NFL Player kills girlfriend then himself. What Going on???

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend early Saturday, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and committed suicide in front of his coach and general manager after first thanking them for everything they had done for him, police said.
Authorities did not immediately release a possible motive for the murder-suicide, which stunned the pro football team and came one day before a home game against the Carolina Panthers. The National Football League said the game would go on as scheduled.
Belcher, a 25-year-old native of West Babylon, New York, on Long Island, played college ball at Maine. He had played all four of his NFL seasons for the Chiefs and played in every game each year, including the 11 so far this season.
Before turning the gun on himself, Belcher thanked Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel for all they had done for him, police spokesman Darin Snapp said.
Authorities received a call Saturday morning from a woman who said her daughter had been shot multiple times at a residence about five miles (eight kilometers) away from the Arrowhead complex.
"When we arrived, a lady informed us that her daughter had been shot multiple times by her boyfriend, by the daughter's boyfriend," Snapp said. "She identified him as a Chiefs player."
Snapp said a call was then received from the Chiefs' facility.
"The description matched the suspect description from that other address. We kind of knew what we were dealing with," he said. The player was "holding a gun to his head" as he stood in front of the front doors of the practice facility.
"And there were Pioli and Crennel and another coach or employee was standing outside and appeared to be talking to him. It appeared they were talking to the suspect," Snapp said. "The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers and that's when they heard the gunshot. It appears he took his own life."
The coaches told police they never felt in any danger, Snapp said.
"They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him," he said. "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself."
Snapp described the girlfriend as in her early 20s and that she and the player had a child together. He said the woman's mother told police they had recently been arguing.
Arrowhead Stadium has been on lockdown since about 8 a.m.
"We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning," the Chiefs said in a statement. "We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation."
Kansas City is scheduled to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The league has informed the Panthers to travel as scheduled because the game would be played as scheduled.
The season has been a massive disappointment for the Chiefs, who were expected to contend for the AFC West title.
They're just 1-10 and mired in an eight-game losing streak that has been marked by devastating injuries and fan upheaval, with constant calls the past few weeks for Pioli and Crennel to be fired. Things have been so bad this season that Crennel fired himself as defensive coordinator.
The Chiefs have been ravaged by injuries, led the league in turnovers, can't settle on a quarterback and are dealing with a full-fledged fan rebellion. The Twitter account for a fan group known as "Save Our Chiefs" recently surpassed 80,000 followers, about 17,000 more than the announced crowd at a recent game.

 Article according to Associated Press

Hope Solo and former NFL tight end Jerramy Stevens were married Tuesday

According to ESPN, U.S. women's soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo and former NFL tight end Jerramy Stevens were married Tuesday, according to reports, after an altercation that left Stevens in jail and their wedding plans up in the air. KING5.com in Seattle reported Solo and Stevens were married Tuesday night in a small ceremony near Snohomish, Wash. Only close family and friends were in attendance, with one of Solo's friends describing the wedding as "beautiful," the station reported. Dave Mahler, a sports-talk radio host on Seattle's KJR, also tweeted:

"Confirmed: Jerramy Stevens and Hope Solo were married tonight. Events of yesterday morning didn't change plans. Sounds like more facts comin."

Stevens was arrested early Monday for fourth-degree domestic violence assault but was not charged. He was eventually released when a Kirkland Municipal Court judge ruled there was no evidence connecting him to an assault. Kirkland police said the case was still under investigation, and charges could be brought later if prosecutors and police find other evidence, a police spokesman told The Associated Press.

Stevens, 33, and Solo, 31, applied for a marriage license Nov. 8, according to King County records. In the police report, Stevens said he and Solo had been arguing over whether they would live in Washington or Florida after the marriage. Solo appeared in the courtroom Tuesday but left without saying anything to reporters, according to KING-TV. Police in Kirkland responded to a disturbance at a home around 3:45 a.m. Monday involving a physical altercation between eight people during a party, said Kirkland Police Lt. Mike Murray.

