Two Big Mortgage Frauds: MERS and Tranche Insurance Payoffs
MERS stands for “Mortgage Electronic Registry Systems,” and was started in 1997 by the big banks to help expedite the quick buying and selling of loans. They are found in 65 million mortgages across the US, about 60% of all American loans. You may find them in your mortgage chain of title posing as either the nominee mortgagee or in an assignment of your deed of trust, which is recorded at the Register of Deeds office where your property is located.
They are strictly a registry system with NO authority to buy and sell a note; and,
it appears they VOID your note if they appear ANYWHERE in your mortgage transaction. The mortgage/deed of trust cannot be separated from the note (US Supreme Court, 1872, Insurance v. Eldredge.) They are incorporated in Delaware and have offices in Reston, VA and in Flint, Michigan. Read the rest of this entry →
Reauthorizing the indefinite detention of US citizens without charge might be the scariest provision in next year’s defense spending bill, but it certainly isn’t the only one worth worrying about.
An amendment tagged on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 would allow for the United States government to create and distribute pro-American propaganda within the country’s own borders under the alleged purpose of putting al-Qaeda’s attempts at persuading the world against Western ideals on ice. Former US representatives went out of there way to ensure their citizens that they’d be excluded from government-created media blasts, but two lawmakers currently serving the country are looking to change all that.
Congressmen Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Adam Smith (D-WA) introduced “The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012” (H.R. 5736) last week during discussions for the NDAA 2013. It was voted on by the US House of Representatives to be included in next year’s defense spending bill, which was then voted on as a whole and approved. The amendment updates the antiquated Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 and Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987, essentially clarifying that the US State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors may “prepare, disseminate and use public diplomacy information abroad,” but while also striking down a long-lasting ban on the domestic dissemination in America. For the last several decades, the federal government has been authorized to use such tactics overseas to influence foreign support of America’s wars abroad, but has been barred from such strategies within the US. If next year’s NDAA clears the US Senate and is signed by President Obama with the Thornberry-Smith provision intact, then restrictions on propaganda being force-fed to Americans would be rolled back entirety. Read the rest of this entry →
This article has come about for 2 reasons, one being an article at beforeitsnews.com about propaganda, and secondly an article involving Tim Pool proposing a monopoly on audio broadcast during the NATO summit in the event [like many people thought was going to happen] that internet data transmissions went down and live video feeds were not possible.
I was going to just re-post the beforeitsnews.com article, but felt there was alot more to say and wanted to address why we feel so strongly that even talking about a monopoly in media is enough of an offense, that it destroys the very fabric of what independent journalists working against mainstream media is all about. Not to mention what that sounds like to any journalist in a collective space where people are donating their time and energy for ZERO profit, just for the sake of getting news out to people.
The propaganda model is a conceptual model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky that states how propaganda, including systemic biases, function in mass media. The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and how consent for economic, social and political policies are “manufactured” in the public mind due to this propaganda. — beforeitsnews.com
– see video below Noam Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent” Well worth the time.
Today the “news” is all but bought and paid for by wealthy elitists that have every interest in controlling what you think, buy, do, say, act, wear, eat, and even how you go about your day to day life in a way that is unprecedented in scale. Just look at the fact that 5-6 companies own every major broadcast network in the U.S. and how much money is being flooded into commercial advertising. Read the rest of this entry →
Investors have been told that Greece leaving the euro will not be a disaster Photo: McWilliams
The chances of Greece exiting the euro intensified last week – so much so that EU leaders were warned to have contingency measures in place.
Such was the demand for safe-haven assets that investors rushed to snap up German bonds that paid a coupon of 0pc. That’s right, investors piled in to buy government bonds that will not deliver a return but are deemed among the eurozone’s safest assets.
Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, published a note on Friday to warn: “We think that the ramifications of a Greek exit are more serious than the market anticipates. While a euro zone break-up is not our base-case scenario, we raise our subjective probability to 35pc from 25pc, and reduce the timescale of this move to 12-18 months from five years.
“We believe that the most likely scenario for a divorce is a Greek exit preceded and followed by strong contagion. There are three main channels for contagion: the sovereign, the banking sector and the political situation. The countries most at risk of material contagion seem to be Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal.”
Brian Dennehy, a financial adviser, has already prepared his clients’ portfolios for the FTSE100 plunging to 4,000 by the end of the year. “Our clients have largely been de-risked for many months,” he said. “In practice, this means none tend to have more than 20pc in equities. Although there could be some good news if the FTSE hits these levels, if investors are unprepared the risk is that they panic into selling at precisely the wrong time.”
