Papal resignation linked to inquiry into 'Vatican gay officials', says paper

Febuary 22, 2013

Pope's staff decline to confirm or deny La Repubblica claims linking 'Vatileaks' affair and discovery of 'blackmailed gay clergy'

The Vatican is awhirl with rumours about the pope's decision to retire. Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, some of whom – the report said – were being blackmailed by outsiders.
The pope's spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report, which was carried by the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

The paper said the pope had taken the decision on 17 December that he was going to resign – the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called "Vatileaks" affair.

Last May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with having stolen and leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting.

According to La Repubblica, the dossier comprising "two volumes of almost 300 pages – bound in red" had been consigned to a safe in the papal apartments and would be delivered to the pope's successor upon his election.

The newspaper said the cardinals described a number of factions, including one whose members were "united by sexual orientation".

In an apparent quotation from the report, La Repubblica said some Vatican officials had been subject to "external influence" from laymen with whom they had links of a "worldly nature". The paper said this was a clear reference to blackmail.

It quoted a source "very close to those who wrote [the cardinal's report]" as saying: "Everything revolves around the non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments."

The seventh enjoins against theft. The sixth forbids adultery, but is linked in Catholic doctrine to the proscribing of homosexual acts.

La Repubblica said the cardinals' report identified a series of meeting places in and around Rome. They included a villa outside the Italian capital, a sauna in a Rome suburb, a beauty parlour in the centre, and a former university residence that was in use by a provincial Italian archbishop.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said: "Neither the cardinals' commission nor I will make comments to confirm or deny the things that are said about this matter. Let each one assume his or her own responsibilities. We shall not be following up on the observations that are made about this."

He added that interpretations of the report were creating "a tension that is the opposite of what the pope and the church want" in the approach to the conclave of cardinals that will elect Benedict's successor. Another Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, alluded to the dossier soon after the pope announced his resignation on 11 February, describing its contents as "disturbing".

The three-man commission of inquiry into the Vatileaks affair was headed by a Spanish cardinal, Julián Herranz. He was assisted by Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo, and the Slovak cardinal Jozef Tomko, who once headed the Vatican's department for missionaries.

Pope Benedict has said he will stand down at the end of this month; the first pope to resign voluntarily since Celestine V more than seven centuries ago. Since announcing his departure he has twice apparently referred to machinations inside the Vatican, saying that divisions "mar the face of the church", and warned against "the temptations of power".

La Repubblica's report was the latest in a string of claims that a gay network exists in the Vatican. In 2007 a senior official was suspended from the congregation, or department, for the priesthood, after he was filmed in a "sting" organised by an Italian television programme while apparently making sexual overtures to a younger man.

In 2010 a chorister was dismissed for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting. A few months later a weekly news magazine used hidden cameras to record priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex.

The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals. But it teaches that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered". Pope Benedict has barred sexually active gay men from studying for the priesthood.

source: guardian uk

Senate Democrats Protect Corporate Jet Loophole

Feb. 22, 2013

Listening to the White House, you’d think the key to averting the across-the-board spending cuts (the dreaded “sequester”) set to in place on March 1 is closing the tax break for owners of private jets.

Here was White House Press Secretary Jay Carney last week:

“How do you explain to a senior that we’re doing this, asking you to sacrifice, but we’re not saying that corporate jet owners should lose their special tax incentive.”

On Wednesday, Carney summed up the Republican position this way: “We’d rather see our national security undermined than corporate jet owners, God forbid, give up their tax break.”

And President Obama in an interview Wednesday with KAKE-TV in Wichita: “What we don’t want to do is give somebody who’s buying a corporate jet an extra tax break.”

Carney has brought up the corporate jet tax break at every single briefing this week.

Listening to the White House, you might think that the “balanced” Democratic plan to avert the spending cuts would close that loophole for private jets.

But you would be wrong.

The Senate Democratic plan – which has been endorsed by the White House and is, in fact, the only Democratic plan actively under consideration right now – doesn’t touch corporate jets.

We asked Carney if the White House is upset that the Senate Democrats’ plan protects corporate jets. His answer:

“Our position – in the president’s plan that has been available for ages but republicans and some reporters pretend doesn’t exist – is that the corporate jet loophole should be eliminated. We’d be fine if it were eliminated as part of the revenue component of a sequester buy-down or as part of broader tax reform in a bigger balanced deficit reduction deal. Either way. And either way, Republicans oppose it, and would rather see sequester hit than ask corporate jet owners to give up their special tax break. How is that not true?”

Even if the Senate plan did end the tax break for private jets, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. The tax break – which allows the owners of private jets to depreciate their airplanes over five years instead of the standard seven years for commercial airplanes – would raise less than $300 million a year. That’s a tiny fraction of the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts scheduled to go into effect this year.

But – even so – the Senate Democratic plan allows that tax break to continue – unchanged.

The White House also frequently mentions tax breaks for oil and gas companies. The Democratic plan does eliminate some of those, but even that doesn’t add up to much: Just $2 billion in the Senate Democratic plan.

source: abc news

WH: Obama Called Hillary on Night of Benghazi Attack--More Than Six Hours After It Started

February 21, 2013

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at approximately 10 p.m. on the night of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told CNSNews.com.

That was more than six hours after the attacks started, more than an hour before Tryone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed--and about the time that Clinton first released a statement linking the attacks to “inflammatory material posted on the Internet,” a reference to an anti-Muslim video on YouTube.

“Like every president before him, he has a national security adviser and deputy national security adviser,” Carney told CNSNews.com on Tuesday. “He was in regular communication with his national security team directly, through them, and spoke with the secretary of state at approximately 10 p.m. He called her to get an update on the situation.”

