MI5 asked Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo if he wanted to work for them about six months before the killing, a childhood friend has said.
Abu Nusaybah told BBC Newsnight his friend – one of two men arrested after Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder in south-east London on Wednesday – had rejected the approach from the security service.
The BBC could not obtain any confirmation from Whitehall sources.
Abu Nusaybah was arrested at the BBC after giving the interview.
The Met Police said a 31-year-old man had been arrested at 21:30 BST on Friday in relation to suspected terrorism offences and search warrants were being executed at two homes in east London.
The arrest was not directly related to the murder of Drummer Rigby, it said.
The soldier was killed in front of dozens of people near Woolwich Barracks, where he was based, on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who was also arrested at the scene, remain in hospital after being shot by police.
‘Bugging me’In his Newsnight interview, Abu Nusaybah said he thought “a change” had taken place in his friend after his detention by security forces on a trip to Kenya last year.
Abu Nusaybah said Mr Adebolajo suggested he had been physically and sexually abused during an interrogation in a prison cell in the African country.
After this, he became withdrawn “and less talkative – he wasn’t his bubbly self”, Abu Nusaybah added.
He said Mr Adebolajo also told him that, upon his return, he was “followed up by MI5″ who were “knocking on his door”.
He was “basically being harassed”, Abu Nusaybah said.
He added: “His wording was, ‘They are bugging me – they won’t leave me alone.’ ”He mentioned initially they wanted to ask him if he knew certain individuals. But after him saying that he didn’t know these individuals, what he said was they asked him if he would be interested in working for them. He was explicit in that he refused to work for them but he did confirm he didn’t know the individuals.”
Newsnight reporter Richard Watson said that, in general terms, it was not out of the ordinary for the security service to approach people for information or even to act as covert sources.
Mr Adebolajo, 28, originally from Romford, east London, and fellow suspect Michael Adebowale, 22, of Greenwich, south-east London, had been known to MI5 for eight years, Whitehall sources told the BBC on Thursday.
‘Devoted father’Two women, aged 29 and 31, arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, have been released without charge, but a man, 29, remains in custody.
On Friday, Drummer Rigby’s wife Rebecca, the mother of his two-year-old son, said she had been aware of the dangers of her husband serving in countries where there was armed conflict, including Afghanistan, but added: “You don’t expect it to happen when he’s in the UK. You think they’re safe.”
Drummer Lee Rigby’s family paid tribute to him in an emotional news conference:
She said: “I love Lee and always will. I am proud to be his wife. He was a devoted father to our son Jack and we will both miss him terribly.”
Drummer Rigby’s stepfather, Ian Rigby, said: “We would like to say ‘Goodnight Lee, rest in peace our fallen soldier. We love you loads and words cannot describe how loved and sadly missed you will be’.”
Mr Rigby added that his stepson “adored and cared a lot for his family, he was very much a family man, looking out for his wife, young son Jack, younger sisters, whom in turn they looked up to him”.
Where else but Washington D.C. could this story happen? Actually it could happen a lot of places in this country and that’s what is truly frightening. Back in January a boy was riding his bike when he was attacked by three Pit Bull Terriers. He was savagely maimed but a good samaritan likely saved his life by shooting and killing the first of three dogs. A police officer who heard the shot finished the job. But this man saved a child’s life and now he has been fined for doing so.
The bloody paw prints travel the length of a city block, from a Northwest Washington street corner where police said an 11-year-old was mauled by three pit bulls to the welcome mat at the dogs’ owner’s home.
Two days after the attack, in which police said all three dogs were fatally shot, the prints were a reminder of what happened at Eighth and Sheridan streets on Sunday afternoon. Police said a neighbor and an officer shot the pit bulls as they sank their teeth into the boy’s legs, arms, stomach and chest.
The boy underwent surgery and remains hospitalized, a family member said. One of the dogs managed to limp back to his house before he died, leaving the bloody trail up Eighth Street. The boy, the dog owner and the shooter live on the same block.
An uncle of the victim’s said the boy was riding a new Huffy dirt bike with orange rims he had gotten for Christmas. The uncle said his nephew emerged from an alley onto Sheridan Street, where he collided with the pit bulls.
D.C. police said the unleashed and unattended dogs attacked the boy before a neighbor who saw it went into his home, got his handgun and fired once, hitting one of the dogs. A D.C. police officer on bicycle patrol heard the shots, and authorities said he shot and killed the other two pit bulls. It was unclear from a police report exactly how many shots the officer fired.
“The injuries are terrible,” the boy’s uncle said, adding that he saw all three dogs with their teeth clenched on the youth’s extremities when the neighbor and officer opened fire. “This boy is traumatized,” the man said. “He told me doesn’t want to go outside anymore. He’s too scared.”
He also said his nephew was struck in the left foot by a bullet; police said they had no record that either a shot fired by the officer or the neighbor struck the boy.
The Good Samaritan in the story is a man named Benjamin Srigley. So what does he get for saving this boy’s life? The Washington Times reports:
Authorities last week made an agreement not to prosecute a Northwest D.C. man who used his unregistered handgun to kill a pit bull in order to stop it from mauling a child in his neighborhood. As part of the agreement, Benjamin Srigley, 39, was required to pay a $1,000 fine but will not have criminal charges filed against him for the three unregistered firearms and the ammunition that investigators found in his possession, said Ted Gest, a spokesman for the office of the attorney general.
“We took it into account that he saved this boy’s life,” Mr. Gest said.
Possession of an unregistered firearm or ammunition in the District is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, and prosecutors said Mr. Srigley could have faced up to seven criminal charges in the case.
“In our recent memory this is a unique charge because of the unusual circumstances of this case,” said Mr. Gest, whose office generally prosecutes low-level crime in the District.
They act like they did this man a favor. He doesn’t get jail time but still has to pay a $1000 fine. Is this justice?
And what is this “or ammunition” statement about? Do you have to register both your firearms and your bullets in The District of Columbia?
This is justice in Washington D.C.
If a Good Samaritan that saves a child’s life gets a $1000 fine, just imagine what those armed protestors might face on July 4th.
How nice of them. So . . . instead of jail time and a criminal record, Mr. Srigley will “only” be fined $1,000. Good thing it wasn’t an entire Little League team he’d saved–at $1,000 per kid’s life saved, a guy could go bankrupt pretty quickly. Speaking of pit bull attacks and gun laws, the loved ones of a woman in Los Angeles probably wish there had been a “gun criminal” like Mr. Srigley around when she was sentenced by the gun-haters to die in the jaws of vicious dogs.
Actually, and this probably has to be considered shocking generosity by D.C. standards, Mr. Srigley will even get his guns back (or at least the two that he did not use to save the boy’s life)–with the understanding that he will take them out of D.C., because he’s moving to Maryland (can’t help but wonder about Srigley’s choice of places to live, though).
By the way, the owner of the three pit bulls is now in his own legal hot water–facing three counts each (one for each dog) of possession of a dangerous dog, having an unleashed dog and having a dog without a collar. The maximum penalty for those nine counts is very likely less than what Mr. Srigley could have faced for his seven victimless “crimes,” had the prosecutors decided to aggressively make an example of him. That prosecutors are punishing the owner of the dogs seems the height of hypocrisy–by punishing the man who stopped the attack, they’ve already shown that they’re on the side of killer dogs, rather than the people who stop them.
Here’s the thing. A law that has to be broken in order to save the life of a child–to prevent him from being torn apart by vicious dogs–is very likely an evil law. And a “justice” system that punishes a man (even if “only” by fining him) for being a lifesaving hero–is institutionalized evil. Why, as a (theoretically) free citizen, does any American tolerate this?
Whatever happened to the spirit of justice in this country? In most towns and cities this man would have been made a hero but not everywhere.
In so many places, like D.C., people who make a difference are regarded as common criminals. The biggest victim is the boy who will carry emotional scars from that day for the rest of his life.
But thanks to Benjamin Srigley, at least he has a life in front of him.
Part of a road bridge has collapsed into the Skagit River in the US state of Washington.
Vehicles and people were thrown into the water after a section of the Interstate 5 highway collapsed at about 19:00 local time (02:00 GMT).
State officials said three people were rescued and there were no fatalities.
The four-lane bridge is near Mount Vernon, about half way between the state’s main city Seattle and the Canadian city of Vancouver.
The cause of the collapse is not yet clear.
Images showed a section of the bridge in the river with cars partly submerged. In one image taken shortly after the collapse a person was seen sitting on top of a car.
A rescue operation swung into action with rescue boats searching for people in the river.
Helicopter footage showed divers at the scene with several ambulances waiting on the riverbank. Floodlights were brought in as darkness fell.
One rescue boat left the scene with one person strapped into a stretcher.
Marcus Deyerin, spokesman for the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team, said three people had been rescued and sent to area hospitals. He didn’t know the extent of their injuries.
The Skagit Valley Herald quoted a driver who said he felt a vibration as he crossed the bridge and looked in his rear-view mirror to see that a section was no longer there.
Traffic was backed up on both sides of the river and crowds of people lined the riverbank to watch the scene unfold.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
According to a report, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is preparing legislation that would end the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and in doing so would remove much of the authority for the war on terror and all that comes with it.