It has been a tortuous few days – headlines of Armageddon and the death of equities will have caused anxiety among investors. They will be asking themselves whether they should be preparing their portfolios for an exit too. Read the rest of this entry →
Military’s delay in searching through files and handing them over is denying Manning a fair trial, defence attorney argues
Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of being behind the biggest leak of state secrets in US history, is being denied a fair trial because the army is withholding from him crucial information that might prove his innocence or reduce his sentence, his defence team is arguing.
With Manning’s court-martial approaching in September, his legal team has released details of what they claim is a shocking lack of diligence on the part of the military prosecutors in affording him his basic constitutional rights.
The stakes are high, with Manning facing possible life imprisonment for a raft of charges that include “aiding the enemy”.
Manning’s main civilian lawyer, David Coombs, has filed a motion with the military court in Fort Meade, Maryland, that sets out a catalogue of delays and inconsistencies in the army’s handling of the case.
In particular, he claims the government has failed to disclose key evidence that could help Manning defend himself against the charges.
Almost two years after Manning was arrested, the military has not yet completed a search even of its own files to see if there is any material beneficial to the defence – as it is legally obliged to do. Read the rest of this entry →
Extradition ruling on Wednesday: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Photo: AFP
WIKILEAKS publisher Julian Assange remains the target of a major US government criminal investigation and the subject of continuing US-Australian intelligence exchanges, Australian diplomatic cables obtained by The Age reveal.
Australian diplomats have closely monitored the US Department of Justice investigation into WikiLeaks over the past 18 months with the embassy in Washington reporting that “a broad range of possible charges are under consideration, including espionage and conspiracy”.
Australian diplomats are dismissive of Mr Assange’s claims the US investigation is retribution for WikiLeaks’ publication of leaked US military and diplomatic reports. Instead they have highlighted US prosecutors’ claims that alleged US Army leaker private Bradley Manning dealt directly with Mr Assange and “data-mined” secret US databases “guided by WikiLeaks list of ‘Most Wanted’ leaks”.
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Mr Assange will learn on Wednesday the British Supreme Court’s decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden to be questioned about sexual assault allegations.
Mr Assange, who has not been charged with any offence in Sweden, fears extradition to Stockholm will facilitate his ultimate extradition to the US. He has also expressed concern that a successful appeal against extradition to Sweden will prompt the US to immediately seek his extradition directly from Britain. Read the rest of this entry →
The giant Internet retailer Amazon.com Thursday said it will withdraw its membership from the American Legislative Exchange Council, the conservative public policy group that engineered controversial “stand your ground” gun laws and sweeping voter ID requirements that critics say threaten to disenfranchise minority voters.
The announcement was made during Amazon.com’s annual shareholders meeting in Seattle, as the hue and cry against the organization, known as ALEC, and the corporations that support it continues to rise. Outside the meeting at the Seattle Art Museum, more than 100 protesters hoisted signs and clogged the entrance. Inside, Amazon executives and lawyers took questions from shareholders, including some asking about the company’s membership in ALEC.
“This year, we’ve decided not to renew with ALEC, and it’s because of positions they’ve taken not related to our business,” Michelle Wilson, an Amazon attorney, told about 200 shareholders at the meeting, according to reports. Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Amazon, later added: “Each year we evaluate all of our association memberships, and we decided not to renew our participation in ALEC in part because of positions that group took on issues unrelated to our business.” Read the rest of this entry →
As a preface to this post, we would like to point out that this man clearly says that “this is a war”, a civil war that the governments, corporations and banks that run them, and the media they control have declared on their own people. In the United States, the right to bear arms does not make any distinction as to if that right to bear arms applies to the only effective weapon left available to the people of the world [computers and information tech.]. As it stands in the current world we live in, we are sure that most people can recognize that your right to own a handgun or other firearm is null and void if you recognize that the armies of the world now use drones and satellites to target and kill people from afar, before you would ever have a chance…. like the constitution clearly allows, to stand your ground and fight for a revolution.
Whether you love them or hate them, you’ve without a doubt heard of the hacktivist collective Anonymous. Government officials have claimed that the next major terrorist attack will be carried out over cyberspace, and the feds have all but called Anonymous the next al-Qaeda. Recently an alleged member of the group made claims that Anonymous is perhaps the most powerful organizations in the world. That person, a hacktivist using the handle Commander X, joins us to explain his allegations and discuss the future of Anonymous.
More than 400,000 filled the streets of Montreal this week as a protest over a 75 percent increase in tuition has grown into a full-blown political crisis. After three months of sustained protests and class boycotts that have come to be known around the world as the “Maple Spring,” the dispute exploded when the Quebec government passed an emergency law known as Bill 78, which suspends the current academic term, requires demonstrators to inform police of any protest route involving 50 or more people, and threatens student associations with fines of up to $125,000 if they disobey. The strike has received growing international attention as the standoff grows, striking a chord with young people across the globe amid growing discontent over austerity measures, bleak economies and crushing student debt. We’re joined by Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for CLASSE, the main coalition of student unions involved in the student strikes in Quebec, and Anna Kruzynski, assistant professor at the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia University in Montreal. She has been involved in the student strike as a member of the group, Professors Against the Hike.