Carney was responding to questions from CNSNews.com about who Obama communicated with on the evening of Sept. 11, 2012. Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told the Senate Armed Services Committee they first notified the president of the attack during a Sept. 11, 2012 meeting that began at 5 p.m. and ran for about 30 minutes. They also told the committee they did not talk to Obama or anyone else at the White House after that meeting.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, State Department Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, who worked for CIA, were killed in the Benghazi attacks.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
and Gen. Martin Dempsey. (AP)

That night, while the attacks were still unfolding, and before Woods and Doherty were killed, Secretary of State Clinton released a statement--entitled "Statement on the Attack in Bengazi"-- linking the attacks to an anti-Muslim video that had been posted on YouTube. “Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.”

Over the course of a week--from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15--CNSNews.com tried to get the State Department to simply say when exactly on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, the department issued this statement. The State Department would not respond. CNSNews.com called again Tuesday to inquire what time the statement was released. The State Department again did not respond.

However, the Associated Press confirmed to CNSNews.com that at 10:58 p.m. Eastern time that night, it ran a story quoting from Clinton's statement linking the Benghazi attacks to “inflammatory material posted on the Internet.” Also, FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, has reported that the State Department released Clinton's statement "about 10:00 p.m."--which is when Carney tells CNSNews.com Obama phoned Clinton.

FactCheck.org also pointed out that MSNBC posted a Reuters story at 10:32 p.m. that night, which quoted Clinton's statement linking the Benghazi attacks to "inflammatory material posted on the Internet."

The Benghazi attacks later were determined to have nothing to do with a protest over the YouTube video--although administration officials, including the president, continued to make that inference for days after the attacks.

During her Jan. 23 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton stated she spoke with Obama the night of the attack, but did not say what time.

"I was notified of the attack shortly after 4 p.m. Over the following hours we were in continuous meetings and conversations, both within the department, with our team in Tripoli, with the interagency and internationally,” Clinton said. Given that Clinton was notified shortly after 4:00 p.m. of the Benghazi attack, she knew it was going on for about an hour before Defense Secretary Leon Panetta notified the president.

Clinton went on to say, “So it was a constant ongoing discussion and sets of meetings. I spoke with President Obama later in the evening to, you know, bring him up to date, to hear his perspective. Obviously, we kept talking with everyone during the night. Early in the morning on the 12th I spoke with General Dempsey, again with [National Security Adviser] Tom Donilon.”

White House Press Secretary
Jay Carney. (AP)

On Tuesday, CNSNews.com emailed White House Press Secretary Carney follow-up questions about the Obama-Clinton 10:00 p.m. telephone call on Sept. 11. “Did the president and Sec. Clinton discuss the statement she was about to issue?" CNSNews.com asked. "And did they discuss the issue of ‘inflammatory material posted on the Internet?’”

Carney did not directly answer either question. Instead, he responded, “At about 10 pm, the President called Secretary Clinton to get an update on the situation.”

CNSNews.com also asked Carney about the Senate testimony of Panetta and Dempsey: “Panetta and Dempsey said after they were finished with the 5:30 meeting--the meeting from 5 to 5:30--that they weren’t in contact with the White House.”

This photo, which was published in the
Bureau of Diplomatic Securities annual
report for 2011, shows then-Special
Envoy Chris Stevens in Benghazi on April
11, six days after he landed there in a
Greek cargo ship. The caption in the
annual report says Stevens is speaking
"to local media in Benghazi," and identifies
the man behind and to his right as a DS
officer, although it does not name him.
(State Dept. photo)

Carney responded, “No. They didn’t say that. They said they hadn’t spoken with the president. The president has a National Security Advisor as has every president before him dating back many, many presidencies. He has a deputy national security adviser and remember he had already spoken with and met with in person and discussed ongoing attack in Benghazi with the secretary of defense, with the chairman of the joint chiefs. He then spoke with the secretary of state because after all, it was a diplomatic facility that was attacked and at that point, we were getting information that American lives had been lost. I think that answers your question.”

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Feb. 7, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.-N.H.) asked Panetta: “Did you communicate with anyone else at the White House that night?”

“No,” said Panetta.

Carney stressed that the State Department’s Accountability Review Board (ARB)--chaired by retired Admiral Mike Mullen and retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering--said, that the administration’s response was adequate.

“Let me say again, the ARB report specifically notes that the interagency cooperation that evening was ‘timely and appropriate,’” Carney said. “Maybe CNS is challenging the credibility of Admiral Mullen and Ambassador Pickering. Probably, but I don’t know.”

Carney went on to read from page 37 of the report that said, “The Board found no evidence of any undue delays in decision making or denial of support from Washington or from the military combatant commanders. Quite the contrary: the safe evacuation of all U.S. government personnel from Benghazi twelve hours after the initial attack and subsequently to Ramstein Air Force Base was the result of exceptional U.S. government coordination and military response and helped save the lives of two severely wounded Americans.”

Pentagon Investigating SEAL Who Shot bin Laden

February 21, 2013

The Pentagon has launched an inquiry to see whether the recent account of the Osama bin Laden raid, given by the Navy SEAL who reportedly killed the al Qaeda leader in May 2011, included classified or sensitive information about the strike.

DOD officials "are taking a look" at the details about the raid, known as Operation Neptune Spear, included in a recent profile on the SEAL published in Esquire magazine in February, DOD spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Warren told reporters Tuesday.

Warren would not comment on which DOD office was leading the inquiry or whether the SEAL, referred to only as "the Shooter" in the article, is now the subject of an official investigation by the department's inspector general's office.

