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Bad Guys

Police State UK: G4S chief predicts mass police privatisation

Matthew Taylor
The Guardian
Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:28 UTC
David Taylor-Smith
© GuardianDavid Taylor-Smith, the head of G4S for the UK and Africa, said he expected most UK police forces to sign up to privatisation deals.
Private companies will be running large parts of the police service within five years, according to security firm head

Private companies will be running large parts of the UK's police service within five years, according to the world's biggest security firm.

David Taylor-Smith, the head of G4S for the UK and Africa, said he expected police forces across the country to sign up to similar deals to those on the table in the West Midlands and Surrey, which could result in private companies taking responsibility for duties ranging from investigating crimes to transporting suspects and managing intelligence.

The prediction comes as it emerged that 10 more police forces were considering outsourcing deals that would see services, such as running police cells and operating IT, run by private firms.

Comment: Interesting to see how a quote from a Home Office spokesperson was added later to try to spin some positives about private policing. We only have to look to the USA, where two million people are either incarcerated in prison or in jail awaiting trial, to see the effects of arresting people as a business.

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Moodys cuts ratings of big banks including BofA, Chase

Pallavi Gogoi
Associated Press
Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:55 UTC
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© AlamyCredit ratings agency Moody's downgraded some U.S. banks today.
Moody's Investors Service has lowered the ratings of some of the world's largest banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

The ratings agency said late Thursday that the banks were downgraded because their long-term prospects for profitability and growth are shrinking.

The ratings agency said it was especially concerned about banks with significant capital market activities during a time of increased volatility in markets.

A downgrade usually means that it becomes more costly for banks to raise money by selling debt. Investors demand higher interest for riskier debt, which is what the downgrades represent.


Comment: The ratings agency Moody's is complicit in the whole fraudulent fiat Ponzi scheme that is in the process of destroying the livelihoods of millions worldwide. Moody's were an active participant in the 2008 economic crisis by giving top ratings to sub-prime mortgage derivative products. When these products collapsed in value - because they were high risk and essentially worthless - the resulting collapse of Lehman brothers lead to the 'miraculous' FED-driven money-printing programs know as "quantitative easing". At the FED's last meeting a much anticipated QE3 didn't materialise much to the disappointment of market participants. We wouldn't be surprised to learn that the banks have schemed with Moody's to downgrade them so that the FED will 'HAVE' to step in and give them Billions of dollars to 'SAVE' them.

The circus continues...

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British banks to be downgraded by credit ratings agency Moody's as euro-crisis spreads

James White
Daily Mail
Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:23 UTC
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© AlamyDowngrade: Credit ratings agency Moody's is set to downgrade some banks today, it is claimed
British banks are set to be downgraded by a leading credit ratings agency, it was claimed today.

Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays are all in line for a downgrade by ratings agency Moody's over fears the eurozone crisis threatens their stability.

In a move that would cost financial institutions billions of pounds and could have a knock-on effect on the cost of credit to business and consumers, Moody's is set to push some banks down two notches, sources said.

Moody's will also downgrade a number of the biggest banks around the world, it was claimed, a decision that would show how the eurozone sovereign debt crisis is hitting all areas of global finance.

The cuts are part of a wider review by Moody's of the global banking sector that Sky News said is likely to be unveiled tonight after the US market closes.
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Stocks tumble as market sees worst day in three weeks


MSNBC
Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:00 UTC
Image
© Brendan Mcdermid/ReutersTraders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Updated at 2:15 p.m. ET: Stocks fell sharply mid-session Thursday after some downbeat economic reports worried investors. It was the market's worst daily performance in three weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average was lately down over 200 points.

The Philadelphia division of the Federal Reserve reported that manufacturing in the Northeastern U.S. region fell sharply this month, recording its worst reading since last August.

Also, Labor Department data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell just a little last week to 387,000, while a monthly indicator of China's manufacturing activity fell to a seven-month low of 48.1.

A separate report showed home resales fell in May and the median sales price rose only because of a drop in sale of lower priced homes, casting a shadow on the country's nascent housing market recovery.

Comment: Been paying attention to the signs:
Outlook darkens as Europe sinks, China struggles
‎Bailing Out Greece is like Feeding an Insatiable Beast
Prepare for Lehmans re-run, Bank official warns
Why Doesn't The Stock Market Reflect The Imminent Global Depression?

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Star of David

Israel Declared an Apartheid State

Stephen Lendman
Activist Post
Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:40 UTC
jewish settler, Hebron
© n/a
Colonialism and apartheid breach international law.

The 1973 International Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (the Apartheid Convention) called it state-sanctioned discriminatory "inhuman" racism "committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them."

Apartheid is an international crime. The above definition builds on the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

The 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court calls apartheid a crime under the Court's jurisdiction. For 45 years, Israel flagrantly breached the law.

ICERD's Article 3 calls apartheid a particularly egregious form of discrimination. The Apartheid Convention and Rome Statute criminalized its practice.

Last March, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) held its 80th session. It evaluated Israel's compliance under ICERD provisions. In 1979, Israel became a signatory. Policy reform didn't follow. Crimes against humanity continue.
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No Entry

Outlook darkens as Europe sinks, China struggles

Jonathan Cable
Reuters
Thu, 21 Jun 2012 06:15 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Carlos BarriaAn employee works on a car engine along a Geely Automobile Corporation assembly line in Cixi, Zhejiang province June 21, 2012.
The downturn in the euro zone's private sector is becoming entrenched and Chinese factories are finding the going increasingly tough, business surveys showed on Thursday, painting a darker outlook for the world economy.

