Middle East; Law and Disorder, Identity Crisis, War on Drugs, Legalization and Decriminalization, Jail Tales, Recording, Suits, Road Rage, Good Cops

Middle East

• Israeli soldiers open fire in 'buffer zone'--Leading up to the first Palestinian death since Wednesday's ceasefire.
• Egypt's President Mursi assumes sweeping powers--Declares himself answerable to no one.
• Libyan Leader Opposes Foreign Aid to Syrian Rebels

Law and Disorder

• Ohio Bar Association Pressured Judge To Keep Quiet About Justice For Sale
• How California's Three-Strikes Law Struck Out
• Matt Gurney: A victory for self-defence, but only a partial one
• Why British police don't have guns
• 'Guru' swindler of French aristocrats gets 8 years
• Piedmont officer is fired over public urination ticket--"Piedmont city officials have fired a police officer who wrote a public urination citation to the mother of a 3-year-old who dropped his pants in the family's front yard."
• Blast from the past: Death case defendant sues for lack of lawyers

Identity Crisis

• Hacker steals entire nation's identity--"A Greek hacker stole the personal data of about 9,000,000 Greek residents, which is approximately the same as the population of Greece itself."
• Thomas Quick: the Swedish serial killer who never was--"It reads like a real-life Scandinavian crime novel. In the 1990s, Thomas Quick confessed to more than 30 murders, making him Sweden's most notorious serial killer. Then, he changed his name and revealed his confessions were all faked."
• Google search reveals true identity of suspect in Navy charity scam
• Man loses job over mistaken identity
• Tunni Rai: A life without identity

War on Drugs

• The Fight Over Medical Marijuana--"While Jerry Sandusky got a 30-year minimum sentence for raping young boys, Mr. Williams is looking at a mandatory minimum of more than 80 years for marijuana . . ." NYT
• Time to end the war on drugs
• B.C. marijuana activist wins $25 million
• Afghan addicts help run daring new restaurant in Kabul
• Blast from the Past: Super Soldiers? Military Drug is Rage Among Students, Young Professionals

Legalization and Decriminalization

• The Feds Should Quietly Allow Colorado and Washington to Experiment with Marijuana Legalization
• The Secret Ingredients for Marijuana Legalization: Moms and Hispanics
• Former cop: Time for Obama to lead on marijuana legalization
• Legalized marijuana: Is Iowa next?
• Marijuana legalization or decriminalization backed by most Canadians: poll
• How marijuana legalization will affect Mexico's cartels, in charts
• Mexico lawmaker introduces bill to legalize marijuana

Jail Tales

• Nation's First Privately Owned State Prison Riddled With Violations Of State Law
• Solitary in Iran Nearly Broke Me. Then I Went Inside America's Prisons.
• Death row inmates choose comfort food for their last meals

Recording

• Glasses equipped with camera create transparency for SLCPD
• Jury says journalist arrested while videotaping police is not guilty
• LAPD officer used Taser on handcuffed woman--"Elements of the officer's version of events are contradicted by video footage."

Suits

• Paralysed woman's £6m damages claim against pool owner dismissed--"The defendant was not required to adopt a paternalistic approach to his visitors, all of whom were adults, all of whom were making choices about their behaviour that night."
• Woman breaks nose on Apple store, sues for $1M
• Tennessee Fraternity Denies Buttchugging Charge in Press Conference That Really Happened

Road Rage

• KFC ram-raided after staff refuse to serve bargain bucket meal
• TrainingPeaks founder's video nabs driver
• Stop coddling people who behave badly

Good Cops

• Canada
• Denmark
• Los Angeles, CA
• Bethlemem, PA
• Amarillo, TX

The Haves, Banks: Foreclosures, Loans, Debit and Credit Cards, Taxes, GOP, Wingers

