Voters switch lopsidedly to GOP, in warning for Dems - "A political shift is beginning to take hold across the U.S. as tens of thousands of suburban voters who helped fuel the Democratic Party’s gains in recent years are becoming Republicans. Across 31 states, about two-thirds of voters who have switched their official party registrations in the past year have switched to the Republican Party... The phenomenon is playing out in virtually every region of the country — Democratic and Republican states along with cities and small towns — in the period since President Joe Biden replaced former President Donald Trump. Nowhere is the shift more pronounced — and dangerous for Democrats — than in the suburbs... Ben Smith, who lives in suburban Larimer County, Colorado, north of Denver, said he reluctantly registered as a Republican earlier in the year after becoming increasingly concerned about the Democrats’ support in some localities for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, the party’s inability to quell violent crime and its frequent focus on racial justice... While party switching is not uncommon, the data shows a definite reversal from the period while Trump was in office, when Democrats enjoyed a slight edge in the number of party switchers nationwide. But over the last year, about 430,000 voters in those states shifted to the Republican Party, compared with about 240,000 who became Democrats... Democrats have no clear strategy to address Biden’s weak popularity and voters’ overwhelming fear that the country is headed in the wrong direction with their party in charge. And while Republicans have offered few policy solutions of their own, the GOP has been working effectively to capitalize on the Democrats’ shortcomings... “Biden and Democrats are woefully out of touch with the American people, and that’s why voters are flocking to the Republican Party in droves,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told the AP. She predicted that “American suburbs will trend red for cycles to come” because of “Biden’s gas hike, the open border crisis, baby formula shortage and rising crime.”... Back in Larimer County, Colorado, 39-year-old homemaker Jessica Kroells says she can no longer vote for Democrats, despite being a reliable Democratic voter up until 2016. There was not a single “aha moment” that convinced her to switch, but by 2020, she said the Democratic Party had “left me behind.” “The party itself is no longer Democrat, it’s progressive socialism,” she said, specifically condemning Biden’s plan to eliminate billions of dollars in student debt."
Tibetan Weapons of Ego Destruction - "Tibetan Buddhism includes practices so powerful that they can lead to enlightenment in a single lifetime. Practitioners lift each weapon to symbolically destroy mental obstacles to spiritual progress. Each weapon has a specific purpose. The axe cuts through negative thoughts, the handcuffs control the ego, and the skull club crushes bad habits. The bow and arrow reinforce wisdom and compassion—the positive qualities that motivate all activities aimed at enlightenment."
AWS Facial Recognition Platform Misidentified Over 100 Politicians As Criminals - "Facial recognition technology is still misidentifying people at an alarming rate – even as it’s being used by police departments to make arrests. In fact, Paul Bischoff, consumer privacy expert with Comparitech, found that Amazon’s face recognition platform incorrectly misidentified more than 100 photos of US and UK lawmakers as criminals... These findings have disturbing real-life implications. Last week, the ACLU shed light on Detroit citizen Robert Julian-Borchak Williams, who was arrested after a facial recognition system falsely matched his photo with security footage of a shoplifter."
Cambridge University study finds Anglo-Saxon kings were mostly vegetarian - "Cambridge University researchers analysed more than 2,000 skeletons and found elites ate no more meat than other social groups. One study also suggested peasants occasionally hosted lavish meat feasts for their rulers... The findings surprised Cambridge University historian Tom Lambert, because so many medieval texts and historical studies suggested that Anglo-Saxon elites did eat large quantities of meat... "Historians generally assume that medieval feasts were exclusively for elites," said Mr Lambert. "But these food lists show that even if you allow for huge appetites, 300 or more people must have attended. "That means that a lot of ordinary farmers must have been there, and this has big political implications." He added: "We're looking at kings travelling to massive barbecues hosted by free peasants, people who owned their own farms and sometimes slaves to work on them. "You could compare it to a modern presidential campaign dinner in the US. This was a crucial form of political engagement.""
