Rich Chinese Women Are Now Hiring Surrogate Moms in America for $150,000
Posted: September 6, 2015 Filed under: China, Health and Social Issues | Tags: California, China, Chinese astrology, CNNMoney.com, Government of the People's Republic of China, Infant, Shanghai, Surrogacy, Traditional Chinese medicine, United States Leave a comment
Due to restrictive Chinese laws on childbirth, American surrogate mothers are becoming an increasingly popular choice for Chinese citizens who are having problems conceiving.
Although there is an underground surrogacy network set up in China, authorities have been strict in their efforts to enforce their laws, making it dangerous and difficult to successfully bear children using Chinese surrogate mothers, according to CNNMoney.
While American surrogacy is expensive, costing upwards of $150,000 per child — of which $35-45,000 goes to the mother — it’s being chosen more frequently by Chinese citizens who desire parenthood. John Weltman of Boston-based agency Circle Surrogacy said:
“I’ve never seen anything like what I’ve seen with the Chinese. It’s like an explosion.”
Extraordinary Conceptions, a surrogacy center that helps clients meet with doctors, said they receive upwards of 10 inquiries from China a month, and around 40% of their clients are Chinese. Mario Caballero, the center’s executive director, said:
“It’s like anything else — once somebody discovers something, and word spreads, people realize there is another option.”
Dr. David Smotrich, a physician who has worked with hundreds of Chinese patients, said that there are a number of medical reasons that lead families to surrogacy. Read the rest of this entry »
Tastes Like Freedom
Posted: August 15, 2015 Filed under: Food & Drink | Tags: Black Rifle Coffee Company, BRCC, CNNMoney.com, Coca-Cola, Cold brew, Drink, Dunkin' Brands, George Foreman Grill, K-Cup, Keurig, SodaStream, Starbucks 1 Comment
Review: Black Rifle Coffee
Stephen Gutowski writes: Veteran-owned Black Rifle Coffee Company (BRCC) sent the Washington Free Beacon some coffee to try and, since reviewing ultra American food is a thing we’ve gotten into lately, we did. We were lucky enough to try out BRCC’s Caffeinated as Fuck, Combat Fuel, Sniper’s Hide, and Gunship blends.
There were some bumps along the way. When we began this journey the Beacon office only had a Keurig and the coffee we got didn’t come in K-cups. So, we bought some of those K-cups you can put your own coffee in but our Keurig was apparently designed specifically to make sure those don’t fit. Unfortunately, somebody didn’t realize this tried to force the cup in and ended up smashing the machine to bits with his bare hands.
Gunship / Stephen Gutowski
The Keurig has since been replaced and we ended up just buying a separate $9 coffee maker from Walmart so we could try the BRCC coffee. We never did find out who broke the machine, but given Bill McMorris’s past conduct, I’m relatively sure it was him.
[Read the whole review here, at Washington Free Beacon]
The most popular blend with the Free Beacon staff was Caffeinated as Fuck, by a wide margin. Caffeinated as Fuck was developed in partnership with the veterans group OAF Nation—the OAF stands for “Operator as Fuck,” naturally.
Caffeinated as Fuck / Stephen Gutowski
“This dark roasted cup of freedom is the only coffee in the word worthy of our brand and the M32,” OAF Nation said of the coffee on BRCC’s site. “Get some!”
“This coffee is a blend of Colombian and Brazilian Arabica. Both will be dark, chocolaty and taste like freedom.” Read the rest of this entry »
Fox News Knocks Trump Over Megyn Kelly ‘Conspiracy Theories’
Posted: August 15, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: CNNMoney.com, Donald Trump, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox News Channel, Megyn Kelly, Morning Joe, Newsmax Media, Roger Ailes, Steve Doocy, Steve Malzberg 1 Comment
…Kelly began a 10-day vacation after her Wednesday night broadcast. Fox says the vacation was planned well ahead of time. But some bloggers and commentators have circulated theories that Kelly was sidelined as a result of the Trump dispute.
“The conspiracy theories about Megyn Kelly‘s vacation rank up there with UFO’s, the moon landing and Elvis being alive. Megyn is on a pre-planned, annual summer vacation with her family, which is much deserved. To imply otherwise as Donald Trump and his campaign operatives have is not only wildly irresponsible, but downright bizarre.”