The Haves

• 'Oligarchy': History of how the super-rich defend their wealth
• The 1% Have a Stranglehold on Politics: New Al Jazeera Documentary Sheds Light on the Koch Brothers
• Top 1% getting richer: Study shows growing income disparity
• The Ideological Fantasies of Inequality Deniers
• Why the Rich Get Richer--"Those who have money have a systemic advantage in the acquisition of proven productive resources over those who do not, an advantage which compounds."
• How the Legal System Was Deep-Sixed to Serve Elite America and Occupy Wall Street Became Inevitable
• Immunity and impunity in elite America: The top one per cent of US society is enjoying a two-tiered system of justice and politics--Salon's Glenn Grenwald is coming out with a new book, With Liberty and Justice for Some

Banks: Foreclosures, Loans, Debit and Credit Cards

• What the Costumes Reveal--Employees of NY's largest "foreclosure mill", Steven J. Baum, dressed as the homeless for their Halloween party last year.
• House GOP Wants To Repeal Requirement That Banks Hold A Portion Of Their Risky Loans--Guess who their real constituents are.
• Nevada Makes Illegal Foreclosures Felony
• Bank of America leads, but no one follows: Moynihan’s bluff called, move on fees backfires
• Wells Fargo Cancels Pilot of $3 Monthly Fee for Debit Cards
• Using Credit Cards to Target Web Ads--" The two largest credit-card networks, Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., are pushing into a new business: using what they know about people's credit-card purchases for targeting them with ads online. "
• Visa Exposed As Massive Credit Card Scam The Onion

Taxes

• The flat tax fraud--"Conservatives are pushing the flat tax as a smokescreen. They’d rather not have anyone talk about the unfairness and fiscal absurdity of the current system."
• Perry Adviser Steve Forbes Crafted Flat Tax Plan That Would Have Given Himself A $1.9 Billion Tax Cut
• Millionaires Support Warren Buffett's Tax on the Rich--"A new survey from Spectrem Group found that 68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more) support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners."
• Republican Voters Don't Mind Middle Class Tax Hikes, but Oppose Raising Taxes on Wealthy--Clearly there's a disconnect.
• Swiss Banks May Pay Billions, Disclose Names--"Swiss banks will probably settle a sweeping U.S. probe of offshore tax evasion by paying billions of dollars and handing over names of thousands of Americans who have secret accounts... ."

GOP

• The Republicans' war on science and reason
• The incentive behind GOP obstructionism
• Sabotage: The Story Behind The Republican Party's "Top Political Priority"--"Congressional Republicans won't admit it, but President Obama's proposed American Jobs Act is popular — with voters and economists alike."
• Jon Stewart To GOP On Qaddafi Death: What Is Wrong With You People?
• The Truth Has A Well-Known, Well, You Know NYT

Wingers

• Eric Cantor Cancels Income Inequality Speech After Learning It Will Be Open to the Public
• Tea party group to Bachmann: Quit the presidential race
• Rubio Tries To Clarify How His Family Left Cuba--"GOP rising star Sen. Marco Rubio caught heat last week for his Senate bio that misstated when his family left Cuba for the U.S...." Emphasis mine for a word that clearly means "lied about".
• GOP candidate admits lesbian affair with 'minor' while working as school gym teacher... but claims Christianity 'cured' her
  
• NJ GOP Mayor Has 'No Idea' How Rentboy Got Sexy Pictures of Him

Gaddafi killed, Hacking, Jobs, Workers, GOP, Palin, Tea Party

Libya's Col Muammar Gaddafi killed, says NTC

Hacking

• British Reporter Says He'll Name Names in Phone Hacking Scandal NYT
• UK Police Admit Knowing About Phone Hacking As Early As 2002
• Phone hacking: News International faces more than 60 claims
• Investors Call for Rupert Murdoch to Step Down as News Corp Chair
• In Rift Between Murdochs, Heir Becomes Less Apparent NYT

Jobs

• Obama: Congress Is Apparently Too Stupid To Understand My Jobs Bill, So We're Going To Simplify It For Them
• Tea Party Nation Wants Small Business Owners to Cease Hiring--"What is in it for a business owner, holding off on hiring for a position that needs to be filled, just to hurt employment numbers in an effort to make Obama look bad?"
• Hallmark adds job loss to line of sympathy cards

