© Reuters / Mohamad Torokman
"Lookin' like a fool, walkin' downtown with ya pants on the ground," 'General' Larry Platt famously sang in his 'American Idol' audition. "Giddy up! Get ya pants off the ground!"
Society's Child
"Lookin' like a fool, walkin' downtown with ya pants on the ground," 'General' Larry Platt famously sang in his 'American Idol' audition. "Giddy up! Get ya pants off the ground!"
© Joe Mabel/Wikimedia Commons
Emily Miller was on a three-day nature field trip with Seattle's Garfield High School in November 2012 when her parents got a call that their 15-year-old daughter had been raped and was headed to a hospital.
Teachers, Garfield's principal, district officials, a rape advocate, the National Parks Service and the FBI, which has jurisdiction over the national park, were all alerted, and details tumbled out quickly: The alleged perpetrator was a classmate, who admitted that he had had anal sex with her. He acknowledged to law enforcement that she told him to stop several times but said he persuaded her to "roll with it."
Medical records reported mild vaginal trauma, semen streaked on her pubic hair and in her anus and a diagnosis of rape trauma syndrome. Emily vomited, possibly because of a nauseating megadose of prophylactic antibiotics. Her rape advocate at the hospital, who had 10 years of experience working with rape victims, said she "presented as one who had experienced a rape."
© WJLA
Orlando Jones, left, Javon Henson
Orlando Jones, left, Javon Henson
Washington, D.C. police said that Orlando Roberts, who is a sex offender, and Javon Henson met the 14-year-old girl on Instagram, and then continued contacting her using the Kik online messaging service.
According to WJLA, Roberts presented himself as Henson's father, and offered to lie to the victim's mother about the age of his "son" so they could all go on a picnic together.
© AFP Photo / Getty Images / John Moore
The 166-page document, the "March 2013 Watchlisting Guidance," suggests that the US government relies on "a secret process that requires neither 'concrete facts' nor 'irrefutable evidence' to designate an American or foreigner as a terrorist," journalists Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Devereaux wrote this week.
According to an excerpt of the lengthy but unclassified document, the guideline was "developed to help standardize the watchlisting community's nomination and screening process," which federal agencies implement when encountering persons that officials may believe are linked to terroristic activity.
The document suggests that those officials have a wide breadth with regards to evaluating suspects, however, and that one White House official even has the power to unilaterally place "entire categories" of people onto lists that may bar those individuals from traveling by air. The Obama administration, the journalists claim, "quietly approved a substantial expansion" of the list last year, allowing more individuals to be targeted than before with less evidence than before.
Comment: The ruling psychopaths are stealthily herding the populace into ever more control - they are evidently very frightened of normal human beings who might at any time begin to awaken and actually resist.
We're all terrorists: Secret Government can label anyone a terrorist without facts or evidence
875,000 left in bureaucratic black hole that is U.S. terror watchlist system
US 'No-Fly' List of Suspected Terrorists Doubles in 12 Months
FBI adds people to No Fly List for refusing to become informants
Boo! When the going gets tough, the president talks terror, terror, terror
New York City was ranked the least happy city in America when adjusted for income, according to a working study, titled "Unhappy Cities," released by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The study leaned on a questionnaire that has been administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the last several years and asks respondents: "In general, how satisfied are you with your life?"
The study ranked those self-reported answers and adjusted them for income, housing prices, age and other factors that might influence how happy a place could be.
It was also found that new residents were just as happy - or unhappy - as older respondents, which the study's authors said suggested that happiness trends are sustained over time.
It also found that people were willing to trade happiness for better wages or lower housing costs.
Comment: Perhaps the daily grind of living on an island with millions of other struggling individuals accounts for the grim mood of New Yorkers. No doubt this is exacerbated by the fact that New York is dominated by Wall Street and is where evidence of the rule by the 1% is most striking.
Andrei Belousov, the Kremlin's top economic adviser, denied Russia's economic growth had been dampened by sanctions.
In a show of unity a day after an ally of President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia's anti-Western rhetoric could derail the economy, ministers said growth had not been dampened by the sanctions which include measures against some major companies.
The economy is on the brink of a recession as a result of the sanctions and a broader risk aversion towards emerging markets that have sent equities and the rouble tumbling and spurred nearly $75 billion in capital flight so far this year.
"The sanctions in their current format don't have a macroeconomic effect," Andrei Belousov, the Kremlin's top economic adviser, told journalists.
