaurant
A 15-pound lobster that was intended to be served at a Florida restaurant will instead be transported to an aquarium in Maine due to the work of an animal rescue group.
Joe Melluso of the Tin Fish restaurant had planned to cook the massive crustacean, but was willing to let it go after John Merritt from iRescue and another group of passionate animal lovers stepped forward. “When there was a group that wanted to save him, I was disappointed in myself for not having that feeling myself,” said Melluso.
Melluso told the Miami Herald that he was skeptical when his seafood supplier informed him of the 15-pound lobster, which is estimated to be between 105 and 110 years old, but could not pass up on the opportunity to serve it at his restaurant.
“You can pull in hundreds of thousands of pounds [of lobster] and never see a lobster this size,” he said.
(UPI)
Pillow dummy fails to fool police in ny carpool lane
Police in New York state shared a photo of a pillow dummy used by a driver to cheat her way into the carpool lane. The Suffolk County Police Department said a 61-year-old woman was ticketed for not following the rules of the high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
The department said the woman was pulled over when an officer noticed her passenger was composed of a pillow wearing a vest and a baseball cap while holding a briefcase on its lap.
“We remind everyone, during the hours of 6-10 am and 3-8 pm Monday through Friday, the HOV lane is reserved for buses, passenger vehicles with two or more human occupants, motorcycles and hybrid vehicles registered with the New York State Clean Pass programme,” the department said in a Facebook post. Officials said the woman was also ticketed for driving an unregistered and uninspected vehicle.
(UPI)