Guests:
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the spokesperson for CLASSE, the main coalition of student unions involved in the student strikes in Quebec, Canada.
Anna Kruzynski, assistant professor at the School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University in Montreal. She’s been involved in the student strike as a member of Professors Against the Hike.
At the Chicago NATO Summit, after the rally off Cermak and Michigan, May 20th 2012. Police surrounded protesters and box off one group from the rest of the rally. Without any dispersal order, the police leading with batons and violence, started pressing thousands of protesters through a narrow exit. Towards the end of the video a independant journalist is attacked after filming police violence, his camera broken in the incident.
This is an excerpt from a book it looks like will be released sometime this summer, the excerpt here details what looks like is mostly allegorical evidence from interviews with members of the group LulzSec. This information is being shared in the form that we found it in, unedited, so that people can form their own opinions. It should be noted that during the timeframe that this excerpt is talking about Sabu has been working as an FBI informant for months already. As some readers have pointed out, this entire article could be a further attempt to implicate Assange… and until the full book is released, or we are able to obtain further information about the sources of information, it remains unclear how factually accurate this information is. At this time we do know that several members of LulzSec have been arrested, and that at least Sabu has been trying to work with authorities in an attempt to reduce his sentence. Meanwhile the US and Sweden, whose intelligence agencies have been shown to work closely together, have both been trying to arrange Assange’s extradition so that they can bring him to trial.
Thanks for reading, and remember to keep an open mind.
Tim Pool Seeks Monopoly on Audio Broadcast in the Event Data Services Go Down - NATO Protest 2012
Having recently worked in and around the NATO protests in Chicago, we’re surprised to learn that self professed “fair and balanced” reporter @timcast , Tim Pool was trying to corner the market and get : A monopoly on audio broadcast in the event that data services went down and people were being prevented from live streaming. This report was witnessed by several other individuals.
Many people, from all over the world, thought they would be jamming or shut down internet and cellphones for months leading up to this event in Chicago, rumors had been circulating through various circles. It seemed to many people, that it would be standard practice for an event like this where military helicopters were flying through the loop in DT Chicago between skyscrapers, just weeks in advance, on training exercises.
The rumor that was floating around among many video streamers was that data services would be down during the protest, but that cell phone service itself would remain intact. There was a lot of speculation as to what this would mean, and many people [including Tim] involved in media efforts, were trying to figure out ways to work together towards solutions.
Tim was involved in trying to arrange for special favors, in his exact words, ”…then I could have a monopoly [on audio]…” This would have been broadcast in the event that data services went down and live video streaming was not an option.
We can also confirm that the independent media center was told they could no longer use his [ Tim 's ] video stream to re-broadcast coverage of NATO as they had been doing from various live video feeds from everyone around the country in attendance. There was not a single other streamer that had a problem with being re-broadcast. In fact, most people we talked to that were uploading video live or via other means were happy to freely share, so that the whole story could be seen from multiple points of view.
Stories From A Street Medic Involved In NATO Protests In Chicago, May 2012
all day i’ve wanted to be left alone, yet needed to be around others.
i don’t remember how i ended up at the front of the lines.
the first anti-capitalist march i went on was proof enough that my instinct is to cut away, dart through the crowd, and get to the front as swiftly as possible to deescalate the situation as quickly as possible.
or at least be there to provide any services within the skill-set of an energy mosh-medic.
so i guess i arrived there on auto-pilot.
be aware, i did not panic through all of this.
when they (cpd) first started shoving us back, i felt confused and in danger.
my perception snapped into slow motion.
(though there remain some gaps in my memory of it all)
what i noticed in those first split seconds was the commanding officer stepping forward. walking down the line. assaulting every other protester in passing.
prepping the army. leading by example. Read the rest of this entry →
There are still dozens of people held in jail in Chicago after the NATO protests. In addition, the police bloodied upwards of 90 people on Sunday, according to the National Lawyers Guild’s Sarah Gelsamino.
For all the great work that the National Lawyers Guild does, raising bail is not something that they can legally do for their clients. That is up to individuals and organizations not legally representing the imprisoned.
An ad hoc group of CANG8 activists has announced a fundraiser at:
Carey’s Lounge, 2251 W. Devon Avenue,
Sunday night beginning at 8 PM
Suggested donation: $10 – no one turned away for inability to pay
All funds raised will go directly to those whom the Guild is able to identify as people who, as friends and family members, are trying to raise bail funds for their loved ones.
