The program was authorized by Bush and taken over by Obama. In 2010, Stuxnet was mistakenly released into the public.
Local cops use Homeland Security-funded military weapons, including armored cars w/turrets, drones, assault rifles.
North Dakota’s largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and there’s not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade.
But that hasn’t stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.
Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition. And for that epic confrontation—if it ever occurs—officers can now summon a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. For now, though, the menacing truck is used mostly for training and appearances at the annual city picnic, where it’s been parked near the children’s bounce house.
Whistleblowing Wednesday: Local cops use Homeland Security-funded military weapons, including armored cars w/turrets, drones, assault rifles.
North Dakota’s largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and there’s not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade.
But that hasn’t stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.
Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition. And for that epic confrontation—if it ever occurs—officers can now summon a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. For now, though, the menacing truck is used mostly for training and appearances at the annual city picnic, where it’s been parked near the children’s bounce house.
Youth Unemployment Sky Rockets To Highest Rate Ever Recored
Youth unemployment in Greece is about 48%. In the US, youths 18-24 have an unemployment rate of 45.7%. The highest rate since the government began tracking such information.
Squeezed by a tight job market, young Americans are especially struggling. They have suffered bigger income losses than other age groups and are less likely to be employed than at any time since World War II.
An analysis by the Pew Research Center, released Thursday, details the impact of the recent recession on the attitudes of a generation of mostly 20- and 30-somethings.
With government data showing record gaps in employment between young and old, a Pew survey found that 41 percent of Americans believe that younger adults have been hit harder than any other group, compared with 29 percent who say middle-aged Americans and 24 percent who point to seniors 65 and older. A wide majority of the public - at least 69 percent - also said it’s more difficult for today’s young adults than their parents’ generation to pay for college, find a job, buy a home or save for the future.
Among young adults ages 18 to 34, only a third rated their financial situation as “excellent” or “good,” compared with 54 percent for seniors age 65 and over. In 2004, before the recession began, about half of both young and older adults rated their own financial situation highly.
“Young workers are on the bottom of the ladder, and during a recession like we’ve had, it’s often hard for them to hold on.
They are clearly less satisfied with their current circumstances than they were before the recession. This may be where some of the anger and frustration being expressed in the Occupy movement is rooted.
They have a long way to climb back, and a lot of displaced workers to compete with.”
said Kim Parker, associate director of Pew’s Social & Demographic Trends project. She noted that some have been heavily involved in the nationwide “Occupy” protests over economic disparity.
At risk of becoming a “lost generation,” many young adults are going back to school or scraping by on waitressing, bartending and odd jobs as they wait for the economy to slowly recover.
For instance:
- The share of young adults 18-24 who are employed has dropped to 54.3 percent, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1948.
- Young adults working full time have median weekly earnings of $448, about 6 percent less than in 2007
- About 19 percent of men ages 25-34 were idle in the weak job market, neither working nor attending school. That’s up from 14 percent in 2007.
- Fewer than half of young adults who are currently working say they have the education and skills necessary to advance in their careers.
Although youth unemployment is at it’s highest, 43 percent said they were extremely or very confident that they could find another job if they lost or left their current one despite opposing statistics.
- $2 billion of DoD’s Iraq War spending unaccounted for (oops) source
» Audit time! With the Iraq War’s chapter effectively closed, now’s apparently a good time to look back at all the money we spent there. There’s a problem, however: Of the $3 billion the Iraqi government set aside for the Department of Defense to use for reconstruction between 2004 and 2007, approximately two-thirds of that is unaccounted for. Worse, auditors can’t even find most of the documents: ”From July 2004 through December 2007, DoD should have provided 42 monthly reports,” an audit says. “However, it can locate only the first four reports.” Ever lose track of like $2 billion bucks? It’s fun, right?
TRIGGER WARNING (NSFW): US soldiers urinating on three corpse
Update: Marines has identified two of the four marines in the video
The men can be heard joking ‘Have a great day, buddy’, ‘Golden like a shower’ and ‘Yeahhhh!’ as they groan with relief whilst urinating on dead Afghan bodies.
#WhistblowingWednesday: Where Did The Haiti Earthquake Funds Really Go?
Haiti, a close neighbor of the US with over nine million people, was devastated by earthquake on January 12, 2010. Hundreds of thousands were killed and many more wounded.
