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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
What is False Flag Terrorism?
http://globalparanormal.com/what-is-false-flag-terrorism/
In light of the conspiracies involving the Boston Marathon bombings and the use of the term of “false flag events”, I thought I would search some information to offer up. You could certainly call false flag events government sponsored terrorism and you wouldn’t be wrong. Here are a few examples below.Definition of False Flag
“False flag terrorism” occurs when elements within a government stage a secret operation whereby government forces pretend to be a targeted enemy while attacking their own forces or people. The attack is then falsely blamed on the enemy in order to justify going to war against that enemy. Or as Wikipedia defines it:
False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as if they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one’s own. False flag operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and have been used in peace-time; for example, during Italy’s strategy of tension.The term comes from the old days of wooden ships, when one ship would hang the flag of its enemy before attacking another ship in its own navy. Because the enemy’s flag was hung instead of the flag of the real country of the attacking ship, it was called a “false flag” attack.
Historical False Flag Attacks
There are many examples of false flag attacks throughout history. For example, it is widely known that the Nazis, in Operation Himmler, faked attacks on their own people and resources which they blamed on the Poles, to justify the invasion of Poland. And it has now been persuasively argued — as shown, for example, in this History Channel video — that Nazis set fire to their own parliament, the Reichstag, and blamed that fire on others. The Reichstag fire was the watershed event which justified Hitler’s seizure of power and suspension of liberties.
And in the early 1950s, agents of an Israeli terrorist cell operating in Egypt planted bombs in several buildings, including U.S. diplomatic facilities, then left behind “evidence” implicating the Arabs as the culprits (one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the Egyptians to identify the bombers). Israel’s Defense Minister was brought down by the scandal, along with the entire Israeli government.Click here for verification.
The Russian KGB apparently conducted a wave of bombings in Russia in order to justify war against Chechnya and put Vladimir Putin into power (see also this essay and this report). And the Turkish government has been caught bombing its own and blaming it on a rebel group to justify a crackdown on that group. Muslim governments also play this game. For example, the well-respected former Indonesian president claimed that their government had a role in the Bali bombings.
This sounds nuts, right? You’ve never heard of this “false flag terrorism,” where a government attacks its own people then blames others in order to justify its goals, right? And you are skeptical of the statements discussed above? Please take a look at these historical quotes:
“If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” – U.S. President James Madison
“Why of course the people don’t want war … But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” - Hermann Goering, Nazi leader.
What about the U.S.?
Is it logical to assume that, even if other countries have carried out false flag operations (especially horrible regimes such as, say, the Nazis or Stalin), the U.S. has never done so? Well, as documented by the New York Times, Iranians working for the C.I.A. in the 1950′s posed as Communists and staged bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its democratically-elected president (see also this essay).
And, as confirmed by a former Italian Prime Minister, an Italian judge, and the former head of Italian counterintelligence, NATO carried out terror bombings in Italy with the help of the Pentagon and CIA and blamed communists in order to rally people’s support for their governments in Europe in their fight against communism. As one participant in this formerly-secret program stated: “You had to attack civilians, people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security.”
Moreover, declassified U.S. Government documents show that in the 1960s, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff signed off on a plan code-named Operation Northwoods to blow up American airplanes (using an elaborate plan involving the switching of airplanes), and also to commit terrorist acts on American soil, and then to blame it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba. The operation was not carried out only because the Kennedy administration refused to implement these Pentagon plans.
For lots more on the astonishing Operation Northwoods, see the ABC news report; the official declassified documents; and watch this interview with James Bamford, the former Washington Investigative Producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. One quote from the the declassified Northwoods documents states: “A ‘Remember the Maine’ incident could be arranged: We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.”
Read the full report at www.wanttoknow.info/falseflag.
Is Modern Life Making Us Dumber?
Is Modern Life Making Us Dumber?
Forget “Peak Oil” and “Peak Credit” … Are We On the Downslope of “Peak Intelligence”?
Scientists say that we have much smaller brains than our ancestors had 20,000 years ago … and we might have gotten stupider since agriculture became widespread.Indeed, Huffington Post reports that we’ve probably gotten dumber than even our Victorian ancestors:
A provocative new study suggests human intelligence is on the decline. In fact, it indicates that Westerners have lost 14 I.Q. points on average since the Victorian Era.There are several theories for why we are getting dumber, including the following (the first 2 come from the HuffPost article):
******
As for Dr. te Nijenhuis and colleagues, they analyzed the results of 14 intelligence studies conducted between 1884 to 2004, including one by Sir Francis Galton, an English anthropologist and a cousin of Charles Darwin. Each study gauged participants’ so-called visual reaction times — how long it took them to press a button in response to seeing a stimulus. Reaction time reflects a person’s mental processing speed, and so is considered an indication of general intelligence.
***
In the late 19th Century, visual reaction times averaged around 194 milliseconds, the analysis showed. In 2004 that time had grown to 275 milliseconds. Even though the machine gauging reaction time in the late 19th Century was less sophisticated than that used in recent years, Dr. te Nijenhuis told The Huffington Post that the old data is directly comparable to modern data.
Other research has suggested an apparent rise in I.Q. scores since the 1940s, a phenomenon known as the Flynn Effect. But Dr. te Nijenhuis suggested the Flynn Effect reflects the influence of environmental factors — such as better education, hygiene and nutrition — and may mask the true decline in genetically inherited intelligence in the Western world.
This new research was published in the April 13 issue of Intelligence.
(1) Dr. Jan te Nijenhuis points to the fact that women of high intelligence tend to have fewer children than do women of lower intelligence. This negative association between I.Q. and fertility has been demonstrated time and again in research over the last century.
(2) “The reduction in human intelligence … would have begun at the time that genetic selection became more relaxed,” Dr. Gerald Crabtree, professor of pathology and developmental biology at Stanford University, told The Huffington Post in an email. “I projected this occurred as our ancestors began to live in more supportive high density societies (cities) and had access to a steady supply of food. Both of these might have resulted from the invention of agriculture, which occurred about 5,000 to 12,000 years ago.”
(3) Humans evolved to eat a lot of Omega 3s:
Wild game animals have much higher levels of essential Omega 3 fatty acids than domesticated animals. Indeed, leading nutritionists say that humans evolved to consume a lot of Omega 3 fatty acids in the wild game and fish which they ate (more), and that a low Omega 3 diet is a very new trend within the last 100 years or so.Omega 3s – in turn – boosts intelligence and help prevent cognitive decline.
