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More hysteria: Miami airport locked down after dentist's bag slipped through TSA screening

Andre Damon
World Socialist Web Site
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 00:00 UTC
false alarm miami airport

Passengers Evacuated in False Alarm at Miami International Airport
On Monday evening, an American Airlines flight from Miami, Florida to Barbados was boarded by a paramilitary police unit wielding assault rifles, who demanded that passengers put their hands on their heads as they were forced off the flight.

Large sectors of the airport were effectively placed under lockdown during the operation. The gates of terminal cafes and restaurants were closed, leaving patrons locked inside by iron bars as police SWAT teams decked out in body armor and toting assault rifles swept through the terminal.

Photos and videos posted to social media documented the egregious violation of passengers' constitutional right to be free of unwarranted searches and seizures. "There were very large machine guns, body armor, all of that," one passenger told a local CNN affiliate. "Very, very frightening."

Some 70 flights were delayed and nine were diverted as a result of the lockdown, which shut down two concourses for almost three hours.

Comment: It appears that after the recent downing of a Russian plane over the Sinai, the PTB could be using this an opportunity to ramp up the fear factor and to accustom people to the presence of the military in every facet of life.

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Red Flag

Undercover video reveals pigs suffered abuse at major US pork supplier plant


RT
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 15:56 UTC
Pig farm
© Abdelrahman Younis / Reuters
Pigs suffered abuse during multiple stages of production at a facility of one of the top suppliers of pork in the country, according to a hidden video captured by an undercover animal rights activist, who took a job at the meat processing plant.

According to the company's website, Quality Pork Processors (QPP) provides more than half of the "fresh pork raw material needs" for Hormel, the maker of Spam and other pork products. Both companies are based in Austin, Minnesota, where harrowing footage was captured and edited by the Compassion Over Killing group and posted on YouTube.

Comment: It is truly sad to see how the animals that provide us with food are treated. It also shows how humanity has degraded so much. Going vegetarian is not the answer either as that is not the optimal fuel for our bodies. Choosing the products we eat from local farms that care about animal welfare is a step in the right direction.

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Airplane

Akron plane crash kills 9 people


local12.com
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 13:52 UTC
Image
© fox8.com
No survivors on plane that crashed into Akron apartment, troopers say
A special team is working to recover the bodies of the nine people killed in the Akron plane crash.

It was a chartered flight that was carrying two pilots and seven real estate executives from Florida.

Their business jet took off from Lunken Airport Tuesday, Nov. 10, and made a stop in Dayton before heading to Akron. The seven passengers worked for Pebb Enterprises out of Boca Raton.

The company issued a statement saying it was a time of unimaginable loss and mourning and is providing support to the families of those who died. Pebb Enterprises has business interests in the Midwest, including one in Eastgate.

"32 East" is a brand new redevelopment that sits across from Jungle Jim's and is anchored by a Michael's and Gordman's. Union Township administrator Ken Geis told Local 12 News that all of those on board the plane were nice people and great businessmen. He said they were very hands-on with the $20 million project but he's not sure if they visited the site during their stop Tuesday.


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Bizarro Earth

Black means thief? Apple store kicks out students of African descent over fears "they might steal"


RT
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 13:49 UTC
Image
© Robert Galbraith / Reuters
A group of black students was asked to leave an Apple store in Melbourne as its employees were "worried they might steal something." A video of the incident was posted on Facebook, with users accusing the store of racial profiling.

Maribyrnong College students, who moved to Australia as children from Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Eritrea and Egypt, were denied entry to the store by a staff member and two security guards.

"These guys [security guards] are just a bit worried about your presence in our store. They're just worried you might steal something," an Apple staff member says in the video to a group of six black teenagers, aged between 15 and 16 years old.

Comment: Fascism! Apple store refuses to sell ipad to a woman because she's Iranian

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People

Utah judge removes child from same-sex couple, citing 'research'


RT
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 13:33 UTC
Image
© Bernardo Montoya / Reuters
A Utah judge has ordered that a foster baby be taken away from a same-sex couple - the judge said he has research about children "doing better in heterosexual families."

April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce had been taking care of the baby girl for three months, and were already getting ready to adopt her. They are also raising Peirce's two older kids together.

However, Utah Judge Scott Johansen ordered that the girl should be adopted by a heterosexual couple, reportedly citing a study with the alleged data on kids being negatively affected by same-sex parents.

Comment:

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Telephone

Not so Securus

Jordan Smith, Micah Lee
The Intercept
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 08:28 UTC
Massive Hack of 70 Million Prisoner Phone Calls Indicates Violations of Attorney-Client Privilege

phone security
An enormous cache of phone records obtained by The Intercept reveals a major breach of security at Securus Technologies, a leading provider of phone services inside the nation's prisons and jails. The materials — leaked via SecureDrop by an anonymous hacker who believes that Securus is violating the constitutional rights of inmates — comprise over 70 million records of phone calls, placed by prisoners to at least 37 states, in addition to links to downloadable recordings of the calls. The calls span a nearly two-and-a-half year period, beginning in December 2011 and ending in the spring of 2014.

