ATF Let Hundreds of U.S. Weapons Fall into Hands of Suspected Mexican Gunrunners
March 4th, 2011Keep in mind, there just happens to be a whistleblower in this particular case.
Via: Center for Public Integrity:
Hoping to score a major prosecution of Mexican drug lords, federal prosecutors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives permitted hundreds of guns to be purchased and retained by suspected straw buyers with the expectation they might cross the border and even be used in crimes while the case was being built, according to documents and interviews.
The decision — part of a Phoenix-based operation code named “Fast and Furious” — was met by strong objections from some front-line agents who feared they were allowing weapons like AK-47s to “walk” into the hands of drug lords and gun runners, internal agency memos show. Indeed, scores of the weapons came back quickly traced to criminal activity.
One of those front-line agents who objected, John Dodson, 39, told the Center for Public Integrity that these guns “are going to be turning up in crimes on both sides of the border for decades.” Dodson said in an interview that “with the number of guns we let walk, we’ll never know how many people were killed, raped, robbed … there is nothing we can do to round up those guns. They are gone.”
Dodson has taken his misgivings to the Senate Judiciary Committee as a whistleblower after his concerns were dismissed by his supervisors and initially ignored by the Justice Department’s inspector general.
Chinese Military Trains Messenger Pigeons
March 4th, 2011Via: Telegraph:
China is training 10,000 messenger pigeons to deliver vital military communications in the event of the country’s communication systems breaking down.
According to the Chinese state media, the pigeons are being trained by a special unit of the People’s Liberation Army in the central city of Chengdu.
“They will be primarily called upon to conduct special military missions between troops stationed at our borders,” said Chen Hong, an air force expert, to China Central Television (CCTV), the state broadcaster.
“In modern warfare, the pigeon is indispensable,” he added. “There are as many military pigeons as there are soldiers in the Swiss army, for example.” Chen Chuntao, the officer responsible for the pigeon “army” said the birds were the “most practical and effective short and medium distance tool for communications if there is electromagnetic interference or a collapse in our signals”.
Research Credit: GP
CENTCOM Tries to Pull the ‘Persona Management Software’ Fat Out of the Fire
March 3rd, 2011Mmm hmm.
Via: Washington Post:
The U.S. Central Command says its new “Persona” social media “infiltration” software is designed to cozy up to extremist bloggers overseas, not law-abiding Americans chatting on Facebook or similar sites.
Earlier this month, the Web buzzed with a report that the software was designed to “manage ‘fake people’ on social media sites and create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues,” implying that the Defense Department was targeting critics of the war in Afghanistan and other conflicts.
Related: Air Force Wants Troll Persona Management Software
Former Goldman Sachs Director Charged with Insider Trading
March 3rd, 2011Via: Globe and Mail:
On the afternoon of September 23, 2008, in the midst of some of the darkest days in American financial history, a handful of people dialled into a conference call and learned a piece of good news. Legendary investor Warren Buffett was about to invest billions in Goldman Sachs Group Inc., a move sure to hearten markets gripped by panic.
Moments after hanging up, U.S. authorities claim, one Goldman director called a friend who headed a hedge fund. Within minutes, the hedge fund manager had snapped up thousands of Goldman shares, which soared after the news became public.
The episode is at the centre of explosive allegations revealed on Tuesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accusing Rajat Gupta, a former Goldman director who previously led consulting firm McKinsey & Co., of participating in a vast illegal insider trading scheme.
Mr. Gupta allegedly passed confidential information gleaned from two board memberships – at Goldman and Procter & Gamble Co. – to Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of hedge fund Galleon Group, whose trial on criminal insider-trading charges is scheduled to begin next week in New York.
Related: They Made a Killing: The Use of Knowledge of Covert Operations in the Stock Market
British Government UFO Files on ‘Rendlesham Incident’ Missing
March 3rd, 2011Via: BBC:
Intelligence papers on a reported UFO sighting known as the “Rendlesham incident” have gone missing, files from the National Archives reveal.
The missing files relate to a report of mysterious lights from US servicemen at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk in 1980.
The disappearance came to light with the release of 8,000 previously classified documents on UFOs.