I know that most of you chose the life in uniform because you love your country; because you believed in what that uniform stood for; because you wanted to serve and protect… but I also know that deep down inside you sense that something has gone terribly wrong.
You’ve watched with the rest of us as elected officials have incrementally legislated our constitutional rights away, you’ve watched as the state surveillance apparatus has expanded like a cancer through the heart of the nation, and you’ve watched as the corruption has become more and more blatant. I can understand why you haven’t wanted to acknowledge the implications of what you are witnessing. To face the reality of what is happening would mean admitting that you’ve been betrayed, and it would mean coming to terms with the fact that you… are working… for criminals.
I don’t envy your position. I know your job depends on you following orders. I know you have families to support and bills to pay, and I know that if you stand up you could loose everything… but what you need to understand is that continuing to submit to unconstitutional, and immoral orders will not protect you from what is coming. Read the rest of this entry →
The two faces of NATO: PR spin versus video reality
Growing body of videos and eyewitness accounts in wake of NATO summit exposes vast police violence to defend military arm of 1%. See videos below.
While the Obama and Emanuel administrations are congratulating themselves on a public relations coup, NATO protesters are documenting the wave of police violence unleashed on them in recent days — particularly Sunday, when protesters sought to exercise a right they thought they had but didn’t: to speak truth to power.
City and federal officials have doggedly stuck to the spin about a dangerous band of ‘anarchists’ who started trouble on Sunday. But it’s clear from the videos below — and dozens more that have begun to surface on the web — that the only thugs in black on May 20 were the police. And the police unloaded, narrowly missing 75-year-old peace protester Nan Wigmore, who was caught in the crush at the front line of the police violence.
The harrowing scenes in the first two videos below, shot by Substance News contributor John Kugler, show police hammering on protesters with billy clubs and their hands, feet and bodies. Protesters clearly shout “There’s nowhere to go!” as the police line wails on them to push them away from the intersection of Cermak and Michigan. The protesters’ goal? To take their opposition to NATO to the summit itself — a goal denied by the protest ‘permit’ which the City of Chicago and the Obama administration ultimately ‘granted.’ That permit failed to meet even the minimum request of some organizers to be within ‘site and sound’ of the government bureaucrats’ deliberations.
Chicagoan John Whitfield spoke with his neighbor, Substance News reporter and videographer John Kugler, who shot the video of the police assault — and was attacked himself by the police. Cops struck Kugler, who was wisely wearing a helmet, four times on the head; Kugler also lost a shoe in the assault.
photo by Sarah Bennet -- Thousands of protesters march in solidarity with war veterans who were returning their medals of war. The vets had all decided that their medals were a disgrace to themselves, and the people of the country they thought they had enlisted to protect. Scott Olsen who was injured by police in Occupy Oakland joined other vets, as they all tossed their medals on the street in front of the place where NATO was meeting. They had asked for someone to take the medals back, no representative showed up to take the medals back.
Thousands protest military arm of global elites in days of protest around annual warmongers’ summit
Representatives of CANG8, Occupy Chicago and Chicago Action Medical have condemned systemic police violence at the CANG8/IVAW anti-NATO protest on Sunday — and more broadly, condemned the military machine that has brought thousands of protesters together in Chicago for a week of actions and events to oppose the NATO meeting and its larger agenda. Luminaries who ranged from Noam Chomsky and Tom Morello to Greece’s SYRIZA — in English, the Coalition for the Radical Left — encouraged people to protest the NATO summit. The confab of war criminals ended Monday, as activists rallied against war profiteer Boeing.
“The police have been preparing for this mentally, physically, emotionally — preparing to beat us up for a year,” said CANG8 organizer Joe Iosbaker. “This is the violence that NATO is, that NATO brings with them.” Read the rest of this entry →
Thousands of marchers gathered in Chicago today to continue a week of criticism directed at the arms industry, NATO, and the austerity measures carried out against social service providers on the local level.
The first of three marches on Saturday focused attention on the closures of half of the city of Chicago’s neighborhood mental health clinics as 2-3 thousand people congregated in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home at 4228 N. Hermitage.
Around 3:30pm, Saturday, approximately 1,000 marchers gathered at Daley Plaza to protest the raid of a Bridgeport home and terrorism charges levied against three anti-NATO activists — a group dubbed the NATO 3, inspiring a currently trending campaign on twitter with the keyword #NATO3.
A third march, the Anti-Capitalist march, had been called to meet at the statue commemorating the international labor movement in Haymarket Square at Randolph and Desplaines on the Near West Side.
Several hundred people from the #NATO3 group marched to the South Loop, and in attempting to meet the “Anti-Capitalist” march at Haymarket were divided and redirected by the Chicago Police Department into several smaller groups. By the time the disparate marches converged near Randolph and Desplaines around 6:30pm, the police department had repeatedly stopped the marchers at intersections as the different groups attempted to reach each other, walking through the closed-off downtown streets in 90 degree heat.
