Tag Archives: crime

International, U.S.

World War 3: Terror Drone update, 23 May – 03 June. U.S. launches all out drone offensive in Pakistan! If you are a man you will be killed! Rescuers are now considered militants!

3 June 2012

U.S. drone (aka UAV) attack in Pakistan kills at least 10 people.  Of course the U.S. claims that they were all militants, but that’s only because official U.S. policy dictates that any male killed in the area of a drone strike (or any military attack) is assumed to be an “enemy”: “It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.”-New York Times  (“posthumously” means after they kill you, you know, the old “shoot first ask questions later” policy)

The New York Times article went on to explain the extremely simple mindedness of the reasoning: “…people in an area of known terrorist activity, or found with a top Qaeda operative, are probably up to no good.”

I thought the simpleton George W. Bush wasn’t in charge anymore?

Reports of the drone strike vary; some reports say it was a “military compound”, while others say it was two houses.  Local officials say the drone fired four missiles at a village, where people had gathered to offer condolences for a person killed just the day before, by a U.S. drone strike!

At least two of the people killed were not Pakistanis.

2 June 2012

A U.S. drone strike kills two people in Pakistan.

28 May 2012

Pakistani TV news, Dunya News, reported a massive drone attack. A total of eight missiles were fired into a town, during two waves of drone attacks.  Residents fled in fear because at least five drones were spotted circling the town after the strike.

The town is called Hassokhel, and was targeted by drones on 24 May as well.  U.S. officials have been reporting that the drone strikes as targeting the town of Miranshah, however, Pakistani media says the attacks actually took place against the town of Hassokhel.  The two towns are separated by 25 kilometers (16 miles).  Are these attacks a case of CIA incompetence?

26 May 2012

BBC reports four people in Pakistan killed by U.S. drone strike. The missile hit a house. The U.S. NavyTimes claims the target was a bakery!

24 May 2012

U.S. drone strike hits a Mosque in Pakistan, killing ten people. Locals say the drone fired two missiles into the Mosque. Of course the U.S. government says the Mosque was really a “military compound”.  The Mosque was located in the town of Hassokhel.

Local officials said rescue efforts were delayed as five U.S. drones continued to circle the area afterwards!  Here’s how an evil unnamed U.S. official describes a rescue effort: “The house caught fire after missiles hit it and militants immediately cordoned off the area and were searching in the rubble.”

23 May 2012

A U.S. drone strike kills five people in Pakistan.  According to Fox News, the U.S. increase in drone strikes could be in retaliation for the Pakistani government not allowing U.S./NATO supply convoys through to Afghanistan.

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; 31 May – 03 June. More girls poisoned. U.S. puppet government admits 70% of drugs sent into Iran! Farmers not profiting from Opium! Canada giving its taxpayers’ money to Afghanistan! India says “please don’t go!”

3 June 2012

Another Afghan school has been hit by poisoning, at least 65 girls hospitalized. It’s the 6th school poisoning this year.  This time suspects have been arrested.

In past poisonings “Taliban” reps denied any involvement, and accused the U.S. puppet government of the poisoning.  The four suspects arrested today include a  woman from Pakistan.  So far no indication that they are connected to any Afghan Mujahideen.

In Baghlan Province, the provincial education chief survived an attack, supposedly by Mujahideen. The education chief said he does not know who shot at his house.  Local police are investigating. The attack took place at 03:30 hours.

The Defense Ministry of Afghanistan claim their forces killed, or wounded, at least 20 Mujahideen in the past 24 hours.  They also report that four of their own troops were killed, and 16 wounded.  The battles took place in the provinces of Badakhshan, Maidan Wardak, Kandahar, Farah and Ghazni.

In Nangarhar Province a local police boss was assassinated by “unknown gunmen”, while he was on his way to work.

2 June 2012

Iran has hanged three drug smugglers from Afghanistan.  Iran has been claiming that illegal drugs from Afghanistan have increased since the U.S. invasion more than ten years ago.  Iran claims hundreds of their border police have been killed fighting what they believe is U.S. backed drug smuggling.

There are hundreds of Afghans in Iranian prisons, convicted of drug smuggling.  Afghans cry foul, but just the other day (2 June 2012) the U.S. puppet Afghan Counter-Narcotics Minister, Zerar Ahmad Muqbil, admitted that 70% of the illegal Afghan opium is being deliberately smuggled into Iran: “1/3 of the heroin produced in Afghanistan is smuggled to other countries through northern regions while 2/3 of the heroin produced is smuggled through Iran to other parts of the world.”