In other words, while omega 3s have just now been discovered by modern science, we evolved to get a lot of omega 3s … and if we just eat a modern, fast food diet without getting enough omega 3s, it can cause all sorts of health problems.
So something just discovered by science can be a central fuel which our bodies evolved to use.
(4) Exercise boosts intelligence … and our ancestors got a lot more exercise than we do!
In addition, high levels of cortisol – the chemical released by the body when one is under continuous, unrelenting stress – and poverty can physically impair the brain and people’s ability to learn.
On the other hand, relaxing activities like meditation and prayer have been shown to increase brain mass and connectivity in certain areas of the brain.
Hunter-gatherers had more leisure time – and a more playful attitude – than we do today.
(5) Toxic chemicals in the environment can reduce intelligence. Examples include flame retardant, lead (found in many lipsticks), certain pesticides (and see this and this), and fluoride.
Why Is the Fed Bailing Out the World … On Our Dime?
Our gov. ...pissing Our $$$ away 2 ...everybody ...BUT the American People ! ....hows that make u feel America ? were going good huh ? & We The People R the ..enemy.
We were right. A large percentage of the bailouts went to foreign banks (and see this). And so did a huge portion of the money from quantitative easing. More here and here.
Ron Paul noted in 2011 that essentially 100% of New York Federal Reserve Bank loans went to foreign banks.
A former high-level Federal Reserve official said that the Fed is secretly bailing out Europe.
The Fed has bailed out Gaddafi’s Libyan bank, the Arab Banking Corporation of Bahrain, and the banks of Bavaria, Korea and Mexico … but has shafted normal Americans.
The Financial Times reported in February:
And it’s a shame that a study of 124 banking crises by the International Monetary Fund foundthat bailing out banks which are only pretending to be solvent – like most of the big banks – harms the economy.
And what a farce that:
Why Is the Fed Bailing Out the World … On Our Dime?
Fed Pours Huge Sums Into Foreign Bank Coffers
We noted even before the TARP bailout law was signed into law that bailout moneys could flow to foreign banks.We were right. A large percentage of the bailouts went to foreign banks (and see this). And so did a huge portion of the money from quantitative easing. More here and here.
Ron Paul noted in 2011 that essentially 100% of New York Federal Reserve Bank loans went to foreign banks.
A former high-level Federal Reserve official said that the Fed is secretly bailing out Europe.
The Fed has bailed out Gaddafi’s Libyan bank, the Arab Banking Corporation of Bahrain, and the banks of Bavaria, Korea and Mexico … but has shafted normal Americans.
The Financial Times reported in February:
Foreign banks also have a striking amount of cash at the Fed, potentially aggravating the Fed’s PR problem. Analysts at Stone & McCarthy noted recently that there had been a steep increase in foreign banks placing reserves at the Fed and suggested that “US banks may have distaste for the opportunistic arbitrage”, between lower market rates and the interest on reserves, whereas overseas institutions “might not feel encumbered in the same fashion”.Yesterday, Zero Hedge provided an update to this story. ZH reports that the Fed’s quantitative easing program has injected huge sums into foreign banks:
Canada’s TD Bank, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Switzerland’s UBS each have more than $12bn at the Fed.
The latest H.8 report demonstrates, as of the most recently weekly data, the Fed’s policies have led to foreign banks operating in the US holding an all time high amount of reserves, surpassing $1 trillion for the first time, or $1,033 billion to be precise.In a separate report, ZH notes that Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo said:
This means that, as we expected several months ago, the only recipient of ongoing Fed money printing are not US banks, but foreign banks operating in the US. For those confused about the big picture, here is a chart showing the breakdown of cash held by big and small US banks as well as foreign banks, superimposed to total reserves created by the Fed since the start of the Great Financial Crisis. The correlation is 100%.
And just to prove that ALL the unsterilized cash from both QE2 and QEternity has essentially gone to support offshore banks, here is the conclusive chart showing the change in Fed reserves and cash held by foreign banks:
Finally, tying it all together, here is chart showing cash at US banks vs cash at foreign banks operating in the US. At $1.03 trillion in foreign cash, the Fed’s policies have once again led to more cash being held by foreign banks than all cash held by domestic banks.
We are confident that we speak for all when we say: “Thank you Ben – insolvent foreign banks appreciate your ongoing QE2 and QEternity-funded generosity“
World may face rate risk if U.S. exits from QEToo bad that quantitative easing doesn’t help Main Street or the average American. It only helps big banks, giant corporations, and big investors. And by causing food and gas prices skyrocket, it takes a bigger bite out of the little guy’s paycheck, and thus makes the poor even poorer.
And it’s a shame that a study of 124 banking crises by the International Monetary Fund foundthat bailing out banks which are only pretending to be solvent – like most of the big banks – harms the economy.
And what a farce that:
The bailout money is just going to line the pockets of the wealthy, instead of helping to stabilize the economy or even the companies receiving the bailouts:
- Bailout money is being used to subsidize companies run by horrible business men, allowing the bankers to receive fat bonuses, to redecorate their offices, and to buy gold toilets and prostitutes
- A lot of the bailout money is going to the failing companies’ shareholders
- Indeed, a leading progressive economist says that the true purpose of the bank rescue plans is “a massive redistribution of wealth to the bank shareholders and their top executives”
- The Treasury Department encouraged banks to use the bailout money to buy their competitors, and pushed through an amendment to the tax laws which rewards mergers in the banking industry (this has caused a lot of companies to bite off more than they can chew, destabilizing the acquiring companies)
New Bill Would Stop Patent Trolls From Hiding Behind Shell Companies
from the about-time dept http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml
We've
talked in the past about how patent trolling operations love to use
shell companies to hide who actually owns the patents. Intellectual
Ventures has thousands
of shells, but it's even worse in many cases when it's smaller trolls,
where no one has any idea who's actually behind the trolling. You may
remember a few years back, when Reddit, Digg, Fark, Slashdot and others
were sued over a bogus patent
held by a shell company called "Gooseberry Natural Resources LLC," and
we wondered if the collective communities behind those sites might be
able to figure out who actually owned the patent in question. But even
those hive minds failed to turn up much of use.
