NEW YORK – July 8, 2010 – Predictions of the end of civilization are nothing new, but the direst prognosticators have, traditionally, existed on the fringes of society, where their dark visions can be comfortably attributed to an excess of libertarianism or a shortage of Prozac.

In the last few years, however, something strange has happened. While there is no lack of survivalists stockpiling cat food and rifles, some of the direst thinkers are now working on Wall Street, where a combination of fear and foresight has many of the country’s moneymen contemplating their escape routes.

The patron saint of the Wall Street apocalypse society may be Barton Biggs. The leader of Traxis Partners, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund, Biggs has gained a reputation for his dire predictions, particularly those of his much-quoted 2008 analysis of World War II, Wealth, War and Wisdom. At the end of the book, Biggs offers his conclusions from his brief study of history, suggesting the likelihood of a future era in which “People with wealth” will face “another time of cholera when the Four Horsemen will ride again and the barbarians unexpectedly will be at their gate.”

Biggs offers some interesting advice for hedging the apocalypse. In addition to prescribing a highly diversified portfolio heavily invested in equity instruments, Biggs also advises that his readers buy farms to which they can retreat when the hammer drops. The hedgie touts the joys of the natural life, noting, “landowners seem to find considerable psychic satisfaction just from the knowledge of possession. There are few things as fulfilling as having drink [sic] in the sunset and looking at your fields and cows.”

Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/wall-street-apocalypse-finances-doom-and-gloom-crowd/19506748/

Popularity: 3% [?]

CLEVELAND, Ohio – June 23, 2010 – The Cleveland Branch of the NAACP is now investigating the Solon Police Department, after seeing a story that aired on Fox 8 Tuesday night.

DeAngelo Mattox, 16, and his 12-year-old sister Nechia were jogging down their street off Cannon Road in Solon Monday afternoon when Solon police stopped them.

A burglary had just occurred in the neighborhood, but instead of simply questioning the children, DeAngelo and Nechia say three officers handcuffed them, pushed them to the ground and pointed guns in their faces.

Nechia says she was terrified as she watched an officer slam her brother’s head to the ground. “I just saw the officer put his foot on his back and bash his head into the ground and I was like, why are they doing that to him,” said Nechia Mattox.

Turns out, the children had nothing to do with the burglary and a middle-aged man was arrested.

The children also say a group of Caucasian girls was across the street around the time they were stopped by police, but police didn’t question them.

Now, the NAACP is investigating.

“At some point, someone’s going to have to say enough is enough and this may be the case that breaks the camel’s back,” Stan Miller of the NAACP said.

The NAACP requested copies of the Solon Police Department’s policies and procedures and have also requested a meeting with the city’s mayor, Susan Drucker.

Solon Police Chief Wayne Godzich told Fox 8 at this point he believes the officers were following procedure.

Miller said if that’s the case, the procedures need to be evaluated. “This is the type of thing that could have been very, very dangerous. That gun or one of those guns could have gone off accidentally. When he slammed that kid’s face into the concrete he could have broken something seriously.”

The Solon Police Chief says a lieutenant with the police department is now investigating the incident. He has statements from both of the Mattox children and their mother.

He now plans on interviewing the three officers involved.

Police Chief Godzich says he hopes to have the finished report on his desk sometime next week.

Ed. Note: When is enough, enough? It is time to forcibly overthrow all governments that allow and support by inaction these thug cops who are murdering our brethren. Revolution Now! Independence Forever!

Popularity: 9% [?]

CN) – Police Tasered an 86-year-old disabled grandma in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she couldn’t breathe, after her grandson called 911 seeking medical assistance, the woman and her grandson claim in Oklahoma City Federal Court. Though the grandson said, “Don’t Taze my granny!” an El Reno police officer told another cop to “Taser her!” and wrote in his police report that he did so because the old woman “took a more aggressive posture in her bed,” according to the complaint.

Lonnie Tinsley claims that he called 911 after he went to check on his grandmother, whom he found in her bed, “connected to a portable oxygen concentrator with a long hose.” She is “in marginal health, [and] takes several prescribed medications daily,” and “was unable to tell him exactly when she had taken her meds,” so, Tinsley says, he called 911 “to ask for an emergency medical technician to come to her apartment to evaluate her.”

In response, “as many as ten El Reno police” officers “pushed their way through the door,” according to the complaint.

The grandma, Lona Varner, “told them to get out of her apartment.”