Muqbil also stated that more than 90% of the money made from illegal opium is going to the dealers, the farmers are only getting a pittance. This challenges the claim by international observers that farmers are doing it for the money!

A couple of years ago Iranian police captured several Afghan drug smugglers, who were using credit cards which the Iranian police traced back to the United States!

Also, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) reports another drug bust.  Approximately 1,364 kilograms (3,000 pounds) of hashish was captured in Kandahar Province.

The Defense Ministry of Afghanistan reports that five of their own troops were killed, and 4 wounded, after Mujahideen launched attacks in the provinces of Ghazni, Patkia, Kandahar and Badghis.

The Interior Ministry of Afghanistan claims that 30 Mujahideen were killed, 14 wounded and six captured in battles in the provinces of Helmand, Uruzgan, Logar and Ghazni.

In Farah Province, local officials claim to have killed a potential suicide bomber.

Canada has sent a new ambassador to Afghanistan. He stressed that Canada was there for the long run. On 21 May 2012, Canada announced it will give Afghanistan $110 million per year, over the next three years.

ISAF claims another “leader” was captured in Khost Province.  A “facilitator” was captured in Helmand Province.  ISAF also claims to have killed 22 Mujahideen in battles in Kunar and Khost (aka Khowst) provinces. No word on occupying troop casualties.

In Nangarhar Province, a U.S./NATO supply convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber.  Local officials say they don’t know how many people were killed or wounded.

In Parwan Province, an Afghan army General was assassinated, along with his wife, daughter and nephew.  Local officials say they don’t know who did it.   The General and his family were on their way to Kabul when they were killed.

1 June 2012

A U.S./NATO soldier was killed during a Mujahideen attack in southern Afghanistan. As is ISAF SOP no details were given.

At least 182 occupying personnel have been killed since the beginning of 2012.

A suicide bomber attacked U.S. FOB Salerno at Sara Bagh in Khost Province. Some reports say as many as 17 people were killed.  Other reports said several Mujahideen attacked the forward operating base, after the explosion, but were killed or driven off.  ISAF claimed 14 Mujahideen were killed, but local officials say only three Mujahideen were killed.  Many of those killed by U.S. forces were actually civilian bystanders!

In Kapisa Province, three Afghan soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb (mine).

In Kandahar Province, local police claim they killed eight Mujahideen, and wounded four others.

ISAF claims to have captured a “leader” in Paktika province.

31 May 2012

In Helmand Province, local officials said a suicide bomber, wearing a police uniform, was shot and killed before he could blow himself up.

The Ministry of Labor reports that more than six million Afghan children are living in “critical conditions”, including being slave laborers, and sexually exploited.  The United Nations backs that up.  So what happened to all the taxpayer money coming from the occupying countries?

The United Nations has donated more vehicles to the U.S. puppet government of Afghanistan.  This time at least 50 cars and vans, making for a total of 59 vehicles given to the puppet government in the month of May.

ISAF reports that an U.S./NATO occupying troop was killed by an explosion in southern Afghanistan.

In Nangarhar Province a suicide bomber killed two cops.  The attack took place near an army commander’s office.

In Kandahar Province a suicide bomber killed five cops. The bomber targeted a police station.

In Kunduz Province a anti-terrorism boss, and three others were killed when they drove over a mine.

ISAF claims the capture of a “leader” in Khost Province.

India is begging the United States to keep major military forces in Afghanistan, past the 2014 pullout date.  It’s all about money: “India has invested significant resources for Afghanistan’s development in areas identified by Afghanistan and our Strategic Partnership Agreement with Afghanistan is a reflection of this commitment.”-Nirupama Rao, Indian Ambassador to the United States

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Venezuela imposes gun ban, mark of true government repression! California is proof anti-gun laws don’t work: California cops caught selling illegal guns! Justification for the 2nd Amendment!

2 June 2012, the Venezuelan government imposed a total ban on gun sales: “We are going to make serious efforts as President Chavez has done for the security of our citizens. We’re going to continue to fight against criminals and more importantly against what causes violence.”-Elias Jaua, Vice President of Venezuela

Anti-gun laws don’t work!  A 1 June 2012 report out of the U.S. anti-gun state of California proves it!

The U.S. Attorney General’s office revealed that their investigation showed that California cops are selling guns to the public. Those guns are illegal for California’s civilian population under California law!

So law enforcers are behind illegal gun sales in anti-gun California!  California cops are using their legal rights to buy guns, which are legal for cops but illegal for civilians, and then turning around and selling the guns to the public at as much as a triple profit!