In an interview with Newsmax TV on Friday, Trump indicated that he was inclined to believe the theories.
“There probably was” a connection, he said. “But I wouldn’t know about it.”
He added that “people were very very surprised that all of a sudden she decided to go away for 10 or 11 or 12 days.”
Fox News responded with a sharply worded statement on Friday night.
“Perhaps Mr. Trump thinks it’s advantageous to his poll numbers to keep talking about Megyn, but that doesn’t change the fact that Roger Ailes has fully supported her and her tough journalistic questioning since day one and is thrilled with the added exposure from the debate, which resulted in even higher ratings of ‘The Kelly File’ this week.”
“The conspiracy theories about Megyn Kelly‘s vacation rank up there with UFO’s, the moon landing and Elvis being alive,” a network spokeswoman said. “Megyn is on a pre-planned, annual summer vacation with her family, which is much deserved. To imply otherwise as Donald Trump and his campaign operatives have is not only wildly irresponsible, but downright bizarre.”
The spokeswoman added, “Perhaps Mr. Trump thinks it’s advantageous to his poll numbers to keep talking about Megyn, but that doesn’t change the fact that Roger Ailes has fully supported her and her tough journalistic questioning since day one and is thrilled with the added exposure from the debate, which resulted in even higher ratings of ‘The Kelly File’ this week.”
[Read the full story here, at CNNMoney]
Kelly talked on Wednesday’s program about how she hasn’t had a real vacation for six months. She’ll be back on August 24.
Speaking with Newsmax’s Steve Malzberg on Friday, Trump said that Ailes “couldn’t have been nicer” when the two men spoke by phone on Monday.
Trump refuted a story published by CNNMoney earlier this week that said days of tension between his campaign and Fox News ended with a “very blunt” talk with Ailes. Read the rest of this entry »
“You have a smart car; you got a smartphone; well, now we have a smart rifle”
Posted: June 12, 2013 Filed under: Mediasphere | Tags: CNNMoney.com, Rifle, South Africa, The Daily Caller, TrackingPoint, Wedbush Securities, Wi-Fi, YouTube Leave a comment$27,500 smartgun can hit a target over 1,000 yards away
Now everyone can shoot like a trained marksman. For a price.
A Texas-based applied technology firm has launched new smartgun technology that gives novice shooters the chance to participate in “extreme distance hunting.”
TrackingPoint’s new precision guided firearm technology, XactSystem, allows the shooter to lock onto a target before allowing the gun to fire upon the intended target, much like a fighter jet’s “lock-and-launch” technology.
And the firearm can consistently hit a target from over 1,000 yards away, the maker says.
“Think of it like a smart rifle. You have a smart car; you got a smartphone; well, now we have a smart rifle,” CEO Jason Schauble told CNNMoney.
The rifles fitted with the XactSystem technology can accurately shoot from over 1,000 yards, and TrackingPoint claims the company record is shooting a South African wildebeest at 1,103 yards.
The system and bolt-action rifles run from $22,500 to $27,500.
The rifles are WiFi equipped to allow the shooter to record their shot and immediately send it to a tablet or smartphone to view and upload to social media sites.
Schauble told CNN Money this is the first technology of its kind, even within the military, and that his company is planning on selling 500 TrackingPoint rifles this year, mainly to clients who want to hunt big game from long ranges.
With the technology, the shooter “tags” a target using a red button on the trigger guard. After the tag is set, the shooter aims the gun and holds down the trigger. Once the tag and the crosshairs of the scope line up, the gun fires.
“There are a number of people who say the gun shoots itself,” Schauble said. “It doesn’t. The shooter is always in the loop.”
The network tracking scope’s technology takes environmental factors, such as temperature, wind speeds, and gravity, into account to ensure a clean shot.
Some in the security sector, however, have reservations about the long-range rifle.
“There are a handful of snipers who can hit a target at 1,000 yards. But now, anybody can do it,” Rommel Dionisio, a gun industry analyst for Wedbush Securities told CNN Money. “You can put some tremendous capability in the hands of just about anybody, even an untrained shooter.”
via The Daily Caller
pundit from another planet 