The remarkable complaint continues: “Instead, the apparent leader of the police [defendant Thomas Duran] instructed another policeman to ‘Taser her!’ He stated in his report that the 86 year-old plaintiff ‘took a more aggressive posture in her bed,’ and that he was fearful for his safety and the safety of others.

“Lonnie Tinsley told them, ‘Don’t taze my Granny!’ to which they responded that they would Taser him; instead, they pulled him out of her apartment, took him down to the floor, handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a police car.

“The police then proceeded to approach Ms. Varner in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation.

“The police then fired a Taser at her and only one wire struck her, in the left arm; the police then fired a second Taser, striking her to the right and left of the midline of her upper chest and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain and to pass out.

“The police then grabbed Ms. Varner by her forearms and jerked hands together, causing her soft flesh to tear and bleed on her bed; they then handcuffed her.

“The police freed Lonnie Tinsley from his incarceration in the back of the police car and permitted him to accompany the ambulance with his grandmother.”

Tinsley says the cops capped it all off by having his grandmother “placed in the psychiatric ward at the direction of the El Reno police; she was held there for six days and released.”

“As a result of the wrongful arrest and detention, the plaintiff Lona M. Varner suffered the unlawful restraint of her freedom, bodily injury, assault, battery, the trashing of her apartment, humiliation, loss of personal dignity, infliction of emotional distress and medical bills.”

They seek punitive damages for constitutional violations, from the City of El Reno, Duran, Officers Frank Tinga and Joseph Sandberg, and 10 Officers Does.
They are represented by Brian Dell of Oklahoma City.

Popularity: 13% [?]

HOUSTON, Texas – June 23, 2010 – A Texas man has sued his local police department, saying he was arrested for taking a picture of a police officer when the officer entered his home without permission.

According to the lawsuit, Sgt. Justin Alderete of the Sealy, Texas Police Department arrived at the home of Francisco Olvera in October 2009, apparently responding to a noise complaint. Olvera had been playing music on his computer speakers while working outside on his patio.

The sergeant asked Olvera for identification. When Olvera went inside his home to grab his ID, Sgt. Alderete followed him inside. Believing the officer didn’t have a right to enter his home without permission; Olvera picked up his cellphone and took a photo of the officer. At that point, the lawsuit states, Alderete accused Olvera of “illegal photography” and arrested him.

Olvera was charged with “loud music” and “public intoxication” – the officer had seen a beer can on the kitchen table, the lawsuit asserts.

In January, Olvera was acquitted of all charges.

The lawsuit names Alderete, Sealy Police Chief John Tollett, and the city of Sealy. It alleges that Olvera was the victim of “unlawful search and seizure,” “unlawful arrest” and “malicious prosecution.”

The lawsuit further alleges that Alderete made a racist remark against Olvera during booking.

“Do you know what I tell Mexicans when they get loud?” the lawsuit alleges Alderete asked. “No chinges con migo pinche culero.” (“Don’t be f**king with me,” another officer translated,)

Olvera’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for his legal costs in the criminal trial; for “emotional distress” and punitive damages “as allowed by law.”

Popularity: 7% [?]

QUEENSLAND, Australia – June 16, 2010 – Thousands of people could be slapped with fines for offences that would never have attracted police attention in the past under sweeping reforms to police powers.

Experts fear swearing in public, with a fine of $100, will be a major money spinner and could become the weapon of choice for frustrated officers on the beat.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced the new powers for the state’s police to issue on-the-spot notices for public nuisance offences.

Ms. Bligh said the move would increase efficiency, save time and fast-track more important matters in the courts by stopping minor public nuisance offenders from clogging the justice system.

She said the measures, targeting offences such as public urination, disorderly conduct and abusive language, would save the government between $18 million and $30 million.

The power to issue on-the-spot fines of between $100 and $300 could result in public nuisance prosecutions soaring 20%, based on figures from a 12-month trial in South Brisbane and Townsville.

http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland-police-win-new-powers-to-fine-for-public-nuisance-offences/story-e6frfkvr-1225880162115

Popularity: 5% [?]

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – June 13, 2010 – Saudi Arabia has denied a report in a British newspaper that it will allow Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities using the Kingdom’s airspace.

An official source at the Foreign Ministry, quoted by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), has described the report that appeared in The Times as “slanderous and false”.

The source stated to SPA that, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reiterates its position of opposition and rejection of the violation of its sovereignty and the use of its airspace or territory by anyone to attack any country.”