After a shootout in San Francisco in February 2011, investigators discovered that the fugitive had 20 guns, 12 of which were illegal under California law. To their surprise they traced two machine pistols back to a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy!

Further investigations revealed that some California cops were regularly selling illegal weapons, including .50 caliber (12.7 mm) guns!  The .50 caliber bullet will take your head off, and punch through armored cars, no problemo.

The Sacramento District Attorney revealed that California cops are also altering the already illegal guns, making them more lethal!

Here’s the amazing thing, the California government has not arrested these cops, they’ve simply been charged with a crime.  Some have been fired from their jobs, others have been placed on paid leave.

This is proof that anti-gun laws don’t do what they’re supposedly intended to do, that is reduce gun violence.  By the way, back to Venezuela, note that the vice presidente inferred that the violence in his country was because of guns. Hello, people cause violence, not guns!  This is also justification for the U.S. Constitution’s 2nd Amendment which demands that people of the United States be able to equip themselves with the weapons of the day (“arms”) in order to protect themselves, even to protect themselves from their own cops!!!

“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”-2nd Amendment, ratified December 1791

“I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”-Oath of Enlistment U.S. military

“I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of (STATE NAME) against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of (STATE NAME) and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to law and regulations. So help me God.”-Oath of Enlistment state National Guard

Note: In respect to the U.S. Constitution’s 1st Amendment, you are not required to say “So help me God.”

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? 1% Elitist Queen of England’s Crown Estate sees 9,200% increase in revenues! Why aren’t the British commoners benefiting?

2 June 2012, United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II’s rental property & business management empire, Crown Estate, reported a 9,200% increase in revenue over the past 60 years!

Keep in mind that according to an Act of Parliament, all profits from the Royal property/business management scheme are to go to the British Treasury!  According to the Financial Times: “Under an agreement struck between King George III and the government in 1760, the portfolio was managed by the Crown on behalf of the state, with surplus revenue going to the Treasury. In turn, the Treasury made a fixed annual payment to the monarch.” 

Also: “The Queen has no powers to liquidate assets belonging to the Crown Estate. She cannot buy or sell properties and is entitled to a modest slice of the company’s revenues.”

So how much money is the Crown Estate making?  Here’s what the Crown Estate’s own website claims:  “…the urban estate the value of the portfolio increased by 11.6 per cent to £5.2 billion [$7.9 billion USD].”

“…marine estate revenue increased by 1.7 per cent to £47.4 million [$72.8 million USD]. Total property value rose to £586.9 million [$902.2 million USD]…”

“…income from renewables….rose….to £3.5 million [$5.3 million USD]…”

“The coastal estate…added £14.3 million [$21.9 million USD] in revenue…”

“…capital value of the rural estate exceeded £1 billion [$1.5 billion USD] for the first time…”

“…asset management saw revenue rise….to £25.7 million [$39.5 million USD]…”

The question is, if the Crown Estate is making so much money, and it’s supposedly meant to benefit the commoners of the United Kingdom (through the state) then why is the government of the United Kingdom imposing such drastic austerity measures upon those very commoners?

Just how much is the “fixed annual payment to the monarch”?  Under a new Sovereign Grant Act, beginning in 2012 the Queen can receive only 15% of the revenues.  How much was she getting before that?

But wait, there’s more!  Members of the royal family own other property companies, not beholden to the British government.  Here’s one; the Grosvenor Estate.

“The Grosvenor Estate is a portfolio of businesses, rural estates and other assets owned by trusts on behalf of Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor who is the 6th Duke of Westminster, and his family.”-Grosvenor website

However, unlike the incompetent British government (by the way the Queen is the literal boss of the House of Lords in the British government, she is not a figure head!), Grosvenor Estate is actually spending money to try and build up the economy in the English city of Liverpool.  The Duke’s Grosvenor Estate is spending the equivalent of $1.5 billion USD on a project called Liverpool One.

Again, the question is, what happened to all the money from the Queen’s Crown Estate that was supposed to be used for the people of Britain?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Japan & Iran avoiding U.S. & British controls, by developing their own insurance system for oil tankers!

2 June 2012, despite Japan just joining a trilateral military pact with the U.S. and Australia, getting oil from Iran is still of utmost importance to Japanese industries.

So much so that Iran and Japan are developing their own shipping insurance companies, to avoid the U.S./U.K. dominated shipping insurance business, and therefore get around U.S./European sanctions.

The European oil sanctions against Iran go into effect on 1 July.  Iran is considering laws that will allow their domestic shipping insurance industry to insure foreign ships.