“The current AUMF is outdated and straining at the edges to justify the use of force outside the war theater,” Schiff said to Wired’s Danger Room.
Schiff is still in the very early stages of drafting the bill and doesn’t even have a timeline for introducing it. Yet Schiff’s effort is quite noteworthy since there was only one previous effort to change the AUMF. Obviously that failed.
The supposed end of the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014 – though of course the U.S. drone presence there will continue after that – will be used as a hinge point for the sunsetting of the AUMF, according to Danger Room.
However, Schiff said that he is unsure if Congress should pass a new piece of legislation that would give the president a limited version of the war powers given under the AUMF.
The American counterterrorism “architecture is becoming increasingly unsustainable,” Schiff said, “ut I have only a less clear idea of what should follow.”
Rep. Barbara Lee, also a California Democrat, was the only legislator to vote against the AUMF in 2001 and has failed in her efforts to get the authorization repealed since that time.
“I’m convinced that if we do not repeal this authorization to use force that I voted against in 2001, we are going to see this state of perpetual war forever,” Lee said earlier this year, referring to the AUMF.
The possibility of some kind of reexamination of the AUMF looks more likely than ever, that is, if we can take Obama at his word. Unfortunately that is very hard to do.
“I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate,” Obama said during his speech at the National Defense University. “And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end.”
Similarly, generals from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior civilians at the Pentagon all argued that the AUMF was necessary and should remain in place unchanged during a hearing last week.
Obama’s position seems somewhat self-contradictory. Even Danger Room’s Spencer Ackerman pointed out, “At the National Defense University, Obama simultaneously talked about a longer war and removing his own authorities for waging it.”
“There’s probably bipartisan support for the idea that the existing AUMF is ill-suited to the nature of the threats we face now,” Schiff said.
Yet Schiff also noted there will probably be “bipartisan opposition to what would come after.”
Schiff’s efforts are still in the quite formative stages but it can’t hurt to encourage him to push for a much overdue challenge to the AUMF.
You can contact him by calling his Washington D.C. office at (202) 225-4176 or writing him at 2411 Rayburn HOB Washington D.C. 20515. You can contact him at his Burbank, California office by calling (818) 450-2900 or (323) 315-5555 or writing him at 245 East Olive Ave., #200 Burbank, California 91502.
Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on UCY.TV from 7 pm — 10 pm Pacific, which you can find HERE. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com
Two members of the FBI’s elite counterterrorism unit died Friday while practicing how to quickly drop from a helicopter to a ship using a rope, the FBI announced Monday in a statement.
The statement gave few details regarding the deaths of Special Agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw, other than to say the helicopter encountered unspecified difficulties and the agents fell a “significant distance.”
Last month, the team was involved in the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. And in February, it rescued a 5-year-old boy held hostage for six days in an underground bunker in Alabama.
“Whenever things go really wrong, the FBI calls in the Hostage Rescue Team. It’s the government’s 911,” Coulson said.
Irvin Wells, a former FBI special agent who retired in 1990 after leading the Norfolk field office for three years, stressed that the Hostage Rescue Team is different from the FBI’s regular SWAT teams. He noted that agents assigned to a field office’s SWAT team also must perform other jobs inside the bureau, while agents assigned to the Hostage Rescue Team have no other duties.
British news sites have blocked many of the you tube videos that have been put up on independent sites. I am trying to keep the content current so please bear with me. Liz.
Updates appear below the article
The murder in Woolwich yesterday was strange by any standards. A young man walking along John Wilson Street was knocked down by a dark blue car, hauled onto the pavement and hacked to death before being dumped back in the road. This happened at 14.20 in the afternoon in plain site of passers by.
Several of those passers by assumed the attackers were aiding the man after a road traffic accident when in fact he was being murdered in front of them, something that became apparent as the machete wielding attackers dragged his body into the road. In the words of an eyewitness:
When it was obvious the man was dead, and some reports say he was beheaded though this hasn’t been officially confirmed, the attackers never fled. They started talking to those who had witnessed the attack, asking them to take pictures and film them. They were making statements about British military engagements abroad and telling people to get rid of the government.
The way they referred to themselves seemed odd “…but in our land women see this every day…” seems to indicate an affiliation with a foreign nation, but seconds later they referred to “…our troops” withdrawing from Arab lands. The man spoke with a London accent but declared himself to be a follower of Islam.
When armed police arrived one of the men rushed them, holding the handgun and two bloodied knives. The police fired and both men were wounded one seriously. They were taken to different hospitals in London where they remain under armed guard.
Most of this was recorded on mobile phones by those witnessing the unfolding events. What isn’t known is who the victim was, though Whitehall confirmed this morning that he was a serving British soldier. It’s not known who the attackers are and what their exact motivation is. The EDL (English Defence League) called a protest last night and a crowd of 60 or so was dispersed by police under public order regulations.
The fact that a COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) meeting was called very early on into this is odd, COBRA meetings are usually only called when there is a threat to the national interest, they are not usually called for murders however tragic.
0845 David Cameron chairs COBRA meeting
0920 GMT British military personnel told not to wear uniform off base
0940 Boris Johnson says “London is open and business carries on as usual”
0945 Admiral Lord West says the Woolwich attackers have Nigerian links
10.37 Metropolitan police are conducting searches in Lincolnshire in connection with Woolwich case
11.15 Four people arrested in Greenwich in connection with the murder. Three women and a teenaged boy taken in a police van from a house not far from the murder scene
11.35 Cameron speaks after COBRA meeting. Talks of the bravery of the armed forces. ”we will not give into terrorism in any of its forms” he said. He speaks of extremism and terrorism and says that true Islam has no part in any terrorist acts. He will not comment on the men being known to the security forces prior to committing the murder in Woolwich.
12.12 One suspect named as Michael Adebalajo a UK citizen
Lizzie Bennett retired from her job as a senior operating department practitioner in the UK earlier this year. Her field was trauma and accident and emergency and she has served on major catastrophe teams around the UK. Lizzie publishes Medically Speaking on the topic of preparedness.
Sharyl Attkisson (twitter) is the one thing CBS News has going for it. She’s the real article. As real as you can be in the current news climate, while still working for a major media outlet.
She crashed the credibility of the CDC, as it was lying through its teeth about numbers of Swine Flu cases and overplaying the fake “epidemic.”
She’s taken on the horrific effects of vaccines, to the point where her Wikipedia page, through a series of unethical maneuvers, continues to characterize her as irrationally “anti-vaccine.”
She broke key elements of Fast&Furious. She’s a hound on Benghazi, and the Obama administration’s funding of “green programs.”
Now, she states that her computer was compromised in 2011, as she was covering Fast&Furious. She’s still working to find out what happened.
From Politico:
“Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy-award winning CBS News investigative reporter, says that her personal and work computers have been compromised and are under investigation.
“‘I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months but I’m not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today as I’ve been patient and methodical about this matter,’ Attkisson told POLITICO on Tuesday. ‘I need to check with my attorney and CBS to get their recommendations on info we make public.’
“Attkisson told WPHT that irregular activity on her computer was first identified in Feb. 2011, when she was reporting on the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal and on the Obama administration’s green energy spending, which she said ‘the administration was very sensitive about.’”
end Politico excerpt
Two computers compromised. Star reporter. Somebody gained physical access or remote access to those machines. Strong likelihood it started as a government response to Attkisson’s coverage of Fast&Furious. (Although, unfortunately, Attkisson should also look to someone at CBS as the possible hacker.)
All those nasty stories Attkisson’s worked on, over the years? If she ever wants to use sources from those pieces again, she’s going to have to convince them they won’t pay a steep price for talking to her.
Then, for future stories, she’s going to have to convince new sources they can talk to her without getting into serious trouble.
It’s the big chill. This is the government and its allies sending a message to reporters’ sources and potential sources, confidential or not: watch out; we’re listening in; we can make you sorry.
Since Attkisson has been working for “some months” trying to figure out and confirm where the hack of her computers came from, we can assume it was no amateur job.
The government doesn’t have to put reporters on trial for leaking classified information. It doesn’t have to mount a DOJ investigation against them. It can make reporters’ sources more timid and fearful. That works.
What well-known mainstream reporters (who are honest) don’t realize is this: if a mere dozen of them left their networks and newspapers and started reporting online and independently, they could provoke a firestorm.
The hypnotic public trust in corporate media depends on a united front maintained by networks and big newspapers: “we’re the real source of the news.”
This is a lie, of course, but it’s all about perception. If Attkisson and a few others broke ranks, a piece of the trance would crack and shatter.
I’m not talking about joining Politico or other such “reputable” online sites. I’m talking about reporters like Attkisson setting up shop on their own sites and leaving all their chains behind them.
There is an illusion that mainstream reporters need the kinds of sources for stories they can only obtain if they work for CBS or CNN or the Washington Post. That’s not true. Most of those sources are useless, when it comes to real investigative work.
The unwillingness to leave major networks is really about money, prestige, and job security. The big three. The truly vital journalistic investigations, which go unreported by the mainstream, are done and achieved without the need for the big three.