One march headed west on Harrison Street over the south branch of the Chicago River, a second became kettled at State and Congress, while the third mustered at 175 N. Desplaines, and proceeded south towards the others. After converging near Madison and Jefferson, the larger gathering moved north, then east, to turn south onto State Street, when double lines of police on foot and bicycles again met, stopped, and kettled the crowd of approximately 1,500, arresting several, while using batons to beat several more. The crowd worked its way south on State Street, and as it neared Taylor, it was again hemmed in, and in response to some provocation (likely the rapid brandishing of metal batons by officers) the noise level in the crowd increased. Around ten people in the assembly were beaten.
PRESS RELEASE
Chicago Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild Refutes Molotov Cocktail Claim Against Protesters, Calls for Their Immediate Release
National Lawyers Guild Condemns Preemptive Police Raids & Unlawful Searches on the Streets
Early morning house raid in Bridgeport and harassment of activists indicates intolerance of free speech rights
NOTE: Press conference to be held TODAY (5-17-12) at 5:30pm at 3340 W. Fillmore Street, the Chicago Police Department’s Organized Crime Division
Chicago, IL — The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns a preemptive police raid that took place at approximately 11:30pm Wednesday in the Bridgeport neighborhood, and instances of harassment on the street, in which Chicago police are unlawfully detaining, searching, and questioning NATO protesters. The Bridgeport raid was apparently conducted by the Organized Crime Division of the Chicago Police Department and resulted in as many as 8 arrests.
(today confirmed that 11 were arrested in this illegal and un-warranted raid, this morning the 18th we received news that 4 have been released without charges after being detained for over 24 hours.) Read the rest of this entry →
CPD’s plan to detain & search reporters, confiscate equipment, & book if arrested.
Beginning with the foreboding words, “NOT INTENDED FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. FOR MEDIA GUIDANCE ONLY” CPD has begun prepping mainstream press for this weekend’s actions. While the entire PDF can be seen here (generally distributed, nonetheless): http://www.inba.net/userfiles/file/CPDgroundrules_051612.pdf, some important “Ground Rules” are clearly intended for independent journalists. Such as:
”…media access generally will be the same as public access. Credentials will, however, allow media personnel access to media-only areas. No “cutting” in and out of police lines will be permitted, or “going up against their backs.” Those who follow protesters onto private property to document their actions are also will be subject to arrest if laws are broken.”
”Any member of the media who is arrested will have to go through the same booking process as anyone else. Release of equipment depends on what part the equipment played in the events that led to the arrest.”
”…the Chicago Police Department does not intend to “break ground” in terms of enforcing the Illinois eavesdropping law. In short, police will not interfere if we videotape or record audio of police activities, including arrests.”
”Reporters who carry backpacks should be prepared to show their content to police. You may be asked to fire up and demonstrate any equipment that does not look familiar to officers.”
”It is the intent of Chicago Police to provide close access, with direct vision and contact with those entering and leaving events/marches/rallies. But police emphasized that those who choose to walk amid the protesters are “on your own.”
Leading dissident political analyst and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of linguistics Noam Chomsky voiced his support for planned protests at the 18-21 May NATO summit in Chicago. Chomsky notes how–according to US and NATO propaganda and the logic of the Cold War–NATO should have disbanded with the Warsaw Pact in 1991. It’s continued existence and indeed, extension east to former Warsaw Pact countries, shows that NATO became an “international intervention force under U.S. command” with an “official commitment” to “defend the global energy system.” Prof. Chomsky winds up by noting that “a protest against NATO is in fact a protest against a vast military machine which of course has no counterpart anywhere and the prospect of endless war and destruction.” Finally, he encourages protestors to link up with the Free Bradley Manning Contingent in support of Manning, who allegedly leaked classified materials to Wikileaks in an action unparalleled since Daniel Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers.
For a full calendar of actions please visit the NATO Protest website.
credit – CUAPD (communities united against police brutality), indymedia twincities, roguemedia.org, and occupy minneapolis who are all awesome.
Update since this article/video first aired on the interwebs :: Pending Further investigation by the BCA (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) the DRE program has been suspended in Minnesota.
Video documentation [shown below] by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they’ve been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.
Local independent media, activists, and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality began investigating police conduct around the Plaza after witnessing police dropping off impaired people at the plaza and hearing rumors that they were offering people drugs. We videotaped police conduct and interviewed participants, learning some very disturbing information about the DRE program.
Officers stated on record the DRE program, run by the Minnesota State Patrol, has no Institutional Review Board or independent oversight. They agreed no ambulances or EMTs were on site at the Richfield MnDOT facility near the airport where most subjects were taken. Multiple times, participants left Peavey Plaza sober, returned intoxicated, and said they’d been given free drugs by law enforcement. We documented on more than one occasion, someone being told they were sober by one officer, and then picked up by a different officer, and returning intoxicated.
