Category Archives: U.S.

U.S.

United Police States of America: Maryland cops erase months of family recordings, after man recorded a bloody beating

A woman lay belly-down on the floor of the Pimlico Race Course, handcuffed and beaten bloody by Baltimore Police.  A man recorded the scene on his cell phone camera.  Immediately the police  grabbed the phone and erased the recording, including months of family recordings.

Now, thanks to the 1st Circuit of the U. S. Court of Appeals, which ruled that police business is public business, therefore can be recorded, the man who lost the recordings is now suing.

The American Civil Liberties Union is also suing: “It is antithetical to a democracy for the government to tell its citizens that they do not have the right to record what government officials say or do or how they behave in public.”-Deobrah Jeon, ACLU

U.S.

United Police States of America: Cops ignore Federal Court ruling, continue to arrest people for recording police, man faces 75 years in prison for recording police harrasment

On August 26, the 1st Circuit of the U. S. Court of Appeals held that videotaping police in the course of their public duties is “unambiguously” a free speech right protected under the First Amendment!

However, that is not stopping the state of Illinois from trying a man charged with eavesdropping, after he recorded an incident in which he was confronted by police on his mother’s property.

The man is facing five counts of eavesdropping, and could face 15 years in prison for each charge.

In the 1st Circuit of the U. S. Court of Appeals case Massachusetts police argued that their privacy rights were being violated every time someone recorded them on duty.  The courts ruled that while a police officer is on duty they are no longer living a private life, they are on public duty.  The appellate judges found that citizens have a First Amendment right to record government officials carrying out their duties in a public space!

Here’s something else to think about: If police claim they can not be recorded because it violates their privacy, and is a threat to security, then their own dash cams in their police cars are illegal!  In fact all security cameras are illegal by that reasoning!  Haven’t people tried to fight security camera use using that very reasoning, and lost?  What gives police the special right to be excluded from public video and audio recordings?

Business/Economics, U.S.

Christian governor Rick Perry slashed and burned funding for Texas firefighters to save money, now Texas is buring to the ground at a cost of $5 billion+!

Texans are suffering the worst fires in Texas history.  Did you know that Governor Rick Perry slashed the state firefighting budget by 75%?

Earlier in 2011 Perry said he was planning on slashing funding for the volunteer fire department from $30 million down to $7 million!  Back in May, Forest Service Director Tom Boggus told Reuters that volunteer programs were the number one defense against wild fires.  Despite this, the Texas Forest Service is expected to see $34 million in cuts over the next two years, no thanks to Rick Perry.

Rick Perry recently tried to blame Obama for lack of funding for Texas firefighters: “It is not only the obligation of the federal government, but its responsibility under law to help its citizens in times of emergency.”

Perry’s cronies say their cuts are necessary to save money: “We understand the difficulty they have had in dealing with almost unprecedented numbers of fires this year. We also understand that in order to balance the budget, everybody needs to endure some reductions.”-Talmadge Heflin, Center for Fiscal Policy/Texas Public Policy Foundation

But get this, the ‘savings’ in cuts to Texas firefighting services have been totally negated by the cost of this year’s ongoing fires.   So far damages are estimated to be $5 billion, and counting!

And yet the historic fires of Texas aren’t enough to stop ‘christian’ Rick Perry from campaigning for President of the United States!

International, U.S.

World War 3: Japan wants to start selling weapons to other countries, let their peacekeepers carry weapons & fight alongside U.S. troops

Currently the Japanese constitution does not allow the sale of Japanese made weapons to other countries.  It does not allow Japanese troops to be used outside Japan, although the government got around this by ordering their troops not to carry weapons on ‘peacekeeping’ missions.

Japan’s new policy chief Seiji Maehara, is recommending changing the constitution to relax criteria for weapons use by Japanese Self-Defense Forces taking part in UN peacekeeping operations.  He says Japanese troops could help the U.S. by being able to actually fight alongside U.S. forces.

Also, Maehara claims that without letting the Japanese military industry sell weapons to other countries, and take part in advanced weapons development with countries like the United States, Japan’s military defenses could become technologically outdated.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Increase in Japanese Corporate Bankruptcies, they blame the falling U.S. dollar

Corporate bankruptcies in Japan have risen for the second month in a row, they blame the rising value of their yen, which is being pushed up by the falling U.S. dollar.

Credit research firm Teikoku Databank says 969 companies failed in August!

The strong yen is causing a drop in orders and exports, and causing trading losses in currency derivatives.

The research firm warns of a vicious spiral, with more companies shifting production overseas to escape the high yen, in turn cutting even more orders to Japanese firms and putting them at risk of bankruptcy.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic Class War: Australia’s economy is good, yet thousands of workers are losing their jobs! They blame it on the falling U.S. dollar. Australian workers ready to tear down their government, what’s wrong with the slaves of Corporate America?

Australia’s economy is doing much better that the U.S. economy, thanks to their deals with China, yet the state government of New South Wales is going to layoff 5,000 government employees, and cap government wages!

Also, Australia’s biggest steel maker, BlueScopeSteel, is laying off 1,000 workers!  Back in July solar power companies announced they were losing 73 jobs per day in New South Wales!

September 8 saw 30,000 protestors hit the streets in Sydney.

The latest economic news out of Australia says consumer spending is up, 1%, and their export economy hit 1.2% growth.  Household savings is at 10.5%.  Analysts expect overall economic growth to expand by 4.3% by the end of the year.  Much better than the U.S.

So why are Australians still losing their jobs?

BlueScopeSteel claims they’ve been losing money, no thanks to the rising Australian dollar!  Company officials says most of their sales are overseas, and the high Australian dollar makes their products too expensive for international customers.

Workers and union officials say it’s really because company management is financially incompetent.