The fact that Attkisson has to spend time trying to figure out who hacked her computers shows that the mainstream is no haven for any kind of investigative reporter.
Stories are derailed, spiked, postponed indefinitely, and twisted in the world of conventional journalism. They are also hacked.
Government has been spying on reporters for decades. The CIA has formed close relationships with reporters for decades. What’s happened lately is nothing new. In fact, when the dust finally settles on this recent scandal, government will come out as the winner. Why? Because reporters’ sources will feel less confident about talking to reporters.
And that will satisfy the big mainstream news outlets as well—because they don’t really want to employ reporters who dig far below the surface and threaten to expose elite power players.
Back in 1982, when I was starting out as a reporter, I had a brief experience in this regard. On assignment from LA Weekly to expose behind-the-scenes players in Central America, where left-wing revolutions were spreading, I went to New York to do research.
I was homing in on one group that looked like it was funding fascist death squads in El Salvador and Nicaragua. I met with a man who I thought could provide me with information.
The conversation took a strange turn. He told me he could hook me up with an editor at a newspaper who needed “bright reporters.” The money, he said, would be good, much better than I was making working for LA Weekly.
I turned him down. Later, I discovered that the editor he wanted me to meet was supporting the group who was funding death squads.
I probably could have taken a job with that newspaper. I could have covered a wide range of interesting stories…but not the story I was working on. Definitely not that one.
When you work as a staff employee for a major newspaper or television news outlet, you deal with two censorship poisons. The government and your own employer.
It’s a party, but not one you want to sign up for, unless you’re excited about giving up your freedom. The money is there, and I have nothing against money, but there is a heavy downside. You’re a slave, and you know it every time you wander off the reservation and touch the electrified fence.
In a real sense, your computer is hacked the minute you walk through the door, sign the papers, and take the job.
The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world.
Asteroid 1998QE2 will reach its nearest point to Earth on May 31st. The rock which is 1.7 miles wide will fly by at a distance of 3.6 million miles, but even at that distance it should be visible to backyard astronomers. During the first week of June it will reach a brightness of 11th magnitude.
The sunspot number today is 119. Sunspot AR1748 has substantially decayed and is less likely to throw off X-class flares but M-class are still possible with NOAA estimating the chances of such an event at 50% during the next 24 hours, with a 20% chance of an X-class during the same period.
The coronal wind blowing from the coronal holes that appeared at the bottom centre and bottom west of the sun disc are still set to reach Earth on May 23-24th and there is a 30% chance of polar geomagnetic storms at that time.
Over the next few days Venus, Jupiter and Mercury will be visible and will come together forming a triangle in the western sky. Their closest approach will be May 26th. They should be visible to the naked eye in clear conditions.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
Lois Lerner, head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt filings, will take the Fifth in front of Congress tomorrow.
She won’t answer questions. She won’t say, for example, why she never informed Congress that she knew there was criminal fiddling going on at the IRS, where employees “gave extra scrutiny” to tea party, conservative, patriot, and other groups during the application process.
Instead, as the DOJ launches a criminal investigation, Lerner will tell the House Oversight Committee, “I decline to answer. I invoke my Fifth Amendment right.” Multiple times she will say this.
Meaning: “If I answer, I could incriminate myself.”
Her lawyer, William Taylor, has asked the Committee to excuse Lerner from testifying tomorrow, Wednesday, since she won’t be answering questions. Taylor wrote to the House Committee, “[Forcing her to testify would] have no other purpose other than to embarrass or burden her.”
Tsk, tsk. Mustn’t embarrass a person who has committed crimes. Be nice. Be kind. Yes, Lois Lerner failed to tell the Committee anything about IRS crimes, when she testified four times last year, but so what? Give her a break. Goodness gracious, don’t put her through an ordeal.
Somehow, Lerner’s lawyer’s logic doesn’t stand up. But he’s a lawyer, so that’s no surprise.
Then there was this: a presidential election last year. 2012? Obama? Remember?
If Lois Lerner had blown the whistle then, and the full-blown scandal that’s erupting now had occurred before the election, who knows who would have won the presidency.
Lois was obviously protecting a president running to win a second term. She’s “pre-taking” the Fifth now and hoping she won’t have to appear before the Committee tomorrow, so the Obama administration won’t have to risk hearing a Congressman ask, WERE YOU PROTECTING THE PRESIDENT FROM SCANDAL IN AN ELECTION YEAR?
WERE YOU LYING SO OBAMA COULD WIN REELECTION?
Ahem…the Fifth Amendment wasn’t designed for that purpose. It was designed so a person wouldn’t have to incriminate himself/herself. The Fifth doesn’t exist to protect someone else from scandal.
We get it, Lois. We get what you’re up to.
If you do stand before the Committee tomorrow, why don’t you just say, “I refuse to answer on the grounds that I would cast doubt on the 2012 presidential election and the president.” Come out with it.
One question, though. Are you sure the president you’re protecting isn’t named George Bush? Because this sounds a lot like what Bush’s people were doing all those years.
Am I dreaming here? This is the Obama administration, right? The presidency that was supposed to be transparent and good and different and transcendent, and prophetic of a New Age?
Gee, you mean it’s just biz as usual? It’s every presidency and every administration that pulls dirty tricks? It’s one continuous, unbroken line of diabolical scum at work?
What a shock. Let me hold on to my chair, because the room might start spinning.
Lois, what if there is no Clark? What if he’s not in some phone booth taking off his suit and turning into Superman, so he can rescue you? What if the president and his henchmen are just throwing you to the wolves?
Consider that. Then consider what would happen if you changed your mind at the 11th hour, and instead of taking the Fifth, you checked into the Committee room tomorrow and told everything, and I mean everything, you know.
You could rock the vote, retrospectively. You could make the kind of splash we rarely see. You could upset so many apple carts it would be wondrous to behold.
Wasn’t this administration supposed to be about a massive healing and cleansing? You could make it so, Lois. You could engage with the people, for once, and tell the truth.
I know you’re sweating bullets right now, but think about it.
Imagine the looks on the faces of Steven Miller, Eric Holder, Barack Obama.
The truth and the whole truth.
Priceless.
Lois, your lawyer, Taylor, has written to the House Committee, “[Lois] has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation, but under the circumstances, she has no choice but to take this course [and invoke the Fifth].”
Wow, Lois, do you see how crazy it’s getting? Your own attorney is basically saying you have no reason to take the Fifth…except for the fact that you have to protect other people. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that what he really means? So who is he really working for?
You’re out there alone. You’re exposed. Why not give them all the shaft and tell the whole sordid story?
The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world.
Defense Distributed’s Liberator was printed using an $8,000 secondhand Stratasys Dimension SST. At the time of writing, a used 2004 Stratasys Dimension SST is being sold on eBay for $9,999.
The Lulz Liberator, on the other hand, was printed on a $1,725 Lulzbot AO-101 3D printer by a Wisconsin engineer calling himself “Joe,” who asked Andy Greenberg of Forbes not to reveal his name.
Joe successfully fired the Lulz Liberator nine times using .380 caliber rounds and a string for safety purposes, vastly beating out the durability of the Defense Distributed Liberator.
While the original Liberator was generally only fired once per printed barrel in testing, Joe’s model successfully fired eight rounds on one barrel before a new barrel was swapped out for the ninth round.
“The only reason we stopped firing is because the sun went down,” Joe said.
Aside from the improved durability, the Lulz Liberator is a significant step forward because it was printed over only 48 hours with just $25 of plastic on a desktop 3D printer available for consumer use.
“People think this takes an $8,000 machine and that it blows up on the first shot. I want to dispel that,” Joe said. “This does work, and I want that to be known.”
See the Lulz Liberator being tested below via Andy Greenberg:
Joe used generic Polylac PA-747 ABS plastic, the same type used in most consumer 3D printers, for the gun. He maintains that the plastic he used is actually stronger than the more costly ABS plastic used in the Stratasys printer employed by Defense Distributed.
However, Joe’s design also has more metal hardware than the original Liberator. For instance, Joe used hardware store screws to hold the hammer in the body instead of the printed plastic pins used in the original design.
The Lulz Liberator, like the original, uses a metal nail for a firing pin and according to Greenberg “includes a chunk of non-functional steel designed to make it detectable with a metal detector so that it complies with the Undetectable Firearms Act.”
Furthermore, Joe added rifling to the barrel in order to avoid falling under the National Firearms Act, which regulates weapons with smooth-bore barrels among other improvised weapons.
The rifling may also be a first in firearms manufacturing.
“I may be the first person in the history of mankind to fire a bullet through a plastic rifled barrel. It’s an interesting feeling,” Joe said. “I feel like Samuel Colt.”
Joe’s model still presented problems, according to Joe and Michael Guslick, a Wisonconsin engineer known for printing one of the first working lower receivers for an AR-15.
They said that during their testing the weapon misfired several times. Some screws and its firing pin had to be replaced during the test firing as well.
The ammunition cartridges also expanded enough that they needed to be pounded out with a hammer, according to the engineers.