Thankfully, Rep. Ted Deutch has introduced a bill that would require a true disclosure of the owners of patents that are being used in litigation. Specifically, the bill would require a much clearer accounting of who "any real party in interest" would be concerning any patent. Failure to do so would mean that it would limit the ability of those patent owners to collect on any damages. Specifically, patent owners can only collect on damages that occur after the true owners of the patent are disclosed. This would help a tremendous amount, since so much in the patent troll world today is done in incredibly shady ways. It is believed that a very large number of patent trolling operations are actually run by patent lawyers themselves, who saw how lucrative it was, but who don't want to be publicly identified with their trolling. Forcing the actual owners to identify themselves would be a big help in making sure that people actually understand what's happening with patent trolling.
It's interesting to see Congress suddenly interested in patent reform again, even if in a piecemeal fashion. After spending nearly a decade fighting over a "comprehensive" patent reform bill that became the America Invents Act (a watered-down, mostly useless, bill) we kept hearing people say that patent reform was "done" in Congress. But in the past few months, three key bills have been introduced, each targeting the patent trolling problem. There was Rep. DeFazio's SHIELD Act, which would make it easier to shift fees and make trolls responsible for the costs of bogus lawsuits. Then, a few weeks ago, there was Senator Schumer's bill to make it easier to get tech patents reviewed relatively quickly by the USPTO to see if we can throw out more bad patents. And now this bill, called the End Anonymous Patents Act, from Rep. Deutch.
So far, none of the bills has received much momentum, but it's good to see that more and more people in Congress are realizing that the patent system is incredibly broken, and that trolls are a big part of that.
Thankfully, Rep. Ted Deutch has introduced a bill that would require a true disclosure of the owners of patents that are being used in litigation. Specifically, the bill would require a much clearer accounting of who "any real party in interest" would be concerning any patent. Failure to do so would mean that it would limit the ability of those patent owners to collect on any damages. Specifically, patent owners can only collect on damages that occur after the true owners of the patent are disclosed. This would help a tremendous amount, since so much in the patent troll world today is done in incredibly shady ways. It is believed that a very large number of patent trolling operations are actually run by patent lawyers themselves, who saw how lucrative it was, but who don't want to be publicly identified with their trolling. Forcing the actual owners to identify themselves would be a big help in making sure that people actually understand what's happening with patent trolling.
It's interesting to see Congress suddenly interested in patent reform again, even if in a piecemeal fashion. After spending nearly a decade fighting over a "comprehensive" patent reform bill that became the America Invents Act (a watered-down, mostly useless, bill) we kept hearing people say that patent reform was "done" in Congress. But in the past few months, three key bills have been introduced, each targeting the patent trolling problem. There was Rep. DeFazio's SHIELD Act, which would make it easier to shift fees and make trolls responsible for the costs of bogus lawsuits. Then, a few weeks ago, there was Senator Schumer's bill to make it easier to get tech patents reviewed relatively quickly by the USPTO to see if we can throw out more bad patents. And now this bill, called the End Anonymous Patents Act, from Rep. Deutch.
So far, none of the bills has received much momentum, but it's good to see that more and more people in Congress are realizing that the patent system is incredibly broken, and that trolls are a big part of that.
Marlins' Alex Sanabia proves it's time for pitchers to step up their cheating games
C'mon, guys. This is getting embarrassing. Major League
Baseball used to be a place where cheating was an art form, an
heirloom, something passed from old to young like a family recipe. From
spitballers to bat corkers to sign stealers, cheaters' nefariousness is
part of baseball lore.
Embedded in the sport's culture is an underlying lawlessness borne of its early days, when rogues, rapscallions and syphilitic vagabonds
did whatever the hell they wanted to a baseball. Think about these
pioneers' tool kits: nail files, emery boards, globs of Vaseline, hair
tonic and, of course, the gift that made an in-season chest cold welcome
– the magic loogie.
Between that and Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz hitting the mound with hair that looked straight out of a Soul Glo commercial and a shiny patch on his arm – he had greased both up with sunscreen that, when combined with rosin, makes baseball super glue – the absolute disregard for proper cheating protocol is troublesome.
Kids these days.
They seem not to understand the beauty is in the subterfuge, the ability to cheat without getting caught. You want a better grip on the ball? Fine. Spray your uniform – particularly home whites – with the sunscreen and it's perfectly camouflaged. Spit without so much vigor that the expectorate literally bounces off the ball. Hide pine tar on a belt of similar color. Do not be Buchholz or Sanabia or Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel, whose blatant glob of pine tar on the brim of his cap practically invites opposing managers to rat on him.
[Related: Top 10 spitball-related nicknames for Alex Sanabia of Miami Marlins ]
Only they don't. And that is why cheating has gotten so sloppy: players know they'll get away with it. Rule 8.02(a)(2) explicitly says: "The pitcher shall not expectorate on the ball, either his hand or his glove." The penalty is immediate ejection.
While most focus on the clarity of that rule, they forget the caveat beneath it: "If a pitcher violates either Rule 8.02(a)(2) or 8.02(a)(3) and, in the judgment of the umpire, the pitcher did not intend, by his act, to alter the characteristics of a pitched ball, then the umpire may, in his discretion, warn the pitcher in lieu of applying the penalty set forth."
By vigorously rubbing the ball after he spit on it, Sanabia may have broken workplace health-code rules, but he didn't exactly break baseball law. Unless the league wants to make an example of him and encourage smarter cheating, chances are he avoids suspension despite the world watching him load up a ball.
Part of the problem with today's cheaters is that they haven't evolved in lockstep with technology. Instant replay barely existed when Gaylord Perry was inventing potions to make the ball dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. The cheaters aren't nearly as clever or resourceful today, and they've got HD cameras, DVRs and much more intelligent fans ready to play eagle eye on anyone who disturb the cheating gods.
Look, life as a pitcher is tough, beyond the million-dollar salaries, first-class travel, copious women and altogether awesome existence. They've got to deal with hitters who want to pummel them, fielders who make errors, managers who ask them to give a solid six. It's not like hitters, who can cheat so much more easily.
Atlanta's Craig Kimbrel and the pine tar stain on his bill.What,
you think it's just pitchers? No, no, no. Hitters still cheat like mad,
only they respect their predecessors' accomplishments enough to avoid
doing stupid things like getting caught. One bat manufacturer recently
described the advances in bat corking technology. Clubhouses place an
order with a special code – usually an X following the usual model
number. So if John Doe regularly swings a model 999, a group of corked
ones – usually $125 a pop because of the extra labor – would be 999-X."It never comes out," he said. "It's sticky and tacky and filled the gap. Expansion foam took out hollow sound. Rubber filament or bouncy balls – there are still gaps. Almost sounds hollow when you hit it solid. With expansion foam, none of that happens."