A missing pastor and the disappearances chilling Malaysia - "Mr Koh's apparent abduction - an episode that takes place in just under a minute - took place in broad daylight and was witnessed by other drivers who later lodged police reports. Police are investigating the clip. "The operation was very well planned. They knew who he was, where he was going, and probably had been tracking him," Mr Koh's son Jonathan tells the BBC. "It was very professionally executed." Abductions are not unheard of in Malaysia, but kidnappers usually make contact quickly with victims' families for a ransom. Two months on, however, Mr Koh's family has not heard a single word from him or his alleged abductors. They believe it is no ordinary kidnapping, and that "religious elements" took the pastor in an act of "vigilantism or terrorism"... In 2011, Raymond Koh's organisation was investigated by Malaysia's Islamic authorities. His group was accused of attempting to convert Muslims when they hosted a party with Muslim attendees at a church. Apostasy is an offence in Muslim-majority Malaysia. The allegations were later dropped. But he remained a target of online rumours and even received two bullets in the post shortly afterwards, his family claims... several people had lodged a police report against Mr Koh, alleging that he tried to convert Muslim youths to Christianity in January... Malaysian police have given few updates, other than they were pursuing three angles: that Mr Koh had "personal issues", extremist groups were involved, or that he was kidnapped for ransom. They did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. Amid the media blitz over Mr Koh's disappearance and the video clip, stories about other missing Malaysians began to emerge. All of these cases were recent disappearances and many remain unexplained"
I'm A Malay Pastor In S'pore, My Journey To Christianity Involved A Machete & Running Away From Home - "my friend actually “tricked” me into going to a church with him”... “my friend is actually not a Christian at all. He was only there to look at the church girls and brought me along to accompany him.”... Isaiah was born and raised in a respected and tightly knitted Malay family. Isaiah remembers the dramatic scene when his dad got wind of his intention. He flew into an uncontrollable rage and chased the teenager around the house while swinging a machete. Isaiah rushed out of the house before collapsing beside the family car and kneeling. Out of desperation, he did the sign of the cross while mumbling words of prayer to himself. As if in answer to his silent prayers, Isaiah’s brother-in-law yanked him out of the way just as his father threw the machete in his direction. The cold, steel blade missed him by just a hair... Isaiah’s father sent him away to a pesantren – a religious boarding school in Indonesia – for a few months. It was his father’s attempt to recall him to the faith he was assigned at birth... Upon returning to Singapore, Isaiah was put under strict supervision by his family, especially his dad. “When my friends called my home looking for me, my family would take down their names and inquire where they were calling from, just to make sure that I was not in touch with people whom my dad deemed as negative influences.”... In his late teens, Isaiah was gifted with an exceptional ability to play football. With that ability, the fleet-footed youth had the opportunity to attend training sessions with his team. The defender remembers training hard for his team and, at the same time, taking advantage of the little pockets of time before and after training sessions to sneak into a nearby church to maintain the connection with his chosen faith. It was a daring pretence that Isaiah was able to keep up for a couple of months before eventually arousing the suspicions of his pious father. In an elaborate ploy, the elder decided to send Isaiah off for an errand. Whilst away, his room was ransacked and his father discovered the hidden Bible... “When I came back home, my dad showed me the Bible he found among my belongings. It was there and then that my father took and held a sharp object against my neck and forced me to renounce my faith or he would kill me.” “This time, he pressed the object, which I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, and held it hard against my neck.” Once again, the elder threatened decapitation unless the teenager renounced his newfound faith... his father did not kill him despite his consistent refusal to renounce his faith. Still, he decided to send him to Indonesia again for a longer stint, perhaps a last-ditch attempt to convert his son back to his original religion. This time, the father announced, it would be “for years, not months.”