He said officers contacted several people in the home who appeared intoxicated and didn't cooperate with police, but determined based on information and observations that there was probable cause to arrest Stevens for investigation of fourth-degree assault. Murray didn't identify the alleged victim, but court records show it was Solo, who received a cut to her elbow. Court documents show that Solo's 34-year-old brother, Marcus, called 911, and that he and Solo told officers there was a party and blamed the disturbance on two to three unknown men who were at the party.

President Obama's First Press Conference Since Re-elected

Today on CNN President Obama had his first press conference since he was re-elected about
passing a law right now that would prevent any tax hike whatsoever on the first $250,000 of everybody's income.

(CNN) - President Barack Obama took questions from the press Wednesday at the sixteenth press conference of his presidency - the first one since he was re-elected.

OBAMA: Good afternoon, everybody. Please have a seat.

I hear you have some questions for me.
(LAUGHTER)

But, let me just make a few remarks at the top and then I'll open it up.
First of all, I want to reiterate what I said on Friday. Right now, our economy is still recovering from a very deep and damaging crisis, so our top priority has to be jobs and growth. We've got to build on the progress that we've made because this nation succeeds when we've got a growing, thriving middle class.

OBAMA: And that's the idea at the core of the plan that I talked about on the campaign trail over the last year: rewarding manufacturers and small businesses that create jobs here, not overseas; providing more Americans the chance to learn the skills that businesses are looking for right now; keeping this country at the forefront of research, technology and clean energy; putting people back to work rebuilding our roads, our bridges and our schools; and reducing our deficit in a balanced and responsible way.

Now, on this last item, we face a very clear deadline that requires us to make some big decisions on jobs, taxes and deficits by the end of the year. Both parties voted to set this deadline and I believe that both parties can work together to make these decisions in a balanced and responsible way.
Yesterday, I had a chance to meet with labor and civic leaders for their input. Today, I'm meeting with CEOs of some of America's largest companies. And I'll meet with leaders of both parties of Congress before the week is out, because there's only one way to solve these challenges and that is to do it together.

As I've said before, I'm open to compromise and I'm open to new ideas, and I've been encouraged over the past week to hear Republican after Republican agree on the need for more revenue from the wealthiest Americans as part of our arithmetic if we're going to be serious about reducing the deficit. Because when it comes to taxes, there are two pathways available.

OBAMA: Option one, if Congress fails to act by the end of this year, everybody's taxes will automatically go up, including the 98 percent of Americans who make less than $250,000 a year, and the 97 percent of small businesses who earn less than $250,000 a year. That doesn't make sense. Our economy can't afford that right now. Certainly, no middle class family can afford that right now. And nobody in either party says that they want it to happen.

The other option is to pass a law right now that would prevent any tax hike whatsoever on the first $250,000 of everybody's income. And by the way, that means every American, including the wealthiest Americans, get a tax cut. It means that 98 percent of all Americans and 97 percent of all small businesses won't see their taxes go up a single dime.

The Senate has already passed a law like this. Democrats in the House are ready to pass a law like this. And I hope Republicans in the House come on board too. We should not hold the middle class hostage, while we debate tax cuts for the wealthy. We should at least do what we agree on, and that's to keep middle class taxes low.

And I'll bring everyone in to sign it right away, so we can give folks some certainty before the holiday season. I won't pretend that figuring out everything else will be easy, but I'm confident we can do it, and I know we have to. I know that, that's what the American people want us to do.
That was a - the very clear message from the election last week. And that was the message of a letter that I received over the weekend. It came from a man in Tennessee who began by writing that he didn't vote for me. Which is OK. But, what he said was, even though he didn't give me his vote, he's giving me his support to move this country forward. And he said the same to his Republican representatives in Washington.

He said that, he'll back each of us regardless of party as long as we work together to make life better for all of us. And he made it clear that if we don't make enough progress he'll be back in touch.
So my hope, he wrote, is that we can make progress in light of personal and party principles, special interest groups and years of business as usual. We've got to work together and put our differences aside.