See that, pitchers? It isn't difficult to cheat well. It just takes ingenuity, know-how and some old-fashioned hard work. Don't be like Sammy Sosa, corking a maple bat when anyone with a sliver of knowledge knows maple bats fracture in the middle of the barrel, exactly where the cork is. Be like the major league pitcher who, when in the minor leagues, recognized a two-umpire crew behind home plate and second base couldn't tell where on the mound he was standing, so he moved up about 2 feet toward the plate on two-strike counts and made his fastball surprisingly explosive.
Innovation will save the cheating industry from extinction, and even though underhandedness has given baseball some of its worst moments – throwing games and pervasive steroid use didn't exactly reflect well – players must combat the couch-bound five-o with fresh artifice.
Just because it is accepted that both sides are engaging in tricks to get better grips merely renders a false sense of security. Because one of these days, in an important game, an opposing manager is going to ask the umpire to check Kimbrel's cap and Buchholz's arm and Sanabia's ... OK, scratch that last one. Pitchers have lulled themselves into a false sense of security. It's just a matter of time before someone punctures it.
In the meantime, strikeouts pump through at an all-time high, fielders are better than ever and the era of pitching – only the second league-wide sub-4.00 ERA season in the last 20 years – rolls along one grease spot, tar glob and magic loogie at a time.
Even though they're terrible at it, the old chestnut hasn't changed: In baseball, cheaters always prosper.
Patent troll that wants $1,000 per worker gets sued by Vermont A-G
A patent-trolling scheme went too far and has riled a small state's officials.
Aurich Lawson / Thinkstock
MPHJ and its principals may have gone too far. They're now the subject of a government lawsuit targeting patent trolling—the first ever such case. Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell has filed suit in his home state, saying that MPHJ is violating Vermont consumer-protection laws.
Going after small businesses has raised the ire of many. In Vermont, the lawyers behind MPHJ may have seriously over-shot: they went after two small nonprofits who are named in the Vermont complaint—Lincoln Street, a Springfield nonprofit that gives home care to developmentally disabled Vermonters, and ARIS Solutions, a non-profit that helps the disabled and their caregivers with various fiscal and payroll services.
"All of a sudden, these nonprofits were getting threats," said Sorrell in an interview with Ars. "This caused consternation on behalf of a number of Vermont companies and caused them to incur expenses when they hired private legal counsel," said Sorrell in an interview with Ars about the lawsuit. "We're hopeful that other states will take action to protect their businesses and organizations. They've sent threatening letters all over the country."
The Vermont complaint complaint (PDF) includes redacted copies of demand letters, identical in their wording to the letter first published by Ars Technica in January.
More details revealed about a still-murky operation
By January, lawyers who spoke to Ars knew of more than 10 six-letter entities shooting out threat letters, with names like GosNel, AdzPro, and AllLed. But Vermont investigators were able to get additional information not available to defense lawyers (or journalists). For instance, they discovered that there were forty different shell companies sending out the letters, all under the control of MPHJ.The Vermont complaint also confirms that Jay Mac Rust, a Texas attorney, has a central role in the scheme. In April, Ars published parts of a recorded conversation between Rust and a letter-holder. In those conversations, Rust described himself as the lawyer who gets sent to deal with "irate" letter recipients.
Rust is manager of MPHJ and is the signatory on every patent's "Exclusive License Agreement" between MPHJ and the shell companies, according to the Vermont complaint.
The size and scope of the MPHJ letter campaign still isn't clear. The Vermont suit says that similar letters have been sent to "numerous" Vermont businesses as well as "hundreds or thousands of businesses outside Vermont."
It also isn't clear who is ultimately getting the money from these settlements. In an interview with Ars, Brian Farney, one of the lawyers in charge of the scheme, wouldn't reveal the name of the owner of MPHJ, who he referred to simply as "the client."
The complaint also notes that MPHJ "targeted small businesses in commercial fields unrelated to patent law" and took payouts that were less than the $900 minimum its letters stated. MPHJ "performed little, if any, due diligence to confirm that the targeted businesses were actually infringing its patents prior to sending these letters."
The MPHJ letters also include misstatements. First, they imply litigation was imminent, stating recipients could be sued if they don't pay within two weeks, and they include draft complaints. Still, MPHJ hasn't filed a single lawsuit, in Vermont or anywhere else, more than 130 days since Vermont businesses starting getting the letters.
Also, the shell companies each state they have an "exclusive license" letting them enforce the patents against businesses within a specific geographic area. But the Vermont complaint states that "each Shell LLC was actually assigned a combination of geographic and commercial fields that was identical to at least one other Shell LLC," and thus the shells "do not possess exclusive licenses." The letters also state that "many" or "most" businesses show an interest in purchasing licenses, which isn't true, the complaint notes.
Those are all deceptive statements that add up to a violation of Vermont consumer-protection laws, the Vermont attorney general argues. It's a groundbreaking legal strategy, to be sure. Whether it will be successful remains to be seen. Patent trolling is a well-established business that's been around in its modern form for more than a decade and has been accepted as legitimate by federal courts.
The complaint asks for an injunction to compel MPHJ to stop threatening Vermont businesses and asks for civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
The Vermont lawsuit was actually filed on May 8 but was just made public today, once the defendants were served.
There's been legislative action in Vermont on the patent-trolling front as well. Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin is expected to sign a bill that would allow for penalties against companies engaging in "bad faith assertions of patent infringement." That bill allows for civil actions to be brought by the state attorney general, although those just-enacted laws aren't being used in the current lawsuit.
Hilarious! Top official to plead Fifth Amendment protections after targeting constitutional groups that taught the Bill of Rights
naturalnews.com
Originally published May 21 2013
Hilarious! Top official to plead Fifth Amendment protections after targeting constitutional groups that taught the Bill of Rights
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor(NaturalNews) IRS official Lois Lerner who heads the tax exempt division of the IRS will be invoking Fifth Amendment protections under the Bill of Rights to avoid incriminating herself in federal testimony, reports the LA Times. What makes this such a hilarious example of hypocrisy, of course, is the fact that her office specifically targeted non-profits that were teaching the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
As has now emerged across mainstream news, the IRS targeted these groups for "extra scrutiny" by demanding answers to questions like: What are the contents of your prayers? What books do you read? What are the names of the students you've instructed? Applications for tax exempt status were also denied tax exempt status for three years even while pro-Obama non-profits were quickly approved, no questions asked.