... Without a cent to his name, NRIC or personal belongings, Isaiah climbed down from the third storey of his childhood home. After making it safely to the ground, he began a 2-year stint of drifting from one friend’s home to another at just 17 years old. To survive, Isaiah had to look for jobs where the employers were happy to close an eye and hire him without any form of identification card on him. He was lucky enough to find a job as a service crew at a restaurant, where he earned S$3 per hour. Shifting to a more relaxed tone now, Isaiah laughs when he recalls how, after months of hard work at the restaurant, he was finally promoted to a supervisor with a pay raise that saw him earning $3.50 per hour. When night fell, he would sleep in different homes of kind-hearted Christians who opened their doors to the then-teenager... Two years later, Isaiah was contacted by the police to come down to the station to collect his identification card his father had left with them. Isaiah smiles as he remembers gleefully heading to the police station to collect the card before getting a rude shock. He ended up being detained in a holding cell for eight hours instead. Interestingly, it was there that he had his first experience of preaching to a listening crowd... Soon after, a familiar face he had not seen for 2 years appeared and demanded that Isaiah renounce his faith in exchange for freedom and the dropping of charges in his name, which Isaiah is still unsure of today. When the plucky young adult refused, his dad left him behind bars... Isaiah sent a card to his stepmother for Mother’s Day. Perhaps touched by the sincere gesture, she wrote a card back with a poem and invited him home. And just like that, Isaiah found himself back home after 2 years. Back home, Isaiah’s stepmother and siblings were delighted by his return. However, they had also almost instinctively locked up the windows and doors for fear he would flee. When his dad came home, Isaiah expected another round of confrontation with the elder. Instead, he was greeted by a happy father who missed his son after more than 2 years of separation. His first words to Isaiah were simply, “Have you eaten?” After that encounter, Isaiah describes the next 2 years of his family relations as “stable”. It looked as if his closest kin had finally accepted him for his choice of faith. Unfortunately, the mirage was soon broken when a separation between his father and his stepmother led to the latter leaving the house. His father, once again, issued Isaiah with a strict ultimatum — to renounce his Christian faith and be well-taken care of for the rest of his life or to cut off all ties and leave the house within 3 days. Choosing to leave the house once more, Isaiah packed up and said his final goodbyes, giving his father one last hug. His father’s last words pierced his heart: The moment you step outside that door, you are no longer my son. Isaiah left his birth home with a heavy heart and never saw his dad again... Describing the conversion process, Isaiah says he had to explain his rationale to a panel of religious elders. He notes that although they do not have any tangible power to deny your application, they would try as much as possible to dissuade you from taking the final step."
Nancy Crampton-Brophy: Prosecutor says ‘How to Murder Your Husband’ novelist confessed to killing real-life husband - "The romance novelist who penned the infamous essay titled, “How to Murder Your Husband”, and who stands accused of fatally shooting her own husband in 2018, allegedly confessed to murdering him to a cellmate... Nancy Crampton-Brophy, 71, was arrested in September 2018, just three months after her chef husband of more than 20 years, Daniel Brophy, was found dead at the Oregon Culinary Institute, where he taught, with a gunshot wound in his back and one in his chest... Jacobs, who has since been transferred to a federal prison camp in Texas, told detectives during an April interview that Ms Crampton-Brophy appeared embarrassed after the incident in which she allegedly disclosed her involvement with her husband’s death. “Ms Jacobs reported that it became very awkward,” the prosecution said, noting that the woman was also reticent about coming forward because she didn’t want to be perceived as a “snitch”... The contentious 2011 essay, which has been an ongoing point of intrigue, both for online spectators and throughout the trial, contains a list of possible motives for murdering your spouse. The first in that list of five potential motives, “financial”, proving to be the most suspect to the prosecution in relation to Ms Crampton-Brophy’s. “Divorce is expensive and do you really want to split your possessions? Or if you married for money, aren’t you entitled to all of it?” she wrote. When introducing the same blog post on See Jane Publish, the essayist wrote: “As a romantic suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder, and, consequently, about police procedure. After all, if the murder is supposed to set me free, I certainly don’t want to spend any time in jail.” Shortly after her husband’s death, prosecutors say that Ms Crampton-Brophy asked detectives working on his case to release a letter that confirmed that she was not a suspect so that she could collect $40,000 from her insurance company."