"This is something we have been looking at and will continue to look at" as more details emerge from the inquiry, Warren said during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

The article reportedly included a number of specific details about the U.S special operations raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that ended with the terrorist chieftain's death.

Aside from the Abbottabad raid, DOD officials are also looking into claims made by the SEAL that he was stripped of his healthcare and other post-retirement military benefits when he left the Navy shortly after the bin Laden operation.

"I left SEALs on Friday," the shooter said. "My healthcare for me and my family stopped at midnight Friday night. I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no. You're out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go f**k yourself."

The shooter now reportedly has been forced to purchase insurance on the individual market for nearly $500 a month, but it doesn't cover combat-related treatments such as weekly visits to a chiropractor.

Warren noted the SEAL did make the conscious decision to leave the service four years short of the 20-year mark, which made him ineligible for Navy pension and associated benefits.

That said, the SEAL still would be eligible for a number of military assistance programs, despite not staying in the service long enough to receive full retirement benefits, according to Warren.

The preliminary inquiry into the shooter's profile in Esquire comes as DOD continues its investigation into former SEAL Mark Bissonnette, whose book "No Easy Day" gave the unauthorized blow-by-blow telling of the daring raid on bin Laden's Abbottabad compound.

DOD launched its investigation into Bissonnette, one of the Navy SEALs on the raid, amid claims the book included classified information regarding the bin Laden raid and other clandestine missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The Hill

LIES & DECEPTION UPDATE: Election Over, Obama Announces Medicare Cuts to Fund ObamaCare

February 21, 2013

by Dr. Susan Berry


(Breitbart.com) - During the 2012 election campaign, Democrats denied that ObamaCare made $716 billion in cuts to Medicare in order to provide funding toward $1.9 trillion in new entitlement spending over the next ten years.

In an announcement on Friday, however, the Obama administration revealed that it would be significantly reducing funding for Medicare, a move that one health insurance analyst said “would turn almost every plan in the industry unprofitable.”

Health insurance stocks tumbled following the announcement that a big chunk of the Medicare cuts would come from the popular Medicare Advantage program, a market-oriented system in which participants can choose coverage by a private company that contracts with Medicare to provide all Part A and Part B benefits.

According to health care analyst Carl McDonald, the new rates proposed by the Obama administration will have the net effect of reducing payments to Medicare Advantage plans by seven to eight percent in 2014. McDonald projects:

If implemented, these rates and the program changes CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] is suggesting would be enormously disruptive to Medicare Advantage, likely forcing a number of smaller plans out of the business and creating disarray for many seniors.

According to Richard Foster, former chief actuary to the Medicare program, ObamaCare’s cuts to Medicare Advantage will likely force half of its current participants back into the old Medicare program, originated in 1965. It is estimated that this change will cost Medicare enrollees an average of $3,714 in 2017 alone.




Democrats have long been unfriendly toward the Medicare Advantage plan, which was passed as part of the Balanced Budget Amendment of 1997 and has seen tremendous growth over the past 10 years. Today, more than 25 percent of seniors receive their health benefits through Medicare Advantage.

Regarding the cuts, America’s Health Insurance Plans’ (AHIP) president Karen Ignagni said, “Washington cannot tax and cut Medicare Advantage this much and not expect seniors to be harmed."

Last year it was revealed that, while AHIP was openly supporting ObamaCare and working on a deal with the White House, it was also secretly funneling over $100 million to the Chamber of Commerce to be spent on advertising designed to convince Americans that the new legislation should be defeated.

The administration’s proposal is open to outside comments until March 1st, ahead of the final announcement of the cuts on April 1st.

Speaking of Charity: Use money and control to force donations

February 21, 2013

On the topic of charity, here we find some goofball using leverage and threats of lawsuits to pick the pockets of Twitter critics

Lord McAlpine will ask for donations to Children In Need

Lord McAlpine has announced that he is dropping defamation claims against Twitter users with fewer than 500 followers who wrongly named him as a paedophile, instead asking for a charitable donation.

The Tory peer, who has already received six-figure payouts from the BBC and ITV, said he wanted to draw the "unfortunate episode" to a close.

He has now written to Twitter users with fewer than 500 followers, asking them to make a voluntary donation of £25 to the BBC's Children In Need as soon as possible.

Lord McAlpine was mistakenly implicated by Newsnight's November 2 broadcast in a paedophile ring which targeted children at a care home in Wrexham. His name was then widely mentioned on the internet, including Twitter.

The former Tory politician reached a £185,000 settlement with the BBC after it broadcast the botched Newsnight investigation, as well as receiving £125,000 from ITV and Phillip Schofield relating to a This Morning programme broadcast on November 8.

He is also pursuing Sally Bercow, wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow, over comments she made on the microblogging site and said today that his lawyers would be focusing on that.

In a statement today, Lord McAlpine said he would cover all administration costs for the low-circulation Twitter libels.

"Whilst I reached a settlement last year with both the BBC and ITV, I would like to now draw this unfortunate episode, forced into my life, to a close," he said.

"I have dropped all claims against those tweeters with less than 500 followers, in return for a very modest donation to BBC Children In Need, which funds 2,600 projects supporting disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

"I have requested that my lawyers, RMPI LLP, focus on the action against Sally Bercow and that damages arising from this are donated to a charity of her choice. I am not intending to make any further comment on this matter."

HuffPoUK

Private Sector Victory: Charity Trumps Government Entitlements in Pennsylvania

February 21, 2013

With all the government entitlements out there these days creating the dependency mentality, it's so refreshing to see charity done the old way. You know, the way described in the Bible. To feel good about yourself doing good for others instead of the government way of wanting something in return...