“Other than that, it’s pretty much confirming that yes, Defense Distributed is correct that this functions,” Guslick said. “And it’s possible to make one on a much lower cost printer.”
Since the Liberator’s blueprints were put online this month, this much progress is indeed impressive, bugs included.
“It’s not yet clear if or when Joe or Guslick plans to release their modified blueprint for the Liberator online,” according to Greenberg.
If they do, they might get the same kind of treatment from the State Department enjoyed by Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, a man who calls himself a crypto-anarchist and market anarchist.
“I’m trying to do the same thing Cody wants to do,” Joe said. “I’m not an anarchist, but I don’t like the idea that the government is telling us ‘You can’t have that.’ I agree with Cody’s idea that this is a perfect fusion of the first and second amendments.”
It will be fascinating to see if Joe puts the plans online and how the State Department reacts to that decision.
Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on UCY.TV from 7 pm — 10 pm Pacific, which you can find HERE. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com
Lizz Winstead, the co creator of the popular Daily Show, is facing a massive backlash after she sent out an insensitive tweet that joked about the horrific Oklahoma tornado’s possible political motivations.
The tweet, sent before much of the devastation in Oklahoma was revealed, has lead to outrage from many of her followers as well as numerous bloggers throughout the internet.
In attempting to use the Oklahoma tornado to comment on the IRS scandal that has rocked the White House in recent weeks, Winstead came off looking insensitive to the thousands of people who have been devastated by the super tornado.
She thought she was making a topical political joke, but a co-creator of ‘The Daily Show’ managed to enrage many of her followers after tweeting joke about the Oklahoma tornado’s political motivations.
‘This tornado is in Oklahoma so clearly it has been ordered to only target conservatives,’ wrote comedian Lizz Winstead, in a tweet, around 3:30 Monday afternoon.
The tweet was an apparent attempt at using the occasion of the May 20 twister to comment on the scandal currently plaguing the IRS and Obama administration.
After arguing with followers who were angry with her tweet, Winstead finally realized the horrific damage that Oklahoma had just suffered.
But then gravity of the tornado’s impact became clear. Winstead’s joke suddenly wasn’t so humorous and the normally funny lady was all red.
‘Made a political joke, Twas before devastation revealed. In hindsight, had I understood, I would have refrained. Beyond sorry. #LetMeHaveIt’ she tweeted about three and a half hours after her original joke.
News of her faux pas had spread by then, however.
She deleted the tweet, but the ire continued flowing into her Twitter page.
‘Hey Lizz, you’re clearly a numbskull,’ wrote Twitter user @catpooper.
Winstead agreed. ‘Worse thing is I am from MN! I know this!! Bad joke. Bad Timing. Just bad.’
{…..}
Winstead continued to apologize and then began trying to rebuild her karma.
‘Im recommending Make a donation now. Text REDCROSS to 90999. If any Oklahomans have a charity that they love, hit me up I’ll tweet it out,’ she wrote at 9pm.
The fact of the matter is that a prominent and rich Obama supporter thought they would use the tornado to make the IRS scandal look ridiculous and one sided. Instead, she was outed as an insensitive political hack.
Daniel Jackson is a seasoned journalist with a passion for exposing corruption and the lies of the global elite. DJ has a passion for truth and liberty that is shown through his extensive reporting on numerous globally significant topics not normally covered by the corporate controlled media. He is is a writer, researcher and editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
Update #3: CNN is reporting that the official toll of dead is 51 but at least 40 more are reported to have died.
Update #2: The total number of dead has risen to 51 with the number expected to continually rise throughout the night.
Update: A breaking news report that quoted the state medical examiner has revealed that at least 37 people have died, with at least 7 of them being children.
The report also confirmed that a third grade class with over 20 children was taking refuge in a hallway of one of the schools that was completely destroyed. Stories of teachers using themselves as human shields are so flooding the airwaves.
The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office says at least 37 people were killed, and the death toll is expected to rise, after a monstrous tornado as much as a mile wide with winds up to 200 mph roared through Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and setting buildings on fire.
KFOR-TV reports that up to 24 children are believed dead at the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore and that it has turned into a search and recovery effort. The storm tore off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal. Several children were pulled alive from the rubble, however. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain to a triage center in the parking lot.
At least seven of the children drowned after being found at the bottom of a pool at Plaza Towers, according to KFOR.
Original Report:
In a scene more reminiscent of a warzone than an American city, parts of Oklahoma City and its outlying suburbs have been wrecked by a mile wide tornado that left devastation in its wake.
Local news outlets are reporting that two different schools were destroyed, with one being directly hit by the 200 mile per hour super tornado. One report claims that at least 15 children are still trapped in one of the damaged schools.
Oklahoma’s local TV station KFOR is reporting that up to 15 children and staff members are trapped under an elementary school that has been directly hit by the massive tornado sweeping the area at the moment.
The station, who are at the school, said up to 75 people were sheltering when the tornado hit.
Children being rescued from Plaza Towers elementary. Preliminary report: 75 children taking shelter in school.FROM @KFOR ON TWITTER:
KFOR news anchor: “We unfortunately think that some kids were still in those school buildings.”FROM @NYCJIM ON TWITTER:
KFOR’s Lance West: Firefighters trying to save kids in collapsed classrooms, at least 15 kids trapped; 75 were in there, status unknown FROM @ACARVIN ON TWITTER:
Whether or not the children are still stranded at the time of this writing is unknown, with news coming out of the area being extremely hard to confirm.
A report by the LA Times revealed more information on the damaged schools and trapped teachers and students.
Two elementary schools were destroyed, and an untold number of homes and businesses sustained heavy damage near the cities of Moore, Newcastle and Oklahoma City. CNN reported that rescue crews swarmed over Plaza Towers Elementary School, where 75 students and staff had sought refuge in a hallway.
Britane Diacon-Boese of Oklahoma City was worried about students she works with. “I have clients who can’t be found,” she said.
“I’m terrified; I’m completely terrified,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “There’s no power, it’s all down.”
The other school hit by the tornado was Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma City. Local newscasters reported that children were trapped inside.
A spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management told the USA Today that officials are still assessing the damage and that they basically do not have an idea as to how bad it actually is besides what can be seen in the horrific images being transmitted on TV from helicopters on the scene.
Oklahoma authorities were still assessing damage but had no immediate reports of injuries or possible deaths, said Keli Cain, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Power was knocked out to more than 26,000 customers.
“Right now we really don’t have a good idea of the damage,” she said. “We’re seeing a lot of footage on TV of widespread damage in Moore, Okla., but it’s certainly too early to have any idea of the number of homes destroyed…. We know there are homes destroyed, businesses destroyed. … It’s very early.”
Stay tuned as we will be updating this report as more information comes in.
Daniel Jackson is a seasoned journalist with a passion for exposing corruption and the lies of the global elite. DJ has a passion for truth and liberty that is shown through his extensive reporting on numerous globally significant topics not normally covered by the corporate controlled media. He is is a writer, researcher and editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
The following is an account of an elderly lady in the UK who went into a residential care home for a few weeks whilst the council house (social housing) she lived in was updated to better suit her needs as a disabled individual.
The fact that it happened in the UK does not mean it cannot happen wherever you are…it does happen, all over the world where low paid, badly trained, disinterested ‘care’ workers are employed to take care of our vulnerable people.
You can replace the word senior, with disabled, autistic, retarded, handicapped, anything you like. Across the globe vulnerable people are being sold short by incompetence and even worse, by lack of interest on the part of those looking after them.
I know this case intimately, Norma Spear was my Mother. I had taken care of her for a long time, but she had a fall, went into hospital and it was decided that it would be better for her to go into a residential home for a few weeks whilst her home was upgraded to suit her needs.
Oh how I have regretted that decision.
I nagged, cajoled and even outright screamed at the care staff to get help, to call a doctor, they lied repeatedly, said they had, said anti-biotics had been prescribed. Oh the drugs had, but the prescription was lying on the desk for days before someone finally decided to collect them.
For six days, at a formal court inquest I sat, with my eldest daughter, listening to lies, listening to learned council trying to shift the blame. When I gave my evidence they called me every type of liar without actually using the word liar.
But the truth came out, and I thank God for that.
What follows is part of the newspaper report of what happened at the inquest and how my mother came to die. Read it, digest it, think about it, watch for the signs that could tell you something is wrong with the care your loved one is getting.
Its too late for my mom, but there still might be time for your mother, or father, uncle, aunt, gran or any other relative who is receiving state care.
Birmingham care home left gran to die of thirst
Gross neglect by staff at a Birmingham care home led to a gran dying of dehydration, a coroner ruled in a damning inquest verdict.
Norma Spear, 71, died in Moseley Hall Hospital on November 6, 2010, three days after she was admitted from Druids Meadow residential home in Highter’s Heath.
Mrs Spear, from Harborne, developed a urinary tract infection in her five weeks at the home which stunted her appetite and led her to become dangerously dehydrated, the inquest heard.
Her daughter said her mum’s stay at the home, during which she lost 35lbs to weigh just over five stones, was only supposed to be temporary and that she was due to return to her house in Harborne once a new fire had been fitted.
