Tag Archives: police

International, U.S.

World War 3: Terror Drone update, 23 May – 03 June. Mass Murder in Yemen on Obama’s orders! Drone strikes best recruiting tool for al-Qaeda ever!

“If you go to the village of Al-Majalah in Yemen, where I was, and you see the unexploded cluster bombs and you have the list and photographic evidence, as I do, of the women and children that represented the vast majority of the deaths in this first strike that Obama authorized on Yemen, those people were murdered by President Obama, on his orders, because there was believed to be someone from Al Qaeda in that area. There’s only one person that’s been identified that had any connection to al Qaeda there, and 21 women and 14 children were killed in that strike and the U.S. tried to cover it up, and say it was a Yemeni strike, and we know from the Wikileaks cables that David Petraeus conspired with the president of Yemen to lie to the world about who did that bombing!  It’s murder, it’s mass murder, when you say, ‘We are going to bomb this area’ because we believe a terrorist is there, and you know that women and children are in the area!!! The United States has an obligation to not bomb that area if they believe that women and children are there. I’m sorry, that’s murder!”-Jeremy Scahill, The Nation.com, interview with MSNBC

“Mistakes made by the U.S. killing innocent women and children has led to a significant recruiting boom, AQAP [al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] use the pictures of shattered women and kids to stir up anger.”-Gregory Johnsen, Princeton University

“Every time the American attacks increase, they increase the rage of the Yemeni people, especially in al-Qaeda controlled areas. The drones are killing al-Qaeda leaders, but they are also turning them into heroes.”-Mohammed al-Ahmadi, Karama human rights group

“These attacks are making people say, ‘We believe now that al-Qaeda is on the right side’. ”-Salim al-Barakani, his two brothers killed in a U.S. strike in March

“…America can’t seem to hit the people you claim to be fighting.  So if you’re gonna bomb us…because there’re some al-Qaeda people in our area, well we’re gonna join up with those fighting against you. The most dangerous thing, I think, the U.S. is doing, beside murdering innocent people in many cases, is giving people in Yemen or Somalia or Pakistan a non-ideological reason to hate the United States.”-Jeremy Scahill, The Nation.com, interview with MSNBC

“In 2009, when President Obama was first known to have authorized a missile strike on Yemen, U.S. officials said there were no more than 300 core AQAP members. That number has grown in recent years to 700 or more, Yemeni officials and tribal leaders say. In addition, hundreds of tribesmen have joined AQAP in the fight against the U.S. backed Yemeni government.”-Sudarsan Raghavan, The Washington Post

28 May 2012

Five people killed by U.S. drone (UAV) strike in Yemen.  The strike targeted three cars driving on a highway.

 

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.

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!

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; May 28-30. 5 more U.S./NATO troops killed. Several Dozens of Afghans killed. Proof the War on Drugs is a joke!

30 May 2012: International Security Assistance Force reports two U.S./NATO personnel killed by Mujahideen attacks, and explosions in southern Afghanistan.

At least 172 occupying personnel killed since the beginning of 2012.

According to local security officials in Badakhshan Province, at least eight cops were killed and two wounded after an attack by Mujahideen.  Several police officers are missing.  The attack began late on 29 May and continued into the early hours of 30 May.  Local police officials claim they killed six Mujahideen. The Mujahideen launched coordinated attacks on three police check points.

In Herat Province, Mujahideen attacked an Afghan army check point, killing one soldier and wounding four others. Officials claim they killed four Mujahideen.

In Farah Province one Afghan soldier was killed, and another wounded after an explosion.

In Nangarhar Province about eight civilians were killed.  Five people were killed after their house was attacked with grenades.  Three other people were killed when they drove over a mine.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of the Interior reports that in the past 24 hours 30 Mujahideen were killed or wounded in battles in the following provinces: Kabul, Nangarhar, Faryab, Helmand, Uruzgan, Logar, Ghazni, Paktika and Paktia.

29 May 2012: Another school was targeted with poisoning of the female students. At least 120 girls became sick. This is the third school poisoning in Takhar Province in the past two weeks.  The “Taliban” are being blamed, however, “Taliban” reps swear they’ve had nothing to do with the poisonings.  Public health officials say blood tests are not revealing what poison (if any) is being used.  “Taliban” reps say the Afghan government is behind the poisonings.