"How To Murder Your Husband" Writer On Trial For Husband's Murder Reportedly Confessed To Her Cellmate By Mistake - "Nancy said "I was this far away" instead of "the shooter was this far away" or some other phrasing."
Big Dick's Story - "Almost 30 years ago now, a fella by the name of "Dick" started a small bait shop right on this here spot. A year later it became a grocery, and finally a few burgers and beers were added to the joint. Well, the little bait shop was all grown up and in need of a fitting name. As rumor had it "Dick" was somewhat of a big guy and folks round these parts called him "Big Dick". Before you knew it "Big Dick" became quite the popular chap. Everyone wanted to visit with "Big Dick", but with being a little outta the way, here in the Ozarks, they weren't exactly sure where to find him. Well folks would tell them "Big Dick" was about "halfway" between the Truman and Bagnell Dams. And now ya know how "Big Dick's Halfway Inn" came to be."
Pharma executive is tracked down and murdered in his New Jersey home after he won $10,000 at casino - "A New Jersey pharmacy executive was murdered in his home after a robber who witnessed him win $10,000 at a Philadelphia casino trailed him 50 miles to his home to rob him. Sree Aravapalli, 54, was shot multiple times inside his Plainsboro, New Jersey home in the early hours of Tuesday during an attempted robbery after he was spotted winning $10,000 at Parx Casino just outside of Philadelphia and cashing in the windfall. Police say 27-year-old Jekai Reid-John, who did not know Aravapalli, then followed him for 50 miles to his residence in a quiet, upper class New Jersey suburb in the dead of night."
The Conqueror Who Longed for Melons - "Babur loved the foods of his homeland and hated those he found when he had to reestablish himself in India, which to him was mostly a way station on the bloody road back to the melon patches of his youth. He didn’t just whinge about missing foods from home, though. He imported and glorified them in his new kingdom, laying the groundwork for his descendants to warp Indian cuisine so profoundly that they redefined that culinary tradition, as many know it worldwide, to this day. The Baburnama opens with a description of Ferghana, a region now split between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, where Babur grew up. Known then and now as the breadbasket of Central Asia, it follows that Babur would touch on agriculture. But in introducing his hometown of Andijan, Babur opens with a note on the quality of its grapes and melons before turning his attention to its layout and fortifications. He then ducks back to praise its game meats, especially its pheasants, which “are so fat, that the report goes that four persons may dine on the broth of one of them and not be able to finish it.” Only then does he tell us of the people who live there. Almost anytime he describes a place back home, he starts with vittles. Margilan is known for its dried apricots, pitted and stuffed with almonds. Khojand’s pomegranates are proverbially good, but they pale next to Margilan’s. And Kandbadam is tiny and insignificant, but it grows the best almonds in the region, so it’s worth mentioning. “Early sections of his Baburnama,” writes Fabrizio Foschini, in a report on Afghanistani melons authored in 2011, “really sound like a consumer guide to the fruit markets of Central Asia.” Babur doesn’t forget food once he gets into the meaty war stories, either. He breaks one narrative to note that the area around a castle he just besieged grew a unique melon with puckered yellow skin, apple-like seeds, and pulp as thick as four fingers. The Baburnama is not solely concerned with food. The bulk of it is a painstaking record of families and feuds, and Babur dwells on other seemingly random details that tickled him, such as a courtier’s talent at leapfrog. Since we don’t have a similarly honest accounting from his peers, it’s hard to say whether Babur’s epicureanism was atypical... While Babur’s writings suggest a personal obsession with food, it’s hard to disentangle this obsession from homesickness. There were also political reasons for him to pay so much attention to cuisine: Food snobbery was a standard way for a Timurid prince such as Babur to make his mark and prove his elite bona fides in a new land. “The Timurids, while ethnically Turkic, based their legitimacy to a large extent on their being champions of Persianate ‘high’ culture,” says Central Asian historian Richard Foltz, “which included taste in food.” ... Central Asians mostly looked down on Indians, who were neither Muslims nor Persianate. Babur, his recent biographer Stephen Dale notes, was also still deeply homesick. These factors, and possibly personal tastes, led him to dismiss his new territory, and especially its food: “Hindustan is a country that has few pleasures to recommend it. … [There is] no good flesh, no grapes or muskmelons, no good fruits, no ice or cold water, no good bread or food in their bazaars.”