Birmingham’s deputy coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe identified 11 failures – five of them severe enough to merit gross neglect – by staff at the home to act on serious concerns about her health.
In reaching a verdict, following a six-day inquest at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall, Mrs Ormond-Walshe said Ms Spear had “died of natural causes to which neglect contributed”.
She added:
“The failures I found are gross because they were so terribly simple.Without one or more of these gross failures, Norma Spear would have survived. She was at risk of the very thing she died of and that risk had been told to staff by a social worker. It should have been obvious she was not drinking sufficiently for at least the last two weeks. It does not require medical training.”
Most of the errors cataloged centered around the staff’s failure to call a doctor, despite repeated requests from her daughter, and to properly investigate Mrs Spear’s worrying weight loss.
Mrs Ormond-Walshe also highlighted four criticisms against some of the GPs attached to Druids Meadow, including failures to establish Ms Spear’s medical history and to properly diagnose her dehydration.
Speaking after the verdict, her daughter said:
“It’s a bittersweet feeling really. We’ve got the decision that she would have lived longer and had that confirmed by medical experts. We feel vindicated but it’s an empty win.”
Norma’s granddaughter Becci, wept as the list of failures were read out in court.
The 32-year-old mum said:
“She did nothing but care for other people and she died because she was not properly cared for by other people. I’m disgusted with them and hope it affects them for the rest of their lives.”
Birmingham City Council’s legal advisor, Edward Pepperall QC, said the coroner should feel comforted the home closed in 2011 and that the authority had replaced a large number of its care homes with four care centers. He said an internal review of how paperwork was updated and stored had taken place and that the Care Quality Commission had carried out subsequent inspections.
Those in charge of the home could still face disciplinary proceedings, he said.
The inquest had been told how Mrs Spear was taken to Moseley Hall on June 3, 2010, after suffering a fall at home.
She fully recovered from her injuries and despite needing encouragement to eat and drink, her weight was stabilized at around eight stone.
But her weight dropped and her health quickly deteriorated after she moved from the hospital into Druids Meadow on September 28. Her daughter, Mrs Bennett who now lives in Hampshire, told the court how she had repeatedly asked staff to arrange for a doctor to see her mum amid fears she was dangerously dehydrated and was losing weight.
Despite her concerns, exacerbated by Mrs Spear’s medical history, staff at the home did not arrange for a doctor to see Mrs Spear until November 1. She died five days later.
Lizzie Bennett retired from her job as a senior operating department practitioner in the UK earlier this year. Her field was trauma and accident and emergency and she has served on major catastrophe teams around the UK. Lizzie publishes Medically Speaking on the topic of preparedness.
A former Philadelphia police officer once hailed as a hero and given a seat next to the first lady at a speech by President Obama has been arrested and charged with rape and other crimes.
Authorities allege that former officer Richard DeCoatsworth left a party with two females and took them to another location, where they allege he produced a handgun and forced them to use narcotics and engage in sexual acts.
A police spokeswoman said the victims called police and the 27-year-old DeCoatsworth was charged with rape, sexual assault, terroristic threats and related offences.
WCAU-TV, which first reported the arrest, said DeCoatsworth retired from the Philadelphia Police Department on disability in 2011.
DeCoatsworth had been honoured for valour after he chased down a man who shot him in the face with a shotgun during a traffic stop in 2007.
Vice President Joe Biden invited DeCoatsworth to attend President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress in February 2009, where he sat between Jill Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama.
I’ve been covering the sheriffs of Colorado for some time now, especially in light of the fact that Colorado gun grabbers were pushing their agenda so hard following the Sandy Hook shooting. I first wrote about and have become friends with Hinsdale County Sheriff Ron Bruce, and his personal stand in his county against new gun laws. I covered Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said he will not enforce the new state gun laws, saying they were “unenforceable” and arguing that they give a “false sense of security.” At the beginning of April, I wrote about Elbert County Colorado Sheriff Shayne Heap as he blasted Barack Obama using his state as political grandstand for gun control. Well now, these sheriffs are standing up to Governor John Hickenlooper and the Colorado legislature that has been controlled by Socialist Democrats and 54 of 62 Colorado Sheriffs are supporting the filing of a lawsuit against the new gun laws.
On Friday, the lawsuit was announced. The Denver Post reports:
At a news conference held at the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank, the sheriffs and representatives from the Colorado Farm Bureau, Women for Concealed Carry and members of Outdoor Buddies — a charitable organization for disabled individuals — explained their case Friday.
The lawsuit claims that the magazine bill, which limits gun magazines to 15 rounds, and the background check bill, which requires background checks for all transfers and sales of firearms, are unconstitutional.
The suit alleges the bills violate the 14th Amendment — plaintiffs claim aspects of the magazine bill are vaguely worded, which they believe would violate the 14th Amendment — the Second Amendment and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
“These bills do nothing to make Colorado a safer place to live, to work, to play, to raise a family,” said Weld County Sheriff John Cooke. “It should never have even gotten to this point in the first place.”
Gilpin County Sheriff Bruce Hartman believes the bills that were signed into law could have benefited from the input of the sheriffs. “In the past, (the legislature) has consulted sheriffs on DUI bills and many things like that,’” he said. “In this case, they did not wish to have our input. I think that is very obvious, and that’s disappointing.”
While there is clearly a violation of the U.S. Constitution, there seems to be some enforcement issues as well.
El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said the laws are not only unconstitutional, but also confusing and unenforceable.
For example, the ban on magazines was discussed by its Democratic sponsors as applying only to those that hold more than 15 rounds, in response to mass-shooting incidents in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn.
But the law also outlaws any magazine that can be easily converted to hold more than 15 rounds, which applies to practically all magazines with a removable base plate that can be replaced with an after-market extender.
After July 1, the owners of such magazines cannot sell them, loan them or give them away. In effect, it means that even if they give their weapon to someone else for safekeeping — or, in the case of one wheelchair-bound plaintiff who spoke Friday, to hold momentarily as he gets in and out of his chair — they will be breaking the law.
The background-check requirement is also unduly burdensome, the sheriffs say. Maketa gave as an example a neighbor of his who, under the new law, would have to perform a background check on his fiancé if he left his firearm with her when he deploys with the military.
Maketa said, “It’s not a matter of whether I choose to enforce it or not. It’s unenforceable.”
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has given their support to the lawsuit. In a statement, Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, said “The National Rifle Association, the many plaintiffs in this case, and the law-abiding gun owners in the state of Colorado know that the recently enacted gun control laws are unconstitutional.”
The Democrats want to make it about politics. They maintain the public is on their side, and say legislators carefully crafted the proposals that were signed.
“These laws were not constructed haphazardly,” said Democratic Sen. Mary Hodge, the sponsor of the magazine limit. “They were constructed to protect us from massacres like the ones we suffered in Aurora and Newtown.”
Some of the relatives of victims of the Colorado shooting criticized the sheriffs for filing the lawsuit and accused them of playing politics. “As a parent who lost my son Alex at the Aurora theater shooting, I ask these people to put themselves in my place,” Tom Sullivan said in a statement. “I do not understand why these politicians are picking guns over people.”
The problem that Senator Hodge and Mr. Sullivan don’t understand is that it is the Democrats and the gun control mentality of those who are most emotional in the issue that are playing with people’s lives and they are doing it in the arena of politics.
Democrats and gun grabbers have an agenda. The rest of us just want to be left alone and would like for them to follow the law, not make up new ones.
The lawsuit involves sheriffs from 54 of Colorado’s 64 counties, most representing rural, gun-friendly areas of the state.
The sheriffs have been calling on lawmakers in the state to listen to them and they have appealed to the Constitution, but the Socialist Democrats have taken over the legislature and are hell bent on helping to push the very agenda the leader of their party, Barack Hussein Obama, is attempting to force down the throats of the American people. I look forward to the outcome of this lawsuit.
Members of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus are the latest to join the many people raising concerns about GoogleGlass in a letter to Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page in which they request answers to eight pointed questions.
Many venues have preemptively banned Glass including a Seattle bar, casinos and strip clubs in Las Vegas and the entire state of West Virginia is trying to ban wearing Glass while driving, according to the Independent.
“Respect our customers privacy as we’d expect them to respect yours,” stated Seattle’s Five Point Café, becoming the first to ban Glass, according to Reuters. Some movie theaters may also join the trend.
Yet Google figures have been quick to dismiss any and all concerns.
“Criticisms are inevitably from people who are afraid of change or who have not figured out that there will be an adaptation of society to it,” Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said during a talk at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in April.
One of the questions posed by members of Congress in their letter concerned facial recognition capabilities.
Google claims that no facial recognition technology is built into the device and there are no plans to implement it “unless we have strong privacy protections in place.”
However, most readers are likely aware of the fact that the technology could indeed be rolled out silently or indeed built into the device without Google admitting it.
When Google can get out of an antitrust probe and investigations into theft of highly personaldata with less than a slap on the wrist, why would we trust them to be honest about Glass?
The members of Congress point to Google’s horrific privacy track record and ask, “we would like to know how Google plans to prevent Google Glass from unintentionally collecting data about the user/non-user without consent?”
