January 21, 2013

Does anyone else see a problem here?

President Obama evidently just said:

"Preserving our individual freedoms requires collective action."

Ahem:

NDAA HR347 Drones NDRP Patriot Act FISA DHS TSA TPP ALEC Militarized police Prison-Industrial Complex

and 7400+ Occupiers beaten and arrested for peaceful, 1st Amendment protest.

January 21, 2013

Goldman Sachs bankers get rich betting on food prices as millions starve

Cross-posted from Occupy Underground.

Revolution News ?@NewsRevo

Goldman bankers get rich betting on food prices as millions starve
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/goldman-bankers-get-rich-betting-on-food-prices-as-millions-starve-8459207.html
… via @Independent
Retweeted by .


Goldman Sachs made more than a quarter of a billion pounds last year by speculating on food staples, reigniting the controversy over banks profiting from the global food crisis.

Less than a week after the Bank of England Governor, Sir Mervyn King, slapped Goldman Sachs on the wrist for attempting to save its UK employees millions of pounds in tax by delaying bonus payments, the investment bank faces fresh accusations that it is contributing to rising food prices.

Goldman made about $400m (£251m) in 2012 from investing its clients' money in a range of "soft commodities", from wheat and maize to coffee and sugar, according to an analysis for The Independent by the World Development Movement (WDM).

This contributed to the 68 per cent jump in profits for 2012 Goldman announced last week, allowing it to push up the average pay and bonus package of its bankers to £250,000.

(More at the link.)

January 21, 2013

Goldman bankers get rich betting on food prices as millions starve

Revolution News ?@NewsRevo

Goldman bankers get rich betting on food prices as millions starve
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/goldman-bankers-get-rich-betting-on-food-prices-as-millions-starve-8459207.html
… via @Independent
Retweeted by .


Goldman Sachs made more than a quarter of a billion pounds last year by speculating on food staples, reigniting the controversy over banks profiting from the global food crisis.

Less than a week after the Bank of England Governor, Sir Mervyn King, slapped Goldman Sachs on the wrist for attempting to save its UK employees millions of pounds in tax by delaying bonus payments, the investment bank faces fresh accusations that it is contributing to rising food prices.

Goldman made about $400m (£251m) in 2012 from investing its clients' money in a range of "soft commodities", from wheat and maize to coffee and sugar, according to an analysis for The Independent by the World Development Movement (WDM).

This contributed to the 68 per cent jump in profits for 2012 Goldman announced last week, allowing it to push up the average pay and bonus package of its bankers to £250,000.

(More at the link.)

January 21, 2013

The NDAA Legalizes The Use Of Propaganda On The US Public

trutherbot ?@trutherbot

The #NDAA Legalizes The Use Of Propaganda On The US Public:
http://www.businessinsider.com/ndaa-legalizes-propaganda-2012-5 …


The newest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes an amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on the American public, reports Michael Hastings of BuzzFeed.

The amendment — proposed by Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and passed in the House last Friday afternoon — would effectively nullify the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which explicitly forbids information and psychological operations aimed at influencing U.S. public opinion.

Thornberry said that the current law “ties the hands of America’s diplomatic officials, military, and others by inhibiting our ability to effectively communicate in a credible way,” according to Buzzfeed.

The vote came two days after a federal judged ruled that an indefinite detention provision in the annual defense bill was unconstitutional.

(Note that this is from last year, but still scary. More at the link.)

January 21, 2013

Aspienaut- Keep Keeping On.

I don't know anything about this condition but ran across the link on Twitter and wanted to share:

http://aspienaut.tumblr.com/post/39218809961/keep-keeping-on

I was asked by a fellow aspie how I stay well when times get tough and I’m struggling, as many of us do, both on and off the spectrum. It has been a really difficult time over the holidays and so I naturally started thinking about this question and decided to write this post.

(Much more at the link. I'm not posting more as I'm uncertain regarding the copyright and terms of use/reblogging conditions.)

January 21, 2013

How Ruthless Banks Gutted the Black Middle Class and Got Away With It

i8 wamu ?@i8wamu

@BarackObama The foreclosure crisis stripped African-American families of more wealth than any single event in history http://bit.ly/WyicNv
Retweeted by Occupy Homes ATL

http://www.alternet.org/story/148068/how_ruthless_banks_gutted_the_black_middle_class_and_got_away_with_it

September 3, 2010 | (Older but absolutely imperative)

The American middle class has been hammered over the last several decades. The black middle class has suffered to an even greater degree. But the single most crippling blow has been the real estate and foreclosure crisis. It has stripped black families of more wealth than any single event in U.S. history. Due entirely to subprime loans, black borrowers are expected to lose between $71 billion and $92 billion.

To fully understand why the foreclosure crisis has so disproportionately affected working- and middle-class blacks, it is important to provide a little background. Many of these American families watched on the sidelines as everyone and their dog seemed to jump into the real estate game. The communities they lived in were changing, gentrifying, and many blacks unable to purchase homes were forced out as new homeowners moved in. They were fed daily on the benefits of home ownership. Their communities, churches and social networks were inundated by smooth-talking but shady fly-by-night brokers. With a home, they believed, came stability, wealth and good schools for their children. Home ownership, which accounts for upwards of 80 percent of the average American family’s wealth, was the basis of permanent membership into the American middle class. They were primed to fall for the American Dream con job.