I couldn't say it better myself. That's precisely what I intend to do. And with that, let me open it up for your questions. And I'm gonna start off with Ben Feller of AP.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.
Can you assure the American people that there have been no breaches of national security or classified information in the scandal involving Generals Petraeus and Allen?

And do you think that you as commander in chief and the American people should have been told that the CIA chief was under investigation before the election?

OBAMA: Well, I have no evidence at this point from what I've seen that classified information was disclosed that in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security. Obviously, there's an ongoing investigation. I don't want to comment on the specifics of the investigation.
The FBI has its own protocols in terms of how they proceed, and I'm gonna let rector Mueller and others examine those protocols and make some statements to the public generally.

I do want to emphasize what I've said before. General Petraeus had an extraordinary career. He served this country with great distinction in Iraq, in Afghanistan and as head of the CIA. By his own assessment, he did not meet the standards that he felt were necessary as the director of CIA with respect to this personal matter that he is now dealing with with his family and with his wife. And it's on that basis that he tendered his resignation and it's on that basis that I accepted it.

But I want to emphasize that from my perspective, at least, he has provided this country an extraordinary service. We are safer because of the work that Dave Petraeus has done. And my main hope right now is that he and his family are able to move on and that this ends up being a single side-note on what has otherwise been an extraordinary career.

QUESTION: (inaudible).
OBAMA: You know, again, I think you're going to have to talk to the FBI in terms of what their general protocols are when it comes to what started off as a potential criminal investigation. You know, one of the challenges here is that we're not supposed to meddle in, you know, criminal investigations and that's been our practice.

And, you know, I think that there are certain procedures that both the FBI follow or DOJ follow when they're involved in these investigations. That's traditionally been how we view things in part because people are innocent until proven guilty and we want to make sure that we don't pre-judge these kinds of situations.

OBAMA: And so my expectation is that they followed protocols that they already established.
(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, on the fiscal cliff, two years ago, sir, you said that you wouldn't extend the Bush-era tax cuts, but at the end of the day, you did. So, respectfully, sir, why should the American people and the Republicans believe that you won't cave again this time?

OBAMA: Well, two years ago the economy was in a different situation. We were still very much in the early parts of recovering from the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression, and ultimately we came together, not only to extend the Bush tax cuts, but also a wide range of policies that were going to be good for the economy at that point; unemployment insurance extensions, payroll tax extension, all of which made a difference and is part of the reason why what we've seen now is 32 consecutive months of job growth, and over 5.5 million jobs created, and the unemployment rate coming down.

But what I said at the time is what I mean, which is this was a one-time proposition. And, you know what I had told leaders privately as well as publicly, is that we cannot afford to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. What we can do is make sure that middle-class taxes don't go up. And so, the most important step we can take right now, and I think the foundation for a deal that helps the economy, creates jobs, gives consumers certainty, which means gives businesses confidence that they're going to have consumers during the holiday season is if we right away say, 98 percent of Americans are not going to see their taxes go up, 97 percent of small businesses are not going to see their taxes go up.

If we get that in place, we are actually removing half of the fiscal cliff. Half of the danger to our economy is removed by that single step. And what we can then do is shape a process whereby we look at tax reform - which I'm very eager to do. I think we can simplify our tax system. I think we can make it more efficient. We can eliminate loopholes and deductions that have a distorting effect on our economy.

I believe that we have to continue to take a serious look at how we reform our entitlements, because health care costs continue to be the biggest driver of our deficits.
So there is a package to be shaped, and I'm confident that parties - folks of goodwill in both parties can make that happen. But what I'm not going to do is to extend Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent that we can't afford and, according to economists, will have the least positive impact on our economy.

QUESTION: You've said that the wealthiest must pay more. Would closing loopholes instead of raising rates for them satisfy you?

OBAMA: I think that there are loopholes that can be closed, and we should look at how we can make the process of deductions, the filing process easier, simpler. But when it comes to the top 2 percent, what I'm not going to do is to extend further a tax cut for folks who don't need it, which would cost close to a trillion dollars.
And it's very difficult to see how you make up that trillion dollars - if we're serious about deficit reduction - just by closing loopholes and deductions. You know, the math tends not to work. And I think it's important to establish a basic principle that was debated extensively during the course of this campaign.