... he wrote letters in those years expressing his desire to return home, or at least taste its grapes and melons. He describes receiving a melon from Kabul and weeping as he ate it. He planted Central Asian grapes and melons in India, which brought him some joy. He even asked local chefs to make Persianate food for him, although one of them tried to poison him. By establishing supply chains that brought his native agriculture and cuisine to the region, Babur left a lasting legacy... for over a century after his death, Mughal rulers continued to praise the same foods Babur praised and keep the caravans of his beloved Central Asian fruits and nuts flowing... Babur’s descendants also spent lavishly on their kitchens, elevating food as a status symbol. But unlike Babur, they made it a point to round up chefs from around their Indian domains, a practice that invited fusion. The grandeur and duration of their courts, argues Collingham, led local elites to copy their Persianate and Central Asian motifs and augment their own kitchens, leading to parallel fusion work in places like Hyderabad, Kashmir, and Lucknow. Over the centuries, these innovations coalesced into Mughlai food, a stable cuisine common across, although not ubiquitous in, northern India by the early 20th century. This cuisine was defined by, among other things, aromatic, creamy curries, often incorporating the nuts and dried fruits Babur adored. It includes many dishes familiar to Western diners today: Korma, a blend of Central Asian nuts and dairy with Persian and Indian spices. Rogan Josh, a slow-cooked, Persian-style meat spiced up in the kitchens of Kashmir. And tandoori grilling, facilitated by Mughal tweaks to said grills and to marinades and spicing styles. These dishes became ubiquitous in the West, Collingham says, because haute Indian chefs have long viewed Mughlai cooking the same way Western cooks used to see Le Cordon Bleu. Indians who set up restaurants abroad made Mughlai food the template of Indian food in the U.S. and U.K.—to the chagrin of Indians who grew up eating many other cuisines that remain hard to find outside their homelands."
On the Hunt for the World’s Rarest Pasta - "Delicate and impossible to replicate, su filindeu (or the “threads of God”) is a pasta made of hundreds of tiny strands by a single woman in a hillside town in Sardinia."
The Lovable 100-Calorie Snack Has a Backstory Too Weird to Ignore - "They observed that portioning snacks into four 100-calorie packages reduced calorie consumption in TV-watching snackers compared to one 400-calorie package. Notably, they saw the biggest difference — more than a 50-percent reduction in calories — among overweight individuals, but even as they ate fewer calories, these snackers didn’t notice that they were eating less. A 2013 paper published in the journal Food Quality and Preference put a finer point on this finding. Wansink’s team showed evidence that smaller portions of snacks can satisfy hunger just as well as larger portions, but with significantly fewer calories... But in 2017, more than 20 years after he gave his 100-calorie presentation to snack food executives, cracks began to appear in Wansink’s research... investigations by Cornell and by academic journals resulted in retractions of 17 of Wansink’s papers by major journals, including one paper that got retracted twice for a different reason each time... In addition to his work on 100-calorie snacks, Wansink is famous for his self-refilling soup bowl experiment, which focused on how food portioning can affect an eater’s level of satisfaction — and how that can influence longer-term health... emails between Wansink and his research collaborators seem to show him encouraging researchers to massage data to find statistically significant conclusions, painting a picture that one critic called “a cartoon of how someone in the most extreme form might p-hack data.”... His work on 100-calorie snacks stands among the number of Wansink’s more than 200 papers that did not get retracted, as other studies with similar conclusions about portion sizes were retracted — like one on the relationship between serving bowl size and food consumption... The people want 100-calorie snacks. “When I ask what is the biggest factor — ‘Is it the plant-based? Is it the gluten-free?’ — the 100 calories really resonates”"