The ministry source told SPA that the Kingdom does not have any relationship with the Israeli government.

Saudi and U.S. defense officials were quoted in a report in The Times as saying that Riyadh will allow Israeli jets to fly over Saudi Arabia.

“The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way,” the London-based newspaper said, quoting an unnamed U.S. defense source. The report falsely said this had all been done with the agreement of the U.S. State Department.

Popularity: 4% [?]

NEW YORK – June 10, 2010 – Alarmed by the use of hard-to-track prepaid cell phones by terror suspects, New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Texas Senator John Cornyn have introduced legislation requiring consumers to produce identification before buying such phones.

The bill has been praised by law enforcement and has bipartisan support, even as civil liberties groups have raised privacy concerns and some terror experts say it won’t deter bad behavior. Schumer, a Democrat, and Cornyn, a Republican, are hoping to schedule hearings on the bill through the Judiciary Committee.

Schumer has urged Attorney General Eric Holder to back the measure. Prepaid phones can be a lifeline for people with limited incomes or poor credit, allowing them to purchase a device and a limited amount of calling time without committing to a costly contract.

Phone companies sold $16 billion worth of prepaid cell phones last year, and the devices are hugely popular in both the U.S. and countries around the world.

But since the phones can be purchased anonymously and are thrown away after use, they’ve long been a favored tool of drug dealers, gang members and even white-collar criminals looking to cover their tracks.

In recent years, such phones also have been linked to suspected terror activity – including that by Faisal Shahzad, the Amerikan accused of plotting to bomb Times Square. Law enforcement officials said Shahzad had used a prepaid cell phone to purchase a car in which to hide the bomb and to communicate with co-conspirators in Pakistan.

A handful of states and several countries require registration to purchase a prepaid cell phone. In an interview, Schumer said the Shahzad case, combined with the growing use of prepaid cell phones in criminal cases, had persuaded him that federal regulation was needed.

“If law enforcement has a legitimate need to surveil, let them surveil,” Schumer told The Associated Press, adding, “you can make sure privacy is protected.”

That’s not a view necessarily shared by civil liberties groups and other advocates of digital privacy, who say they have both legal and practical objections.

“The Supreme Court has always upheld the principle that you have the right to speak anonymously - that the decision to identify yourself as a speaker is an aspect of speech itself,” said Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Tien also noted that many people, especially younger ones, regularly swap phones and SIM cards and buy used cell phones, further blurring the identity of the phones’ users and owners. “For a variety of reasons, this doesn’t sound like a “get off the ground’ kind of idea,” he said. Schumer disagreed, saying the identity of prepaid cell purchasers would be kept private by phone companies in the same way the identities of regular cell and landline phone owners are protected.

So far, no major phone company has objected to the legislation and some say they fully embrace it.

“We are living in a time when unfortunately our public safety requires small gives by everyone,” Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said.

Still, Jack Cloonan, a former FBI special agent and counterterrorism specialist, said the legislation would not prevent terror plotters from getting access to the communication tools they need.

“The bottom line is the terrorists, whether they’re the Pakistani Taliban or whether they’re closely aligned with al-Qaida, use technology to their advantage,” Cloonan said. “They try to stay ahead of us and we’re always playing catch up.”

Popularity: 5% [?]

SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia – June 6, 2010 – On June 6th, 2010, peace activists including members of Bay Area Women in Black and Jewish Voice for Peace held a silent vigil outside the main entrance to the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation’s annual “Israel in the Gardens” celebration. The peace activists called for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories and an end to the siege on Gaza. Their silent, dignified march was greeted by members of StandWithUs/SF Voice for Israel and other affiliates who called them “kapos” (concentration camp prisoners who carried out Nazi orders on other prisoners) and suggested that Israel should “sink the next flotilla with you on it.”  One man made repeated explicit threats against the peace activists and their families and used a camera to take pictures. No one from StandWithUs/SF Voice for Israel intervened. Rather, they kept up their vicious and abusive chants which included, according to multiple witnesses:

“Nazi, Nazi, Nazi!” – this done as a group chant
“You’re all being identified, every last one of you…we will find out where you live. We’re going to make your lives difficult..we will disrupt your families…”, all on above video.
“Sink the flotilla—and you on it!”
“Terrorists, terrorists, terrorists.”
One man yelled (to someone who may have looked heat exhausted) “I hope you stroke out, old man!”
“Ugly bitches” said to older women.
“You’re not a Jew! you gave up your Jewishness!”
“Witches in black! Bitches in black!” (hard to tell which one it was, or whether they alternated the chant)
“You fucking…!”
“Bin Laden loves you! you support terrorism!”
“Is there a coroner in the house? Women in Black are dead!”
“Is there a doctor in the house? Women in Black are sick!”
“End the occupation of our sidewalk.”
“Remember 9/11, they were dancing in the streets.”
“Asshole!”
“Anti-Semite!”
“Bigot!”
“Sharmuta!” this was chanted for a while (means “slut” or “whore” in Arabic and which was particularly shocking for Arabic speakers to hear)
“Commit suicide!”
“Anti-women, anti-gay, why support Hamas today!”
They were also lesbian-baiting, even though they were chanting “Anti-women, anti-gay, why support Hamas today?” One guy yelled “lesbian” at me and my friend (correctly assessing our sexual identity) and maybe the same guy yelled at someone else, “When’s the last time you dated a man?”

One guy kept saying “you’re looking at real people now (meaning Stand with Israel folks); you are not people.”

Signs said: “JVP, Proud to be ashamed to be Jewish.” and “Don’t fuck with the Jews”.

An 88-year-old woman reported being told, “You’re halfway in your grave already’. “Jihad!” chanted repeatedly at Muslim peace activists.

They also had signs that read, “JVP cons the world”, etc.

One woman waved the end of the large stick of her Israeli flag in a very threatening manner, as if to hit one of us (it happened to me several times as i walked by her), directed especially to those of us who carried signs identifying ourselves as Jews.

At an earlier demonstration last week at the consulate, there was a huge sign on the Stand with Us side (which Stand with Us later condemned). On one side it said “Until Gaza is destroyed, the job is not complete.” On the other, it said “God is great. It’s Islam that sucks.”

Over the years, members of Bay Area Women in Black chapters (a group started in Israel to protest the occupation), many of them older women including physically tiny Jewish grandmothers, have reported equally terrible encounters with StandWithUs/SF Voices with Israel- they’ve been called 4-letter words, had cameras violently thrust in their faces. At least one person had her home chalked.

That’s why threats on people’s families that you can hear in the video are being taken seriously. A few weeks ago, liberal rabbi Michael Lerner, a resident of Berkeley across the bay from San Francisco, awoke to discover he was the target of a hate crime: his house had been surrounded with threatening posters permanently affixed with glue.

StandWithUs/SF Voices with Israel hosted a booth at Israel in the Gardens and is an approved charity at the San Francisco Federation’s Jewish Community Endowment Fund, unlike Jewish Voice for Peace and other peace groups which were banned from the Federation’s acceptable charity list

Popularity: 5% [?]

BLUFF CITY, Tennessee – June 7, 2010 – Brian McCrary found the perfect venue to gripe about a $90 speeding ticket when he went to the Bluff City Police Department’s website, saw that its domain name was about to expire, and bought it right out from under the city’s nose.

Now that McCrary is the proud owner of the site, http://www.bluffcitypd.com, the Gray, Tennessee, computer network designer has been using it to post links about speed cameras – like the one on U.S. Highway 11E that caught him – and how people don’t like them.

“It’s kind of surprising that they’d just let it lapse like that,” McCrary said, adding that the new site has logged 1,200 unique visitors since he took it over May 22. “I figured they would be aware [it was about to expire] and renew it on their own.”

Domain names – such as the one for the Bristol Herald Courier’s website, http://www.tricities.com – serve as an easy-to-remember substitute for the numerical Internet Protocol addresses that direct people to specific locations (or websites) on the infinite landscape of cyberspace.

Domain names are bought and sold on a subscription basis through hundreds of website hosting companies, such as Go Daddy, which according to a company spokesperson currently manages more than 41 million domains including “www.bluffcitypd.com.”

When someone buys a domain name they can do whatever they want with it for the year that it’s registered to them. They can sell it, use it to keep someone from making a website, or use it to host a site that makes fun of or attacks a company with that name.

But at the end of that year-long registration period, the web hosting company regains control over the domain name and has the option of cancelling it and effectively taking down the customer’s website or selling the domain to someone else.

Go Daddy Domain Services Director Camille Ede said her company tries to avoid either option by sending its customers an e-mail letting them know about the domain’s status 90 days before its expiration date, 60 days before the expiration, 30 days before, 15 days and again five days before the expiration date.