Shoe shiner donates $200K in tips to children in needAlbert Lexie has been shining shoes at Children's Hospital for 32 years!

PITTSBURGH —It starts before dawn in the Pittsburgh darkness as the 88 Penn pulls up in front of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Albert Lexie gets off.


For 32 years, Lexie has been examining his schedule each morning, like a doctor on the clock. But the longtime shoe shiner’s gift isn’t healing, it’s giving back.


A shoe shine costs $5, but Lexie said customers have been generous with their tips since he started working at the hospital in 1981.

“Most of them give $6, some of them give $7,” Lexie told Channel 4 Action News anchor Wendy Bell.

And Lexie gives every cent of his tips back to the children.

“I think he does it because he loves the kids,” said Dr. Joseph Carcillo. “He's donated over a third of his lifetime salary to the Children’s Hospital Free Care Fund.”

The money goes to parents of sick children who can’t afford to pay medical costs.

“He's a philanthropist, is what he is,” said Carcillo. “He's an entrepreneur.”

Lexie has donated $200,000 to the cause, bringing in several hundred dollars a week.

“I had a doctor who gave me a $50 bill for Christmas,” he told Bell with a laugh. For a simple man who’s been shining shoes since about 1957, Lexie admits, “It’s good to be a hero.”

Watch the Slideshow at the Source>>

Source: WTAE

Soledad headed out at CNN

February 20, 2013

CNwho? Sole dad? Soul daddy?  Pfft whatever...

High-profile morning anchor Soledad O’Brien is on her way out at CNN as new boss Jeff Zucker moves Erin Burnett into her morning slot, Page Six has exclusively learned.
We’re told award-winning journalist O’Brien has indicated she is ready to leave after she was initially promised a plum prime-time slot, but that role has so far failed to materialize.

A source tells us: “The deal to move Erin to the morning alongside Chris Cuomo is basically done. Soledad had been told she’d get a prime-time slot, but that hasn’t yet happened, and now she is telling friends she is likely to leave.”

Soledad O'Brien... Post-Op Conan or
"Dude look like a lady guy gal umm?

The source added, “Soledad is talented at producing in-depth, serious pieces of journalism, and is a tough interviewer. That doesn’t seem to fit the direction the network is going.”

Another source added, “Soledad is a big star, and would only stay for the right show. There’s word there will be a flurry of announcements at CNN very soon, including Erin’s move to the morning.”

O’Brien jumped from NBC to CNN in 2003, anchoring “American Morning,” and then moved on to anchoring specials. She’s anchored the current morning show, “Starting Point,” since January of last year.

She said in a recent interview that she was sure she would not be hosting a lighter morning show once Zucker, her former boss at NBC, took the reins. “I’m fairly confident that I’m not going to be cooking salmon and doing fashion shows on CNN,” she told the Times.

She added, “Listen, I have been doing this gig for a while. People go crazy with speculation every time there’s a shift in leadership. I can’t comment on every rumor, but so far I’ve read reports on me, Anderson [Cooper], Piers [Morgan], Ann Curry and Erin Burnett, and all that’s clear to me is that somebody’s busy dialing Page Six.”

Soledad, who fronted documentaries “Black in America” and “Latino in America,” was a favorite of former CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton, who stepped down at the end of last year. A CNN rep said, “We don’t comment on speculation.”


source: Page Six
additional editing: Mine

US CEO mocks 'three hours a day' French workers

February 20, 2013

GTFO of town you lazy bastards!

A man fixes a tire on a car in Ingolstadt, southern Germany on November 26, 2010. The head of US tiremaker Titan has mocked French workers for putting in only "three hours" a day and said his company would be "stupid" to take over a troubled French factory.

AFP - The head of US tyremaker Titan has mocked French workers for putting in only "three hours" a day and said his company would be "stupid" to take over a troubled French factory.

The letter from Titan CEO Maurice Taylor to French Industrial Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg was in response to a request for Titan to consider investing in a loss-making Goodyear plant in Amiens, northern France.

"I have visited that factory a couple of times. The French workforce gets paid high wages but only works three hours," Taylor said in the letter, dated February 8 and obtained by French business daily Les Echos.

"They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They told me that's the French way!"

Goodyear said last month it was set to close the plant, which employs 1,173 workers, following five years of failed talks with unions.

Taylor said Titan had a long history of buying and turning around troubled factories but in this case was not in any way interested.

"Sir, your letter states that you want Titan to start a discussion. How stupid do you think we are? Titan is the one with the money and the talent to produce tyres. What does the crazy union have? It has the French government," Taylor wrote.

He said France's industrial base was under threat from low productivity and cheap imports, including tyres from China that he said were made in subsidised factories.

"Titan is going to buy a Chinese tyre company or an Indian one, pay less than one euro per hour wage and ship all the tyres France needs. You can keep the so-called workers. Titan has no interest in the Amien North factory," he wrote.

France's Socialist government is struggling to boost the productivity of its industries in the face of increasing global competition. French firms have announced thousands of job cuts in recent months as the economy stagnates.

Violence in Soccer Update: Syria footballer 'killed as mortars hit stadium'

February 20, 2013

A picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency on January 26, 2013 shows destroyed buildings near a mosque (centre) in Daraya near Damascus. A Syrian footballer was killed and several others wounded on Wednesday as two mortars hit a stadium in central Damascus, state news agency SANA said.

AFP - A Syrian footballer was killed and several others wounded on Wednesday as two mortars hit a stadium in central Damascus, state news agency SANA said.

