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Arrests in Brooklyn in 3rd night of police brutality protest


RT
Thu, 14 Mar 2013 18:24 UTC
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© twitter user@rdevro
Eighteen have been arrested in Brooklyn's East Flatbush neighborhood as New Yorkers came out for a third night of protest over the police killing of 16-year-old Kimani Gray, police reported.

The demonstration began at Brooklyn's 67th Precinct in East Flatbush, the part of New York's Brooklyn section where Gray was shot to death by police on Saturday. Witness and police accounts differ on whether Gray was brandishing a weapon before he was killed.

According to autopsy results, Gray was shot seven times - four times in the front of his body, and three times in the back.

Brooklynites were heard shouting "murderers!" at the massive police presence Wednesday as officers prohibited people from even stepping onto the street in one of New York's poorer neighborhoods while police helicopters circled overhead.

The event has been marked by a near-absolute lack of commercial media coverage, with most of the slack being picked up by activists livestreaming from the rally or reporting via Twitter.
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Video

Ben Affleck could be hanged for war crimes: US intelligence expert

Kevin Barrett
PressTV
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:16 UTC
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Oscar winning 'Argo' director Ben Affleck
Is Argo "just a movie?" Or is it a disguised intelligence operation - maybe even a war crime?

These questions may soon be answered in court. Well-known French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre has met with Iranian officials planning a lawsuit against the makers and distributors of the controversial film.

Mohammad Lesani, General Secretary of Monday's Hoax of Hollywood conference in Tehran, announced, "Argo is made by three film-producing companies in Hollywood...the Islamic Republic of Iran is going to sue all those who have been active in the anti-Iran domain, including directors and producers."

If the makers of Argo are deposed under oath, they may be forced to reveal that their film -- like the fictitious film-within-the-film -- is a covert operation disguised as a movie. One of America's leading experts on covert operations believes that Argo is the propaganda project of an intelligence agency or agencies, and that its purpose is to convince the American people to go along with Israel's plan to drag America into a war on Iran.
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Star of David

ADL applauds choice of new pope


Newsmax
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:11 UTC
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The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today welcomed the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina as the next Pope Francis I, applauding his close relationship with the Jewish community.

"We congratulate the new Pope and wish him well in his important new responsibility. We believe that the election of Francis I is a significant moment in the history of the Church. We look forward to working with him to continue to foster Catholic-Jewish relations as we have with his predecessors. There is much in his record that reassures us about the future," Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director said in a statement.

"Under his leadership in Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergogolio made important strides in maintaining positive Catholic-Jewish relations following the transformational papacies of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI - pontiffs who launched historic reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people.
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Bad Guys

Wave of "ag gag" bills threaten food safety and freedom of the press

Rebekah Wilce
PR Watch
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:39 UTC
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© Maqi (CC)
Remember "fecal soup"? A CBS "60 Minutes" exposé in 1987 documented widespread food safety violations by the poultry industry, making use of undercover video from a hidden camera placed by the "60 Minutes" crew. The episode vindicated U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) whistleblower Hobart Bartley, who had been ignored and threatened by his superiors and finally transferred to another plant when he warned of unsanitary conditions at a Simmons Industries plant in Missouri. Bartley was particularly irate about the "eight-foot-high vat of water called the 'chiller,' where as many as 10,000 chicken carcasses were routinely left to float, soaking up moisture to increase their selling weight. Dried blood, feces, and hair were floating in along with the dead birds. Diane Sawyer later called it 'fecal soup.'"

In the modern era, effective enforcement of food safety and the humane treatment of animals has long relied on undercover video investigations by reporters and citizens. The footage and images gained can serve as proof of criminal wrongdoing or lay ugly practices bare. Such images can vindicate whistleblowers who otherwise risk retaliation when speaking up. Now this practice, which has time and time again exposed hidden dangers -- including downer cows linked to Mad Cow disease in the food supply -- is under threat by a series of state bills dubbed "ag gag" bills.
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Dollar Gold

Cyprus bailout theft: "All the conditions for a total disaster are in place"

Charles Wyplosz
Vox
Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:32 UTC
Merkel theft
© Ferranmartinel rescate chipriota (Cypriot rescue)
The Cyprus bailout package contains a tax on bank deposits. This column argues that the tax is a deeply dangerous policy that creates a new situation, more perilous than ever. It is a radical change that potentially undermines a perfectly reasonable deposit guarantee and the euro itself. Historians will one day explore the dark political motives behind this move. Meanwhile, we can only hope that the bad equilibrium that has just been created will not be chosen by anguished depositors in Spain and Italy.