Some of the many other important questions asked include:
What proactive steps is Google taking to protect the privacy of non-users when Google Glass is in use?
Would Google place limits on the technology and what type of information it can reveal about another person?
Given Google Glass’s sensory and processing capabilities, has Google considered making any additions or refinements to its privacy policy?
Would Google Glass collect any data about the user without the user’s knowledge and consent?
Is Google planning to make privacy a priority for future app developers?
“We request your responses to the above questions no later than Friday, June 14, 2013,” the members of Congress stated.
At a Google Glass event at the Google I/O conference, some of the questions were indirectly addressed.
“Privacy was top of mind as we designed the product,” Steve Lee, the product director for Glass, said.
“You’ll know when someone with Glass is paying attention to you. If you’re looking at Glass, you’re looking up,” Lee said, referring to the fact that the Glass display located right above the eye, according to ABC News.
“We are thinking very carefully about how we design Glass because new technology always raises new issues,” Google said in a statement. “Our Glass Explorer program, which reaches people from all walks of life, will ensure that our users become active participants in shaping the future of this technology.”
The future of the technology may not be all that bright.
“There are state wiretap laws that require consent of a user before they are recorded. Users may violate state wiretap laws while using Glass,” Brad Shear, a Washington-area attorney and blogger, told ABC news.
It will be interesting to see if the members of Congress will publish Google’s specific answers to their probing and quite appropriate questions and concerns.
How the story actually put anyone in danger, even if the AP is lying about getting the story cleared by the government, is unclear.
Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on UCY.TV from 7 pm — 10 pm Pacific, which you can find HERE. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will not be indicted within the 30 days even though that is the requirement under the Federal Speedy Trial Act. Prosecutors didn’t explain why they need more time, just that the indictment will not be going ahead on Monday as was previously expected.
Tsarnaev is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the Boston marathon bombing that killed 3 and injured 260.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
About 60 people have been injured, five critically, after a head-on, rush-hour collision between two commuter trains near New York City, officials say.
Some 250 people were on the trains involved in Friday evening’s crash. No fatalities have been reported.
Officials said a train that left New York City’s Grand Central station en route to New Haven, Connecticut, derailed then was hit by another train.
Amtrak has suspended its service between New York and Boston.
Metro-North Railroad described it as a “major derailment”, just outside Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy said the front of one of the trains had been extensively damaged and its wheels were “sticking into the other train”.
One of the five people with the most serious injuries was described as being in a “very critical” condition.
Investigators are trying to find out what caused the crash, which came shortly after 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT).
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
Vermont seemed more likely than ever to become the first US state to mandate the labeling of genetically modified food (GMO) after a bill passed the state house, though legislators worry about a lawsuit threat from biotech giant Monsanto.
Similar bills seeking to provide consumers with labels at the grocery store that highlight what products contain GMOs have recently failed. In California, a ballot initiative which bypassed Congress after receiving 850,000 signatures was defeated in 2012 after a large consortium of biotech companies including Monsanto spent some $50 million on an ad blitz against the legislation.
As RT reported in late April, a new federal bill which would mandate the labeling of GMOs, the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act, was introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR). Though few expect such laws to pass on a national level, the bill was notable for its inclusion of a wider base of bipartisan support, with nine Senate co-sponsors and 22 cosponsors in the House.
Though sixty-four other countries, including EU members, China, Russia, Brazil, India and Japan already have existing regulations in place to label GMOs for consumers the issue is a highly contentious one in the US, both at the federal and state level.
According to Senator Boxer, more than 90 per cent of Americans support the labeling of genetically engineered products. Though the Food and Drug Administration requires the labeling of over 3,000 ingredients, additives and processes it does not consider GMOs to be “materially” different as they cannot be tasted, smelled or identified by consumers by other means.
A demonstrator holds a sign during a rally in support of the state’s upcoming Proposition 37 ballot measure in San Francisco, California October 6, 2012. (Reuters / Stephen Lam)
Legally, part of the argument for labeling GMOs rests on the US Patent and Trademark Office determination that GMOs are in actually materially different and novel, at least for patents filed by the biotech companies that produce and sell these products.
As for Vermont’s bill, according to coverage by local public radio no state representatives had any opposition to transparency in food labeling, though some were concerned by a looming lawsuit by the biotech industry.
“Nobody else has passed a similar bill. They all seem to be waiting for Vermont to go first and lead the nation, ” said Representative Tom Koch (R-Barre).
“What they mean is they don’t want to risk their taxpayers’ money; they want us to risk Vermonters’ money. That is a $5 million to $10 million risk, and one I am not willing to take,” he added.
No representatives on Thursday argued against the concept of more transparent food labeling. The most frequent point of opposition voiced on the floor concerned a likely lawsuit from the biotech or food industries that the Attorney General’s Office estimates could cost the state more than $5 million.
Vermont’s legislation appears to have been watered down to partly guard against the threat of legal action taken by companies like Monsanto, exempting meat, milk and eggs from animals fed or treated with genetically engineered products, which would include GMO corn feed and the rBGH cattle hormone.
In the US genetically modified food is widely available. As much as 90 per cent of corn, sugar beet and soybean crops are genetically altered, and some 70 per cent of processed foods at a typical supermarket contain GMOs. Other common GMO items include tomatoes, potatoes and squash.
If passed by Vermont’s senate and signed into law, the new labeling requirements would likely not go into effect for another two years. Activists believe that the legislation stands a good chance, owing to its wide margin of support 107-37 in the house.
In an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, famed veteran journalist Bob Woodward noted the importance of bringing out the truth in regards to Benghazi while noting that it is indeed comparable, if not worse, than Watergate.
“I have to go back 40 years to Watergate when Nixon put out his edited transcripts to the conversations, and he personally went through them and said, ‘Oh, let’s not tell this, let’s not show this.’ I would not dismiss Benghazi. It’s a very serious issue. As people keep saying, four people were killed.”
The corporate media has indeed done everything they can to make the Benghazi scandal as partisan as possible and in doing so they have made it a Republican Vs. Democrat issue when it should be a non partisan issue uncovering the facts of how four Americans died. This is not a political game, it is a matter of life and death.
Daniel Jackson is a seasoned journalist with a passion for exposing corruption and the lies of the global elite. DJ has a passion for truth and liberty that is shown through his extensive reporting on numerous globally significant topics not normally covered by the corporate controlled media. He is is a writer, researcher and editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
A ‘minor’ miscommunication has resulted in suspected and KNOWN terrorists to board flights in the United States. The failure to update the details of terrorist on witness protection programs who had been given new identities resulted in them boarding and traveling on domestic and international flights.
“it was possible for known or suspected terrorists to fly on commercial airplanes in or over the United States and evade one of the government’s primary means of identifying and tracking terrorists’ movements and actions”.
Terrorism linked witnesses have been eligible for witness protection for many years and this allows them to be given new identities and to be resettled in other parts of the United States. The program has shielded those who have co-operated with federal government in helping secure prosecutions for incidents such as the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 and the New York City suicide bomb plot in 2009.
I wonder how it can be right that measures are put in place to ensure that upstanding American veterans such as Saadiq Long have to fight for months to be allowed to return home to the United States because they are on a no-fly list but known terrorists, and those who by their own admission have terrorist links can be allowed to travel around freely due to a ‘minor’ miscommunication.
The Justice Department has said it has reviewed and amended its information sharing policy and a restrictive travel policy has now been implemented.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
Human cloning has taken a huge step forward with the revelation that the process has been used to successfully create an early human embryo called a blastocyst.
The cloned embryos were used as a source of stem cells, the cells that can be used to make any other kind of body tissue, such as heart muscle or bone.
The study, published in the journal Cell used the same methods used by British scientists to create the first fully cloned animal, a sheep named Dolly in 1996.
Doctors regard stem cells as the greatest hope currently available in medicine. The stem cells can be turned into any body tissue giving rise to the possibility of regenerating a severed spine, repairing heart attack damage and even possibly restoring sight.
Although trials are taking place using stem cells from donated embryos those cells do not match the patient and are ultimately rejected by the body, just as a transplanted liver would be. Cloning the cells prevents this rejection and the need to take drugs to prevent it.
Opponents to the study and use of stem cells site the research as unethical, stating that every embryo has the possibility of developing into a full human and therefore should not be used in experimentation.
Regarding the leap forward Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov said of the research by the team from the Oregon Health and Science University:
“A thorough examination of the stem cells derived through this technique demonstrated their ability to convert just like normal embryonic stem cells, into several different cell types, including nerve cells, liver cells and heart cells.
While there is much work to be done in developing safe and effective stem cell treatments, we believe this is a significant step forward in developing the cells that could be used in regenerative medicine.”
Dr David King, from the campaign group Human Genetics Alert viewed the matter quite differently, he warned:
“Scientists have finally delivered the baby that would-be human cloners have been waiting for: a method for reliably creating cloned human embryos. This makes it imperative that we create an international legal ban on human cloning before any more research like this takes place. It is irresponsible in the extreme to have published this research.”