"Two mortars launched by terrorists hit the grounds of the Tishreen sports stadium in the Baramkeh district of Damascus, killing a player of Al-Wathba football team and wounding several others during training," SANA said.

Londoners 'tortured with beatings and electric shocks' by Dubai police

February 20, 2013

Held without charge: (left to right) Grant Cameron, Karl Williams and Suneet Jeehr

Three British men who have been held for seven months without trial on drugs charges in Dubai were tortured by police with beatings and electric shocks, a human rights charity claimed today.

Grant Cameron and Karl Williams, both 25 and from London, and Suneet Jeerh, 25, from Essex, were arrested while on holiday on July 10 last year by police who claimed to have found a quantity of a synthetic cannabis known as "spice" in their car.

The men signed documents in Arabic - a language none of them understands - after being threatened by having guns put to their heads and in Williams' case, having electric shocks administered to the testicles, Reprieve lawyer Marc Calcutt said.

They have denied charges of "consumption and possession with intent to distribute" and will appear at their first trial hearing tomorrow after spending seven months in custody.

In a draft witness statement provided to Mr Calcutt, Williams said: "I remember that the police put a towel on my face so I could not see. They kept telling me I was going to die. I was so scared.

"Once I had been knocked to the ground, the police picked me up and put me on the bed. They pulled down my trousers, spread my legs and started to electrocute my testicles. It was unbelievably painful. I was so scared.

"Then they took off the towel and I could see that there was a gun pointed at my head. All I could think was that the gun in my face could go off if the policeman slipped, and it would kill me. I started to believe that I was going to die in that room."

The torture took place in the desert, it was claimed, where the men were initially taken after their arrest, and subsequently in a hotel room.

Williams and Cameron have been held at Port Rashid police station since their arrest, while Jeerh was moved and is now in Al Awir Central Jail.

Mr Calcutt said: "The idea that young British tourists on holiday can find themselves arrested and tortured in this way is truly appalling.

"Being electrocuted in the testicles is about as brutal a torture as can be imagined. The Dubai authorities need to immediately drop the charges against the men and conduct an independent investigation into how these terrible events occurred.

"If they do not, I am sure this story will linger in people's memories - particularly when it comes to booking their holidays."

source

Joe Biden: 'Buy a shotgun' to ward off intruders, he tells Facebook town hall

February 20, 2013

The scariest part of all is this man is only a step away from being POTUS!

Vice President Joe Biden said that a couple
blasts from a shotgun will take care of intruders.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Americans don't need semi-automatic weapons to protect their homes because a couple of blasts from a shotgun will scare off intruders.

"Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun," the vice president encouraged those worried about defending themselves. He was speaking in an online video as part of a Facebook town hall hosted by Parents Magazine on the administration's strategy for reducing gun violence, which he has led at the direction of President Barack Obama.

Biden said he keeps two shotguns and shells locked up at home and he's told his wife, Jill, to use them if she needs protection. He presumably was speaking about before he became vice president, a position that gives the couple full-time Secret Service protection.

"I said, 'Jill, if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony ... take that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,'" Biden said. "You don't need an AR-15. It's harder to aim, it's harder to use and in fact, you don't need 30 rounds to protect yourself."

Biden's answer came in response to a question posted by a Facebook user about whether the administration's proposal to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines would make law-abiding citizens more of a target of criminals since they wouldn't have a sufficient way of protecting themselves. Biden bristled at the question, saying he's never heard such sentiments in the pages of Parents Magazine.

"But I'm delighted to answer them," he added quickly.

Biden said he learned his lessons on gun safety from his father, who was a hunter. He said as a child, he wasn't even allowed to point a cap gun at other children while playing cops and robbers. He said most gun owners are very responsible, but parents should make sure guns are locked up to keep children safe, just like pool gates and liquor cabinets.

He also said he doesn't think the Second Amendment's right to bear arms should be changed. He said limits on the use of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is compatible with that right.

source

New details emerge about Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza

February 20, 2013

Attention fellow news analysts: You'll need sifter, to extract the truth, along with a push broom and  crap-vac to clean the spin-splatters..

New theories and details about what motivated 20-year-old Adam Lanza to carry out one of the nation's worst massacres are being reported in advance of a PBS report on Lanza set to air Tuesday, though Connecticut police have been careful to caution against drawing firm conclusions.

(Mahala Gaylord/Denver Post)

New theories, details emerge
By Karen Workman
Digital First Media


Unnamed law enforcement sources cited in a CBS report Monday say Lanza "saw himself as being in direct competition with Anders Breivik, a Norweigan man who killed 77 people in July 2011."

At 10 p.m. Tuesday, PBS' Frontline will air a special report produced in collaboration with Hartford Courant journalists as part of the weeklong "After Newtown" series.

Detectives are also looking into the roles violent video games and Lanza's experiences at the shooting range may have played in the young man's decision to shoot and kill his mother and 26 others at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, reports the Courant.

An editor's note on the CBS story includes the response of Connecticut State Police to the report about the Norweigan connection. It reads: "The investigation into the motive for the Newtown shooting has not been completed and therefore any statements about the shooter's intent are mere speculation."

The Norweigan connection


Several news articles about Breivik were found in one of Lanza's bedrooms, according to unnamed law enforcement officials the Courant described as "familiar with the investigation."

"The sources emphasized that an interest in Breivik is just one theory," the Courant report said.

Violent video games and the shooting range


Lanza destroyed the hard drive on his computer before killing his mother and carrying out his attack on the Connecticut elementary school, but he left behind "thousands of dollars worth of graphically violent video games."

