Society's ChildS


Dollars

More eyes, more money: DEA hires TSA agents to search passenger's luggage for cash

Tim Cushing
techdirt
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 22:11 UTC
TSA agent
From the if-drug-trafficking-dips,-so-do-the-opportunities-to-grab-cash,-so... dept.
Here you are: written evidence that asset forfeiture leads to law enforcement activity, rather than the other way around. (h/t Brad Heath)

The DEA has already been blasted by the DOJ's Inspector General for its confidential informant program. The DEA's informants were paid when they weren't producing intel. They were paid and sheltered from prosecution when they committed criminal acts falling outside their purview as informants. And the entire program was adrift in a sea of corruption and chaos, subject to no real oversight. To top it all off, Inspector General Michael Horowitz had to battle the DEA for every document and piece of relevant information just to arrive at these conclusions.

It's not just common criminals being added to the DEA's payroll as confidential informants. It's also other government employees. The DEA isn't running a government employee-focused sting, however. It's just looking for money. More eyes mean more money. And the eyes that will see the most money in transit will be those located at commuter hubs.

Comment: As above so below. The DEA isn't the only agency scamming money from citizens. Police departments are in on the game too.

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Christmas Tree

Two men traveling with over 20 pounds of marijuana call cops on themselves in bout of marijuana-induced paranoia


RT
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 21:43 UTC
Leland Ayala-Doliente and Holland Sward mugshots
© East Idaho News / YouTube
Two men traveling from Nevada to Montana with over 20 pounds of marijuana got so incredibly stoned they handed themselves over to police in a bout of paranoia. The resulting recording obtained by East Idaho News had YouTubers in stitches.

The men - Leland Ayala-Doliente, 22, and Holland Sward, 23 - were driving across the Nevada-Idaho border almost exactly a year ago when fear struck so deep it completely paralyzed their ability to reason.

The following police call might be really bad publicity for marijuana, as things like this rarely happen outside of movies. The two decided they were being followed by undercover police after crossing over the border. They saw cars everywhere that they thought were being driven by cops just itching to bust them but were keeping their distance for some inexplicable reason.

And so, the two pulled over after exiting a highway in Rexburg. Parked at a gas station, they made a 911 call that will go down in history:

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Snakes in Suits

North Dakota approves huge crude oil pipeline despite environmental concerns


RT
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 21:36 UTC
oil pump
© Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
North Dakota regulators have approved a proposal to build the largest capacity pipeline to date. The 1,130-mile long pipeline seeks to transport nearly 600,000 barrels of crude oil from the Bakken oil fields through 50 counties across four states.

On Tuesday, the North Dakota Public Service Commission approved permits for a pipeline that would transport crude oil through the Dakotas, Illinois, and Iowa. The all-Republican panel voted 2-0 in favor of the pipeline, with one member abstaining due to a conflict of interest.

Iowa is the only state yet to approve permits, however, The News and Observer reports that Energy Transfer Parts, the company behind the project, expects Iowa to approve by next month.

According to The News & Observer, the project is estimated to cost roughly $3.8 billion, with the North Dakota leg alone costing $1.4 billion. The Southern Illinoisan reported that Energy Transfer Partners, a Dallas-based company, claims to have easement agreements on 85 percent of the land the pipeline crosses.
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Camcorder

Video: Mondoweiss interviews 'children of the camp' in occupied West Bank

Sheren Khalel and Abed Al Qaisi
Mondoweiss
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 16:57 UTC
Children of the Camp
© YouTube/Mondoweiss
On Thursday, January 21 children from Bethlehem's Aida and Beit Jibrin refugee camps talked to Mondoweiss about their life in the camps. We wanted to know exactly how much the children understood about the military occupation going on around them, and how normal they believed their lives were. With their parents permission, we asked five children from the streets of the two camps what they thought. All of the answers were spontaneous and unrehearsed, and as it turned out, the kids understood — and have experienced — quite a lot.

Many of the children talked about tear gas, soldiers, and being scared of going outside. All of the children have seen family members killed, injured and detained by Israeli forces — as is the life in the occupied West Bank's many refugee camps. Still, the children have high hopes, telling Mondoweiss they want to be doctors, lawyers and engineers when they grow up.



Video: Sheren Khalel and Abed al Qaisi
Music: Bakr Khalifa
Interviews recorded: January 21, 2016
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Bullseye

Walmart violated labor law by firing on-strike workers, must offer to re-hire them - NLRB judge


RT
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 20:16 UTC
walmart labor laws
© Bret Hartman / ReutersStriking Walmart workers and supporters protest at a store on Black Friday in Paramount, California, November 23, 2012.
Walmart broke the law when it fired 16 employees for going on strike in 2013 and must now offer to re-hire them, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge has ruled. The retail giant has indicated it will appeal the decision.

The mega-retailer fired and disciplined workers at 29 stores for unexcused absences after they took part in a strike for better pay and working conditions in 2013.

But Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter ruled on Thursday that Walmart violated labor law by "disciplining or discharging several associates because they were absent from work while on strike," adding that the strike was protected under the National Labor Relations Act.

Carter also ruled that the chain must give the employees back-pay for lost wages. Workers must be made "whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits suffered as a result of the discrimination against them," he said.

Comment: Kudos to Judge Geoffrey Carter. Pay up, corporate America.