Workers

• Amazon.com: The Fraying of a Nation's Decency NYT
• 'Retirement Heist': How Firms Trimmed Pensions--"As companies have been moving away from traditional pension plans, they have been shifting employees to new retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, that transfer the cost — and the risk — to workers."
• Enslaving your interns for evil and profit--"If you’re an intern, don’t sign a non-compete contract."
• How Unpaid Internships Perpetuate Rampant Inequality in the US
• Grassroots Movement for Paid Sick Days for Workers Picking Up Steam Across the Country

GOP

• Long-life Texas GOP Latino Leader Leaves Republican Party After Herman Cain Advocates the Death of Immigrants
  
• Disconnect grows between GOP voters and GOP lawmakers
• After GOP State Senator Uses Her Position To Cover Up Domestic Violence, GOP Pushes Her To& Resign
• GOP Rep. Asked Paper To Keep Town Hall Secret, Selected Residents Who Were Invited
• Daily Kos: Now THAT's how you respond to the right wing

Palin

• Jon Stewart Says What The Media Won't: Sarah Palin Is A Scammer
• Fox News's Roger Ailes: 'I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot'
• Sarah Palin Movie Debuts to Empty Theater in Orange County

Tea Party

• Pinellas County Commission stands firm in decision to end fluoridation
• Top Tea Party organizer arrested for soliciting prostitute
• Schools Say No To Tea Party's Constitution Lessons

Gaza, Libya, Religion in the Region

Gaza

• Why this young American Jew is sailing to Gaza
• Alice Walker: Why I'm Joining the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza
• Israel threatens to punish journalists for covering Gaza flotilla--And even US citizens. Salon
• Gaza activists say ship sabotaged in Greece
• Did Netanyahu's office distribute a fake video against Gaza flotilla?

Libya

• White House: Warrants show Gadhafi not legitimate
• Germany recognises Libya rebels as sole government
• House rejects move to cut funds from Libya mission--They denounce Obama's illegal actions, but their own actions speak otherwise.
• McConnell says GOP criticism of Obama action in Libya would have been muted if it were Bush
• The Real Reason for NATO Attacking Libya Exposed?

Religion in the Region

• Egypt activists threaten 'million-strong' protest to stop Islamists winning power
• Amid Growing Outrage, Lawmaker Wants Federal Probe into Delta-Saudi Agreement--"A U.S. lawmaker wants the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate allegations that Delta Airlines has entered into an agreement with Saudi Arabia that could prohibit American Jews from flying into the country - a charge the airline and the Saudi government vigorously dispute."
• Somali Man Sentenced to Prison in Murder Attempt of Danish Cartoonist
• Rwanda: Ex-women's minister guilty of genocide, rape
• Ex-soldier jailed for burning Koran in Carlisle--Andrew Ryan said he only did so, objecting to a Muslim extremist who burned a poppy during Remembrance Day which was a 'calculated and deliberate' insult to Britain's war dead.

Germany, Goldman Sachs, Payback, Bankers, Foreclosures

Germany

• How Germany got it right on the economy
• Germany's new boom: making money by making stuff
• There's a Right Way and a Wrong Way to Deal With a Jobs Crisis -- Why Is Germany Doing It So Well?
• What Germany's Economy Can Teach Obama
• The German Example NYT

Goldman Sachs

• How Goldman Sachs Created the World-Wide Food Crisis
• Goldman Sachs Lost 98% of Libya’s $1.3B Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment--How are the two connected?
• The Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin Gives Goldman a Rubdown--Buying their way into journalism.
• Goldman Sachs Gets Another Washington Insider, Judd Gregg--Former Republican congressman and outspoken critic of oversight of the financial industry.
• The People vs. Goldman Sachs
• Goldman Sachs faces contentious AGM
• S.E.C. Case Stands Out Because It Stands Alone NYT
• Don't Let Goldman off the Hook: The damning new Senate report proves Wall Street still can't be trusted to police itself
• Goldman Sachs: Too big to prosecute--They got a good racket going. Salon
• Geithner and Goldman, Thick as Thieves--Wouldn't you love to pay only 0.01% interest on a loan?

