France and Britain Reportedly Considering Pulling Ambassadors from Israel
December 4th, 2012Via: Atlantic Wire:
Everybody knew that Israel’s move to build new settlements in the previously off-limits area outside Jerusalem known as E1 would anger friends and enemies alike. But few probably guessed that it would send European ambassadors fleeing the country. According to a new report from Haaretz, that’s exactly what the diplomats from France and Britain are thinking. More specifically, the Haaretz report cites senior European diplomats who say that the two countries are considering “the unprecedented step of recalling their ambassadors.” One told the paper, “This time it won’t just be a condemnation, there will be real action taken against Israel.”
Private Prison Company Allegedly Partnered With Violent Gangs To Save Money
December 4th, 2012Via: Think Progress:
A new lawsuit brought by eight inmates of the Idaho Correctional Center alleges that the company is cutting back on personnel costs by partnering with violent prison gangs to help control the facility. Court documents and an investigative report issued by the state’s Department of Corrections show how guards routinely looked the other way when gang members violated basic facility rules, negotiated with gang leaders on the cell placement of new inmates, and in one instance may have even helped one group of inmates plan a violent attack on members of a rival gang.
Rather than working with corporate headquarters or local authorities to combat the growing threat of gangs, CCA officials at the prison — the state’s largest, with more than 2,000 beds — used those same gangs as a way to control the rest of the inmates and save money:
The inmates also contend that CCA officials use gang violence and the threat of gang violence as an “inexpensive device to gain control over the inmate population,” according to the lawsuit, and that housing gang members together allows the company to use fewer guards, reducing payroll costs.
“The complaint alleges that CCA fosters and develops criminal gangs,” attorney Wyatt Johnson, who along with T.J. Angstman represents the inmates, said in a statement. “Ideally, the lawsuit should force this to come to an end.”
The CCA has operated the prison in partnership with the Idaho corrections department since 2000, at the beginning of a boom period when the number of inmates detained in CCA’s private prisons nationwide climbed nearly 50 percent between 2000 and 2009.
Research Credit: conceptualdecay
Some New iMacs Marked ‘Assembled in USA’
December 4th, 2012Via: Apple Insider:
Apple may be taking some of the burden of assembling the new iMac off Chinese supply partners by performing parts of assembly in the U.S., as a number of newly-purchased standard units are showing an “Assembled in USA” notation usually reserved for made-to-order machines.
Sales of Gold American Eagles Gap Higher
December 3rd, 2012Via: ZeroHedge:
What changed in the last 30 days? Did the world just wake up to the idea that the only way out of this quagmire is a twisted currency war that appears to have re-ignited thanks to Abe’s efforts? Something appears to have snapped in the American psyche as the last 30 days have seen the largest physical gold sales on record. Between the search volume for ‘bulk ammo’ and this, we fear something is afoot and while Congress fiddles as our economy burns, Bernanke going ‘back to work’ is perhaps what the physical ‘horders’ are thinking…
Running a Small Business in America as Kafkaesque Nightmare
December 3rd, 2012Via: Middletown Journal:
The six-year dispute between Clearcreek Twp. and Howard and Lisa Gray shows just how complicated, combative and costly local land use issues can become.
The Grays obtained permission from a Clearcreek Twp. official to use their residential driveway in Warren County to get to buildings on the Montgomery County portion of their land. The buildings house the Grays’ storage and landscaping businesses.
But following complaints from neighbors, Clearkcreek Twp. ordered the couple to stop using the driveway to access their commercial area. A judge subsequently issued an order to that effect.
The Grays say they have no other feasible way to get to that land, and they now face contempt of court charges and nearly $100,000 in potential fines for resisting court orders.
Turn in Your Guns, Get a Free Flu Shot
December 3rd, 2012*chortle*
Via: Telegram:
WORCESTER — Flu shots instead of gunshots. People can get free flu shots Saturday and next Saturday, even if they don’t turn in a gun at the city’s annual Goods for Guns buyback program.
City residents, or residents of any other community, may bring their unwanted weapons, unloaded and wrapped in a bag, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to the Worcester Police headquarters in Lincoln Square, or from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Dec. 8 to the Worcester Division of Public Health, 25 Meade St.
Since the program’s inception in 2002, the Goods for Guns Program have collected 2,200 guns in exchange for gift certificates.
“Absolutely, positively, come one, come all,” said Deputy Police Chief Edward J. McGinn. “We’re not asking any names or questions.”
Texas: Teacher’s Reward Program Charges Second-Graders ‘Boyd Bucks’ for Bathroom Breaks
December 3rd, 2012Social engineering payload: You need money for everything. You need to pay to piss, for example.
How about charging them to breathe?
Oh yeah, this is the in-school suspension and breakfast stick state.
Via: NBC:
The mother of a 7-year-old Irving elementary school student says her son wet his pants in class after his teacher refused to let him use the restroom Thursday afternoon.
“I was absolutely appalled,” Sonja Cross said. “I could not believe it.”
The first-year teacher at J.O. Davis Elementary awards her students with “Boyd Bucks” for good behavior. Going to the bathroom outside of the three scheduled breaks costs two Boyd Bucks per trip.
Cross’ son, an honor roll student, needed to go to the bathroom, but he sat back down because he didn’t have any Boyd Bucks, his mother said.
RFID Tracking for Vatican Employees
December 3rd, 2012Via: Telegraph:
Vatican clergy and employees will be issued with an identity card complete with a microchip-tracking device in sweeping new security measures designed to prevent a repeat of the Vatileaks scandal.
Much tighter controls have already been introduced for anyone seeking access or photocopies of the Holy See’s archives, dossiers and documents.
The Papal Apartments, which include the living quarters of Pope Benedict XVI and the offices of his personal staff inside the Apostolic Palace, are totally off limits to anyone without strict authorisation.
Slovenian priest, Mitja Leskovar, an anti-espionage expert nicknamed ‘Monsignor 007’, is in charge of implementing the new security procedures with the identity cards expected to be introduced from January 1.
Binney Claims FBI Has Access to NSA Mass Intercepts
December 3rd, 2012Intuitively, we all knew this, but here’s a claim by someone who was in a position to know, that FBI has access to the mass intercepts.
Via: Russia Today:
Related: Retroactive Surveillance on Anyone
AP’s Dangerous Iran Hoax
December 2nd, 2012Via: Guardian:
Although it was intuitively obvious that the graph trumpeted by AP as scary and incriminating of Iran’s nuclear program was actually a farce, there is now new, overwhelming, very compelling scientific evidence that is the case. Whether as victim or recklessly culpable participant, AP helped perpetrate a dangerous hoax, and owes an explanation and accounting for what took place, including identifying the “officials from a country critical of Iran’s atomic program” who made false claims about what this is.