Suddenly the enemies of America want Constitutional protections...
By invoking the Fifth Amendment, Lois Lerner is flat out admitting that her campaign of targeting pro-Constitution groups was a traitorous, criminal betrayal of America. She also apparently believes that Bill of Rights protections only apply to her, not the People of America. This elitist attitude runs like a festering case of cancer throughout the Obama administration, where a culture of intimidation persists.
The "I Know Nothing" administration
To date, no one in the Obama administration has taken any responsibility for the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the Department of Justice secret police state tactics targeting the Association Press, nor the stand-down orders that resulted in the death of the U.S. ambassador at Benghazi. Somehow in all these scandals, nobody knew anything!Across the board, Obama officials are either taking the Fifth Amendment or declaring they "know nothing" about anything that happened. Check out this amazingly annoying video of Eric Holder, the top law enforcement "official" in the U.S. government, claiming just how little he knows!
http://youtu.be/e1iHxjdHI1M
Lois
Lerner of the IRS knows nothing, too. In fact, she knows so much
nothing that she's going to plead the Fifth Amendment in order to make
sure she doesn't actually say exactly how much she doesn't know.In reality, this pleading of the Fifth Amendment by a key lawbreaking operative in the Obama administration is a tactic to make sure she doesn't either spill the truth or perjure herself by lying under oath.
Because, you see, a whole los of people like Lois Lerner are ultimately going to prison once the true criminality of the entire Obama network of government operatives implodes.
The
dam has already burst, and now we just have to watch and see what
spills out of it. Countless "officials" in the IRS, the State Department
and the Department of Justice are, factually speaking, unindicted criminals
who must be prosecuted and convicted of their crimes of America is to
have any hope of being restored to a nation where law and due process
still apply.Question of the day: Why is Adam Kokesh in jail but Eric Holder isn't? Because the government has become a criminal mafia, and law and order have been not only abandoned but gleefully shredded by Obama's thugs who deeply hate America, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Watch Eric Holder's "I know nothink!" testimony here:
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Culture of Intimidation
With new reports today that the Obama Department of Justice leaked documents intended to smear a whistleblower in the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal, it is now more obvious than ever that this administration has, in the words of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), created a “culture of intimidation” that stretches from the White House down to myriad agencies of the executive branch.
President Obama:
From his language suggesting targeting of enemies to his officials’
attempts to castigate Tea Partiers as economic terrorists, President
Obama has presided over an administration that sees his political
opponents as unworthy and nasty. Early in his administration, Obama
threatened CEOs of banks, “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
The White House's regular meetings with non-profit hit group Media
Matters are often designed to help target conservative media ranging
from Fox News to Rush Limbaugh. Whether he’s urging supporters to bring
guns to a fight or suggesting that his enemies are in thrall to the gun
lobby at the expense of children, President Obama’s tactics of
intimidation have become commonplace. The Obama campaign singled out
Mitt Romney donors for special censure, suggesting that they were
lawbreakers. Not coincidentally, many of those donors ended up on the
wrong end of Obama administration legal scrutiny, including megadonors
like Frank Vandersloot.
Department of Justice: Today’s report
from the Department of Justice Inspector General, showing that former
US Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke leaked documents intended to smear a
whistleblower in Fast and Furious, is only the latest revelation on
misconduct from DOJ. The DOJ has also targeted: Fox News reporter James Rosen over leaks from State Department employee Stephen Jin-Woo Kim; according to Megyn Kelly, two other Fox News staffers; the Associated Press, over a story regarding CIA investigations into al-Qaeda; Gallup,
shortly after the polling firm showed Mitt Romney with a substantial
lead over Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential race; and True the Vote,
an organization dedicated to stopping voter fraud. The Eric Holder
Department of Justice has been the lead enforcement arm of the Obama
agenda, going after Arizona’s immigration law and refusing to go after
New Black Panther voter intimidation. The DOJ reportedly uses the non-profit group Media Matters to disseminate its talking points.
State Department:
According to whistleblower Gregory Hicks, the second-in-command in
Libya from the State Department during the Benghazi attacks of September
11, 2012, the Hillary Clinton State Department attempted to force a
handler on him during a Congressional visit to Libya. He then received a
dressing-down from his superiors at the State Department for being too
forthcoming with Congresspeople.
Internal Revenue Service: The IRS’ discrimination
against conservative non-profit groups has stunned Americans, but
conservatives have known for years that the Obama IRS targets
conservatives. The IRS allegedly leaked
donor information of the National Organization for Marriage to Human
Rights Campaign, then-headed by an Obama re-election co-chair. The IRS handed liberal group ProPublica confidential documents from conservative tax-exempt groups. Jewish and pro-Israel groups have received heightened IRS scrutiny. So have Catholic groups.
Department of Health and Human Services:
Kathleen Sebelius’ Department of Health and Human Services has thugged
its way through the Obamacare rollout. Sebelius revealed in January 2012
that Obamacare would force religious employers to provide health
insurance including contraception to their employees; Catholic
organizations have been fighting that mandate ever since. That came on
the heels of the Obama administration agreeing to concessions
to the pharmaceutical industry in return for the industry’s support for
Obamacare. Big Pharma eventually agreed to finance millions worth of TV
advertising for Obamacare in exchange for capping liability at $80
billion over ten years. More recently, Sebelius has allegedly been soliciting donations
from non-profit groups to push Obamacare. Those non-profits are
directly regulated by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Department of the Treasury:
After the United Auto Workers contributed serious cash to President
Obama’s 2008 election campaign, Obama’s Department of the Treasury
worked closely with the union to ensure that its stake in the failing
automobile companies trumped the stake of other stockholders and bondholders,
including pension funds and victims of injury. And when it came to the
bank bailouts the story of intimidation was similar: according to Bank of American Chairman and Chief Executive Ken Lewis,
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary
Hank Paulson pressured him to shut up about losses at Merrill Lynch
while picking up the troubled company.
Federal Bureau of Investigation:
During an investigation of then-CIA Director David Petraeus, the FBI
specifically checked out Petraeus’ sex life, ending in his resignation
as director. The investigation reportedly began after Jill Kelly, a
Tampa friend of the Petraeuses, asked an agent friend to look into
Petraeus. Civil liberties advocates worry about the FBI’s reported practice of storing digital communications between private citizens (that, of course, has been a longtime worry not relegated strictly to the Obama administration).