Although producing a 150 cell blastocyst is a long way from a woman giving birth to a fully cloned baby it seems that the possibility of that happening has moved much closer.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
In the wake of the worst garment factory tragedy in world history, which left over 1,200 dead in Bangladesh last month, a number of Western brands have signed an agreement to improve working conditions in their subcontracted factories there. Walmart was missing from the list of signatories.
The legally binding agreement, signed by retailers including H&M, Primark, C&A, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Zara, Tesco and others, “aims to compel retailers to pay for rigorous and independent public inspections and blacklist any factories unwilling to comply,” the Guardian reports.
The agreement covers “independent safety inspections with public reports, mandatory repairs and renovations and a vital role for workers and their unions,” The Ethical Trading Initiative, which crafted the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh along with trade unions IndustriALL and UNI Global, writes.
“At the heart of the agreement is the commitment to Bangladesh’s Tripartite Plan of Action on Fire Safety, and for companies to share in the responsibilities for providing a safe environment for workers.”
Instead, however, Walmart refused to sign, saying that it has created its own agreement (of which it is the only party). The agreement claims that Walmart will conduct its own inspections of the 279 factories it uses in Bangladesh within six months.
As the Guardian reports, “the Walmart deal is not legally binding, does not require the company to offer financial support for fire and safety regulations or blacklist factories unwilling to comply.”
Sam Maher from Labor Behind the Label, said: “Walmart’s so-called new program is simply more of the same ineffective auditing that failed to prevent the Rana Plaza disaster, or the deaths of 112 workers at Tazreen, who were producing Walmart goods.”
In contrast, “The changes demanded by the IndustriALL accord include ensuring that factories are provided with the incentives and investment needed to actually make factories safe and are essential for any real change to occur,” Maher added. “What Walmart [is] demanding is business as usual: a business that has cost lives of over 1,300 workers in the last six months alone.”
This, of course, is not the first time Walmart has refused to improve the well being of workers in factories.
In 2011, several major western retailers, lead by Walmart, rejected a proposal made by a group of Bangladeshi and international unions that proposed a way to make Bangladesh’s garment factories safer through establishing an independent inspectorate to oversee all factories in Bangladesh “with powers to shut down unsafe facilities as part of a legally binding contract signed by suppliers, customers and unions.”
At the time, Walmart’s representative said it was “not financially feasible … to make such investments.”
The inspections would have been funded by contributions from the companies of merely $500,000 per year, compared to the $20 billion western brands such as Walmart, the Gap and H&M make from the garment industry in Bangladesh per year and the annual $1 trillion such retailers make per year in the global garment industry.
Several other retailers have declined to sign this week’s agreement, including River Island, Matalan and Peacocks.
The Coronal mass ejection that was hurled into space on May 15th by the X1 flare could well deliver a glancing blow to the Earths magnetic field on May 17th. Although the sunspot was not directly facing Earth when the flare occurred, coronograph data suggests it may well be geo-effective.
Todays sunspot number is 186. A considerable uptick in activity has been seen over the last couple of weeks as the Sun heads towards the maximum of its cycle later this year.
NOAA estimate the chance of an M class flare during the next 24 hours to be 80% and an X class flare at 60% over the same time period.
Sunspot AR1748 is moving across the sun disc and any flares produced are increasingly likely to be Earth directed.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!
A tornado has ripped through a town in the US state of Texas, resulting in six deaths, officials say.
Homes were destroyed when the tornado hit Granbury, 70 miles (110km) west of Dallas, late on Wednesday.
Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds warned the death toll could rise as rescue teams search the area. Several people are being treated for injuries at local hospitals.
The tornado was one of three to hit northern Texas on Wednesday night.
One Granbury resident described the tornado’s impact to Reuters: “The house started shaking. We were in a closet.
“You could hear it – it sounded like a train going off. It was scary,” he said.
Sheriff Deeds said he hoped the number of dead would remain at six, as officials awaited daybreak.
“I’ve been assured by my deputies on the scene that they’re pretty confident with the six that they found, but there was a report that two of these people that they found were not even near their homes. So we’re going to have to search the area out there,” he told AP.
The hardest hit neighbourhoods were Rancho Brazos Estates and DeCordova Ranch, in the southern part of Granbury.
“I saw the top of a house pulled off, with lots of debris all over the place,” eyewitness Jeff Mangum told the BBC. “The whole sky was spinning in a thousand directions.”
Tornado swarm
The same storm spawned another tornado that tore through part of the town of Cleburne, about 25 miles (40km) south-east of Granbury, the National Weather Service said.
There have been no reports of any fatalities from Cleburne so far.
However, dozens of homes have been destroyed or badly damaged, according to officials and residents.
A third tornado in neighbouring Parker County has also caused damage to buildings, particularly in the town of Millsap, officials say.
The US Supreme Court in Washington, DC (AFP Photo)
The United States Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of biotech giant Monsanto, closing the door on a patent case that has pitted a smalltime farmer from Indiana against a titan of the agriculture industry.
The high court said early Monday that 75-year-old farmer Vernon Bowman of Indiana violated Monsanto’s patent rights when he purchased a mix of seeds from a grain elevator that he later planted on his Midwest farm. That mix included patented Roundup Ready soybean seeds manufactured by Monsanto that are sold under license because they can hold up against their namesake, a nasty pesticide regularly used on farms.
Bowman argued that he could do whatever he wanted with the Roundup Ready seeds since he obtained them rightfully from a grain elevator and the terms of Monsanto’s licensing agreement under the patent did not apply to him. Under Monsanto’s terms, Roundup Ready seeds can only be harvested once and must not be saved or reused.
“If they don’t want me to go to the elevator and buy that grain, then Congress should pass a law saying you can’t do it,” Bowman told RT in February.
“If they then claim that I can’t use that, they’re forcing their patent on me,” Bowman he said to Huffington Post earlier this year. “No law was ever passed that said no farmers can’t go to the elevator and buy grain and use it, so to me they either forced their patent on me or they abandoned their patent by allowing it to be dumped it with non-Roundup grain.”
On Monday, the Supreme Court decided unanimously that Bowman indeed violated the licensing terms.
“By planting and harvesting Monsanto’s patented seeds, Bowman made additional copies of Monsanto’s patented invention, and his conduct thus falls outside the protections of patent exhaustion,” the court ruled. “Were this otherwise, Monsanto’s patent would provide scant benefit. After Monsanto sold its first seed, other seed companies could produce the patented seed to compete with Monsanto, and farmers would need to buy seed only once.”
“Under the doctrine of patent exhaustion, the authorized sale of a patented article gives the purchaser, or any subsequent owner, a right to use or resell that article. Such a sale, however, does not allow the purchaser to make new copies of the patented invention,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court. “The question in this case is whether a farmer who buys patented seeds may reproduce them through planting and harvesting without thepatent holder’s permission. We hold that he may not.”
Monsanto’s practices both in the courtroom and on the farm have made the company increasingly the target of criticism in recent months, and a series of affairs in Washington has done little to weaken the opposition. Campaigns against the company have been renewed as of late following the passing of a congressional agriculture spending bill that included a provision — dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act” by its critics — that provides legal immunity to biotech entities that experiment with genetically modified and genetically engineer foods. Additionally, the relationship between Monsanto and the country’s high court has been called into question since one of the justices, Clarence Thomas, formerly served as a lawyer for the St. Louis-based company.
On May 25, an international series of rallies to protest Monsanto is scheduled to occur with demonstrations planned on six continents.
I was first alerted to these posters via news tips, where readers were wondering what the deal was with the strange and Orwellian posters. Well as the hashtag ’#Greywater’ reveals, which is placed at the bottom of the poster, these posters are definitely not ‘official’ posters placed by the NYPD or the city itself. Instead, they are likely marketing tools for the Greywater alternative energy company (finding their website was pretty simple), but they are also quite informative. Checkout one of the posters warning of a terror drill involving odorless and ‘harmless’ gas, which is actually based on a real police test as reported on by RT.
What’s great about these posters is that they turn on the brain of the average passerby who would have otherwise continued on without a single thought on the subject. I would even imagine that many citizens of the city had no idea that the NYPD announced the real drill back in April of this year. The best part is that the poster isn’t much different from the real announcement. Citizens were basically told very few details beyond the fact that the police will be releasing odorless and ‘harmless’ gas throughout the city on 3 non-consecutive days in order to conduct a terror test.
There’s also a poster centered around nuclear concerns that plays on New York City’s close vicinity to nuclear power plants, which the Physicians For Social Responsibility website shows could lead to the emergency evacuation of over 17 million people in the event of a major plant incident that allowed for evacuations. A scenario that would quickly turn chaotic in a major city where citizens are entirely unprepared for any major event. You can see this one below:
While these posters are obviously created by entities outside of the New York City government, and most likely printed up by the Greywater company to perhaps generate awareness and create a viral marketing campaign, I think they’re effective in inciting some conversation. Twitter is already on the case, asking what the heck is up with the random posters, and hopefully the question will soon turn from ‘what are these posters’ to questions over the reality of the issues mentioned by the posters.
Things are heating up in Baraboo, Wisconsin as a long awaited food rights trial approaches.