Officials found a “huge” gap where defence intelligence files relating to the case should be, the papers show.
Higher Vitamin D Intake Needed to Reduce Cancer Risk
March 3rd, 2011Via: UC San Diego:
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha have reported that markedly higher intake of vitamin D is needed to reach blood levels that can prevent or markedly cut the incidence of breast cancer and several other major diseases than had been originally thought. The findings are published February 21 in the journal Anticancer Research.
While these levels are higher than traditional intakes, they are largely in a range deemed safe for daily use in a December 2010 report from the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.
“We found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of 4000-8000 IU are needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to reduce by about half the risk of several diseases – breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes,” said Cedric Garland, DrPH, professor of family and preventive medicine at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. “I was surprised to find that the intakes required to maintain vitamin D status for disease prevention were so high – much higher than the minimal intake of vitamin D of 400 IU/day that was needed to defeat rickets in the 20th century.”
Related: Natural News
FDA Pulls More than 500 Drugs Off Market
March 3rd, 2011Via: St. Louis Today:
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday ordered the removal from the market of more than 500 prescription drugs used to treat colds, coughs and allergies because the medications had never gone through a federal review of their safety and effectiveness.
“We don’t know what’s in them, whether they work properly or how they are made,” Deborah Autor, the director of the office of compliance in the FDA’s drug division, said in a telephone news conference on Wednesday morning.
Oil: How High Will It Go?
March 3rd, 2011WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Some emails have been stacking up with regard to what’s happening with oil prices. In summary, people are wondering, “How high will it go?” and “How bad could this get?” and “Is this it?” etc.
As you know, I ignore fundamentals when attempting to forecast (guess) commodity prices. It’s straight technical analysis for me. As such, the answer to the question on oil was presented back in early November in, Oil Could Be On Brink Of Terrifying Move Higher. I wrote, “This is the most frightening chart I’ve posted in a couple of years.” Oil (WTI) was $87.13 back then. WTI is $102.50 right now.
There’s no good resistance until the $140 zone, where the previous high is. Now, if oil closes the gap, going for the previous high, it will mean that the dollar will break down substantially from here. The dollar’s problems are so severe that it appears to have lost its desirability as a safe harbor during geopolitical crises.
For right now, though, we may catch a short term pullback on oil because the U.S. Dollar Index is nearing a long term support and indicators are diverging in a way that leads me to believe that it “sees” the support. If that fails, a move below about 76 opens the door to it reaching the all time low of 70.792 in March 2008. If that happens, you’ll be seeing the EMERGENCY prefix on posts again. That will mean the wheels are coming off the cart (as they did in 2008).
Really quick on gold and silver: They are both up and out of their previous ranges. They’re not concerned with potential support ahead on the dollar—so far.
Libya: U.S. Amphibious Assault Ships Reach Mediterranean Sea
March 3rd, 2011Via: Reuters:
Two U.S. amphibious assault ships have reached the Mediterranean Sea, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, as Washington intensifies pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to end his four-decade rule.
The USS Ponce and the USS Kearsarge, assault ships that typically carry Marines, cleared the Suez Canal from the Red Sea and entered the Mediterranean, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Two U.S. Warships, 1200 Marines Sent to Libyan Coast
March 2nd, 2011Via: Wall Street Journal:
Also Tuesday, the U.S. ordered two warships and 1200 Marines to the waters off of Libya, but a top Obama administration official stopped short of saying the forces would intervene in the clashes that have consumed the country following anti-Gadhafi protests here in recent weeks.
At a Pentagon briefing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced he had ordered to the Mediterranean the USS Ponce and the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious-assault ship thatn typically carries infantrymen and troop-transport helicopters. Those ships currently have 800 marines, in addition to 400 U.S.-based Marines who will be airlifted to meet the ships. He said the ships would be ready to perform evacuations and humanitarian relief.
Mr. Gates wouldn’t specify the other military options he has offered President Barack Obama. But he sounded a note of caution about sending U.S. assets into Libya. “We have to think about the use of the U.S. military in another country in the Middle East,” Mr. Gates said. “We are sensitive about all these things.”