Once the expiration date arrives, Ede said in an e-mail she sent the Herald Courier on Friday, the company replaces the website’s content with a special warning notice letting the site’s visitors know the domain has expired and will be deleted or sold in 42 days.

McCrary saw this notice when he had some questions about a letter he received in the mail letting him know he had to pay $90 because he was caught driving 56 mph through the 45 mph zone that Bluff City’s speed camera has actively patrolled since January 1.

The camera issued 1,662 citations for speeding during its first six weeks on the job, according to an investigation conducted by Herald Courier staff. It issued another 541 citations from March 19-22 when fans for the Food City 500 were in town.

Each one of the citations comes with a $90 speeding ticket that Bluff City splits with American Traffic Solutions, the Scottsdale, Ariz., company that operates the speed camera and dozens of others like it across the country.

“I was going to give [the police department] a call and noticed their domain was about to expire,” said McCrary, who sat back and waited until the 42-day window was over. “As soon as it expired I went ahead and bought it.”

While McCrary was pondering his purchase – something that cost $80 because he signed up for a few services Go Daddy offers along with its domain registration service – the web hosting company made two final attempts to reach the police department.

In accordance with its policy, Ede said, Go Daddy sends its customers an e-mail five days after a domain name expires and 12 days after a domain name expires, bringing the total number of e-mails a customer receives to seven – five before the expiration and two after.

“With more than 8 million customers worldwide,” Ede said in her e-mail, “Go Daddy must rely on its customers to take an active role in monitoring their account information.”

During a Friday interview, Bluff City Police Chief David Nelson admitted that he did not play the “active role” that Ede recommends her customers take when it comes to monitoring their websites.

“It just slipped my mind,” Nelson said, adding that he knows little about computers and the more technical aspects of running a website. “If you open up a website and let it go down, somebody can buy it – I did not know that.”

Because he’s not that familiar with computers, Nelson said, he let one of his officers manage the site and handle its domain registration. That officer, he said, has been out on medical leave, after he came down with a bad illness a few months ago.

“It’s just one of those things that happen,” Nelson said, adding that he turned the matter over to the town’s manager and attorney to see if there was anything they could do with it.

So far, McCrary said, he hasn’t heard anything from either town official about taking over the website. However, he has heard from a lot of people who have run across his new site and have e-mailed him their thoughts about it or the stories to which he links.

“Most of the people think it’s a speed trap,” McCary said of the feed back he’s received from the website, something he admitted took him only 15 minutes to put together on a Saturday afternoon. “In my opinion, it looks like this camera thing will come to an end.”

As for Nelson, the police chief is now at the point, two weeks after losing his website, where he can laugh about the situation. He said he has learned his lesson.

The police department is now working with different company to host its website, Nelson said, adding that this company won’t sell the new domain name to someone else.

“We’ll have more control over [our new website] than we did with Go Daddy,” he said. “And this one will be a lot better,” than the one the police department had before.

Popularity: 8% [?]

BALTIMORE, Maryland – June 5, 2010 – An off-duty Baltimore police officer cold-bloodedly murdered an unarmed man outside a Mount Vernon nightclub early Saturday. Police said the officer fired his service weapon at least 13 times on a crowded street after witnesses said the victim groped the officer’s female companion.

While police said witnesses agreed that the victim had inappropriately touched the woman and fought with the officer, spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives have “not been able to find a concrete motive” as to why the officer used his weapon.

The victim, identified as East Baltimore resident Tyrone Brown, 32, was hit at least six times in the chest and groin, according to the police spokesman. The officer, a 15-year veteran assigned to the Eastern District patrol division, fired his department issued Glock handgun at least 13 times, officials said.

The officer – who was not immediately identified in keeping with department policy – has been assigned to desk duty while the department investigates.

Police commanders indicated that Saturday’s shooting was troubling. It raises numerous questions, including whether the officer had been drinking and was impaired when he fired his gun, why he did not call for help from the many on-duty officers stationed nearby and whether it was appropriate for him to fire on an unarmed man in a crowd of bystanders.

Call and LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD! This is another opportunity for you to make it clear that you will not tolerate this murder by police. Tell the Commissioner that if he does not fire and prosecute for murder this thug cop, then you will do it yourselves. Tell him that you will find out who he is and where he lives and then destroy his life the same way he murdered that unarmed innocent man.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefed III

410-396-3100

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-md-police-shooting-edens,0,5949075.story?track=rss

Popularity: 5% [?]