Raw milk drinkers are outraged that Wisconsin DATCP is bringing criminal charges against a farmer who serves a private buying club. Do citizens have a right to contract with a producer and grow food to their own standards? That is what is at stake in this case. - Kimberly Hartke, Publicist Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Customers and Other Supporters to Attend Court with Farmer
Food rights activists from around North America will meet at the Sauk County Courthouse in this tiny town on May 20 to support Wisconsin dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger and food sovereignty. Hershberger, whose trial begins that day, is charged with four criminal misdemeanors that could land this husband and father in county jail for up to 30 months with fines of over $10,000…
The Wisconsin Department of Agricultural Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) targeted Hershberger for supplying a private buying club with fresh milk and other farm products.
DATCP has charged Hershberger with, among other things, operating a retail food establishment without a license. Hershberger repeatedly rejects this, citing that he provides foods only to paid members in a private buying club and is not subject to state food regulations.
Hershberger says:
There is more at stake here than just a farmer and his few customers — this is about the fundamental right of farmers and consumers to engage in peaceful, private, mutually consenting agreements for food, without additional oversight.
A little more than a year ago, food rights activists from around the country stood in support of Hershberger at a pre-trial hearing. They read and signed a “Declaration of Food Independence” that asserts inherent rights in food choice. This month after the trial each day, many of the same food rights activists plus others will gather at the Al Ringling Theater across the street from the courthouse and hear presentations by leaders in the food rights movement. Notable speakers include Virginia farmer Joel Salatin, Mountain Man show star Eustace Conway, and food rights organizer from Maine, Deborah Evans.
Hershberger, and other farmers around the country, are facing state or federal charges against them for providing fresh foods to wanting individuals. In recent months the FDA has conducted several long undercover sting operations and raids against peaceful farmers and buying clubs that have resulted in farms shutting down and consumers without access to the food they depend on.
Vernon has faced a lot of pre-hearings and postponements already. Legal concerns are mounting. Printable flyers and an account from his May 7th hearing appear here.
This is a landmark precedent-setting case that could forever change food access rights. In addition, did you know that a Wisconsin judge who declared that we have no inherent right to the healthy foods of our choice retired and went to work for Monsanto?
Earlier today it was revealed that a West, TX paramedic named Bryce Reed had been arrested on charges of possessing a destructive device, and also that a criminal investigation has been officially launched into the April 17th fertilizer plant explosion that claimed the lives of 15 people.
A Texas emergency medical services technician was arrested and charged Friday with possession of a destructive device.
Bryce Reed is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday in Waco, Texas.
Reed is part of West’s Emergency Medical Services and was one of the incident commanders during the deadly April 17 fertilizer plant explosion.
Texas law enforcement officials are now launching a criminal investigation into the explosion. Investigators have largely treated the West Fertilizer Co. blast that killed 14 as an industrial accident.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a Friday statement that the agency has instructed the Texas Rangers and the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department to launch a criminal probe.
DPS Director Steven McCraw says in a statement he wants to ensure “no stone goes unturned” in the investigation.
There is no known connection between Reed and the explosion at this time.
Details are very limited as of now but we do know that he has not officially been named a suspect in the investigation. Here are some of the things we know about Bryce Reed so far.
Bryce Reed, who told The Dallas Morning News that he assumed radio command of the April 17 incident after the explosion killed his superiors and colleagues, was accused Friday of giving an “assortment of bomb making components” to an unnamed person in nearby Abbott on April 26, nine days after the explosion.
Hours after his arrest, the Texas Rangers and McLennan County Sheriff’s office launched a criminal investigation into the plant explosion but did not say what role, if any, the federal charges against Reed played in their decision.
So we know that he tried to hide his bomb making materials with an associate. Whether that has anything to do with the West, Texas explosion or not is in doubt. But it would appear that he was trying to hide evidence that could potentially incriminate him.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports Reed’s LinkedIn profile lists spending time at the U.S. Biological and Chemical Weapon Depot in Ft McClellan, Ala. Reed also lists one year from 2010-2011 as a technician/regional safety officer for Allied International Emergency LLC., where he said response teams dealt with “Weapons of Mass Destruction Response, Nuclear Event Management, Chemical or Biological Weapons Containment, Large Scale Environmental Loss Mitigation, to DOT/EPA small scale spill cleanup.”
We also know that he has been accused of trying to profit from the explosion and that he may have not been forthright about his relationship to one of the fallen heroes.
On the day after the plant explosion, Reed told the Los Angeles Times that when he and his friend Cyrus Reed (no relation) arrived at the plant, Bryce Reed was made incident commander, and as such stayed away from the all-consuming fire. Cyrus Reed was closer to the blaze, which turned into an explosion and claimed his life.
“He was my best friend. He got me help through the crisis in my life. He’s my brother,” Reed said.
But Sarah Reed, Cyrus Reed’s sister, told a different tale. She said that her family had been “fooled by Bryce Reed.” After Cyrus Reed’s death, Sarah Reed said she and her family went through her brother’s computer and cellphone records, and found little evidence to suggest that Bryce Reed and Cyrus Reed were close at all.
“He convinced us that he and Cyrus were very close, like brothers. But I want people to know they are not brothers, and he is not part of our family.”
On his Facebook page, some have accused Bryce Reed of profiting off of donations in the wake of the fertilizer plant explosion. Reed defended himself, saying, “I have not received ONE CENT for ANYTHING that I did to help with this situation. I have not been paid by the media, by press, I made nothing for delivering my brothers eulogy, and made NOTHING off of this tragedy. I was a shoulder to cry on, I found a GREAT new family, and was blessed to get to tell them about their son.”
The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Sarah Reed also suspected Bryce Reed (no relation) of stealing from her deceased brother:
But the sister of a firefighter Reed eulogized at a public memorial last month said she had to ask police to guard her deceased brother’s apartment because she feared Reed had been stealing from it since the blast.
In addition, we know that the explosive device was more than likely a pipe bomb. The Dallas Morning News also reports, “Authorities found a 3.5-inch long galvanized metal pipe with a 1.5-inch diameter that had galvanized end caps. There was also a lighter and several pounds of chemical powders in individual bags, special ATF agent Douglas J. Kunze wrote in his affidavit. A U.S. Justice Department press release said Reed gave the component to the Abbott resident on April 26.”
It has also been stated that Bryce Reed’s own home was destroyed by the blast. I am not sure that a man who builds pipe bombs would have accounted for that possibility, if it ends up that he had anything to do with this explosion. A question that should be asked, however, is… Why would anyone blow up a fertilizer plant if they knew they would likely be directly involved as a first-responder and thus put their own life into jeopardy?
The facts are sketchy but slowly emerging. Time will tell if this was a criminal act or a simple industrial accident.
We do know that it is officially being investigated as such, but we do not know if Bryce Reed is part of that investigation.
A California father of four died Wednesday shortly after a group of police allegedly beat him with batons as he lay defenseless on the sidewalk. Cops, before confiscating witness’ cameras, also reportedly unleashed a canine unit on him.
David Sal Silva, 33, allegedly resisted when police approached him to ask if he was who neighbors called about to complain of an intoxicated man in the area. The officers called for backup and, witnesses told the Bakersfield Californian, Silva was soon being beaten in the face and upper body by as many as nine policemen and their batons. At least one of the cops reportedly held a German Shepherd on a leash nearby.
Witnesses who had recorded the events on their cell phone cameras had the devices confiscated by officers, who claimed the footage was part of a police investigation that could yield evidence. The Sherriff’s Department has released the names of seven officers who were on the scene, but the identities of the California Highway Patrol police who were also there have not yet been made public.
“When I got outside I saw two officers beating a man with batons, and they were hitting his head so every time they would swing, I could hear the blows to his head,” said witness Ruben Ceballos, who told the Californian the noise was so loud it woke him up.
AFP Photo / Kevork Djansezian
“His body was just lying on the street and before the ambulance arrived one of the officers performed CPR on him and another used a flashlight on his eyes but I’m sure he was already dead.”
Police have refused to comment, citing an ongoing investigation that could take years to complete, but relatives have demanded the cell phone footage be made public.
“My brother spent the last eight minutes of his life pleading, begging for his life,” said Christopher Silva, 31. “The true evidence is in those phone witnesses that apparently the sheriff deputies already took. But I know the truth will come out and my brother’s voice will be heard.”
An autopsy was completed Thursday but the cause of death’s release is pending a toxicology report and microscopic studies, the local coroner’s office told the Bakersfield Californian Friday.
The family has hired attorney David Cohn, who told reporters they plan to file a civil rights lawsuit in federal district court next week. He sent a letter formally requesting that law enforcement agencies do not tamper with the video evidence on the phones.
“We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words,” Cohn said. “And thank God we have concerned citizens who take video and pictures of incidents like this and who are ultimately policing the police … But we will get to the bottom of this and I ask the sheriff’s department once again, what are you hiding?”
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A demonstrator holds a sign during a rally in support of the state’s upcoming Proposition 37 ballot measure in San Francisco, California October 6, 2012. (Reuters / Stephen Lam)
AFP Photo / Kevork Djansezian