Icelandic Has the Best Words for Technology - "When the University of Iceland got its first computer in 1964, Icelandic did not have a word for “computer.” So the guardians of the language invented one: tölva—a fusion of tala (number) and völva (prophetess) that adds up to the wonderfully poetic “prophetess of numbers.” Iceland is an isolated island of just 300,000 people, and it has practiced a strident form of linguistic purism. Rather than let loan words from foreign languages casually creep into Icelandic, linguists at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies invent ones anew. There are other languages preoccupied with this kind of purism—French is another example—but Icelanders take its connection to their ancient history most seriously. Iceland’s official language policy came after the country won its independence from Denmark in 1918. Unlike most other languages, written Icelandic has changed very little over the past 800 years. Modern Icelanders can read ancient texts without much trouble. (By comparison, Beowulf was written in Old English about 1000 years ago, and is entirely incomprehensible to modern readers.) With nationalism on the rise in the early 20th century, language became a way for Iceland to assert its newfound independence and connect Icelanders to their history... the more connected it is with the rest of the word, the harder it is to keep the language pure. “Times are changing,” says Thorstein, “There is not the same urgency for the young people.” And the internet is largely responsible for this. Back in the 20th century—you know, before we spent our whole lives online—centralized radio and newspapers could easily set the standards for spoken Icelandic. The internet has fractured our attention, and Icelanders spend a lot more time reading in English."
Icelandic Surnames - Nordic Names - "In Iceland the use of surnames is forbidden by a law, which passed in 1925. There are a few exceptions: If a family had a surname before 1925, they have been allowed to keep using it. Thus, only about 10 % of the Icelanders have a hereditary surname, most commonly a (Danish) secondary patronym or a farm name both from Iceland and from the other Nordic countries... Instead of surnames the Icelanders usually use primary patronymics according to the Old Norse tradition. To create an Icelandic primary patronym, the suffix -son (= 'son') or -dóttir (= 'daughter') is added to the genitive form of the father's name"
Netflix Encouraged Subscribers to Share Passwords Years Before a Crackdown - "In a March 10, 2017, Twitter thread that was promoting its original series Love, Netflix wrote, "Love is sharing a password." The single tweet in the thread garnered more than 15,000 likes and more than 4,600 retweets."
The Dutch Tax Authority Was Felled by AI—What Comes Next? - "Until recently, it wasn’t possible to say that AI had a hand in forcing a government to resign. But that’s precisely what happened in the Netherlands in January 2021, when the incumbent cabinet resigned over the so-called kinderopvangtoeslagaffaire: the childcare benefits affair. When a family in the Netherlands sought to claim their government childcare allowance, they needed to file a claim with the Dutch tax authority. Those claims passed through the gauntlet of a self-learning algorithm, initially deployed in 2013. In the tax authority’s workflow, the algorithm would first vet claims for signs of fraud, and humans would scrutinize those claims it flagged as high risk. In reality, the algorithm developed a pattern of falsely labeling claims as fraudulent, and harried civil servants rubber-stamped the fraud labels. So, for years, the tax authority baselessly ordered thousands of families to pay back their claims, pushing many into onerous debt and destroying lives in the process... The tax authority’s algorithm evaded such scrutiny; it was an opaque black box, with no transparency into its inner workings. For those affected, it could be nigh impossible to tell exactly why they had been flagged. And they lacked any sort of due process or recourse to fall back upon. “The government had more faith in its flawed algorithm than in its own citizens, and the civil servants working on the files simply divested themselves of moral and legal responsibility by pointing to the algorithm,” says Nathalie Smuha, a technology legal scholar at KU Leuven, in Belgium. As the dust settles, it’s clear that the affair will do little to halt the spread of AI in governments—60 countries already have national AI initiatives. Private-sector companies no doubt see opportunity in helping the public sector. For all of them, the tale of the Dutch algorithm—deployed in an E.U. country with strong regulations, rule of law, and relatively accountable institutions—serves as a warning."
