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Two Ex-Border Patrol Agents Convicted of Human Smuggling


USA Today
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press/Gregory Bull
A Border Patrol agent drives his vehicle along the international border in Tijuana, Mexico.
San Diego - Two former Border Patrol agents were found guilty Friday of smuggling hundreds of people into the U.S. in Border Patrol vehicles.

Raul and Fidel Villarreal were convicted of charges that they brought illegal immigrants into the U.S. for money and received bribes by public officials, and counts of conspiracy to launder money. Prosecutors said Raul Villarreal started a ring that smuggled in Mexicans and Brazilians and made Fidel Villarreal, his older brother and a fellow agent, one of his first recruits.

Both brothers pleaded not guilty in one of the highest-profile corruption cases to sting the Border Patrol since it went on a hiring spree during the last decade. Raul Villarreal had been a public face of the patrol, frequently appearing on television as an agency spokesman.

The federal probe began in May 2005 with an informant's tip to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Investigators installed cameras on poles in areas where migrants were dropped off, planted undercover recording devices, put tracking instruments on Border Patrol vehicles and followed a smuggling load by airplane.
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Stormtrooper

50 police officers arrested in child porn raids


MailOnline
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:00 UTC
Fifty police officers across the UK have been arrested as part of a crackdown on suspected paedophiles who pay to access child pornography websites, detectives revealed today.

The officers were among 1,300 people arrested on suspicion of accessing or downloading indecent images of children - some as young as five - from US-based Internet sites.

Thirty-five men were arrested in London this morning as part of the investigation - codenamed Operation Ore - following raids on 45 addresses across the capital.

Of the 50 policemen identified, eight have been charged to date and the remainder bailed pending further inquiries. Scotland Yard said none of those arrested today was a policeman.

At a press conference at Scotland Yard today, Jim Gamble, assistant chief constable of the National Crime Squad, said he was not surprised at the number of police officers among the suspects.

"As police officers, we should expect to be held accountable," he said.

"Fifty police officers have been identified and we are not hiding that fact. We want you to know about that to reassure you.
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Pistol

'Son of Sam' Claims to Have Found Religion and Denounces Gun Violence

Tanyanika Samuels
New York Daily News
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:22 UTC
Exclusive: From jail cell 35 years to the day his reign of terror ended, Berkowitz says society needs to take the 'glory out of guns.' He is serving six 25-years-to life sentences for shooting 13 people in cold blood, killing six

Image
© Mike Groll/Associated Press
David Berkowitz has changed from heartless mass murderer to born-again Christian behind bars.
He is one of New York's most notorious serial killers.

He shot 13 people in cold blood, killing six.

Yet 35 years to the day his reign of terror ended, David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, speaks gently from his jail cell with the words: society needs to take the "glory out of guns."

"It's all senseless," he said from the maximum security Sullivan County Correctional Facility in upstate New York, where he is serving six consecutive 25 years-to-life sentences.
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Smiley

Voices in her Head: Pelosi 'channels' Suffragists to Promote Pro-Life Agenda

Eric Scheiner
CNSNews.com
Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© tldm.org
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) told a recent gathering of the Women's Political Committee that the spirits of suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul spoke to her at the White House.

Pelosi said she heard them say: "At last we have a seat at the table".

A video recently posted on Youtube shows Pelosi speaking in May describing her first meeting with President Bush in the White House after becoming part of the Democratic House leadership.

In the video Pelosi says, "He's (Bush) saying something to the effect of we're so glad to welcome you here, congratulations and I know you'll probably have some different things to say about what is going on--which is correct. But, as he was saying this, he was fading and this other thing was happening to me."

"My chair was getting crowded in," said Pelosi. "I swear this happened, never happened before, it never happened since."

"My chair was getting crowded in and I couldn't figure out what it was, it was like this," she said.
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Newspaper

Police Brutality! New York Times fights NYPD after photographer brutally arrested


RT
Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:22 UTC
Image
A credentialed photojournalist contracted to work for the New York Times was assaulted by officers with the NYPD and charged with two criminal counts over the weekend for covering the arrest of a 16-year-old girl in the Bronx.

Robert Stolarik, a 43-year-old photographer with more than a decade under his belt with The Times, was arrested on Saturday night for allegedly obstructing government administration and violently resisting arrest. He was taking photographs of New York Police Department officers responding to a fight in the Councourse neighborhood of the Bronx when he was assaulted, handcuffed and hauled off to jail, he says.

The NYPD claims that after being told to leave the police scene, Stolarik "inadvertently" struck a police officer with his camera. From there, the photographer was forced to the ground and arrested, during which he says he suffered scrapes and bruises and had his own camera "slammed" into his face.

According to the police report, Stolarik "violently resisted being handcuffed." His own story, however, seems to largely contrast with the cops' accounts. The Times has uncovered video footage of Stolarik's arrest and reports that the photographer was "face down on the sidewalk, beneath a huddle of about six officers" during the ordeal.