Black and Latino minorities have been disproportionately targeted and affected by subprime loans. In California, one-eighth of all residences, or 702,000 homes, are in foreclosure. Black and Latino families make up more than half that number. Latino and African-American borrowers in California, according to figures from the Center for Responsible Lending, have foreclosure rates 2.3 and 1.9 times that of non-Hispanic white families.

There is little indication that things will get much better any time soon.

(More at the link.)

January 20, 2013

Occupy Long Beach (CA) 1 year anniversary beach clean-up

https://www.facebook.com/events/144042775753623/

Sunday
[Time]
11:00am until 1:00pm

[Description]

PLEASE join us on our 1st anniversary of our monthly beach clean ups.
Meet at the end of Junipeo (and to the right) on the grass near the parking lot.

Enjoy some fresh air and get a little exercise while doing your part in helping the community rid our beaches and our waters of trash and debris.
...


We are now able to offer time dollars for members of Long beach time exchange!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


...lite snacks and water provided
(bring your own re-usable drinking container if you can)

... There will be a limited number of parking passes available. (Get there early if you need one!) Or walk or ride your bike if you can or park up on Ocean Blvd. and walk down.

Collection bags and gloves are provided by California Coastal Commission through Parks and Recreation and Marine Department of the City of Long Beach. Call (562)570-4876 for more information about the City’s Adopt-A-Beach program.

January 20, 2013

New West Point Study Highlights Threat Posed by Far Right-Wing Groups In U.S.

Stop The Wars ?@sickjew

New West Point Study Highlights Threat Posed by Far Right-Wing Groups In U.S.
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/new-west-point-study-highlights-threat-posed-far-right-wing-groups-us …

A new study from a think tank connected to the West Point Military Academy highlights the threat of violent far-right movements in the United States, leading to the conclusion that, while diverse in in their causes, they are similar in their use of violence to achieve their aims.

West Point’s Combatting Terrorism Center was founded in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and has primarily focused its research on international terrorist threats. Titled “ Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right,” this new report instead looks as the risk that domestic groups pose to the U.S. Breaking down these groups into three categories — the Racist/White Supremacy Movement, the Anti-Federalist Movement, and the Christian Fundamentalist Movement — allows the study to examine the background ideologies and methods of each subset thoroughly, opposed to lumping them all together as most studies have.

Each of the groupings in the study represent competing ideological views, with none of them likely to cooperate in achieving their aims. The chances that each of these groups will use violence also varies. What they share, however, is a use of violence against their chosen targets — be it minority races or abortion clinics — to draw attention to and emphasize their given ideology. After charting out the various instances of violence carried out by each of the categories, the paper offers up several policy recommendations on responding to their actions:

From a theoretical perspective, this constitutes a further indication of the perception among some parts of the academic community that terrorism is an instrument of symbolic discourse which is shared by violent groups and their adversaries. Target selection is thus not based just on operational considerations, but is one component, among others, which allows violent groups to shape their message using violent practices—timing, weapons used and target locations, are only a small measure of the other components which contribute to the shape of the symbolic message conveyed via the attack.

(More at the link.)

January 20, 2013

The House GOP plan to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline

Energy Citizens ?@EnergyCitizens

The House GOP plan to approve the #KeystoneXL Pipeline #KXL http://ow.ly/gW1Ab via @nationaljournal
Retweeted by Mike Millard

http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/the-republican-plan-to-build-that-keystone-xl-pipeline-20130114

Congressional Republicans have fewer avenues to approve the Keystone XL pipeline than they did when the election was hanging over President Obama’s head. But that doesn’t mean they have no avenues.

House GOP leadership will seek to promote the Canada-U.S. pipeline as part of the looming spending battles. “The speaker thinks all these issues are related, since more domestic energy supplies raises revenues and creates new wealth by creating new jobs,” said a House aide familiar with Speaker John Boehner’s thinking. “It would be hard to understand how the president can spend time working on those same issues and then conclude the pipeline is not in our national interest.”

If Obama rejects the pipeline or at least delays a decision on it—which is widely expected—Republicans will likely push legislation that approves the pipeline irrespective of Obama or takes away his presidential authority to make the decision at all.

If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s essentially the same strategy the GOP has employed over the last two years.

(More at the link.)

January 20, 2013

Orlando Sheriff gives first look at new state-of-the-art drones

Drones ?@drones

Orlando Sheriff gives first look at new state-of-the-art drones
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/ocso-gives-first-look-new-state-art-drones/nT2NZ/ …

ORLANDO, Fla. —

WFTV got a look at the new unmanned drones that'll be flying missions for investigators with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

The OCSO unveiled the two newOrlando Sheriff gives first look at new state-of-the-art drones drones and demonstrated how they'll be used.

&quot Examples are) armed hostage or barricaded subjects situations, bomb incidents, domestic terrorist incidents, outdoor searches for missing persons or chemical spills," said Sheriff Jerry Demings.

Deputies said the new technology will not only give them an eye in the sky, it will also give them the ability to see around dangerous corners before officers move in.

(More militarized police information at the link.)


Alex Simon ?@alexsimon7

RT@OccupyWallStNYC: "Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become corrupt" -Gandhi
Retweeted by Stop The Wars