Department of the Interior:
As the Obama administration tried to foist all responsibility for the
2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on the oil companies, Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar told the media, “our job basically is to keep the
boot on the neck of British Petroleum.” The next day, White House press
secretary Robert Gibbs used the same words.
Department of Homeland Security: When not relabeling the war on terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security warned
about groups “antagonistic toward the new presidential administration,”
including “those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal
authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government
authority entirely.” The 2009 report from DHS warned about “rightwing
extremist chatter on the Internet continues to focus on the economy.”
Environmental Protection Agency: Whether it was former EPA head Lisa Jackson creating dual email accounts to avoid transparency or the agency allegedly requiring conservatives
to pay up for their Freedom of Information Act requests while exempting
liberals, the EPA is yet another wing of the Obama government that
seems focused on intimidating its enemies.
The intimidation comes from the top down in the Obama administration. And it is pervasive.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
Goal Reached: Time to Restart the Economy
Finally – it’s over. The goal of Simpson and Bowles has been
met, the deficit is shrinking rapidly. And the intellectual underpinning
for deficit reduction, based on the study by Rogoff and Reinhart, has been destroyed.
Phew! Glad that is behind us. Now, can we actually try to fix the economy?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report that shows a rapid decline in the deficit, $203 billion has been cut from the deficit making it the smallest since 2008. And they project that by 2015, the deficit will be under $400 billion, less than one-third of the $1.4 trillion deficit Bush left when Obama took office and only 2.1% of the GDP. We agree with political economy writer Doug Henwood’s conclusion: “there’s no way any honest analyst could read them [the CBO report] as anything but the official end to any rational concern about red ink.”
Dave Johnson writes that since now we’ve reached the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction goal of 2.3% ratio of deficit to GDP, we can focus on the real problems – the job gap, the wage gap and the trade gap. Unlike the deficit problem, which was always more imagined than real, these are very real problems that DC should address as it restarts its economic planning. Johnson summarizes that the real economic problem we face is, at its roots, due to jobs lost to the trade deficit, writing:
Let’s look at housing. There has been a lot of excitement in news reports about housing in the last two weeks because prices are going up, but in reality the housing market “recovery” is a complete hoax. What is really happening is that the Federal Reserve’s very low interest rates are allowing investors to borrow money cheaply and invest in buying low-priced houses. In addition, banks have kept 7 million houses in foreclosure off the market in order to create housing scarcity, resulting in a rise in prices. Of course, actual families who have lost wealth and income and cannot borrow easily are unable to buy. The fake housing recovery is another way the wealthy are stealing wealth from the rest of us.
Much is the same with the stock market – the Fed’s cheap money is very likely letting the wealthy borrow money to invest. When we look at the underlying realities of the economy – unemployment, lower income and less wealth for most Americans, high trade deficits and a government going in the wrong direction – there are no reasons for investors to be confident. But because the Fed is pumping $85 billion of newly created money into the big banks each month, there is money to invest. For some elites, the money is being used to buy up company stock in order to pump up its value. The game of chicken is – how long can they stay in this bubble before it bursts?
When it comes to trade, rather than learning the lessons from the last 20 years of corporate trade agreements – agreements that have resulted in a massive trade deficit and are a key factor in loss of jobs – President Obama is aggressively pushing more of the same, indeed, even bigger versions of NAFTA-like agreements. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) promise to give more power to transnational corporations. Actually, they will make corporations more powerful than governments. The only way the agreements will pass is if Fast Track, now called Trade Promotion Authority, is brought back from the dead. Why? Because these trade agreements are very unpopular. People know these agreements threaten our sovereignty, empower Wall Street, pharmaceuticals and insurance companies at the expense of people, threaten a free and open Internet, and will undermine the environment, labor and consumer rights. For more on all of this see FlushTheTPP.org.
Related to trade is the State Department becoming a marketer of genetically modified seeds. Food and Water Watch reports that: “The U.S. State Department has launched a concerted strategy to promote agricultural biotechnology, often over the opposition of the public and governments, to the near exclusion of other more sustainable, more appropriate agricultural policy alternatives.” Our weekly Wednesday column in TruthOut goes into greater depth on Monsanto and related issues. The good news is there is a growing revolt by people all over the world. Demonstrations are planned for May 25 in 41 countries and nearly 300 cities by Occupy Monsanto.
How is the real economy looking? Well, in China it is looking good. A recent economic survey found that China was the “world’s most financially secure country.” Their people are faring much better because “only 3 percent of Chinese households are financially vulnerable, whereas the same figure for Germany is 22 percent and 26 percent for France.” In the United States, two-thirds of Americans cannot handle a $1,000 surprise expenditure and most live paycheck to paycheck.
Another snapshot of spreading poverty in the U.S. came out this week in a report that found more of the poor in the United States now live in suburbs than in urban areas. The number of poor people living in suburbs surged 67% between 2000 and 2011. Why? The housing collapse destroyed their wealth, the job collapse resulted in lost jobs or lower incomes, and urban gentrification pushed poor people toward cheaper housing. Suburban wealth is a myth, now the reality is growing suburban poverty.
And, a college job is no guarantee of economic success. A survey of recent college graduates found that 42% currently have jobs that do not require a four-year degree. A majority of those with jobs are underemployed working in retail or restaurant employment. This is part of the “Gradocracy” Sam Smith describes – too many degrees and not enough jobs. The students, who are leaving school with record tuition debt, are in sharp contrast with a report this week on the pay of public university presidents. There are now several presidents making over $1 million a year, a big increase in those making over $600,000 and the mean is $441,392. All this while tuition rises and puts students who will go into a lousy job market deep in debt.
Smith ends his discussion of the Gradocracy pointing out that “We must not only condemn the worst, but offer witness for the better. And create places in which to live it.” That is similar to what we recommend — proceed on two tracks: protest what we do not like and build what we want. We continue to see evidence of people building the new economy they want.
You might remember several years ago when 250 workers were laid off by a company called Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago; they arranged a sit-in to protest violations against their union agreements. The second time it happened, they decided to purchase the now-bankrupt company and operate it themselves. The new company has now opened for business as a worker-owned co-operative called New Era Windows, which opens for business today. They stopped the machine and created a new world.