The UN estimated international donors gave Haiti over $1.6 billion in relief aid since the earthquake (about $155 per Haitian) and over $2 billion in recovery aid (about $173 per Haitian) over the last two years.
It turns out that almost none of the money that the general public thought was going to Haiti actually went directly to Haiti.
One. The largest single recipient of US earthquake money was the US government. The same holds true for donations by other countries.
Right after the earthquake, the US allocated $379 million in aid and sent in 5000 troops. The Associated Press discovered that of the $379 million in initial US money promised for Haiti, most was not really money going directly, or in some cases even indirectly, to Haiti.
They documented in January 2010 that thirty three cents of each of these US dollars for Haiti was actually given directly back to the US to reimburse ourselves for sending in our military. Forty two cents of each dollar went to private and public non-governmental organizations like Save the Children, the UN World Food Program and the Pan American Health Organization. Hardly any went directly to Haitians or their government.
The overall $1.6 billion allocated for relief by the US was spent much the same way according to an August 2010 report by the US Congressional Research Office:
- $655 million was reimbursed to the Department of Defense
- $220 million to Department of Health and Human Services to provide grants to individual US states to cover services for Haitian evacuees
- $350 million to USAID disaster assistance
- $150 million to the US Department of Agriculture for emergency food assistance
- $15 million to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration fees, and so on.
International assistance followed the same pattern. The UN Special Envoy for Haiti reported that of the $2.4 billion in humanitarian funding
- 34% was provided back to the donor’s own civil and military entities for disaster response
- 28% was given to UN agencies and non-governmental agencies (NGOs) for specific UN projects
- 26% was given to private contractors and other NGOs
- 6% was provided as in-kind services to recipients
- 5% to the international and national Red Cross societies
- 1% was provided to the government of Haiti
- 4/10 of 1% of the funds went to Haitian NGOs
Only 1 percent of the money went to the Haitian government.
Less than a penny of each dollar of US aid went to the government of Haiti, according to the Associated Press.
The same is true with other international donors. The Haitian government was completely bypassed in the relief effort by the US and the international community.
Overall the US had awarded $194 million to contractors, $4.8 million to the 23 Haitian companies, about 2.5 percent of the total.
On the other hand, contractors from the Washington DC area received $76 million or 39.4 percent of the total.
As noted above, the UN documented that only four tenths of one percent of international aid went to Haitian NGOs.
Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton announced a fundraising venture for Haiti on January 16, 2010. As of October 2011, the fund had received $54 million in donations.
Though most of its work appears to be admirable, it has donated $2 million to the construction of a Haitian $29 million for-profit luxury hotel.
In March 2010, UN countries pledged $5.3 billion over two years and a total of $9.9 billion over three years in a conference March 2010. The money was to be deposited with the World Bank and distributed by the IHRC. The IHRC was co-chaired by Bill Clinton and the Haitian Prime Minister. By July 2010, Bill Clinton reported only 10 percent of the pledges had been given to the IHRC.
Two years after the quake, less than 1 percent of the $412 million in US funds specifically allocated for infrastructure reconstruction activities in Haiti had been spent by USAID and the US State Department and only 12 percent has even been obligated according to a November 2011 report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The performance of the two international commissions, the IHRC and the HRF has also been poor. The Miami Herald noted that as of July 2011, the $3.2 billion in projects approved by the IHRC only five had been completed for a total of $84 million.
Respect, transparency and accountability are the building blocks for human rights. Haitians deserve to know where the money has gone, what the plans are for the money still left, and to be partners in the decision-making for what is to come.
1 million civilians killed
In Iraq and Afghanistan over a million civilians have been killed since 2001. They were not killed by Iran, Libya or Syria. They were not killed in a civil war. They were massacred by the United States government.
The United Nations estimates that there are about 4.5 million displaced Iraqis — more than half of them refugees — or about one in every six citizens, 1-2 million widows and 5 million orphans. All a direct result of the U.S.-led invasion.
Local cops use Homeland Security-funded military weapons, including armored cars w/turrets, drones, assault rifles.
North Dakota’s largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and there’s not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade.
But that hasn’t stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.
Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition. And for that epic confrontation—if it ever occurs—officers can now summon a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. For now, though, the menacing truck is used mostly for training and appearances at the annual city picnic, where it’s been parked near the children’s bounce house.