Chapel Of Sound, Monolithic Concert Hall In China - "The Chapel of Sound was created by a Beijing-based architecture office, OPEN in 2021. It is a monolithic open-air concert hall with views of the ruins of the Ming Dynasty-era Great Wall. Chapel of Sound is a completely nature-friendly building. One of the main aims was to minimize the footprint of the concert hall in the valley. The building is built entirely from concrete that is enriched with an aggregate of local mineral-rich rocks and encompasses a semi-outdoor amphitheater, outdoor stage, viewing platforms, and a green room."
Canon can’t get enough toner chips, so it’s telling customers how to defeat its DRM - "To enforce the use of first-party cartridges, manufacturers typically embed chips inside the consumables for the printers to “authenticate.” But when chips are in short supply, like today, manufacturers can find themselves in a bind. So Canon is now telling German customers how to defeat its printers’ warnings about third-party cartridges."
Victoria's Secret Shoplifting Policy Is Difficult for Store Workers - "Some employees said that shoplifting had become so common at some Victoria's Secret stores that it was no longer surprising to them... She said that despite the frequency of shoplifting in her store, she's not able to do anything about it. That's because Victoria's Secret has a strict policy where its employees are instructed not to accuse, approach, discuss, or point out shoplifters in any way. Those who do so risk losing their jobs, five employees, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, told Business Insider... A representative for Victoria's Secret confirmed to Business Insider that sales assistants are instructed not to approach shoplifters directly. Employees are asked to be observant and alert the asset-protection team, a security unit that works with police to file charges, about any incidents. In larger stores, there could be a loss-prevention team member who works for Victoria's Secret's parent company, L Brands, though they wouldn't necessarily be visible to shoppers. In smaller locations, this person might drop by twice a month and hole up in a back room, watching live video footage of the store. Some stores also have a security guard at the door. Sales associates are told to note the time and location of a theft and report it to their manager, who can alert the asset-protection team. Several employees said their managers had told them they would be fired if they did not follow this policy... "We have customers that come in every week literally saying to our face, 'I steal from here all the time.' I have had customers look right at me after I see them stick 10 $68 fragrances in their purse, and my manager tells me, 'We've got to let 'em go and hope they put the stuff down.'" Galindo said she was fired last month, after working for the company for three years, for violating the store's attendance policy, turning up a few minutes late to work on several occasions. But she argued that she was dismissed unfairly, saying she was led to believe there was a six-minute grace period for late arrivals and was not told about her violations when they occurred or given any warning before her firing. She described it as another example of a store policy that was confusing to her as an employee. It turns out Victoria's Secret has a common approach to shoplifting — it and other stores, like Walmart and Macy's, have policies designed to not only protect employees' safety, but prevent situations where a customer could be falsely accused of shoplifting... Galindo said shoplifters would sometimes come into her store, steal items, and then walk up to the register demanding a refund. "Because we cannot discriminate or accuse, we are required to give the refund at the lowest selling price on a gift card"... "There have been instances when people have suspected shoplifting but the person who they suspected was not. It led to them assuming it was racial profiling." The specialist added that managers "always say assume good intent and just customer-service them." Target has had problems with this in the past. In June, a loss-prevention agent was fired after a woman was falsely accused of shoplifting and paraded through the store in handcuffs; an attorney for the woman alleged she was racially profiled... "The ease of access to stealing merchandise and even returning it for profit has caused associates to stop taking their job seriously and also even made observing customers feel that we are a joke""