In order to help solve our energy, environmental and health crises, the United States needs to shift to walkable, bike-able communities. Continued reliance on automobiles with their extreme use of oil and gas, as well as pollution of the air and water, will ensure the wasteful and unhealthy American Way Of Life (AWOL). In September 2010, Washington, DC began the first large bike sharing program in the U.S. (Tulsa was first with a small program of two dozen bikes in 2007.) The twin cities in Minnesota and Denver also began in 2010. This year 22 cities have bike-share programs, and next year that number is likely to double. Lots of experimentation is happening around the country.
Studies are finding that bike-shares create an economic boost, “Each ride in the Twin Cities’ Nice Ride system was found to bring $7–14 to the local economy. Forty-four percent of Capital Bikeshare riders surveyed used bike share to make a trip they otherwise would have skipped, largely for entertainment, socializing, and dining out.” The U.S. Conference of Mayors, representing more than 1,300 cities across the country, noted at its 2012 meeting that “communities that have invested in pedestrian and bicycle projects have benefited from improved quality of life, a healthier population, greater local real estate values, more local travel choices, and reduced air pollution.”
We’re also starting to see states and countries standing up to big oil as communities begin to understand how they may become a “sacrifice zone” in the interests of big oil and gas. In the United States, Texas joined with other Gulf States to sue BP oil and Halliburton over the oil spill that did so much damage to the Gulf of Mexico and the economies of those states. They claim the companies engaged in “wanton and willful misconduct” and violated state regulations. And, the Europe Commission carried out unannounced raids on Shell, BP and other big oil companies as part of an investigation into price-rigging that could have been going on for a decade.
Maybe there is enough going on through protest, creating the economy we want and getting government to wake up and change course, that the nation can avoid the scenario described in this article of the U.S. becoming an impoverished country. Now there is no need to cut essential services with extreme austerity, instead there is an opportunity to invest in a new, sustainable economy based on clean energy and to correct so much of the misdirection of the nation.
The people have awakened and are protesting what they do not like and building what they want. In DC this week, homeowners who have had their homes foreclosed upon through fraudulent practices, are occupying the Department of Justice and demanding that the banks be held accountable. Fast food workers have been striking all over the country, including a large surprise strike today in DC. And unemployed families are walking from Philadelphia to DC to demand green jobs. Students and teachers in Philadelphia and Chicago are demanding their community schools stay open. A popular resistance is brewing and we can expect it to build throughout the summer.
This article is based on a weekly newsletter for ItsOurEconomy.us. To sign up for the free newsletter, click here.
Kevin Zeese JD and Margaret Flowers MD co-direct It’s Our Economy and are organizers of the Occupation of Washington, DC. They co-host Clearing the FOG on We Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC and on Economic Democracy Media. Their twitters are @KBZeese and @MFlowers8.
Phew! Glad that is behind us. Now, can we actually try to fix the economy?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report that shows a rapid decline in the deficit, $203 billion has been cut from the deficit making it the smallest since 2008. And they project that by 2015, the deficit will be under $400 billion, less than one-third of the $1.4 trillion deficit Bush left when Obama took office and only 2.1% of the GDP. We agree with political economy writer Doug Henwood’s conclusion: “there’s no way any honest analyst could read them [the CBO report] as anything but the official end to any rational concern about red ink.”
Dave Johnson writes that since now we’ve reached the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction goal of 2.3% ratio of deficit to GDP, we can focus on the real problems – the job gap, the wage gap and the trade gap. Unlike the deficit problem, which was always more imagined than real, these are very real problems that DC should address as it restarts its economic planning. Johnson summarizes that the real economic problem we face is, at its roots, due to jobs lost to the trade deficit, writing:
“The economy can’t recover until housing recovers. Housing can’t recover until people can afford to buy houses. People can’t afford to buy houses until they can get jobs, and those with jobs can’t afford to buy houses until wages go up. Wages can’t go up until the trade problem is fixed. And the trade problem is killing jobs.”Let’s look at Johnson’s statement more closely. With jobs at the center of the problem, one thing that must be rethought is the sequestration. The CBO estimates sequestration will cost around 750,000 jobs in total, and forecasters think it could reduce economic growth by half a percentage point this year. In fact, the economy is adding very few jobs, floundering with just enough to keep with the growth of the workforce. The federal government has shed 8,000 jobs.
Let’s look at housing. There has been a lot of excitement in news reports about housing in the last two weeks because prices are going up, but in reality the housing market “recovery” is a complete hoax. What is really happening is that the Federal Reserve’s very low interest rates are allowing investors to borrow money cheaply and invest in buying low-priced houses. In addition, banks have kept 7 million houses in foreclosure off the market in order to create housing scarcity, resulting in a rise in prices. Of course, actual families who have lost wealth and income and cannot borrow easily are unable to buy. The fake housing recovery is another way the wealthy are stealing wealth from the rest of us.
Much is the same with the stock market – the Fed’s cheap money is very likely letting the wealthy borrow money to invest. When we look at the underlying realities of the economy – unemployment, lower income and less wealth for most Americans, high trade deficits and a government going in the wrong direction – there are no reasons for investors to be confident. But because the Fed is pumping $85 billion of newly created money into the big banks each month, there is money to invest. For some elites, the money is being used to buy up company stock in order to pump up its value. The game of chicken is – how long can they stay in this bubble before it bursts?
When it comes to trade, rather than learning the lessons from the last 20 years of corporate trade agreements – agreements that have resulted in a massive trade deficit and are a key factor in loss of jobs – President Obama is aggressively pushing more of the same, indeed, even bigger versions of NAFTA-like agreements. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) promise to give more power to transnational corporations. Actually, they will make corporations more powerful than governments. The only way the agreements will pass is if Fast Track, now called Trade Promotion Authority, is brought back from the dead. Why? Because these trade agreements are very unpopular. People know these agreements threaten our sovereignty, empower Wall Street, pharmaceuticals and insurance companies at the expense of people, threaten a free and open Internet, and will undermine the environment, labor and consumer rights. For more on all of this see FlushTheTPP.org.
Related to trade is the State Department becoming a marketer of genetically modified seeds. Food and Water Watch reports that: “The U.S. State Department has launched a concerted strategy to promote agricultural biotechnology, often over the opposition of the public and governments, to the near exclusion of other more sustainable, more appropriate agricultural policy alternatives.” Our weekly Wednesday column in TruthOut goes into greater depth on Monsanto and related issues. The good news is there is a growing revolt by people all over the world. Demonstrations are planned for May 25 in 41 countries and nearly 300 cities by Occupy Monsanto.