Particularly notable within the vast trove of phone records are what appear to be at least 14,000 recorded conversations between inmates and attorneys, a strong indication that at least some of the recordings are likely confidential and privileged legal communications — calls that never should have been recorded in the first place. The recording of legally protected attorney-client communications — and the storage of those recordings — potentially offends constitutional protections, including the right to effective assistance of counsel and of access to the courts.

Comment: The FBI's plan to destroy privacy
Big Brother Surveillance - It is not just for governments anymore

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Bomb

Montreal to start dumping untreated sewage into one of Canada's biggest rivers

Christinne Muschi
Business Insider
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 02:39 UTC
Image
© Reuters
St. Lawrence River, Canada
Montreal, Canada's second-largest city, began dumping untreated sewage into the St. Lawrence River on Wednesday, angering environmentalists with a repair operation that could release as much as 8 billion liters (2.1 billion gallons) of wastewater into a major waterway.

The city has said the dump, expected to last up to a week, is necessary while work is carried out to replace ageing parts of the waste treatment system that could create a greater environmental hazard if it unexpectedly broke.
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Cardboard Box

The reason why I didn't vote in the Ukrainian local elections

Anton Dmytriiev
Open Democracy
Thu, 29 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
ukraine ballot
© www.rferl.org
Local Ukraine election, rife with Western-style corruption.
  • Local councils packed with characters who should really be behind bars
  • Life not improved in fact the opposite - constant acts of terrorism in Odesa
  • People choose slogans, not concrete issues and visions
  • Parties agreed in advance who would head the country's key cities
  • Voter bribery operation done with impunity, didn't bother to hide it
I belong to that rare category of people who try to do something for their neighbourhood or their street off their own bat, although I work with the local authority on other issues. That's why I didn't vote in the local elections - I just didn't see the point.

Dymtriiev
© www.opendemocracy.net
Anton Dymtriiev
At the time of last year's parliamentary elections, a lot of people felt sorry for me - after all, a few years ago I worked for Oleh Lyashko, who is now a prominent politician (leader of Ukraine's Radical Party and former presidential candidate). And now that many of his assistants from back then are parliamentary deputies themselves, people were telling me I'd missed my chance.

But I believe it's better to be free and to do what you want, rather than carrying out someone else's orders, thinking only what you're supposed to think and pretending to be enthusiastic about things you don't agree with. So I decided to concentrate on journalism and start-ups, and leave politicking to others.

Comment: "I don't want to have to choose between one populist or gangster and another; I don't see a single political agenda that focuses on local issues and I haven't seen any candidate putting any real effort into improving peoples' lives and the places where they live." Sounds just like the USA...wait a minute...wasn't that the point of all that pesky meddling "to improve" the lives of Ukrainians...so they could become the unwitting beneficiaries of their very own exceptional and dystopian republic? Mission accomplished!

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Handcuffs

Lies and empty promises: Obama can shut down Gitmo, but doesn't


Sputnik News
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 01:31 UTC
close guantanamo protest white house
© Flickr/ stephenmelkisethian
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama agreed to sign a new defense bill that undermines his promise to close the Guantánamo Bay prison camp before the end of his term. Human rights lawyers, however, maintain that he still has the ability to do so.

Soon after taking office, Obama signed an executive order that required Guantánamo to be closed within a year, but the facility remains open, housing several detainees who have been held for years without being charged with any crime, to this day.
"The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order," read the statement he signed on Jan. 22, 2009.

Comment: How Americans can explain away the fact that the US imprisons people indefinitely (which is essentially a form a psychological torture), without any criminal charges or due process whatsoever, is beyond rational comprehension.

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Life Preserver

Disabled people in UK 'sleeping in wheelchairs because of social care cuts'

Andy Wells
Yahoo News
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 22:17 UTC
disabled wheelchair
© n/a
A new report claims that disabled people are being forced to sleep fully clothed in their wheelchairs because of cuts to the care services.

Charity Scope found that over half of the 500 disabled people they questioned were not able to get the support they needed to live independently.

Iain Duncan Smith
© n/a
Iain Duncan Smith
They blamed a cut in welfare packages made by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), headed by Iain Duncan Smith.

The charity said that some people were surviving on nothing more than biscuits and were forced to sleep in their wheelchairs as there was no one to help them into bed.

Rachel Watt, a 36-year-old from Southampton, told the charity: "Since 2010, I have had two thirds of my care package cut, from two and a half hours a day down to 45 minutes.

"In November 2010, I lost my evening call to help me get ready for bed. Then a few months later I lost my domestic assistance, and then the following year I lost my meal preparation time.

"Now I just have a short morning call to help me get washed and dressed.

"On my worst days, I can't get undressed properly in the evenings, or transfer from my power wheelchair into bed, so I have to sleep in my chair, in my clothes."

Comment: The UK government keeps on cutting the support and benefits to those most vulnerable in society, but still manages to find enough to spend on death dealing abroad via disastrous foreign policies, to renew the Trident nuclear missile system and its attendant submarines, and the interest payments to private financial institutions on public money borrowed to bail out their buddies in the banking sector. All of which leaves just enough to fund 45 minutes of care and some biscuits for the needy. It's an economy run for the benefit of the few.

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