RTFri, 12 Aug 2016 02:29 UTC
© Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images A Thai police officer at the site of a blast in Hua Hin on Thursday night.
A string of explosions early on Friday rocked Thai resort towns of Surat Thani and the earlier attacked Hua Hin, where dozens of foreign tourists had been targeted. At least two people have reportedly been killed and "many" injured in the new spate of violence.
One of the blasts took place outside Surat Thani police station on Friday morning, following festivities dedicated to the Queen's Birthday / Mother's Day celebrations in Thailand.
Wongsiri Promchana, governor of Surat Thani province, was cited by AFP as saying that the explosive device was planted in a flowerbed near the marine police station and killed a local municipal employee.
The failures of government intervention in the economy have made headlines yet again. Recent stress tests by the
Federal Housing Finance Agency found something sinister brewing under the surface at notorious mortgage giants
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The results show that these puppet companies could need up to a
$126 billion bailout if the economy
continues to deteriorate.
That's right — the two companies that were taken over by the government and that
sucked $187 billion from the treasury could be entitled to more taxpayer money. The toxic home loans bought during the last crisis coupled with a lack of liquidity have suddenly become serious risk factors. The so-called "recovery" that has been trumpeted for years by countless politicians and economists is falling apart in plain view. The media will do just about anything to
assure the public that this is all isolated and overblown, but the canary in the coal mine has just dropped dead.
The tests ran
a scenario eerily similar to
warnings we've heard about what the economic future might hold:
"The global market shock involves large and immediate changes in asset prices, interest rates, and spreads caused by general market dislocation and uncertainty in the global economy."
Comment: The following
comment from SHTFplan puts it rather succinctly:
This could be the trigger event everyone has been waiting for; it certainly was in 2008. Like the conditioned animal, punished with a shock repeatedly, it produces more fear, and adrenaline and stress response during the build-up from the time the bell is rung and the shock is delivered. The actual shock is actually a relief, even though the animal fears the pain. It will all happen again, once the bell rings.
Here, we know the crash is coming. The banks have orchestrated it, the Federal Reserve is setting the pace and preparing the bed in which we must all lie. A devastating blow to the economy is building up again. Which one will bring it all crashing down, and which will simply prove once again that we are held captive by a dangerous and failing economy that could soon wipe us all out? This could be 2008 all over again; on the other hand, it could be much worse. Either way, there is every sense that things are just getting started.
Palestinian BDS National Committee
BDSmovement.netFri, 12 Aug 2016 02:18 UTC
© via FacebookDelegates from the Movement for Black Lives join Palestinian organizers and activists in the West Bank village of Bilin during a weekly Friday protest against Israel’s occupation and colonization, 29 July.
Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) responds to Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) policy platform: "We pledge to firmly and consistently stand in solidarity with our black sisters and brothers in the United States and around the world by supporting the demands and policy proposals in this platform."The Palestinian BDS National Committee (
BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian civil society that leads the global BDS movement, endorses the inspiring and liberating policy
platform issued last week by the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) with concrete policy demands for Black power, freedom and justice. We pledge to firmly and consistently stand in solidarity with our black sisters and brothers in the United States and around the world by supporting the demands and policy proposals in this platform.
The
BDS movement is deeply inspired by the US Civil Rights Movement and the many struggles by Blacks and other people of color for racial and economic justice. Your refusal to stay silent in the face of massive and systemic state violence targeting black bodies and your resistance against repression and disenfranchisement in black communities are a source of inspiration to our own struggle against Israel's regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid.
From Florida to Ferguson to New York to Baltimore to Los Angeles to Minneapolis and beyond the unapologetic cry of "Black Lives Matter!" has shaken the system of racism and white supremacy that allows police to gun down black people with impunity, to cage black people in obscene numbers, and to systematically impoverish and degrade the black community as a whole.
RTThu, 11 Aug 2016 04:53 UTC
© Marcello Paternostro / Reuters
Italy has sacked the government of a small Sicilian town of Corleone after uncovering its close links to a local mafia group. The town, famous for its links to Cosa Nostra, was also the hometown of the fictional "Godfather."
After the dissolution of the municipal government, the town will be controlled directly by Italy's Interior Ministry.
Corleone, which means the "heart of the lion," got a global mafia reputation after it was mentioned as a hometown of the Godfather in Francis Ford Coppola's films, based on the Mario Puzo novel.
Travis Gettys
Raw StoryThu, 11 Aug 2016 20:50 UTC
Austin Wilkerson
A former University of Colorado student avoided prison despite admitting he sexually assaulted a drunken woman after pretending to care for her.
Austin James Wilkerson was convicted in May of sexually assaulting a helpless victim and unlawful sexual contact, which carried a possible 12-year prison term,
reported the Daily Camera.
Boulder District Judge Patrick Butler sentenced the 22-year-old Wilkerson to 20 years to life on probation and two years in the Boulder County Jail on a program that will permit him to leave during the day to work or attend classes, and then return to jail at night.The judge said he spared Wilkerson from prison, which prosecutors had sought, because Colorado law would have kept him there under the sex assault conviction until he was deemed fit."I've struggled, to be quite frank, with the idea of, 'Do I put him in prison?'" Butler said. "I don't know that there is any great result for anybody. Mr. Wilkerson deserves to be punished, but I think we all need to find out whether he truly can or cannot be rehabilitated."