Japan is now working to create an insurance system that will cover Japanese oil tanker ships carrying Iranian oil.  The system might be similar to one created to help Japanese airlines after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the U.S.  Prior to that Japanese airlines were insured through U.S. companies, but the U.S. companies drastically cut their coverage after the 11 September attacks.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Australia, Japan, United States agree to military pact! “Re-balancing region” against China!

“Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith joined Panetta and Watanabe in another trilateral meeting. The U.S., Japanese and Australian leaders agreed ‘to work through 2020 to refine and consolidate their trilateral defense relationship and support the network of existing alliances, forums and dialogues to meet a variety of common security challenges,'”-U.S. Department of Defense press release

2 June 2012, Australia, Japan and the U.S. have agreed to pursue a military pact that is in line with what an unnamed U.S. Defense official said was “…our rebalancing to the region.”

There are a lot of coded words and phrases in the Defense Department press release, all indicating that the U.S., along with dozens of countries in the Asia Pacific region, are falling in line against China!

But don’t blame Barack Obama, these Shangri-La Dialogue anti-China re-balancing meetings began under the George W. Bush administration.

According to Japanese news media reports, the new military pact between Australia, Japan and United States will include joint military industry developments.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Proof the coming global war will be against China, U.S. sending 60% of naval fleet to Asia-Pacific region! Blame South China Sea oil fields!

“…make no mistake, in a steady, deliberate and sustainable way, the United States military is re-balancing and brings enhanced capabilities to this vital region.”-Leon Panetta, U.S. Secretary of Defense

2 June 2012, U.S. Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, announced that the United States is now sending most of its Navy to the Asia-Pacific region, with the goal of having 60% of U.S. naval forces in place by 2020!

Panetta made the announcement at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue conference, in Singapore.  He stressed that the bad economy, and U.S. government budget cuts will not affect the buildup of U.S. military forces near the South China Sea.

The coming full blown global war could be between China and the West, not between Christians and Muslims. It will be centered on controlling the immense oil fields at the bottom of the South China Sea.

The U.S. has been there before, it was called (unofficially) the Vietnam War.

Decades ago, while doing research in a community college library in California, I came a cross a little black book, published only once.  It was a chronicle of U.S. and European oil companies who were attempting to explore the South China Sea.  They concluded that there was massive oil reserves there, but the technology needed to get at it was not worth what oil was selling for. Believe it or not the average price per barrel of oil, from 1958 to 1970, was only $3.00 USD!!!

According to the book (of which I forget the title), the oil industry’s decision not to spend anymore money on South China Sea exploration was a key factor in U.S. President Richard Nixon’s decision to get out of Vietnam (the peaceful anti-war demonstrations had nothing to do with it).

Since the end of the Vietnam War, China has laid claim to the entire South China Sea.  In the past few years several other countries have as well, such as; Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines and Japan.  Why? Because the current price per barrel of oil makes drilling in the South China Sea worth it!

Already China has secretly built natural gas rigs in the Sea.  They were discovered by Japanese recon planes sent to investigate the sighting of huge fire balls shooting into the sky.

To enforce how important the South China Sea is to the Whore of Babylon oil industry of the United States, in November 2011 a U.S. Asian political analyst said: “If we are going to move out of this recession, Asia is going to be part of that equation. Asia is where we are going to grow.”-Ernest Bower, Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

This newly announced U.S. naval buildup in the Asian Pacific is on top of the U.S. military buildup in Australia.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? My employer says no paychecks until US Bank pays up!

1 June 2012, after working weeks of overtime, my paycheck never arrived!

My employer, who has contracts with unAmerican Corporate America banks, says she can’t pay because US Bank (which is now her main contract on the eastern side of Idaho) failed to pay her!

This is strange because US Bank (aka US Bancorp, USB) recently reported 1st quarter earnings that were up!  Maybe my employer is lying?

Whatever the case, since my employer pays only once per month, all us employees have burned through last months pay and are in need of our well earned paychecks just to be able to buy necessities for the next month, let alone pay our debts!  Don’t tell me the economy is getting better!!!

(I’m writing this because it’s not the first time we’ve had problems with our employer paying us on time. You’d think a contractor working for the too big to fail banks would have such a problem.)

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. student loan debt hits $904 billion! Recipe for Civil War!

