Society's Child

Consumer Watchdog Fines Capital One for Deceptive Credit Card Practices

Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg
The New York Times - Deal Book
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 08:19 UTC

© unknown
Capital One — which is known for its catchy television ads with Alec Baldwin — received a regulatory rebuke for misleading customers.

Capital One, one of the nation's biggest banks, will reimburse $150 million to more than two million customers for selling them credit card products they could not use or did not want, as the nation's new consumer watchdog leveled its first enforcement action against the financial industry.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday hit Capital One with findings that a vendor working for the bank had pressured and deceived card holders into buying products presented as a way to protect them from identity theft and hardships like unemployment or disability.

The regulatory actions, totaling $210 million including fines to authorities, take aim at one of the financial industry's growing profit centers and increasingly controversial practices. Several other banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC, were sued in June by the Hawaii attorney general, accused of improperly selling similar so-called add-on products, which consumer advocates typically regard as costly and ineffective.

John Brennan, Man Who Stripped In Front Of TSA, Found Not Guilty

Nigel Duara
Huffington Post
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 07:11 UTC

Portland, Oregon - An Oregon man who stripped nude at Portland's airport security to protest what he saw as invasive measures was found not guilty of indecent exposure.

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge David Rees ruled Wednesday that John Brennan's act was one of protest and therefore, protected speech.

Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Joel Petersen argued that Brennan's strip-down was an act of indecent exposure.

"I was aware of the irony of removing my clothes to protect my privacy," Brennan said from the witness stand on Wednesday.

On April 17, Brennan arrived at the airport intending to take a business trip to San Jose, Calif. He works with groups in Silicon Valley and flies out of Portland International Airport about once a month.

When he reached the gate, he declined to go through the airport's body scanners, instead choosing the alternative metal detector and body pat-down. After the pat-down, Transportation Security Administration officer Steven Van Gordon detected nitrates on the gloves he used to check Brennan.

"For me, time slowed down," Brennan said. "I thought about nitrates and I thought about the Oklahoma City bombing."

Brennan said before his trial that after months of angst every time he went through security, the nitrate detection was the final straw for him, a wordless accusation that he was a terrorist.

So he took off all his clothes.

I'm Finally Leaving America's Crazed Police State

David Seaman
Business Insider
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:35 UTC

Dudes, I'm done with this. I'm leaving the United States today, and won't be back for a while. I recently visited my childhood hometown and noticed a whole bunch of brand new surveillance cameras at nearly every intersection and street corner; this is just a town, mind you, not some city of national or international significance.

After doing some research, it turns out the cameras are "high-definition" 24/7 surveillance cameras, manufactured and operated by Sprint Nextel Corp, and paid for through federal Department of Homeland Security grants to the town's local police department.

In fact, the number of these cameras in my hometown has reportedly tripled over the past couple years. There are as many as six of them at each intersection, they aren't red light traffic cameras (topic for another article altogether, though). Here's a photo I took of the cameras.

Do you really think these are there to make your 10 minute drive to the Applebee's safe from terrorists? Do you?

On another note, I was recently at a ball game: they now ask you to rise twice to sing the national anthem and pledge your allegiance. As a child, I only remember this occurring once, normally at the start of the game.

It was recently revealed that the NSA, according to a former high-ranking official there, is building "dossiers" on MILLIONS of American citizens and may be routinely spying on countless Americans on U.S. soil, in clear violation of our laws and principles as a nation.

Priests Could Be Ordered to Report Confessions of Sex Abuse to Police

Ashley Gardiner
News.com.au
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 11:27 UTC

UPDATE: The prospect of government forcing priests to report what was said in confession is the sign of a "police state mentality", says a priest and law professor.

Australia - Hundreds of years of Catholic tradition in the confessional could be overturned by Victoria's inquiry into child sex abuse.

Priests would be ordered to reveal crimes told to them in private confessions under one proposal before the inquiry.

But priests say they will resist being forced to reveal secrets of the confessional.

Priest and law professor Father Frank Brennan said the move would be a restriction on religious freedom.

"If a parliamentary inquiry were to recommend a law by parliament saying that priests were forced to disclose anything revealed to them in the sacrament of confession I think that would be a serious interference with the right of religious freedom," Father Brennan said today.
Australia

Retired Judge Whitlam Heads Inquiry into Church Handling of Priest Who Admitted Sexually Abusing Boys as Young as 10

Leesha McKenny
Brisbane Times
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC

Australia - The Catholic Church has appointed a retired Federal Court judge to head an inquiry into its handling of a NSW priest who admitted sexually abusing boys as young as 10.

Antony Whitlam, QC, a former federal politician and the son of the former prime minister Gough Whitlam, was appointed to lead the independent inquiry jointly commissioned by the Bishop of Armidale, Michael Kennedy, and the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher.

A statement from the two clergymen did not outline the terms of reference for the inquiry other than to say that it would look at ''the processes related to the management of 'Father F''', who has been the subject of media reports in relation to allegations of abuse of children.