"And detectives working the scene of the massacre are exploring whether Adam Lanza might have been emulating the shooting range or a video-game scenario as he moved from room to room at Sandy Hook," reports the Courant.

Diagnosis of Lanza includes additional disorder

Lanza's mother, Nancy, told an adviser of a school club in which her son was involved that in addition to Asperger's, Lanza had also been diagnosed with sensory integration disorder.

Not all in the medical community support the diagnosis. The American Academy of Pediatrics cautioned against using it last year because "these are most likely symptoms of some other disorder such as autism or anxiety."

The Courant reported that the diagnosis "meant he had difficulty coping with loud noises, bright lights, confusion, and change ... He also wouldn't respond appropriately to pain."

More details about the Lanza family

The Courant's report delves into every aspect of the Lanza family's life, including Nancy Lanza's early life on a farm in New Hampshire where the family butchered their own meat.

Lanza's parents divorced in 2009, but the Courant reported that people close to the family say the couple separated in 2001. Adam stopped contacting his father and brother in 2010, the report said.

Who makes more from sales at the pump – industry or government?

February 20, 2013

Dear Occupy Wall Streeters and other of the anti-Capitalist mentality: Just in case you missed your favorite MSNBC derelicts' segment on the topic..

Who Really Gets Rich Off High Gas Prices?

Exxon made seven cents per gallon in 2011. Federal, state and local governments siphoned off 50 cents in taxes.

Advance Notice: The Wall Street Journal link is the blue link above. It is a pay link. Meaning it costs money$$$.

Go upstairs and sponge it off your parents. Hell with a newspaper subscription you could even look for a job! If you choose not to, (which I totally expect), then you'll have to read the FREE STORY from the Exxon website. So put up or shut up..

Paranoia will destroya!

February 20, 2013

Police: Shot reported at Pa. campus was newspaper

Gettysburg, Pa - Police in Pennsylvania say a student's report of a gunshot being fired was instead the sound of a newspaper hitting the sidewalk.

Gettysburg police Chief Joseph Dougherty says a Gettysburg College student had reported that someone in a white sedan fired a shot early Saturday morning. But Dougherty says police investigated and determined the sound came from a newspaper delivery driver throwing a paper from her vehicle.

After the report, the college alerted students and employees via text messages, voicemails and emails. A college spokeswoman says an all-clear message was sent around 8:30 a.m.


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Communism Has Arrived!

February 19, 2013
TheBlaze.com

‘Orwellian’: Proposed Gun Law in Washington State Calls on Police to Inspect the Homes of ‘Assault Weapon’ Owners

With each proposed anti-gun bill put forth by Democrats across the U.S., the demands appear to be getting more and more restrictive on gun owners. While the Obama administration pushes for a ban on so-called “assault weapons” and universal background checks, Democrats in both California and Missouri have proposed legislation that would result in possible confiscation of semi-automatic rifles.

Now, Democratic lawmakers in Olympia, Wash. last week introduced legislation that would allow county sheriffs to inspect the homes of semi-automatic rifle owners once a year. Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat describes the move as “Orwellian.”

The proposed bill, Senate Bill 5737, would ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons that use detachable magazines and magazines that contain more than 10 rounds. It would also subject law-abiding gun owners to random searches by a county sheriff.

“In order to continue to possess an assault weapon that was legally possessed on the effective date of this section, the person possessing shall … safely and securely store the assault weapon. The sheriff of the county may, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to ensure compliance with this subsection,” the bill states.

“They always say, we’ll never go house to house to take your guns away. But then you see this, and you have to wonder,” Seattle trial lawyer Lance Palmer told the Seattle Times.

“I’m a liberal Democrat — I’ve voted for only one Republican in my life,” Palmer added. “But now I understand why my right-wing opponents worry about having to fight a government takeover.”

Holly Blevins holds an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle December 5, 2012 in Berryville, Virginia. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

He also said it’s this type of radical bill that “drives people into the arms of the NRA.”

One of the bill’s sponsors, State Sen. Adam Kline (D-Seattle), told the Seattle Times that he didn’t properly vet the bill prior to jumping on board. He claims he didn’t realize the bill authorized police searches.

“I made a mistake,” he said. “I frankly should have vetted this more closely.”

The legislation’s main sponsor, Sen. Ed Murray (D-Seattle) also blasted the search provision written in his bill, saying it is likely unconstitutional.

“I have to admit that shouldn’t be in there,” he said.

Murray also explained that an assault weapons ban isn’t likely to pass anyhow and the bill was intended to be a blueprint for gun legislation in the future. With the search provision included, the bill has very little chance of passing.

It wasn’t immediately clear which lawmaker wrote the search provision into the bill.

To read the entire bill, click here.


UPDATE: Following up on a tip from a reader, TheBlaze has discovered that Democrats in Minnesota are also pushing for a gun confiscation bill using almost identical language as the bill proposed in Missouri.

From MN H.F. No. 241, as introduced – 88th Legislative Session (2013-2014) Posted on Jan 31, 2013:

10.20 Sec. 7. PERSONS POSSESSING ASSAULT WEAPONS ON EFFECTIVE DATE ACT; REQUIRED ACTIONS.

Any person who, on February 1, 2013, legally owns or is in possession of an assault weapon has until September 1, 2013, to do any of the following without being subject to
prosecution under Minnesota Statutes, section 624.7133:

(1) remove the weapon from the state;

(2) surrender the weapon to a law enforcement agency for destruction;

(3) render the weapon permanently inoperable; or

(4) if eligible, register the weapon as provided in Minnesota Statutes, section 624.7133, subdivision 5.

EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective the day following final enactment.