OBAMA: I mean, this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. This was - if there was one thing that everybody understood was a big difference between myself and Mr. Romney, it was, when it comes to how we reduce our deficit, I argued for a balanced, responsible approach, and part of that included making sure that the wealthiest Americans pay a little bit more.
I think every voter out there understood that, that was an important debate, and the majority of voters agreed with me. Not - by the way, more voters agreed with me on this issue than voted for me. So, we've got a clear majority of the American people who recognize, if we're going to be serious about deficit reduction, we've got to do it in a balanced way.

The only question now is are we going to hold the middle class hostage in order to go ahead and let that happen?

Or, can we all step back and say, here's something we agree on, we don't want middle class taxes to go up. Let's go ahead and lock that in. That will be good for the economy. It will be good for consumers. It will be good for businesses. It takes the edge off the fiscal cliff, and let's also then commit ourselves to the broader package of deficit reduction that includes entitlement changes and it includes potentially tax reform as well as I'm willing to look at additional work we can do on the discretionary spending side.

So, I want a - big deal. I want a comprehensive deal. I want to see if we can, you know, at least for the foreseeable future, provide certainty to businesses and the American people so that we can focus on job growth, so that we're also investing in the things that we need, but right now what I want to make sure is that the taxes on middle class families don't go up, and there's an easy way to do that. We could get that done by next week.
Rory Montenegro (ph), Telemundo.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

QUESTION: On immigration reform, the criticism in the past has been that you did not put forth legislation with specific ideas and send it up to the Hill. This time around, you have said again that this will be one of the top priorities for a second term. Will you, then, send legislation to the Hill? And exactly what do you envision is broad immigration reform? Does that include a legalization program?

And also, what lessons, if any, did Democrats learn from this last election and the Latino vote?
OBAMA: Well, I think what was incredibly encouraging was to see a significant increase in Latino turnout. This is the fastest-growing group in the country and, you know, historically what you've seen is Latino vote - vote at lower rates than the broader population. And that's beginning to change.
You're starting to see a sense of empowerment and civic participation that I think is going to be powerful and good for the country. And it is why I'm very confident that we can get immigration reform done. Before the election, I had given a couple of interviews where I predicted that Latino vote was going to be strong and that that would cause some reflection on the part of Republicans about their position on immigration reform. I think we're starting to see that already.

I think that's a positive sign. This has not historically been a partisan issue. We've had President Bush and John McCain and others who have supported comprehensive immigration reform in the past. So, we need to seize the moment.

And my expectation is that we get a bill introduced and we begin the process in Congress very soon after my inauguration.

OBAMA: And, in fact, some conversations I think are already beginning to take place among senators and congressmen and my staff about what would this look like. And when I say comprehensive immigration reform, it's very similar to the outlines of previous immigration reform. I think it should include a continuation of the strong border security measures that we've taken. Because we have to secure our border. I think it should contain serious penalties for companies that are purposely hiring undocumented workers and - and taking advantage of them.

And I do think that there should be a pathway for legal status for those who are living in this country, are not engaged in criminal activity, are here to - simply to work. I've - it's important for them to pay back taxes. It's important for them to learn English. It's important for them to potentially pay a fine, but to give them the avenue whereby they can resolve their legal status here in this country, I think is very important. Obviously making sure that we put into law what - the first step that we've taken administratively dealing with the DREAM Act kids is very important as well.

The one thing that I'm - I'm very clear about is that young people who are brought here through no fault of their own, who have gone to school here, pledged allegiance to our flag, want to serve in our military, want to go to school and contribute to our society, that they shouldn't be under the cloud of deportation. That we should give them every opportunity to earn their citizenship. And so, you know there are other components to it, obviously. The business community continues to be concerned about getting enough high-skilled workers.