"A lot of officers took me down and dragged me; I don't have any internal injuries or broken bones, but it feels like I did," Stolarik - a former war correspondent - tells the Village Voice.
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V

Occupier charged with terroristic felony for protesting in front of bank


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse/Spencer Platt
A protester belonging to an Occupy Wall Street group in rural Pennsylvania is being charged with felony attempted bank robbery and a terrorism-related charge for holding signs up during a demonstration at a local Wells Fargo branch.

David C. Gorczynski, 22, was charged on Tuesday with attempted bank robbery and terroristic threatening, both felonies, as well as one misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Police detained him after he walked into an Easton, PA Wells Fargo branch with a sign that read "You're being robbed" and another that said "Give a man a gun, he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob a country."

Gorczynski was at the Wells Fargo bank as part of a demonstration led by Occupy Easton, the small Pennsylvania town's OWS offshoot.
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Che Guevara

Voting Either Democrat or Republican is Waste of Vote - Scott Olsen


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC

Both the main US parties are working for the same system and taking money from the same people, so choosing between them makes no sense, war vet and Occupy Wall Street icon Scott Olsen told RT.

He added that now OWS is changing its strategies it may not be quite as visible, but he believes the future will be a successful one for Occupy.
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X

Joker Case Gagged: Media Fight Colorado Court Ban


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
James Holmes

James Holmes during his first court appearance on July 23. Was he 'greenbaumed'?
Attorneys representing media outlets are in court to push for the publication of files concerning the Colorado cinema murders. The judge put a gag on the files at the behest of prosecutors, but the press argues the public has a right to see them.

The decision to seal the documents off from public access "undermines our nation's firm commitment to the transparency and public accountability of the criminal justice system," said media lawyer Steven Zansberg in a written statement.

The Associated Press along with 20 other news agencies is appealing for the dissemination of the documents in court this Thursday.

Judge William Sylvester closed the case on July 20 at the request of the prosecutors, who claim that releasing the files could potentially jeopardize the case investigation. The move sparked a wave of protest from the media, saying the public had a right to see the documents.

Press attorneys argue that the explanation given for the sealing of the files is not adequate and needs to be elaborated on if the bar is to remain in place. In most court cases in the US the documents pertaining to the trial are available to the public. However, exceptions are made if files obstruct an ongoing police investigation or encroach on the privacy of family members of the victims.

Comment: See also:
"A Coordinated Attack": July 20th Colorado Shooting Anomalies
FBI and DHS Warned in May of Terrorists Planning to Attack Movie Theaters
Suspect 'Eyewitnesses' - From 9/11 to the Colorado Massacre

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Briefcase

Norwegian Tourist Falls Asleep on Italian Airport Baggage Belt

Josephine McKenna
The Telegraph
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© La Repubblica
The tourist was spotted in this X-ray image on the baggage belt
Rome's Fiumicino airport has defended its security procedures after a drunk Norwegian tourist fell asleep on a baggage belt and travelled 160 feet before being identified by an X-ray scanner.

The 36-year-old, who has not been named, arrived at the international terminal of Italy's busiest airport at the end of last month with a backpack and a can of beer in his hand.

The Norwegian was due to check in for a flight to Oslo and when he found no one on duty at the airline desk he leapt across the counter and fell into a deep asleep on the baggage belt with his bag beside him.

As the belt began to move the unsuspecting tourist reportedly travelled for 15 minutes through the secure baggage area in Terminal 3 before officials spotted his body curled up in a foetal position in an X-ray image on their monitors.
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Info

JetBlue Pilot Has Psychotic Episode In Prison


CBS News Houston
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Clayton Osbon
© unknown
Dallas - The JetBlue Airways pilot who disrupted a cross-country flight by leaving the cockpit and yelling about religion and terrorists has had a psychotic episode in prison and requires further mental evaluation, a judge said Wednesday.

Clayton Osbon was charged with interference with a flight crew, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity last month. A forensic neuropsychologist testified in a short, unpublicized trial that Osbon had a "brief psychotic disorder" at the time of the flight brought on by lack of sleep.

Passengers said Osbon left the cockpit during a March 27 flight from New York to Las Vegas. He ran through the plane's cabin yelling about Jesus and al-Qaida. The flight was diverted and safely landed in Amarillo, Texas.

After the trial, Osbon was sent to a prison medical facility in North Carolina for evaluation. He was scheduled to return to Amarillo federal court this week for another hearing on whether he should go free or be sent to a mental health facility.

Instead, U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson on Wednesday extended Osbon's evaluation period to Oct. 15, with a final evaluation report due to her by the end of that month.

Robinson said she was notified by a forensic psychologist that Osbon "had suffered a psychotic episode." She did not say what the nature of the episode was, if it was connected to his previous disorder or what prompted it. A message seeking comment was left for Osbon's attorney, Dean Roper.

Robinson's order said attorneys on both sides did not oppose the extension.
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