As the U.S. dollar falls, other currencies, like the Australian dollar is rising.

The Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) says because the New South Wales (NSW) government has failed to adopt the ‘Fair & Equal Price for Solar Solution’ plan, at least 73 solar power jobs are being lost per day.

NSW officials want a four month delay before adopting the plan, but company officials say that by then their companies could be shut down.  The plan would allow residents to put affordable solar power on their own homes, then sell excess power back to the grid.  The plan would not cost anything to the state government.

This brings us to the strange announcement that NSW is going to lay off 5,000 of its own employees, and cap wages for the rest.

From what I could find, the only reason for the government layoffs are because the elites of Australia want to privatize everything.  NSW’s Premier Barry O’Farrell claims it’s a necessary step in preparing for a much more competitive world (the overall bad global economy caused by the United States, like the falling U.S. dollar driving up the Australian dollar).

Residents of NSW aren’t taking this laying down, not like most people in the United Police States of Corporate America.  Here’s what some of the September 8 protestors had to say: “IR laws, stick it up your barrell O’Farrell.”

“Our message to Barry O’Farrell is you are a horrible bastard. You’re a liar and we’re going to fight you every inch of the way.”-Matt, prison guard

The protestors also sang the old Twisted Sister song “Were not gonna take it.”

NSW firefighters also protested, at least 500 firefighters with dozens of fire trucks arrived in Sydney, and union bosses told the firefighters to be ready “to drag this government into the gutter…”!

“O’Farrell doesn’t give a stuff how hard we work, how smart we work, all he wants us to be is cheaper. We have to say no.”-Jim Casey, Fire Brigade Employees’ Union

When will the slaves of the United Police States of Corporate America say no?

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

War on Terror cover for Global Economic War: Invasion of Afghanistan IS about oil, Afghanistan has 80 million barrels of oil, now it all goes to China

State-owned China National Petroleum Corporation won the first oil and natural gas exploration contracts in Afghanistan since the U.S. led invasion in 2001.

It’s estimated that there are 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil in Afghanistan.  The oil fields of Bazarkhami, Kashkari and Zamarudsay (areas under contract with CNPC) contain an estimated 80 million barrels.

In 2007 China got the rights to mine copper in Afghanistan.  Isn’t nice that the U.S. led War on Terror is allowing other countries to get contracts to mine minerals and oil?

International, U.S.

United Police States of America: California College Students arrested for protesting Israeli Ambasador’s speech

The Irvine 11 are accused of repeatedly interrupting Israeli ambassador Michael Oren when he spoke on the UCI campus in February 2010.

They are now facing trial for “disturbing a meeting”.

One student at a recent protest pointed out that there’s something wrong with U.S. citizens not being able to exercise their right to expression, while a foreigner is protected: “…a foreign ambassador that’s coming to our home, and talking to us about these issues, and we can’t have a voice at the table, nor can we voice it in a protest?”-Kifah Shah, supporter of Irvine 11

The Irvine 11, students at UC Irvine and UC Riverside, have already been punished by University of California officials, and now face court trial on charges of  “disturbing a meeting”.  Many students say the charges are totally politically motivated.  It proves that students are not allowed to participate in public events.

If convicted the Irvine 11 could face six months in prison.

International, U.S.

World War 3: More proof the U.S. & U.K. were paying Gaddafi to torture suspects in the U.S. led War on Terror

“When I was in China in 2004, the British approached me through an intermediary. They said they would allow me to return to Britain but they just wanted to speak to me at the British Consulate in Hong Kong to check my political views.  I was expecting to meet the British, but I and my whole family were arrested at the airport and ended up on an airplane taking us to Libya.”-Sami Saadi, anti-Gaddafi dissident

What’s really strange is that this man was not anti-western, he was anti-Gaddafi!!!  Yet the British rounded him and his family up, and shipped them off to be tortured by Gaddafi’s security agents.

According to documents recently found by Human Rights Watch, the U.S. CIA offered to pay for expenses relating to the detention of Sami Saadi.

Saadi ended up spending six years in prison, during that time he was interrogated by British intelligence officials.  Then he was arrested for not denouncing this years Libyan rebellion. He escaped prison after rebel forces took Tripoli.

Ironic; Saadi spent years in prison because of the United States and United Kingdom, but then is freed by rebels supported by the United States and United Kingdom!

International, U.S.

World War 3: More lies from Libyan Rebels & the Western Media, no big pro-Gaddafi convoy went into Niger, or Burkina Faso

Over the past few days U.S. supported Libyan rebels, and the western media have reported a huge convoy of dozens of vehicles with hundreds of pro-Gaddafi forces entered Niger.  Some reports even said they had tons of gold!

The reports say the convoy drove through Niger into Burkina Faso, where Gaddafi might have been offered asylum.

The problem is that the government of Niger says only four vehicles, with 18 people, came into their country!  On top of that the government of Burkina Faso says there is no way they would offer Gaddafi asylum: “We cannot grant him asylum because for the past three years we have not had good relations with him. We don’t see why we would stick our neck out for him and create problems for ourselves.”-Alain Traore, Burkinabe government spokesman

Always the information from the Libyan rebels and the western media is so wrong!?!

As if to back up the claims by the governments of Niger and Burkina Faso, on September 7 the Libyan rebels asked Niger to block any access to pro-Gaddafi forces: “We have sent a delegation today that is going to Niger to talk … about securing our borders to stop any kind of infiltration of Gaddafi troops to Niger, to stop any attempt by Gaddafi or his family to escape to Niger.”-Fathi Baja, head of the NTC’s political affairs committee

Now why would the Libyan rebels make such a request after swearing that a huge convoy of pro-Gaddafi troops, and even Gaddafi himself, had already crossed into Niger?