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Last May, WCCO reported DRE as an innovative training program for law enforcement agents in which they recruited individuals who were already impaired on drugs to test and observe the effects of those drugs minnesota.cbslocal.com. This program, which trains Drug Recognition Experts (DRE) was portrayed in glowing terms and the article emphasized the subjects recruited were already drug-impaired.
On its website, the State Patrol provides this training description:“DRE training consists of nine days of classroom work, where officers learn about specific drug categories, physiology, and enhance their SFST [standardized field sobriety testing] skills. Following the classroom training, DRE candidates must complete certification training, where they perform 12 evaluations on drug-impaired subjects. These evaluations will be monitored and verified by DRE instructors and the BCA Lab. Certification training generally takes 2–3 weeks.”
Given the dangers of impaired driving, there is value in training law enforcement officers to distinguish between the effects of various drugs and several common medical conditions. However, we have captured video footage of instances in which DRE trainees recruited subjects who are not already impaired, and those participants say they were given drugs by the officers.
Although program documents indicate that participants must sign a waiver, dps.mn.gov there was no indication from any of the participants interviewed that a waiver was offered or obtained. Further, video footage seems to validate the recollections of participants that no medical personnel or ambulance were on site during the observation and testing in Richfield. A DRE officer told one of our investigators that no Institutional Review Board assessment of the program has been made, a requirement of all experiments involving human subjects. Since it’s unethical to encourage people to take drugs–whether by giving them drugs directly or enticing them with food, cigarettes, or other rewards (which participants say they were given)–it is unlikely such a program would pass IRB review as it endangers the test subjects.
According to the WCCO article, officer trainees in the past have worked with various non-profit organizations to recruit drug users. It would appear now that they are no longer relying solely on this tactic, instead recruiting users directly and, participants say, providing them with drugs. After the sessions, these individuals are then dropped off in public areas without supportive care, creating a public safety hazard. In an example at Peavey Plaza caught on film, an individual who said he’s been smoking courtesy of the police for an hour, crossed a line of Minneapolis police barricades, climbed to the top of a large sign and sat 15 feet above the sidewalk swinging his arms and legs in front of a police camera.
Our investigation points to particular efforts to target and recruit youth. Further, law enforcement officers have been taped recruiting people from the Peavey Plaza area of Nicollet Mall and have dropped off a number of impaired individuals at Peavey Plaza. In some instances, Minneapolis police squad cars were present while DRE trainees recruited people at Peavey Plaza. After receiving drugs, some subjects were asked to snitch on the Occupy movement or asked about various people and activities of Occupy, they said. Given efforts by the Minneapolis city council to pass an ordinance designed to restrict access to Peavey Plaza by the Occupy movement, the conduct of DRE trainees points to the possibility that they are working hand-in-glove with Minneapolis police to discredit and disrupt the Occupy movement.
“I think most people would be very surprised to have our tax dollars used to get people high,” states Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality. “These activities call into question the methods and motives of this DRE training.”
There are some key points to this video evidence that is being overlooked by people who say there is no smoking gun in this video. The key points are:
1- no medical professionals are on site while this is going on
2- there is no review board, or independent oversight of this program to ensure people’s safety
3- the police are admittedly dropping off people they have just tested and confirmed were intoxicated in public…
When this was released there was a hearing in the Minneapolis City Council to decide the future of Peavey Plaza. They were trying to use evidence police had of people intoxicated on Peavey Plaza to create a new rule saying people could not be on the plaza after 10 or 12 pm..
There was a brood of slumlords and private corporate interests there to speak out about how vile and despicable the people on Peavey Plaza were and that it was a public nuisance that must be eliminated.
Meanwhile, every single citizen that stood up to speak talked about how opening up public space for a dialog among the people within the community was the best thing that had ever happened to the human race.
To end it all, the man with the afro in this video stood up and told city council exactly what was happening in this video as it had happened to him. A member of city council had recieved a phone call the night before from a concerned mom, who said that police had given her son drugs and she was very concerned about how her government was being run.
Police did indeed give Occupiers free pot, new evidence suggests; DRE program suspendedblogs.citypages.com
::Update since this story was run:: Apparently at least one officer has come forward and tried to railroad a Hutchinson Officer as the sole perpetrator of this offense. Our investigation seems to point to this as being a systemic problem, and that painting one single officer who was only doing as he was told is not the solution. It is quite clear from the video that all of the officers felt very uncomfortable being on film as they knew what they were doing was wrong. One officer from the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office clearly says, “we don’t need to get in trouble for anything.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan {who is reported to have been at a national conference of the International association of chief’s of police during this documentary, IACP, who are the private organization behind this program} said the city’s {minneapolis’} police force had no part in the training. Elsewhere in City Hall, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak expressed outrage in a statement Wednesday. This statement from Dolan comes in stark contrast to the fact that last may WCCO ran an article that highlighted the benefits of this program and that Minneapolis PD was involved, and had more than 1 officer involved in the training. It is clearly seen in the video that a Minneapolis Police cruiser is escorting the out-of-town sheriff vehicle away from Peavey Plaza.