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Bad Guys

Toxic Monsanto sues California agency over plans to list Roundup as cancer-causing chemical


RT
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 04:55 UTC
Monsanto
© Juliette Michel / AFPThe entrance sign is seen at the headquarters of Monsanto in St. Louis, Missouri.
Agrochemical giant Monsanto has taken a fight for its leading weed killer to court in California, seeking to prevent glyphosate, the main ingredient in the Roundup herbicide, from making it on the state's list of cancer-causing carcinogens.

Monsanto has filed a lawsuit against California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and the agency's acting director, Lauren Zeise, arguing that glyphosate is "a widely used herbicide"approved in 160 counties worldwide and does not "present a carcinogenic risk to humans."

Under California's Proposition 65 law, enacted in 1986, the state is obliged to keep and publish a list of chemicals "known to the State of California to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity." Last revised in early December, the entire list currently takes up 23 pages and includes over 800 chemicals, according to the agency.

Comment: Monsanto continues on with its lies to make its evil fortune.

See more: Eighty-five percent of personal hygiene products contaminated with glyphosate

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USA

Schoolboy pledges allegiance to ISIS instead of USA flag; DHS starts investigation


RT
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 18:02 UTC
schoolboy
© Reuters
A Connecticut student pledged allegiance to ISIS instead of the United States of America during the daily Pledge of Allegiance just before Christmas break. The 15-year-old boy now has to attend classes in a separate Board of Education building.

The teen is accused of making statements in favor of Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) during the Pledge, Ansonia Police Lieutenant Andrew Cota said Thursday.

"As this is a juvenile matter there is no other information being released," he added.
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Mr. Potato

Clueless CEO billionaire trolls American public, doesn't get why people are angry

Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 10:32 UTC
Steven Schwartzman
Steven Schwartzman - another clueless know-nothing billionaire
DAVOS MAN: "A soulless man, technocratic, nationless and cultureless, severed from reality. The modern economics that undergirded Davos capitalism is equally soulless, a managerial capitalism that reduces economics to mathematics and separates it from human action and human creativity."

- From the post: "For the Sake of Capitalism, Pepper Spray Davos"
I've written several posts examining the dangerous cluelessness inherent throughout the ranks of the oligarch class over the past several years. One of my earliest and most viral pieces was published two years ago and titled, An Open Letter to Sam Zell: Why Your Statements are Delusional and Dangerous. That article was a response to the billionaire's appearance on Bloomberg during which he instructed the less financially fortunate to "emulate the 1%," as if their destitution was a result of personal shortcomings as opposed to egregious structural flaws inherent in the rigged, crony, oligarch-controlled Banana Republic economy billionaires such as himself helped mold. Here's an excerpt:

Comment: The only thing left out of the fine article above, is that many of the attitudes held by the individuals the author is discussing are quite likely psychopaths.

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Hourglass

Georgia cop indicted for fatal shooting of unarmed, naked, mentally ill veteran


RT
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 05:03 UTC
Anthony Hill and Robert Olsen
© CBSAnthony Hill and Robert Olsen
DeKalb County Police Officer Robert Olsen, who shot and killed Anthony Hill last year, has been indicted on all six charges against him, including murder. The family and their supporters have expressed delight at the 'historic' grand jury decision.

The grand jury deliberated from 9:00am into early evening on Thursday, before indicting Olsen on two felony murder counts, one aggravated assault count, one making a false statement count, and two violation of oath by a public officer counts.

Hill, who was 27 at the time of his death on March 9 last year, was shot twice in the chest by Olsen. The events of that day began with neighbors calling police about a naked man's outlandish behavior. Witnesses said Hill jumped from his second floor apartment balcony twice, climbed the side the building, and ran and crawled around the premises, all while naked and speaking incomprehensibly.

Hill, an Air Force veteran, was mentally ill, and according to his family's attorney was medically discharged after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2013.Olsen, who had previously undergone training on dealing with mentally ill people, gave repeated commands to Hill to stop where he was, but when Hill continued toward Olsen, the officer pulled his service weapon and fired twice. Hill was carrying nothing, and Olsen did not use the Taser or pepper spray he was carrying at the time.

Afterward, Olsen said he feared for his life, and that Hill was likely on PCP or a similar drug. Different witnesses at the time said Olsen approached either normally or menacingly.


Comment: A New York appeals court judge once said that District Attorneys have so much influence over grand juries, you could literally 'indict a ham sandwich'. It remains to be seen if any of these bullies in blue will be held accountable for their state-sanctioned terror and the wholesale murder of innocent people.

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Handcuffs

Florida man injured by cops and arrested for attempting to rescue his 3 dogs from house fire

Michael Allen
Opposing Views
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 16:19 UTC
Wendell Joyner
© Screenshot via News6Wendell Joyner
Wendell Joyner was arrested for trying to save his three dogs from a house fire on Jan. 20 in Brevard County, Florida (video below).

"My defense was I was trying to save my dogs," Joyner told News 6. "I got out of the house period, and then I realized, 'Oh, wait a minute, my dogs are in there,'" Joyner recalled. "So, I went back in the house to look for my dogs." Joyner tried to go back in the house several times, but was overcome by the smoke.

Joyner told the news station that he eventually grabbed a firefighter's ax off the ground, and smashed it through a front window so that he could rescue the canines. Instead, he was tackled by deputies. Brevard County sheriff's deputies said that Joyner disobeyed orders by firefighters, and kept going inside his own house to save his dogs.

Deputies caused injuries to Joyner's face, took him to a local hospital and then him booked at the Brevard County Jail for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. "I think at the most, he should've took me aside, and if he felt that it needed to be, cuffed me and put me in his squad car until things settled," Joyner said.

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