Another tribal elder was assassinated while praying in a Mosque in Ghazni Province. Also, in Ghazni city, Mujahideen attacked the eastern part of the city and wounded between three and seven people.

The United Nations reported that only 5% of the Afghan population is involved in producing more than 5,800 tons of opium, or 90% of the World’s illegal opium!  The UN also said that so far less than 2% of the opium produced is being captured and destroyed.  That’s par for the course when you study the lack of success in the 30+ years of the U.S. War on Drugs!

In Nangahar Province two potential suicide bombers were killed, and three wounded after the car they were in exploded.  Officials think there was a mechanical problem which caused one of their bombs to go off too soon.

International Security Assistance Force is claiming they killed an al-Qaeda “leader” in Kunar Province.  They said he was from Saudi Arabia, an ally of the United States.

In Baghlan Province, Afghan officials claim they killed two Mujahideen “commanders”.

28 May 2012: International Security Assistance Force said at least one U.S./NATO soldier was killed by Mujahideen attack, in southern Afghanistan.  Two other U.S./NATO personnel were killed when the helicopter they were in went down in eastern Afghanistan.

Five police officers in Baghlan Province were killed when they drove over a mine.

An Afghan government official was arrested on murder and rape charges. The former deputy chief of the Afghan Passport Department is accused by several people from Badakhshan province of raping and killing women.

In Helmand Province, at least three people were killed when they drove over a mine.  Local officials said they arrested a man suspected of planting the mine.

ISAF, Afghan Ministry of Defense, and Ministry of the Interior, report six Afghan soldiers killed, and between 21 and 38 Mujahideen killed in the past 24 hours.  The battles took place in Laghman, Paktiya, Baghlan, Kabul, Kunar, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Faryab, Kandahar, Ghazni, Khost, Helmand, Uruzgan, Maidan Wardak and Logar provinces.

International Security Assistance Force claims two “leaders” were captured in Kandahar and Paktiya provinces.

 

 

 

International, U.S.

Drug War: Drug Lord gets new life in Spain thanks to the U.S. taxpayer!

On 28 May 2012, Spanish media reported that a Colombian drug lord, Javier Antonio Calle Serna (aka Comba), and his parents, sister, wife and kids, are now living a new life in Spain.

The drug lord worked in the Norte del Valle cartel before forming his own drug gang, known as the Rastrojos.  He surrendered to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on 6 May.

He was supposed to stand trial in New York City, however, the Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, says Spanish authorities also wanted the drug lord for drug dealing and money laundering in their country.

In the end the drug boss agreed to tell everything he knew, in exchange for a new life in Spain, thanks in part to the U.S. DEA.  What’s interesting is that the Spanish media reports his whole family arrived in Spain back in April!

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; May 23-27. 5 U.S./NATO deaths in 2 days. More civilian deaths. Civilians fighting back. Politicians cave to U.S. bribes. Cops stealing oil and running drugs. France will keep troops in country after all!

“Afghanistan would sign long term partnership agreement with the People’s Republic of China and the agreement will probably be inked during President Hamid Karzai’s participation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on June 6-7 in China.”–Zalmai Rasoul, Foreign Minister of Afghanistan

China will join United States, Britain, Germany, India, Italy and Australia in long term “strategic” pacts with Afghanistan.

27 May 2012, local officials in Paktia Province are now confirming that a U.S./NATO airstrike, on the night of 26 May, has killed eight civilians, and that not a single Mujahideen was killed.

Earlier, reports said as many as 20 Mujahideen were killed by the U.S. led airstrike, but when local officials investigated all they found were the bodies of one man, his wife and their six children!

Also on 27 May 2012, Afghan Ministry of Defense says five of their soldiers were killed, and 13 wounded in battles in the following provinces: Kapisa, Kunar and Laghman.