This story has been updated. Featured image via shutterstock.com

Maryland Communists in Democrat Wrapper Declares War on Capitalism in Prince George County

February 19, 2013

All gun shows halted!

WASHINGTON -- A decision by a Maryland county is roiling the already contentious debate over potential gun control laws.

Prince George's County's Department of Parks and Recreation is banning gun shows indefinitely.

"It is a temporary moratorium. We will revisit this," says Anita Pesses with the agency's Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. "We are taking everybody's opinions and actions into account."

Pesses is promising the department will re-evaluate its decision after lawmakers in D.C. and Annapolis are done debating possible gun control bills.

"We felt that given the potential legislation on the state and the federal level, we are putting a hold on that activity for now until we can reassess after the legislative session."

The move includes only shows that would take place on county-owned land and has led to the cancellation of at least one event.

The Silverado Gun Show was slated for the holiday weekend, but it has been scrapped.

The show's owner tells the Washington Examiner he's losing money unnecessarily.

"This is legal trade we're talking about, not the black market," Frank Krasner told the paper.

"This not only took money out of my pocket, but close to 100 exhibitors."

source

Father ´entitled´ to stab armed raider to death in home

February 19, 2013

A FATHER who stabbed a crazed burglar to death in his home was yesterday told by a coroner he was rightly “entitled” to defend his family with violence.


All jokes aside, wouldn't you protect your family even if you risked facing life in prison or even the death penalty?

 Vincent Cooke stabbed an armed burglar at his home in Stockport

Businessman Vincent Cooke, 41, was arrested on suspicion of murder after police found career criminal Raymond Jacob, 37, dead at his four-bed home.

During the raid, Jacob and an accomplice held a knife to the throat of a terrified Mr Cooke saying: “We will ******* slit your throat. Get your money, get your jewellery – we will kill you.”

But when his wife Karen, 36, and son Anthony, 14, returned to the home in Bramhall, Greater Manchester, Mr Cooke leapt to defend them.

Grabbing a kitchen knife he stabbed drink and drug-fuelled Jacob in a violent tussle.


Mr Cooke was eventually told by police he would not be charged but his family have been forced to quit their home after nightmares about the tragedy.

Stockport coroner John Pollard agreed Mr Cooke used reasonable force.

Jacob’s accomplice Michael Thorpe, 34 – jailed for 10 years for aggravated burglary – was brought from jail to the hearing to give evidence.

Recording a narrative verdict the coroner said: “Vincent Cooke was terrified and inside his own home is entitled to use reasonable force to protect his family and property.

“He was fighting for his life. Mr Jacob had a considerable amount of drugs including alcohol in his system. The householder is entitled to use reasonable force to defend himself.”

The raid occurred in September 2011 when Mr Cooke, who had been at his £350,000 home watching TV, answered a knock at his front door from a man in a high visibility jacket claiming to be from the gas board – only for Jacob and Thorpe to burst in.

Mr Cooke, a former director of a UK courier firm, said: “The door flew backwards and two men rushed in. They both pulled out knives.”

After being threatened Mr Cooke went into the kitchen and saw his wife in the doorway which shocked Jacob.

Mr Cooke said: “He didn’t know what to do at first, then lunged at me with the knife. I grabbed a knife from the block in the kitchen and knocked him to the ground.

“I barged at him. We crashed into the hallway. It was a knife fight – who could stab each other first.

Armed radier Raymond Jacob was stabbed to death by Vincent Cooke

"We went skidding into the hallway. He was stabbing with his knife and I with mine. It was horrible. I felt if I wasn’t quicker than him he would kill me.”

Jacob sustained a fatal wound to his thigh which severed a vital artery and he bled to death attempting to flee.

His blood had traces of alcohol, methadone, morphine, codeine, cocaine, diazepam, caffeine and nicotine. He had been on heroin.

Jacob had dozens of convictions for burglary, robbery and theft and served an 18-month prison sentence for assault.

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Indoctrination: Obama: America Needs Universal Child Education as Early as Possible

February 19, 2013

The Obama administration wants to head family values and morals off at the pass. Anything to destroy conservatism as early as possible.

At a speech in Georgia, the president says educating children earlier saves taxpayers money... On what, re-education camp?







Obama Pushes Preschool Plan in Visit to Decatur, Ga. (Los Angeles Times)

DECATUR, Ga. — Crouching to sit in a tiny chair and handing out high-fives to 4-year-olds, President Obama toured a public preschool Thursday to promote his plan to expand access to free early childhood education — an initiative he argues would do more to improve the competitiveness of the American workforce than more expensive options.

"Before you know it, these kids are going to be moving on to bigger and better things in kindergarten, and they're going to be better prepared to succeed," Obama said after his visit to College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center, one of several preschool programs the president pointed to as a model for his plan. "And what's more, I don't think you'll find a working parent in America who wouldn't appreciate the peace of mind that their child is in a safe, high-quality learning environment every single day."

Obama's preschool proposal was part of a long slate of policy goals he unveiled Tuesday in his State of the Union address, much of which was aimed at appealing to working families. It landed in an already crowded second-term agenda that faces strong resistance from Republicans in Congress.

The president ventured to a Republican-led state to try to sell the plan at a recreation center in this leafy Atlanta suburb, standing in front of teachers and beside a banner in primary-color block letters reading: "Preschool for all."

Obama's proposal does not ensure or mandate preschool for all, but instead encourages access to preschool for more. The program would be structured as a state-federal partnership under which federal money would be used to expand programs for 4-year-olds in low- and moderate-income families.

The program would provide incentives to states that chose to broaden access to families making more than double the poverty level. It would also offer incentives to states to broaden access to all-day kindergarten.