June was the fifth consecutive month that activity across the euro zone has declined, dragging down heavyweights Germany and France and putting pressure on the European Central Bank to take further action to support the economy.

"We are at the point where the economy is increasingly losing traction and it's hard at this stage to see what will give us a lift. The ECB will do more, that will probably involve a rate cut - which is symbolic - but is action," said Peter Dixon at Commerzbank.

With economic recovery showing increased fragility in the United States, the Federal Reserve delivered another round of monetary stimulus on Wednesday and said it was ready to do even more to help if the situation in Europe deteriorated.

Comment: Do the words "fiscal and banking union" mean corporate and bank controlled countries? It is the case in many countries today. The IMF, World Bank etc.. all appear to be playing a heavy hand on people, countries and politics these days.

As psychopathic (genetic: Psychopath, learned: Sociopath) behavior becomes the norm, more sickness and turmoil will ensue. In an (economic) environment, intentionally molded to increase stress, hypertension and poverty, sociopathic behavior increases as people become more desperate. However, there is help which can increase objectivity, self control, and reduce stress.

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Health

Mubarak Health Drama Adds to Egypt Uncertainty

Marwa Awad and Edmund Blair
Reuters
Wed, 20 Jun 2012 05:29 UTC
Hosni Mubarak
© Reuters/StringerMembers of the special forces stand guard while former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak lies on a bed while being taken to the courtroom at the police academy in Cairo in this September 7, 2011

Cairo - Hosni Mubarak's move from jail to a Cairo military hospital where officials said he was slipping in and out of a coma on Wednesday created fresh uncertainty for Egyptians as officials delayed the announcement of a presidential election result.

Claims of fraud from both camps fuelled unease in a nation where rigged ballots were the norm under Mubarak and where his fellow generals have moved to curb the power of the new head of state. Now that results will not be announced on Thursday, clarity may not emerge until a full week after polling ended.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose candidate Mohamed Morsy claimed victory on Monday, threatened to take to the streets if Ahmed Shafik, a former general and Mubarak ally, was declared the winner. However, a leading Islamist told Reuters there would be no violence of the sort that devastated Algeria in the 1990s.

And the Shafik camp, while insisting its data meant it was also confident of victory, called for unity, saying its candidate would offer senior posts to the Brotherhood and, if he lost, would accept defeat and be willing to serve under Morsy.
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Megaphone

WikiLeaks' Assange Faces Arrest if He Leaves Ecuador Embassy


USA Today
Wed, 20 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC

Julian Assange has spent years on the move, trying to keep ahead of authorities who want to stop his secret-spilling mission.

Now the WikiLeaks founder finds himself confined in the surprising setting of Ecuador's London embassy, where he was holed up Wednesday while diplomats discussed his fate and British police waited outside to arrest him if he leaves.

Assange is seeking political asylum in the South American nation, in a dramatic bid to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning about alleged sex crimes. His supporters say he fears charges in the United States for leaking hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. documents. But some legal experts say it is a desperate and likely futile move.

"He knows he's reached the end of the road in the U.K. He knows he's going to be extradited to Sweden," said Alex Carlile, a senior British lawyer with expertise in extradition matters. "Basically, he has nowhere to go."

The 40-year-old Australian landed himself in legal limbo Tuesday when he took refuge in the embassy a few doors down from the Harrods department store.

British police say Assange has violated the terms of his bail, which include an overnight curfew, and is subject to arrest. But British officials concede he is beyond their grasp as long as he remains in the embassy, which under legal convention is treated as Ecuadorean territory.
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Evil Rays

TSA's New Scanner Technology Questioned

Jessica Meyers
Politico
Tue, 19 Jun 2012 06:53 UTC
TSA
© Transportation Security Administration
In case you haven't heard, Congress wants the TSA to reduce staff and siphon costs. But members took issue Tuesday with a system that's supposed to do just that.

The TSA wants to purchase technology that automatically validates boarding passes and identifies fake documents. Administrators say the system, known in longhand as Credential Authentication Technology - Boarding Pass Scanning Systems, would add extra padding to the agency's risk-based security focus.

But it's not clear whether it would actually work.
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Vader

Hypocrite: Barack Obama once a harsh critic of executive privilege

Chitrangada Choudhury
Guardian
Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:55 UTC
obama, bush
© Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesAs a Senator, Obama criticised Bush's repeated use of executive privilege.
While an Illinois Senator, Obama condemned George W Bush's repeated use of privilege power. Now he has used it himself

Barack Obama has asserted his power of executive privilege for the first time in his presidency. But before taking up residence in the White House, Obama, along with his fellow Democrats, was a vocal critic of George W Bush's use of the same tool.

In March 2007, Obama - then an Illinois senator - appeared on CNN's Larry King Show. "You know," he said, "There's been a tendency on the part of this administration to try to hide behind executive privilege every time there's something a little shaky that's taking place ... I think the American people deserve to know what was going on there."

Obama was criticizing Bush's repeated use of executive privilege throughout to prevent senior White House executives from testifying before Congress on the firing of senior federal attorneys. Democrats alleged the firings took place on political grounds.
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