The Ministry of the Interior claims that six Mujahideen were killed, two wounded, and nine captured in the following provinces: Kapisa, Kandahar, Maidan Wardak and Khost.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says three U.S./NATO personnel were killed by Mujahideen attacks in eastern Afghanistan, on 27 May.  ISAF also confirmed that four U.S./NATO personnel were killed by explosions on 26 May.  ISAF did not give much info (SOP) other than the explosions were separate incidents.

About 169 occupying personnel have been killed since the beginning of 2012.

In Baghlan Province, five people wearing police uniforms tried to steal a truck hauling oil. They were arrested.  Owners of the oil tankers are praising local authorities because hi-jackings of tankers by people wearing police uniforms has been ongoing on Baghlan-Samangan highway.

26 May 2012, in Kabul Province two police officers were arrested and accused of helping alcohol and drug traffickers. Officials say one of the arrested cops is a high level officer.

The counter-narcotics and intoxicants court, in Kabul city, says in the past month at least 50 people have been detained.  Compare that to last year when a total of 53 people were detained.  Now realize that those 53 people included 33 cops!

Also on 26 May, officials in Ghazni Province say local civilians, and the local Mujahideen group Islamic Party of Afghanistan (Hezb-e-Islami), repelled an attack from an outsider group.

The local civilian militia, and Hezb-e-Islami, claim to have killed 12 and captured 15 of the outsider militants.  The report also says the attacks took place in at least five villages.  Other sources say the attacks took place weeks ago and are only now being reported.

The new French President, Francois Hollande, has pulled an Obama! Just weeks ago he sounded like he was getting France out of Afghanistan altogether.  Now he admits that even after the official French withdrawal there will still be 1,400 French troops in country, to help the United States with training and logistics.

On 23 May, one member of the Afghan Parliament (National Assembly of Afghanistan), Qorban-Ali Erfani, said the United States was bribing officials with money and promises of immigration to the U.S., if they would approve the midnight military pact signed by Obama and Karzai on 1 May.

On 26 May the parliament approved the pact.  But wait, there’s more!  Of the 249 members of parliament only 183 were present, and only six of them voted against it. Where were the other 66?  Unnamed sources say the 66 who were no shows were threatened because they were openly against the Obama/Karzai pact.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Despite defending Obama’s NATO meeting, Chicago can’t pay its cops!

“First, the City took the unusual position that Officers could not request to be credited with compensatory time for any overtime that they worked during the NATO Summit knowing that this was a clear violation of our contract. Now, after our Mayor, Superintendent, and the citizens of Chicago have heaped praise upon Chicago Police Officers for their excellent work at the NATO Summit, the City has taken the position that Officers are not entitled to compensation for working a sixth or seventh consecutive day during a single calendar week.”-Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Chicago Lodge 7

“NATO is not an excuse for the city of Chicago to circumvent the contract. It clearly states that officers working overtime are to be paid in either time or money…..This is just another example of the city not honoring the contract.”-Mike Shields, FOP president

Some Chicago cops are starting to realize that those elites they defend are about to screw them over, welcome to the club!

Fukushima

One Year later: TEPCo Fukushima Daiichi radiation level Press Release 24 May 2012

Due to the Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake which occurred on 11 March 2011, TEPCo’s facilities including our nuclear power stations have been severely damaged. We deeply apologize for the anxiety and inconvenience caused.

With regard to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, on 17 April 2011, we have compiled the roadmap towards restoration from the accident and on 19 July  we accomplished the Step1 target “Radiation dose is in steady decline”. Then on 16 December we confirmed the accomplishment of the Step 2 target “Release of radioactive materials is under control and radiation doses are being significantly held down”. In addition, on 21 December 2011, we have compiled the “Mid-to-long-Term Roadmap toward the Decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Units 1-4, TEPCO”, for which we’re currently working towards.

Along with the roadmaps mentioned above, we have been evaluating the amount of radioactive materials released into the air and the ocean as a result of the accident. The evaluation result (as of May 2012) is provided below.

As for the amount of radioactive materials released into the air, the evaluation was done from March 12 to 31, 2011. The estimated release amounts are as follows.
Noble gas: Approx. 5×1017 Bq
Iodine 131: Approx. 5×1017 Bq
Cesium 134: Approx. 1×1016 Bq
Cesium 137: Approx. 1×1016 Bq

The amounts of radioactive materials released in April and later in 2011 are not taken into account in this evaluation result as the released amounts were less than 1% of that in March 2011, which are considered to be insignificant.