And I am a believer that if you've got a PhD in physics, or computer science who wants to stay here, and start a business here, we shouldn't make it harder for them to stay here, we should try to encourage him to contribute to this society. I think that the agricultural sector, obviously has very specific concerns about making sure that they've got a workforce that helps deliver food to our table. So there're gonna be a bunch of components to it, but I think whatever process we have needs to make sure border security's strong, needs to deal with employers effectively, needs to provide a pathway for the undocumented here, needs to deal with the DREAM Act kids.

And I think that's something that we can get done.

Chuck Todd? Where's Chuck?

QUESTION: Mr. President, I just want to follow up on both Ben's question and Jessica's (ph) question. On having to do with Ben's question...

OBAMA: How about Laurie's (ph) question, you want to follow up on that one too?
(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: I - I - you know - no, I feel like you answered that one completely.
(LAUGHTER)

Are you withholding judgment on whether you should have known sooner that there was a potential - that there was an investigation into whether your CIA director - potentially there was a national security breach with your CIA director? Do you believe you should have known sooner or are you withholding judgment until the investigation is complete on that front?

And then the follow-up to Jessica's (ph) question, tax rates. Are you - is there no deal at the end of the year if tax rates for the top 2 percent aren't the Clinton tax rates, period? No ifs, ands or buts and any room in negotiating on that specific aspect of the fiscal cliff?

OBAMA: I am - I am withholding judgment with respect to how the entire process surrounding General Petraeus came up. You know, we don't have all the information yet. But I want to say that I have a lot of confidence generally in the FBI.

And they've got a difficult job. And so I'm gonna wait and see to see if there's any other...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

OBAMA: Well, I mean, Chuck, what I'll say is that if - it is also possible that had we been told, then you'd be sitting here asking a question about why were you interfering in a criminal investigation? So, you know, I - I think it is best right now for us to just see how this whole process is unfolding.
With respect to the tax rates, I - I just want to emphasize, I am open to new ideas. If the Republican counterparts, or some Democrats, have a great idea for us to raise revenue, maintain progressivity, make sure the middle class isn't getting hit, reduces our deficit, encourages growth, I'm not going to just slam the door in their face. I want to hear - I want to hear ideas from everybody.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) red line.

OBAMA: Well look, I believe this is solvable.
I think that fair minded people can come to an agreement that does not cause the economy to go back into recession, that protects middle class families, that focuses on jobs and growth, and reduces our deficit. I'm confident it can be done. My budget frankly doesn't. I understand that I don't expect the Republicans simply to adopt my budget. That's not realistic. So, I recognize we're going to have to compromise. And, as I said on election night, compromise is hard. And not everybody gets 100 percent of what they want, and not everybody is going to be perfectly happy.
But, what I will not do is to have a process that is vague, that says we're gonna sort of, kind of raise revenue through dynamic scoring or closing loopholes that have not been identified.

OBAMA: And the reason I won't do that, is because I don't want to find ourselves in the position, six months from now or a year from now, where low and behold, the only way to close the deficit is to sock it to middle-class families or to burden families that have disabled kids or, you know, have a parent in a nursing home, or suddenly we've got to cut more out of our basic research budget that is the key to growing the economy in the long term.
So, that's my concern. I'm less concerned about red lines per se. What I'm concerned about is not finding ourselves in a situation where the wealthy aren't paying more or aren't paying as much as they should. Middle-class families one way or another are making up the difference. That's the kind of status quo that has been going on here too long, and that's exactly what I argued against during this campaign.

And if there's one thing that I'm pretty confident about is the American people understood what they were getting when they gave me this incredible privilege of being in office for another four years. They want compromise. They want action. But they also want to make sure that middle-class folks aren't bearing the entire burden and sacrifice when it comes to some of these big challenges. They expect that folks at the top are doing their fair share as well, and that's going to be my guiding principle during these negotiations, but more importantly during the next four years of my administration.
Nancy Cordes.

QUESTION: Mr. President, on election night you said that you were looking forward to speaking with Governor Romney, sitting down in the coming weeks to discuss ways that you could work together on this nation's problems. Have you extended that invitation? Has he accepted? And in what ways do you think you can work together?

OBAMA: You know, we haven't scheduled something yet. I think everybody forgets that the election was only a week ago. And I know I've forgotten. I forgot on Wednesday.