The decision to tax all Cypriot bank deposits has attracted massive attention (Spiegel 2013) - and rightly so. It is a huge blunder:
  • In the unlikely event that all goes well, the government will receive a bit of cash - but not enough to cover the loan generously offered by its European partners - and the Cypriot banking system will be history.
  • The alternative is a massive bank crisis in many Eurozone countries - a huge blow to the euro, maybe even a fatal one.

Comment: We've all known for some time the banks are insolvent but this is a wake up call to everyone with any savings in a bank account. The fact is that now the EU/IMF/Bankers can just walk in and steal savings from private bank accounts to pay for the irresponsible (and criminal) banking practices of the few. They gamble, we pay for their losses.

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Dollar

Federal spending up, not down, in first 5 Months of FY13

Terence P. Jeffrey
cnsnews.com
Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:51 UTC
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© AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhitePresident Barack Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in the Capitol on March 14, 2013.
Federal spending was up $30.5 billion in the first five months of fiscal 2013 compared to the first five months of fiscal 2012, according to newly released data from the U.S. Treasury.

The federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30. In the first five months of fiscal 2012 (October through February), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement, total federal spending was approximately $1,473,999,000,000.00. In the first five months of fiscal 2013, total federal spending was $1,504,547,000,000.00.

Thus, federal spending was $30,548,000,000.00 more in the first five months of fiscal 2013 than it was during the first five months of fiscal 2012.

The federal government is also spending at a much faster pace this year than it did before President Barack Obama took office.
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Stock Down

The debt bomb just got bigger

Max Keiser
RT
Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:48 UTC
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© Reuters/Neil HallA trader reacts on the IG Group trading floor in London March 18, 2013
The amount of debt worldwide is more than all of the bank accounts in the world, and the current financial situation in Cyprus is the inevitable next phase: Confiscation.

All pretense is now gone that central or global bankers can 'securitize' growth by packaging and repackaging debt; by hypothicating and rehypothicating debt; by regulating and rergulating debt. Since the bond market rally began in the early 1980s (yes, it's that old) each crisis has been met by central and global bankers - the IMF, EU and ECB, to name a few - and their Wall St. and City of London brethren with an increase in debt, and an extension of the debt's maturity.

The result has been - as of 2007 - the biggest mountain of on-balance sheet and off-balance sheet debt in history: A staggering $220 trillion in debt in America's $14-trillion economy alone (when you include all public, private and contingent liabilities of unfunded entitlement programs). Deals in the global debt derivatives market now stand in excess of $1 quadrillion, riding above a global GDP of approximately $60 trillion.
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Snakes in Suits

Controversial article published in local magazine has Philadelphia Mayor Nutter asking for investigation

Mike Dougherty
CBS Philly
Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:41 UTC
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© Alex Wong/Getty ImagesMayor Michael Nutter speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 6, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina
A controversial article published in Philadelphia Magazine this month has the attention of the Nutter Administration.

The article, titled "Being White in Philly," features a series of interviews with anonymous white residents from different areas of the city who share stories about their interaction with black residents.

Mayor Nutter calls the article's tone "disgusting," and he's asked the Human Relations Commission to investigate some of the sensitive racial issues explored in the piece.

Nutter spokesman Mark McDonald says this is all about fact finding.

"I think he feels that there are enough problems in this article that it warrants a closer look," McDonald explains.
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Bizarro Earth

Palin calls Obama a liar in speech to conservative activists

Anna Yukhananov
Reuters
Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:16 UTC
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© REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstFormer Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, March 16, 2013.
Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, called President Barack Obama a liar and urged her party to stand by conservative values, rousing the crowd at a conservative conference on Saturday.

"Barack Obama promised the most transparent administration ever. Barack Obama, you lie," the former Alaska governor said in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington.

She was echoing a line from a Republican member of the House of Representatives who shouted at Obama during a speech to Congress in 2009 and accused him of lying about healthcare for illegal immigrants.
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Eye 1

Google Glass: The opposition grows

Chris Matyszczyk
CNet
Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:30 UTC
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© Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
"Stop The Cyborgs" is a new site that attempts to bring a balanced trepidation to the unbalanced idea that we'll all be walking round with Google's outer brain strapped to our faces.

The opposition will congregate in dark corners.

They will whisper with their mouths, while their eyes will scan the room for spies wearing strange spectacles.

The spies will likely be men. How many women would really like to waft down the street wearing Google Glass?

It won't be easy. Once you've been cybernated, there's no turning back. Which is why the refuseniks are already meeting in shaded corners of the Web.

One site is called "Stop The Cyborgs." It claims to be "fighting the algorithmic future one bit at a time."
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