As for the amount of radioactive materials released into the ocean, the evaluation was done from March 26 to September 30, 2011. The estimated release amounts are as follows.
Iodine 131: Approx. 1.1×1016 Bq
Cesium 134: Approx. 3.5×1015 Bq
Cesium 137: Approx. 3.6×1015 Bq

As the equipments to directly measure the density of radioactive materials (such as the exhaust stack monitor) were unavailable due to the accident, the amount of radioactive materials released into the air was estimated by entering the measurement data (air dose rate, wind direction and wind speed) acquired by the monitoring cars in the power station and the observed values provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency into a program which calculates the amount of radioactive materials diffused into the air, with an assumption that the release rate of radioactive nuclides remains consistent. The evaluation result was then compared with the contamination density measurement result of soil provided by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and our evaluation result has been validated.

However, further data still needs to be collected to review the validity of our evaluation result, considering that the data was acquired only in a limited area (in the power station site) and that the evaluation was done under the assumption that the release rate of radioactive nuclides is consistent though it should actually vary for each nuclide and depending on the status of reactors (the release rate was estimated based solely on the small amount of data obtained during the evaluation period).

The amount of radioactive materials released into the ocean was estimated based on the monitoring data of radioactivity density of materials included in the seawater near the north/south water discharge channels at the power station. The evaluation was done at the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry by utilizing a program which calculates the diffusion of radioactive materials into the ocean.

However, further data still needs to be collected to review the validity of our evaluation result, considering that the evaluation was done based on a small amount of data acquired in a limited area (monitoring data of radioactivity density of materials included in the seawater near the north/south water discharge channels at the power station), and that individual evaluation was not done for each release factor (radioactive materials directly released from the power station, fallouts from the air, rainwater inflow, etc.).

We will continue our utmost efforts in maintaining the stable condition of our nuclear power stations and implementing the measures to decommission Units 1-4.

< Attachment >
–Estimated Amount of Radioactive Materials Released into the Air as a Result of the Accident Occurred at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (PDF 115KB)
–Estimated Amount of Radioactive Materials Released into the Ocean (Near the Port) (PDF 88.2KB)

< Reference >
–Methods Used to Estimate the Radioactive Materials Released into the Air [Outline] (PDF 240KB)
–Estimation Result of the Amount of Radioactive Materials Released into the Ocean (Near the Port) (PDF 334KB)
–Estimated Amount of Radioactive Materials Released into the Air as a Result of the Accident Occurred at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station [Report] (PDF 4.30MB)

English version of “Estimated Amount of Radioactive Materials Released into the Air as a Result of the Accident Occurred at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station” , “Estimated Amount of Radioactive Materials Released into the Ocean (Near the Port)” , “Methods Used to Estimate the Radioactive Materials Released into the Air [Outline]” , “Estimation Result of the Amount of Radioactive Materials Released into the Ocean (Near the Port)” is now being developed.
We will post the translated material one by one when it is prepared.

The attached file titled “Estimated Amount of Radioactive Materials Released into the Air as a Result of the Accident Occurred at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station [Report]” is only available in Japanese.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Fukushima

One Year Later: Cops suffering PTSD after responding to tsunami & nuclear disasters!

24 May 2012, Japan’s National Police Agency reports that their own study finds that at least 4% of police who responded to the disasters that began on 11 March  2011, are showing signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The study followed cops in the three hardest hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima. The study also broke down results according to workload, and proximity to the ongoing nuclear disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi.

At least 10% of police officers, who’ve had an increase in workload since 11 March 2011, are showing more signs of PTSD.  At least 7% of cops working near the GE designed reactors have signs of PTSD.

People working as police in the disaster areas are not only having to enforce laws and protect property, but they too are dealing with the disaster as victims as well.

The National Police Agency (NPA) says no cop has been officially/medically diagnosed with PTSD (’cause it could end their careers), but the NPA says it will work to create policies for coping with PTSD symptoms.