Based on the preliminary findings of our investigation, we make the following demands:
1) An investigation into the training and recruitment methods of the DRE program, along with an identification of the sources of drugs being given to recruits and the source of funding for those drugs. Public release of any written protocols regarding recruitment, treatment and release of impaired subjects, along with policies on the presence of medical personnel. An investigation into what—if any—oversight exists of these training programs and their use of human subjects, including any controls, standards of conduct, or oversight bodies. A ban on participation by the Minneapolis police in the DRE program until it is fully investigated.
2) An immediate change in practice so that only already-impaired people are used for training and an end to the practice of providing drugs or offering them to entice subjects. An immediate change in practice so that subjects are only released to a safe and supportive environment
3) An investigation into possible ties between DRE trainees and the Minneapolis police department and any efforts to discredit the Occupy movement. Immediate cessation of efforts to recruit and drop off impaired people at Peavey Plaza. An end to all efforts by government and law enforcement to defame, disrupt, or discredit protest movements in a way that decreases the safety of public gathering spaces.
4) An end to the Johnson Resolution and other efforts to block access to public plazas. It is blatant hypocrisy for the city to advance these kinds of proposals supposedly for public health and safety while police programs endanger people in the same areas.
Activists and journalists intend to continue our investigation and demands for safety for the subjects of this training program along with an end to attacks on the Occupy movement.
Wednesday October 26, 2011 in reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza. 1607 people voted. 1484 voted in favor of the resolution, 77 abstained and 46 voted against it, passing the proposal at 96.9%. The General Assembly operates on a modified consensus process that passes proposals with 90% in favor and with abstaining votes removed from the final count.
This May Day brought the explosive global resurgence of Occupy, one of the most significant social movements in decades. In New York City, the heart of global capitalism and center of the movement, the New York Civil Liberties Union estimated that 30,000 demonstrators took part in a massive rally and march down Broadway, led by a score of city taxicabs. As has become alarmingly common for a country that constantly proclaims its zealous devotion to democracy, the day ended with brutal police violence and arrests.
The visible success of Occupy in creating a space for the voice of the people impelled uncontrolled thousands to pour onto the streets of New York City, Oakland, and elsewhere around the country and across the world on May Day, in the start of what US organizers have called an “American Spring.” Touting its message of class solidarity–”we are the 99 percent” – Occupy has revealed the profoundly undemocratic nature of a democratic consensus expressed by corporate-sponsored political representatives, demanding direct popular involvement in areas of social and political life normally dominated by ruling class power.
The powerful rejuvenation of the Occupy movement, however, was used by the US media – owned by the very same interests that Occupy directly threatens – as an opportunity to finally kill the Occupy movement and marginalize the voices of its participants. Since September, the mainstream press in the US has systematically ignored and demonized the Occupy movement. The nakedness of the class bias in this case, however, was especially jarring: the size and significance of the protests were downplayed, reports of police brutality were largely ignored, and the movement was portrayed as violent and dangerous. Many of the most prominent US news outlets, such as The New York Times, practically ignored the protests altogether. These shameful distortions by the corporate press display the function of the media as an organ of the rule of “the 1 percent,” and reveal how threatened elites are by organized, direct action and democratic participation. Read the rest of this entry →
Build up to WW3 – Philippines & U.S. stage War Games in face of CHINA warning
U.S. and Philippine commandos waded ashore on Wednesday in a mock assault to retake a small island in energy-rich waters disputed with China, part of a drill involving thousands of troops Beijing had said would raise the risk of armed conflict. Read the rest of this entry →
Occupy’s May Day General Strike was a surprising and bold success for the visceral side of the movement. While most of Occupy put its energy into building coalitions with “legacy progressive groups”, labor unions and immigrant rights organizations, these efforts did not yield the anticipated results. In New York, for example, despite amassing a coalition of over a hundred organizations and rallying a crowd of more than 30,000, occupiers were thwarted in their attempts to shut down banks or re-occupy Wall Street. And some Zuccottis have complained that union representatives actively blocked an attempt to lead the crowd toward direct action at the end of the night. Meanwhile in Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, New Orleans and elsewhere, anarchists using Black Bloc tactics stole the show.