How is the real economy looking? Well, in China it is looking good. A recent economic survey found that China was the “world’s most financially secure country.” Their people are faring much better because “only 3 percent of Chinese households are financially vulnerable, whereas the same figure for Germany is 22 percent and 26 percent for France.” In the United States, two-thirds of Americans cannot handle a $1,000 surprise expenditure and most live paycheck to paycheck.
Another snapshot of spreading poverty in the U.S. came out this week in a report that found more of the poor in the United States now live in suburbs than in urban areas. The number of poor people living in suburbs surged 67% between 2000 and 2011. Why? The housing collapse destroyed their wealth, the job collapse resulted in lost jobs or lower incomes, and urban gentrification pushed poor people toward cheaper housing. Suburban wealth is a myth, now the reality is growing suburban poverty.
And, a college job is no guarantee of economic success. A survey of recent college graduates found that 42% currently have jobs that do not require a four-year degree. A majority of those with jobs are underemployed working in retail or restaurant employment. This is part of the “Gradocracy” Sam Smith describes – too many degrees and not enough jobs. The students, who are leaving school with record tuition debt, are in sharp contrast with a report this week on the pay of public university presidents. There are now several presidents making over $1 million a year, a big increase in those making over $600,000 and the mean is $441,392. All this while tuition rises and puts students who will go into a lousy job market deep in debt.
Smith ends his discussion of the Gradocracy pointing out that “We must not only condemn the worst, but offer witness for the better. And create places in which to live it.” That is similar to what we recommend — proceed on two tracks: protest what we do not like and build what we want. We continue to see evidence of people building the new economy they want.
You might remember several years ago when 250 workers were laid off by a company called Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago; they arranged a sit-in to protest violations against their union agreements. The second time it happened, they decided to purchase the now-bankrupt company and operate it themselves. The new company has now opened for business as a worker-owned co-operative called New Era Windows, which opens for business today. They stopped the machine and created a new world.
In order to help solve our energy, environmental and health crises, the United States needs to shift to walkable, bike-able communities. Continued reliance on automobiles with their extreme use of oil and gas, as well as pollution of the air and water, will ensure the wasteful and unhealthy American Way Of Life (AWOL). In September 2010, Washington, DC began the first large bike sharing program in the U.S. (Tulsa was first with a small program of two dozen bikes in 2007.) The twin cities in Minnesota and Denver also began in 2010. This year 22 cities have bike-share programs, and next year that number is likely to double. Lots of experimentation is happening around the country.
Studies are finding that bike-shares create an economic boost, “Each ride in the Twin Cities’ Nice Ride system was found to bring $7–14 to the local economy. Forty-four percent of Capital Bikeshare riders surveyed used bike share to make a trip they otherwise would have skipped, largely for entertainment, socializing, and dining out.” The U.S. Conference of Mayors, representing more than 1,300 cities across the country, noted at its 2012 meeting that “communities that have invested in pedestrian and bicycle projects have benefited from improved quality of life, a healthier population, greater local real estate values, more local travel choices, and reduced air pollution.”
We’re also starting to see states and countries standing up to big oil as communities begin to understand how they may become a “sacrifice zone” in the interests of big oil and gas. In the United States, Texas joined with other Gulf States to sue BP oil and Halliburton over the oil spill that did so much damage to the Gulf of Mexico and the economies of those states. They claim the companies engaged in “wanton and willful misconduct” and violated state regulations. And, the Europe Commission carried out unannounced raids on Shell, BP and other big oil companies as part of an investigation into price-rigging that could have been going on for a decade.
Maybe there is enough going on through protest, creating the economy we want and getting government to wake up and change course, that the nation can avoid the scenario described in this article of the U.S. becoming an impoverished country. Now there is no need to cut essential services with extreme austerity, instead there is an opportunity to invest in a new, sustainable economy based on clean energy and to correct so much of the misdirection of the nation.
The people have awakened and are protesting what they do not like and building what they want. In DC this week, homeowners who have had their homes foreclosed upon through fraudulent practices, are occupying the Department of Justice and demanding that the banks be held accountable. Fast food workers have been striking all over the country, including a large surprise strike today in DC. And unemployed families are walking from Philadelphia to DC to demand green jobs. Students and teachers in Philadelphia and Chicago are demanding their community schools stay open. A popular resistance is brewing and we can expect it to build throughout the summer.
This article is based on a weekly newsletter for ItsOurEconomy.us. To sign up for the free newsletter, click here.
Kevin Zeese JD and Margaret Flowers MD co-direct It’s Our Economy and are organizers of the Occupation of Washington, DC. They co-host Clearing the FOG on We Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC and on Economic Democracy Media. Their twitters are @KBZeese and @MFlowers8.
Woman Cops Plea In "Coochie" Smuggle Case
Pennsylvanian, 22, nabbed at border packing heroin
View Document
Coke In Coochie Plea
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Coke In Coochie Plea
Samantha Kurdilla was arrested in January after she attempted to walk back into the U.S. from Tijuana via a border crossing. A drug detection dog “alerted to a narcotic odor” emanating from her “groin area,” according to a probable cause statement.
A subsequent search revealed that Kurdilla, seen at right, had a condom filled with 100 grams of cocaine “within her vaginal cavity,” investigators reported in a U.S. District Court filing.
During questioning, Kurdilla copped to drug smuggling “in exchange for compensation” from a male companion with whom she was arrested. Additionally, an examination of Kudilla’s cell phone turned up a damning text message to an unidentified recipient that revealed what she was up to: “I’m smuggling cocaine and heroin in my coochie.”
During a May 16 hearing in U.S. District Court in San Diego, Kurdilla--who was originally indicted on a felony smuggling charge--pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor count of heroin possession.
Kurdilla, who is free on $30,000 bond, has also been accepted into a three-year pretrial diversion program which will spare her prison time. If Kurdilla successfully completes the program, the criminal charge will be dismissed.
Kurdilla’s codefendant, James Perry, previously pleaded guilty to a felony cocaine smuggling charge. The 44-year-old Perry, an Army veteran who lives in Pennsylvania, has been locked up since his arrest with Kurdilla. Court documents do not detail Kurdilla’s relationship with Perry, who is married with four children. (3 pages)
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