A U.S. drone aircraft crashed at Seychelles International Airport on Tuesday, the U.S. embassy in Mauritius said.
“A U.S. Air Force remote-piloted MQ-9 crashed at the Seychelles International Airport in Mahe. The MQ-9 was not armed and no injuries were reported,” the embassy said in a statement.
The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) confirmed the incident and said that the plane was on a “routine patrol” and had crashed because of mechanical failure.
The U.S. embassy did not comment on the plane’s mission and said that the cause of the crash was unknown.
Iran announced on Dec. 4 it had downed a U.S. drone in the eastern part of the country, near Afghanistan. It has since shown the plane on television and said it is close to cracking its technological secrets.
DON’T LET THIS BE SWEPT UNDER THE RUG! $7.77 TRILLION LOANED TO BANKS IN 2009!
It is dispiriting, of course, that we are still learning about the billions provided to various financial firms during the crisis. Another sad element to this mess is that getting the truth requires the legal firepower of an organization as rich as Bloomberg.
But that’s the way our world works. Billions are secretly showered on troubled financial institutions to stave off disaster. Individuals get little or no help.
Here are some of the new figures:
Among all the rescue programs set up by the Fed, $7.77 trillion in commitments were outstanding as of March 2009, Bloomberg said. The nation’s six largest banks — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — borrowed almost half a trillion dollars from the Fed at peak periods, Bloomberg calculated, using the central bank’s data.
THIS MEANS HALF OF THE US INCOME WAS GIVEN TO THE BANKS AND THIS ACCOUNTS FOR HALF OUR COUNTRIES DEBT!
Those six institutions accounted for 63 percent of the average daily borrowings from the Fed by all publicly traded United States banks, money management and investment firms, Bloomberg said.
Rumors of World War 3 after drone shot down
Iranian media reported Sunday that the country’s armed forces had downed a U.S. drone that they said violated Iranian airspace along the eastern border.
Major General Zhang Zhaozhong said, “China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a third World War.”
The United States and Israel have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the “option” of a military strike, based on the allegation that Iran’s nuclear program may consist of a covert military agenda.
Over the past weeks, Israel has renewed its aggressive rhetoric against Iran. On November 21, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that “time has come” to deal with Iran.
Israeli President Shimon Peres also threatened on November 6 that an attack against Iran is becoming “more and more likely.”
Iranian officials have promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.
Life has come to a standstill in the western German city of Koblenz, where 45,000 people — nearly half of the city´s population — have been evacuated after the discovery of several dangerous World War II bombs.
“It´s the largest German evacuation since the end of the war,” fire brigade spokesman Ronald Eppelsheim said Sunday.
For 65 years, the Rhine River hid three bombs that were dropped by American and British warplanes in the last years of the war. When water levels dropped to record lows last week, the bombs were finally found.
The largest of the explosives is a 1.8-ton British air bomb that has the potential to destroy the city´s center, according to the fire brigade.
But the focus of attention isn’t on the largest bomb — it’s on the much smaller, 125-kilogram (275-pound) American high-explosive bomb. “This one has been transformed on impact of the earth. We might have some serious problems deactivating the detonator,” Wagner said.
“If we had found an even larger bomb, we would have been forced to evacuate all 100,000 citizens of Koblenz,” Eppelsheim said.
(Source)
The Obama administration promised a full investigation into a NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers Saturday.
Hours after the attack, Secretary of State Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta expressed regret over the loss of life to their Pakistani counterparts, officials said.
Officials in Islamabad claimed the United States-led forces fired on the Pakistan Tensions between Islamabad and Washington, which have been high for years, grew worse after terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden was found living peacefully in Pakistan.
U.S. officials have also accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop militant attacks on American soldiers, while many in Pakistan have long been suspicious of the NATO presence in the region.
NATO investigators believe the air strike was meant for insurgents who inhabit the troubled border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
NATO uses the crossing to truck about 30% of its supplies into Afghanistan, and a lengthy border closure could adversely impact reinforcement efforts, officials said.
Pakistan officials last closed the border a year ago when a U.S. helicopter killed two people who were mistaken for insurgents.
The crossings remained closed for 10 days until U.S. officials apologized.
Pakistan Saturday also demanded that the U.S. leave a base used by American drone aircraft within 15 days.
The White House statement did not address Pakistan’s decision to block supply routes for the war in Afghanistan — or its demand that the U.S. to vacate the base.