Comment: This is another case of authorities going soft in their prosecution of convicted rapists. If authorities would treat the rapists in proportion to how they treat the victims, perhaps it would deter more people from committing rape. But giving lenient sentences to an "entitled liar who plays the system" just perpetuates the reality of authority figures not understanding the correct punishment for rapists.
RTWed, 10 Aug 2016 02:34 UTC
© Evan Habeeb / Reuters
After being reprimanded by a Justice Department report accusing it of having a pattern of inappropriate and discriminatory behavior, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has already undertaken reforms, including firing offending officers.
The 160-page report, which was made public on Wednesday, is the culmination of a yearlong investigation, and claims that BPD officers routinely conducted unlawful stops and often used excessive force in low-income black neighborhoods.
"Policing that violates the Constitution or federal law severely undermines community trust, and blanket assumptions about certain neighborhoods can lead to resentment against police," Vanita Gupta, head of the Department of Justice's (DoJ) Civil Rights Division, said at a Wednesday conference. She added that the department's "zero-tolerance" policing had little impact on reducing crime, but degraded relations between the department and the community.
Reforms that are already underway include the firing of six officers who engaged in the most serious of such violations."Fighting crime and having a better, more respectful relationship with the community are not mutually exclusive endeavors. We don't have to choose one or the other. We're choosing both. It's 2016," Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said.
© GettyWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy since 2012
Julian Assange is set to be quizzed by Swedish police over sexual assault allegations four years after entering the Ecuadorean embassy under political asylum.
The Wikileaks founder has been protected from repeated requests by the Swedish prosecutor to question him about an alleged 2010 sex attack, which he denies.
But a possible breakthrough to the impasse over his case has been revealed by the Ecuadorian attorney general who has delivered a document of agreement.Mr Assange believes he will be taken to the United States to be quizzed over the activities of WikiLeaks if he goes to Sweden for the questioning. The 45-year-old has offered to be questioned inside the embassy but the Swedish prosecutors only recently agreed.
© heavy.comMary Knowlton
A 73-year-old librarian became the latest victim of police in Punta Gorda, Florida. However, her tragic death — in front of 34 people, during an officer's demonstration about police use of deadly force — is far from the, unfortunately common, tales of violence by law enforcement.
Mary Knowlton signed up to be a student in the citizen police academy hosted by the Punta Gorda Police Department, intended to show residents of the small town why and how officers do what they do.
After the group of 35 participants toured the police station and spoke with officers — a popular public relations tactic used by departments across the country amid the epidemic of police violence — Knowlton and another person decided to volunteer for a
demonstration.
To illustrate how and when officers decide to use lethal force, the officer had the two students role-play a scenario putting citizens in cops' shoes. According to
Charlotte Sun photographer, Sue Paquin, who was there to cover the event, Knowlton
played the role of a victim, while the officer played "bad guy."
Such a simulation would ordinarily not pose any danger to participants, as weapons would either be fake or empty. Not this time. When the officer fired, live ammunition hit Knowlton — several times.
The elderly wife and mother was promptly rushed to Lee Memorial Hospital, but was pronounced dead.
Comment: There is always more to a story as it unfolds.
The officer who shot Mary Knowlton, subsequently identified as Lee Coel, has a prior history of violations and excessive force before being hired by PGPD.
The weapons used (see Wink News video starting at 4:40) in demonstrations were supposed to be modified to not allow for live ammo. This particular gun had allegedly been used in demos before and the PGPD claims only blanks were available and only blanks could be used. In addition, three people have to check this weapon before use. So there is a question regarding this particular gun, its modification and the choice of ammo. Did Officer Coel use other than a modified gun? Indisputably, he used real bullets.
UPDATE 8/11/16: Police Chief Lewis
confirmed the officer was Lee Coel. He also assured the public that real guns will no longer be used during "shoot, don't shoot" exercises. "We do not have live ammunition or live weapons anywhere near the building or the room in which we're having these scenarios or these role players at all," said Sgt. Douglas Dever of the Collier County Sheriff's Office.
The weapon used in the incident was not in use among all officers, and is not similar to one that police officers are issued. "We believe that the particular caliber of the weapon used, that there were only blank rounds available to the officer,"
Coel's background:
A graduate of Broward College police academy.
A former Miramar officer with a troubled record, forced to resign at the end of 14 months.
Stripped of his gun and badge in 2013 from two complaints filed for excessive force.
Placed on administrative leave and failed to meet the department's probation period.
Committed two department policy violations.
.
As an officer of the Punta Gorda PD, he was sued for ordering his K-9 to attack an unarmed bicyclist who was riding at night without lights on his bike. Coel's report stated the man was coming at him, but dashcam video does not verify this. The dog tore into the defendant, gnawing his right side under his arm. The victim was hospitalized two weeks for severe injuries requiring surgery. The dog ate part of his armpit muscle. This case is ongoing.
Marcus Williamson
MediumThu, 02 Jun 2016 18:39 UTC
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RTThu, 11 Aug 2016 18:29 UTC
© Bobby Yip / ReutersRurik Jutting
A British banker accused of murdering two Indonesian women who were found mutilated in his upmarket Hong Kong apartment attended a pretrial hearing on Thursday, ahead of his October trial.
Rurik Jutting, 31, was charged with murder after two women believed to be sex workers were found dead in his home.
The former Bank of America Merrill Lynch employee appeared much thinner than in his previous public appearance last October after he was charged.
Dressed in a button down shirt and accompanied by four police officers, Jutting listened attentively at the pre-trial hearing, which was closed to the public.
Comment: Thai resort town rocked by 2 explosions, leaving 1 dead and 11 injured