Comment: The Russians are well aware that the sanctions are more likely to negatively impact Europe:
Is it worth it? Sanctions against Russia affect quarter of German exporters
Association of European Businesses: U.S. sanctions will hurt Europe
Russian sanctions? You Must be Joking! Russia Holds All the Cards!
Russia dismisses sanctions, knows energy needs will weaken EU resolve
© AFP Photo / Sergei Bobok
Flowers lay on the tarmac as a ground Hercules transport aircraft of the Royal Dutch Airforce, carrying bodies from downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 prepares to take off from Kharkiv airport on July 23, 2014.
Flowers lay on the tarmac as a ground Hercules transport aircraft of the Royal Dutch Airforce, carrying bodies from downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 prepares to take off from Kharkiv airport on July 23, 2014.
The Dutch Safety Board said it took charge of the international investigation, adding that the "cockpit voice recorder was damaged but the part that contains the data was intact, nor was there any evidence or indication that [it] had been manipulated."
The authority said it would coordinate a team of 24 investigators from Ukraine, Malaysia, Russia, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It added that four Dutch investigators are currently operating in Ukraine.
The board says it will now work on assessing the information it has downloaded from the black box, a process which will need more time. It said the examination of the airliner's other black box, the flight data recorder, would start on Thursday.
Experts have been downloading data from the Boeing 777's voice and data recorders at Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch since anti-Kiev militia forces, who control crash sites in eastern Ukraine, handed them over early on Tuesday.
The body said it would also conduct separate investigations into the decision-making processes behind flight routes and the availability of passenger lists.
"Despite the fact that evidence and traces have been damaged or lost, the Dutch Safety Board expects it will be able to gather sufficient relevant information from the crash site," the board said.
© Reuters/Toussaint Kluiter
Coffins of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, are carried from an aircraft during a national reception ceremony at Eindhoven airport July 23, 2014.
Coffins of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, are carried from an aircraft during a national reception ceremony at Eindhoven airport July 23, 2014.
The crash of the airliner last week with 298 passengers aboard has only exacerbated the row between the US, European powers, and Russia over the developing situation in eastern Ukraine. Thus, AP was entering touchy territory.
The tweet caused widespread confusion on Twitter based on its wording: Did "crash lands" mean a new crash occurred or was it just awkward phrasing that marked the landing of the plane carrying crash victims?
© Reuters / Andrew Winning
Houses of Parliament
Houses of Parliament
In his annual report published on July 22, the UK's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation David Anderson QC emphasized the UK's anti-terror laws were simply too broad. His comprehensive review was presented to parliament by Britain's Home Secretary on Tuesday morning.
Anderson references the case of David Miranda - the spouse of journalist Glenn Greenwald, who was first contacted by Edward Snowden regarding the NSA leaks - as an example of how British authorities' scope to enforce anti-terrorism laws is problematic.
By validating state authorities' treatment of Miranda, Britain's legal system "highlighted the remarkable (and some would say alarming) breadth of the UK's current definition of terrorism," the watchdog stated.
While anti-terror legislation gives British authorities the leverage needed to tackle Al-Qaeda and far-right extremists, these powers should be used sparingly, retained only for their proper purpose, Anderson cautions.
Comment: The PTB worldwide are desperate to maintain control of the masses, and are likely intentionally attempting to criminalize any activities that they see as threatening their power base.
Terrorists "R" Us
Authoritarian regimes (like the U.S. and Britain) treat reporters like terrorists
Journalists and anti-vax campaigners could be considered terrorists under UK Law
Shocking: Reporting factory farm abuses to be considered "Act of Terrorism" if new laws pass
© getty
The petition on the Change.org website asks that Argentinian President Christina Fernandez allow the bear, who is called Arturo, to be relocated to a zoo in Canada. As of Tuesday, it had more than 600,000 signatures.
Arturo's friends include former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
"If you love animals the way I do, please sign the petition to help the Argentinian polar bear, Arturo. His current living condition is very sad, and he deserves to be saved," wrote Gingrich on his Facebook page.
The bear paces nervously in his concrete enclosure and animal rights advocates say he suffers from depression.
Campaigners have dubbed Arturo "the world's saddest animal," and have found him a new home at a zoo in Winnipeg, Mantitoba, Canada.
Comment: Another sign of our totalitarian society, where people are forced to conform to the values of the rulers. For an interesting study about conformity and the types of people who are enforcers of conformity, read the book by Bob Altemeyer called "The Authoritarians".