Universal preschool is the goal, said White House education policy advisor Roberto Rodriguez.

Few would argue with that goal, but plenty of Republicans and some policy experts questioned whether the country could afford it — and whether a new federal effort was needed to provide it.

The preschool movement is powered in part by research on pioneering programs over the last 40 years. Students who attended well-regarded programs have gone on to graduate from high school and avoid crime at higher rates.

But research also points to the importance of quality in those programs. The benefits sometimes evaporate in elementary school, experts say, depending on the design and standards of the early instruction.

Why is the United Nations Exploring the World's Ageing Population

February 19, 2013

Interesting that this topic is explored at all. Why it's almost like stats are being collected to figure sustainability that a "World Government's Universal Health Care" system can handle and what age to cease benefits. Well imagine that!

AFP - The number of people aged 60 years and older has doubled since 1980 and is forecast to reach two billion by 2050 -- a fifth of the planetary total -- according to the World Health Organisation. Almost 400 million of these people will be aged 80 plus, the UN's health agency says.

8 armed men steal estimated $50 million worth of diamonds from plane at Brussels airport

February 19, 2013

(AP) - Police on Tuesday were looking for eight men who made a hole in a security fence of Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and robbed tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane.

Brussels prosecutor's spokeswoman Anja Bijnens said Tuesday the armed and masked men used two vehicles in their daring Monday raid and within minutes made their way to the plane, took the cache of stones and drove off into the darkness.

Police found a burnt-out vehicle close to the airport later Monday night but said it was still looking for clues.

The heist was estimated at some 50 million dollars in diamonds, said Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World diamond Centre.

`'What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum," De Wolf told VRT network.

An airport spokesman says the robbers made a hole in the perimeter fence, and drove right up to the Swiss passenger plane that was ready to leave. The robbers got out of the car, flashed their arms and took the loot from the hold, airport spokesman Jan Van Der Crujsse said. Without firing a shot they drove off through the same hole in the fence, completing the spectacular theft within minutes, he said.

Van Der Crujsse could not explain how the area could be so vulnerable to theft. `'We abide by the most stringent rules," he said.

The Swiss flight, operated by Helvetic Airways, was canceled after the robbery. Swiss, an affiliate of Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG, declined to comment on the heist, citing the ongoing judicial investigation.

The insurance for air transport -- handled sometimes by airlines themselves or external insurance companies -- is usually relatively cheap because it's considered to be the safest way of transporting small high value items, logistics experts say.

Unlike a car or a truck, an airplane cannot be attacked by robbers once it's one its way, and it is considered to be very safe before the departure and after the plane's arrival because the aircraft is always within the confines of an airport -- which are normally highly secured.

source: fox news

Race card gets black man 3 months for beating white man to death

February 19, 2013

Hawkins smirking in his mug shot
after killing his victim. He played the
race card in court and was slapped on
the wrist with a minor felony
conviction and three months in jail.

LAS VEGAS — A former high school football coach and teacher from Florida was sentenced to three months in jail and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine Thursday after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the one-punch death of a Utah man at a Las Vegas casino.

Defense attorney Jack Buchanan said he didn’t believe a punitive stint in the Clark County Detention Center was appropriate for his client, 39-year-old Benjamin Gerard Hawkins, of Gainesville.

Hawkins has remained free following his November conviction in the death of 46-year-old John Massie, an occupational safety and health worker at Hill Air Force Base.

Clark County District Court Judge Valerie Adair also ordered Hawkins to serve five years of probation, undergo impulse-control and anger management counseling, and abstain from alcohol.

“We’re just as disappointed in this as we were the verdict,” said Buchanan, who had sought only probation for his client.

“He has no family members here, so he’ll be here to serve that punishment and then head back. So obviously it’s very difficult,” he added later.

Hawkins didn’t mean to kill Massie, of Roy, and the felony conviction ruined his coaching and teaching career at Bradford County High School in Starke, Fla., Buchanan said.

Prosecutor Maria Lavell had sought a sentence of one to four years in prison.

The judge initially sentenced Hawkins to between one and two years in the Nevada Department of Corrections but immediately suspended the sentence in favor of probation.

Evidence at trial showed both men had been drinking before the confrontation. Hawkins is black, and Massie was white.

Hawkins testified that Massie started an encounter in a restroom with an unsolicited comment about “black guys and these yellow shirts.”

Hawkins told jurors that Massie derided him with racial comments and tapped him on the shoulder and chest in the restroom at O’Shea’s Casino in July 2011, then approached him again after they walked separately to the gaming floor.

Hawkins said he thought Massie was threatening him.

Security video showed the two men a few feet apart as they emerged from the men’s room before Hawkins began to walk away. Massie’s hands were in his pockets as Hawkins then turned suddenly and threw the punch.

A medical examiner testified that Massie died after his head hit the floor.

Hawkins remained in the footage after the punch, apparently talking to his wife and friends before security, paramedics and police arrived.

Police said Hawkins had not been specific about racial taunts or what made him feel threatened. The lead investigator testified that he thought the case could fall anywhere between self-defense and murder.

Several Massie family members spoke during sentencing and said Hawkins did not appear remorseful.

After the trial, weeping family members comforted each other and reassured each other that their testimony had not been in vain.

In issuing her sentence, the judge chastised Hawkins for misconstruing Massie’s actions and reacting in the wrong way.

“He could have avoided this,” Adair said of Hawkins. “He overreacted, and it’s just a horrible tragedy.”

Hawkins remained impassive as the sentence was read, and bowed his head as he was handcuffed and led away.

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