(LAUGHTER)
So I think everybody needs to catch their breath. I'm sure that Governor Romney is spending some time with his family.

And my hope is before the end of the year, though, we have a chance to sit down and talk. You know, there - there're certain aspects of Governor Romney's record and his ideas that I think could be very helpful. And, well, to give you one example, I do think he did a terrific job running the Olympics. And, you know, that skillset of trying to figure out how do we make something work better applies to the federal government.

There are a lot of ideas that I don't think are partisan ideas but are just smart ideas about how can we make the federal government more customer friendly, how can we make sure that, you know, we're consolidating programs that are duplicative; you know, how can we eliminate additional waste.
He presented some ideas during the course of the campaign that I actually agree with. And so it'd be interesting to talk to him about something like that.

There may be ideas that he has with respect to jobs and growth that can help middle-class families that I want to hear.

So, you know, I'm not either prejudging what he's interested in doing nor am I suggesting I've got some specific assignment, but what I want to do is to - is to get ideas from him and see if - see if there's some ways that we can potentially work together.

QUESTION: But when it comes to your relationships with Congress, one of the most frequent criticisms we've heard over the past few years from members on both sides is that you haven't done enough to reach out and build relationships. Are there concrete ways that you plan to approach your relationships with Congress in the second term?

OBAMA: Look, I think there is no doubt that I can always do better. And so I will, you know, examine ways that I can make sure to communicate my desire to work with everybody, so long as it's advancing the cause of strengthening our middle class, and improving our economy. You know, I've got a lot of good relationships with folks both in the House and the Senate. I have a lot of relationships on both sides of the aisle. It hasn't always manifested itself in the kind of agreements that I'd like to see between Democrats and Republicans.

And so, I think all of us have responsibilities to see if there are things that we can improve on, and I don't exempt myself from needing to, you know, do some self reflection and see if I can improve our working relationship.

There are probably going to be still some very sharp differences, and as I said during the campaign, there are going to be times where there are fights, and I think those are fights that need to be had, but what I think the American people don't want to see is a focus on the next election, instead of a focus on them. And I don't have another election.

And, you know, Michelle and I were talking last night about, you know, what an incredible honor and privilege it is to - to be put in this position. And there are people all across this country, millions of folks, who've worked so hard to help us get elected, but they're also millions of people who may not have voted for us, but are also counting on us.

OBAMA: And, you know, we take that responsibility very seriously. I take that responsibility very seriously. And I hope and intend to be an even better president in the second term, than I was in the first.

Do Mermaids Exist?

Do Mermaids Exist or is it just a Myth?


While coastal flooding millions of years ago turned some of our ancestors inland, is it possible that one group of our ancestors didn’t retreat from water but rather went in deeper? Could they have ventured farther into sea out of necessity and to find food? The Aquatic Ape Theory makes it possible to believe that while we evolved into terrestrial humans, our aquatic relatives turned into something strangely similar to the fabled mermaid.

MERMAIDS: THE BODY FOUND makes a strong case for the existence of the mermaid, a creature with a surprisingly human evolutionary history, whose ancestral branch splits off from a shared human root. The film is science fiction, using science as a springboard into imagination and centering the story on the following real-world events:

In the early 1990s, the US Navy began a series of covert sonar tests, which were linked to mass die-offs of whales, which washed up on beaches throughout the world. For years, the Navy denied they were responsible for these beachings.

In 1997, scientists at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded a mysterious sound (called “The Bloop”) in the deep Pacific, which was thought to be organic in nature. It has never been identified.

After a recent re-airing, fans and detractors are taking to the web to discuss the show and debate whether or not it’s a real doc or just something Discovery cooked up for ratings. And while it’s true that no one really knows for sure what may lie at the depths of some of our oceans, it seems Animal Planet is simply saying “anything is possible”. The film is meant to be sci-fi–that’s fiction–based on two mysterious pieces of information which can’t be proved or disproved.

 Watch Video at http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/mermaids/videos/mermaids.htm

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