''Further details of the inquiry process will be developed in consultation with Mr Whitlam, QC,'' the statement said.

Father F, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was removed from public ministry after a meeting with three clergy in 1992, following continued allegations of abuse after he was moved from the Armidale diocese to Parramatta.

Shit-stirrer Sheriff Arpaio is at it again - Obama Birth Certificate 'Definitely Fraudulent'

RT.com
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:33 UTC

The long-form birth certificate released by the White House in April 2011 is fraudulent, claim investigators acting as a posse for Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The posse had earlier said the certificate may have been a computer-generated forgery, but now they say they are positive that the document is a fake.

Mike Zullo, the posse's chief investigator, said numeric codes on certain parts of the birth certificate indicate that those parts were not filled out. He added that those sections asking for the race of Obama's father and his field of work or study were completed.

Zullo said investigators previously did not know the meaning of the codes, but they were explained by a 95-year-old former state worker who signed the president's birth certificate.

So-called "birthers" believe that President Barack Obama is not eligible to hold America's highest office because he was allegedly born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and thus is not a natural US citizen.

Comment: The birth cert issue is obviously a distraction from the real reason why Obama isn't fit to rule: he's a psychopath.

Virgin Mary Statue 'Bleeding' in Louisiana

CNN
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:28 UTC

Baton Rouge, LA - Believers are flocking to this Baton Rouge neighborhood to see a statue of Mother Mary with their own eyes. You see, everyone here believes the statue is bleeding.

Hai Nguyen is the owner. His daughter translated for him and says he was doing lawn work when the unexpected happened.

"He looked up and saw blood coming down."

Blood dripping from the side of Mary's face, and the word spread quickly.

"He don't know how to explain it. He just know that maybe God sent a message through Mary."

Caught on camera: Moment 'deputy stomped on head of suspect as he lay helpless on floor'

Daily Mail
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:22 UTC

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy has been caught on camera kicking a suspect laying on the pavement in the head. Since the footage was discovered, one deputy has been relieved of his duty and the Sheriff's Department have launched a criminal investigation into the matter. The incident happened on Friday when Alexis Husmario Torres, 31, was suspected of groping a woman in downtown Los Angeles.

Residents Warned: 6-foot Lizard Loose in Colorado

Steven K. Paulson
The Associated Press
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:29 UTC

© Arvin C. Diesmos/National Museum of the Philippines
A 6-foot monitor lizard, similar to the one pictured here, is on the loose in Colorado.

Denver - A sheriff has warned residents in a tourist town northwest of Colorado Springs that a strong, aggressive 6-foot lizard that eats small animals - including dogs and cats - is on the loose in the area.

Teller County Sheriff Mike Ensinger said Tuesday that a 25-pound pet Nile monitor lizard has gone missing after breaking a mesh leash and crawling away.

Ensinger said about 400 homes in the Woodland Park area were warned. He added that the animal, which escaped Monday and is known as Dino, has not bitten any humans - yet.

"We have a 6-foot reptile out and about," Ensinger said. "If it gets hungry enough, we don't know what it will do."

Ensinger said his animal control division is searching for the animal.

Pro-Palestinian Ads Ignite Firestorm Of Controversy

Information Clearing House
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:33 UTC

"I think the ad is very offensive, it's certainly offensive to Jews," said Dovid Efune, the the editor of the Jewish newspaper The Algemeiner.

A seemingly endless debate over politics, religion and territory is coming to a train station near you.

An explosive ad about Israel is now igniting a firestorm of controversy.

The display shows shrinking Palestinian territory in Israel over the years and refers to 4.7 million Palestinians there as refugees.

The ads are appearing in 50 Metro-North stations.

.. .. if it's on Katz's Court TV is an over propagandized ruse? or, (the late) H. Wayne the Carver, coroner?

Jibrish

.. .. A bot in lipstick is still a bot [Link]

Jibrish

Link to the video on YT: [Link]

Jean Michel

It was probably vaccine hesitancy that killed the mammoths!

sbc

Parts shortages been happening for generations. For example how many spineless and brainless people ya know?

sbc

Society's Child

Consumer Watchdog Fines Capital One for Deceptive Credit Card Practices

John Brennan, Man Who Stripped In Front Of TSA, Found Not Guilty

I'm Finally Leaving America's Crazed Police State

Priests Could Be Ordered to Report Confessions of Sex Abuse to Police

Retired Judge Whitlam Heads Inquiry into Church Handling of Priest Who Admitted Sexually Abusing Boys as Young as 10

Shit-stirrer Sheriff Arpaio is at it again - Obama Birth Certificate 'Definitely Fraudulent'

Virgin Mary Statue 'Bleeding' in Louisiana

Caught on camera: Moment 'deputy stomped on head of suspect as he lay helpless on floor'

Residents Warned: 6-foot Lizard Loose in Colorado

Pro-Palestinian Ads Ignite Firestorm Of Controversy

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