Payback

• Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley face New York investigation--Might get really interesting.
• A New Wall Street Investigation: Is the Hammer Finally Coming Down?
• Goldman Sachs 'issued with subpoena' over actions during credit crisis--Will all this be settled away?
• DOJ to Sue Deutsche Bank Over ‘Reckless Lending Practices’
• Goldman Sachs and Executive Charged With Fraud
• Is Goldman Sachs Doomed?
• Jury convicts exec in $3B mortgage fraud case

Bankers

• The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families
• Bankers and politicians have turned food into a betting game--"The result is soaring prices and starving children"
• The March of Tyranny

Foreclosures

• Tables Turn: Deputies and movers show up at bank to seize property for homeowner--"The foreclosure nightmare started when Warren and Maureen Nyerges paid cash for a home owned by Bank of American in the Golden Gate Estates. They never had a mortgage whatsoever. But, the bank fouled it up and wound up issuing a foreclosure through their attorney."
• Man gets a $0 foreclosure notice
• Make Wall St. Pay for the Catastrophe They Caused: New Bill Would Fine Banks $20,000 for Each Forclosure
• Banks Should Pay for Foreclosures
• Las Vegas Foreclosure Mess Ends in Bitter Duel

Weiner, Middle East, War on Drugs, 420

NY Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner is a lying prick--This all would've been avoided if he had come clean from the beginning, but as they say, it's the cover-up, not the crime.

Middle East

• Hundreds of women report rapes by Qaddafi forces--The ordeal of Iman Al-Obeidi was just the tip of the iceberg.
• Egypt: "Virginity tests will spark next revolution"--At first officials denied the allegations, but later claimed these test were "conducted to prevent the women from claiming they had been raped in custody."
• Torture of the child martyr: 'Rebel', 13, shot, kneecapped and had genitals removed before being killed by Syria's sadistic regime
• Bahrain police 'target Shia processions'--And detaining medics for "treating injured during anti-government protests."
• Syria: ‘Gay Girl in Damascus' Seized--Most probably in retaliation for her blog.

War on Drugs

• Global war on drugs 'has failed' say former leaders--"The Global Commission on Drug Policy report calls for the legalisation of some drugs and an end to the criminalisation of drug users."
• White House says the war is working – the war on drugs--That's not what Obama was saying in 2004.
• End the War on Drugs!--It has been a disaster.
• The War on Drugs is a War on Poor folks with substance abuse problems
• National Drug Intelligence Center fails intelligence test--They claim that "the cost of illicit drug use totaled more than $193 billion," but "[t]he vast majority of those costs are directly attributable to prohibition, not illicit drug use."
• Jury Nullification: Invalidating Laws--A way to wage war on the War on Drugs
• Misguided U.S. drug policies afflict Mexico, Central America
• Guatemala massacre points to influence of Mexican drug gang
• Mexican drug gangs building own tanks as war intensifies
• "Peace caravan" crossing Mexico to protest drug war

420

• What's Up With Obama's Cynical Approach to Medical Marijuana?
• Maryland Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Defense Bill
• Conn. Senate votes for pot decriminalization bill
• Vermont Legalizes Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
• Buzz Kill: Federal Warnings Hit Medical Pot Boom
• 69 year old man grows pot for wife with breast cancer now a felon and in jail.
• Man Gets Life Sentence For 4th Pot Conviction--"The punishment is not so much for this offense, but for the pattern of offending."
• Court: Marijuana Smoke Odor In Car Not Enough For Police Action--And the police are complaining.
• RI State Rep. Who Joked Of Pot-Smoking Immigrants Arrested On DUI Charge And Marijuana Possession
• Gary Johnson - I don't want our kids criminalized over Marijuana--"Half of what we spend on Law Enforcement is Drug related. It costs $70 billion per year. We're arresting 1.8 million people a year and now have the highest incarceration rate in the world. I can tell you, from personal experience, Marijuana is a lot safer than alcohol."