On websites and forums, anarchists are rejoicing the spectacular showing of Black Bloc. “American anarchists haven’t experienced this much positive public attention since the euphoria and aftermath of N30 in Seattle,” writes one commentator. For many, the Black Bloc represents a tactical innovation that suggests the future of Occupy. “Occupy is dead, long live the Black Bloc,” writes another. An anarchist in New Orleans described how the status quo was unprepared for their tactics: “the Anti-Capitalism march caught the police off-guard and has the media dumb-founded. A full 24-hours later the Times Picayune has said nothing about the Anti-Capitalist March, only making mention of the permitted march that happened earlier in the day.”
In Oakland, the Black Bloc, which made up a large portion of the May Day General Strike, displayed a coordinated tactical philosophy – including the de-arresting of comrades, throwing eggs filled with paint, using homemade smoke-creating incendiaries to confuse police, and the rejection of media – that suggests prior planning, ongoing innovation and increasing sophistication. And Black Bloc tactics are just one aspect of the overall rejuvenation of anarchism that is happening right now including the increase of infoshops (there are two near Occupy Oakland: The Holdout and The Longhaul); the creation of bottom-up solidarity networks to replace top-down unions; providing free food on the model of Food Not Bombs; offering a compelling DIY aesthetic.
Anarchist occupiers are energized and their visceral tactics are attracting members. Now, the power of the Black Bloc is growing within Occupy and pushing the movement in unexpected directions.
Round 7 goes to the Black Bloc – now let’s see what we can do for the rest of May! adbusters.org
The global hacktivst group known as Anonymous claims to have brought down the CIA and Interpol websites on Sunday.
The attack is attributed to @AnonsTurkey, with the group using the twitter handle to say they are “hacking the world to save the planet”.
Earlier this year, Anomymous launched an offensive against government and private sites in protest against the content industry.
Just last month, Brazilian hacktivist Havittaja claimed responsibility for a DDoS attack on the websites of the US Department of Justice and the CIA. Other Anonymous hacktivists later joined their “Brazilian brother” and brought down two MI6 websites.
The CIA website was also downed by Anonymous on two occasions before that, in February 2012 and back in June 2011.
The February attack was part of Anonymous’ action against US law enforcement agencies and copyright holders. Other targeted websites included the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Anonymous was quick to claim responsibility then.
The CIA website took several hours to get back online, while the Department of Homeland Security went back up online in a matter of minutes.
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are a concentrated effort by multiple individuals to make a network overly busy. As a result, the website gets overloaded and goes down. DDoS attacks breach the Internet Architecture Board’s proper use policy.
It is customary for tweets referring to Anonymous DDoS attacks to be accompanied by a “Tango Down” hash tag. Originally the term was used by special forces to say that an enemy had been eliminated.
Home Owners Across the Nation Sue All Bank Servicers and Their Offshore Havens;
Spire Law Officially Announces Filing of Landmark Lawsuit Largest International Money Laundering Network in History Formed During Obama Administration;
U.S. Banks’ Theft of Home Owners’ Money Laundered Through Cayman Islands, Isle of Man and Numerous Offshore-Based Affiliates NEW YORK, NY, Apr 23, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — In a lawsuit alleged to involve the largest money laundering network in United States history, Spire Law Group, LLP — on behalf of home owners across the Country — has filed a mass tort action in the Supreme Court of New York, County of Kings.
Home owners across the country have sued every major bank servicer and their subsidiaries — formed in countries known as havens for money laundering such as the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg and Malaysia — alleging that while the Obama Administration was publicly encouraging loan modifications for home owners, it was privately ratifying the formation of these shell companies in violation of the United States Patriot Act, and State and Federal law.
The case further alleges that through these obscure foreign companies, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, Citigroup, One West Bank, and numerous other federally chartered banks stole hundreds of millions of dollars of home owners’ money during the last decade and then laundered it through offshore companies. Read the rest of this entry →
What would happen to you if police caught you on video fraudulently voting? Would cops quickly arrest you and throw you in jail, only to have the District Attorney immediately charge you with fraud?
What would happen to elected government officials if they were caught doing the same? Absolutely nothing? Read the rest of this entry →
The government of Iceland has forgiven the mortgage debt for much of its population. This nation chose a very different way of stopping the crisis from the rest of European countries. It decided to hear the requests of the population and to put politicians and bankers on the bench of the accused three years after their financial excesses would sank one of the most prosperous economies in 2008.
Iceland Forgives Mortgage Debt for the Population. Putting Bankers and Politicians on “Bench of Accused”
This is awesome. It shows when the people DO STAND UP they have more power and win against the corrupt bankers and politicians of a country. Iceland is forgiving and erasing the mortgage debt of the population. Read the rest of this entry →
Two Big Mortgage Frauds: MERS and Tranche Insurance Payoffs