“Student loan debt continues to grow even as consumers reduce mortgage debt and credit card balances. It remains the only form of consumer debt to substantially increase since the peak of household debt in late 2008.”-Donghoon Lee, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

31 May 2012, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported a huge increase in student loan debt, from the 1st quarter of 2003 to the 1st quarter of 2012: “…student loan debt has substantially increased since 2003, growing $663 billion.  Outstanding student loan debt surpassed credit card debt as the second highest form of consumer debt…”

Student loans now stand at $904 billion USD! Also: “…delinquency rates for student loans steadily increased from 6.13 percent in the first quarter of 2003 to its current level of 8.69 percent.  They remain higher than that of mortgages, auto loans and home equity lines of credit…”

Of course student loans are up, more and more people who can’t find good jobs are going to college with the hopes that an expensive degree will get them at least a “good” job.

The problem is that unAmerican Corporate America is not creating enough good jobs to employ all those highly edumacated workers who’ll need really really good paying jobs in order to pay off those student loans.  The latest estimates are that 362,000 net new jobs must be created every month, for three years straight, before there’s any true economic recovery!

 

In the study of revolutions and civil wars you’ll discover that one of the primary ingredients to social collapse is a country with not only a huge number of unemployed people, but a huge number of highly educated unemployed people!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. job creation crashing! European unemployment holding at record high! Production falling in China! Japan going down! Government bonds at record lows! Dow Jones erases all gains of 2012!

1 June 2012, bad news for everyone, that is bad news for everyone playing the western (U.S./British dominated) game of capitalism (including the “communist” Chinese)!

Employment numbers did not live up to the expectations of experts in the United States. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that only 69,000 net jobs were created in May.  Employment experts in the private sector expected at least 150,000 new jobs.

To top that, the Labor Department revised the April and March employment numbers…down!  For the two months before May, the number of net jobs created was revised downward by 49,000!

In the past labor officials said that in order to have an economic recovery unAmerican Corporate America must create 200,000 net new jobs every month.  That hasn’t happened, and now it’s worse!  The latest estimates are that 362,000 net new jobs must be created every month, for three years straight!  That would bring down the unemployment rate to 6%.

Here’s some factual numbers: At least 12.7 million people in the U.S. are “officially” unemployed.  At least 100,000 million people are “unofficially” unemployed!  Both those factual numbers come from the U.S. Department of Labor!

As one of the many Low Income workers who recently went back to work, working for the Man in the U.S. (after two years of unemployment), let me just say this: No Shit Sherlock!

We Low Income workers, still with jobs, have seen the unAmerican Corporate America bullshit first hand, on a daily bases.  It’s now to the point many of us see it on an hourly bases!  Nothing has changed, people!  If anything the glorified, deified, well educated, well financed leaders of our country are only picking up speed with their snowballing moronic decision making!  Need proof?  How about JP Morgan Chase  (I now work for a contractor who lost a contract with Chase, now I think we know a major reason why Chase canceled the contract)?  Wake up people!!!  UnAmerican Corporate America is the cause of our economic decline!

Now for Europe.

The 17 member European Union held onto its record unemployment rate for the second month in a row. The latest report is for the month of April, and it stands at 11%.  When you break it down by EU member countries it gets worse: Italy  10.2%, Portugal 15.2%, Greece 21.7% (stats for February only).

But how about that Spain?  24.3% unemployment!  When you look at just youth unemployment (workers under 25 years of age) it’s 51.5%!!!  Can you say “get ready for civil war”?

The result of the collapse of the EU is causing the euro to crash & burn, and forcing the Japanese yen to increase in value.  Not only that, but today was the first day that China and Japan began trading their money (in order to avoid the U.S. dollar) and the yen gained in value over the Chinese yuan!

That will kill Japanese business.  Japan is a country whose economy depends on international trade.  Since 2011 the yen has gained in value, and has already caused major harm to Japanese companies.  Yesterday Toyota announced that it was selling $2.5 billion USD in bonds to raise cash, because they believed another credit crash was coming (funny how the U.S./British mainstream media misreported the news).

China is reporting a drop in the Purchasing Managers’ Index, down 2.9 points from April.  The drop is caused by a combination of decreased sales internationally, and domestically.  It means China’s economy is slowing down, and if China is the manufacturing center of the western capitalist world, then it makes for a good canary in the western capitalist economic coal mine.

Oh, let’s not forget those stable government bonds.  On 1 June 2012, U.S. ten year bonds hit a record low of 1.5% interest!   German government bonds hit a record low of 1.1%!

The result of all this doom & gloom, based on factual data, is that all the stock markets in Asia went down.  In the United States the Dow Jones Industrial Average (aka Wall Street) lost all its gains for January to May 2012, falling more than 200 points in one hour and 30 minutes!