Monthly Archives: January 2016

Saudi Arabia posts $98B deficit amid slumping oil prices

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“Saudi Arabia on Monday said this year’s budget deficit amounted to $98 billion as lower oil prices cut into the government’s main source of revenue, prompting the kingdom to scale back spending for the coming year and hike gas prices.  Instead of cutting oil production to drive prices up, Saudi Arabia has aggressively kept its production levels high in what analysts say is an attempt to keep its market share and stymie the reach of U.S. shale producers in the global market. To cover the difference between its spending and revenue over the past year, Saudi Arabia has drawn its reserves down from $728 billion at the end of last year to around $640 billion.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/saudi-arabia-falling-oil-prices-1.3382432

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5 Years and $7 Later, Homeland Security Returns Seized Hip-Hop Website

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“In place of its usual feed of videos, song links and industry gossip, the site displayed a seizure notice from the federal government, a result of a raid of dozens of websites suspected of trafficking in counterfeit goods and pirated content.  The site stayed that way for nearly five years. But a few weeks ago, after lobbying the government for its return and paying a $7 fee, Kevin Hofman — a rank-and-file record label employee who ran OnSmash, first as a hobby and later as a full-time job — finally got it back, with little explanation and without ever being formally charged with any wrongdoing.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/02/business/media/5-years-and-7-later-us-returns-a-seized-hip-hop-site.html

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With Permanent Squad, New York Police Step Up Fight on Terrorism

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“With the new unit, Chief Waters’s bureau has ballooned this year in size and in equipment, with new cars fitted to hold Colt M4 semiautomatic assault rifles. He said the attacks last week had accelerated the pace of procuring equipment and training officers in counterterrorism tactics, including courses that include undercover ‘hostile surveillance’ to detect those who might be gathering information about potential targets, and the use of new devices. In addition to the Critical Response Command, the department recently created a citywide unit of roughly 700 patrol officers — the Strategic Response Group — who are also trained to use and are outfitted with semiautomatic rifles.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/nyregion/new-york-police-form-counterterrorism-force-with-more-firepower-and-training.html

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Is There a War on Police or a War on Us?

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“According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 38 cops have been shot dead in America this year. Balko further notes that this number includes ‘at least one suicide and two cases in which a cop was shot by another cop.’ The 2015 gun-related deaths of police, Balko relates, are among the least of any year from the last nearly 150 years of data.  Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on December 26 an assessment that police shot dead nearly 1,000 people this year, and Mapping Police Violence calculated that, through December 15, police killed, at least 1,152 people this year in America.”

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2015/december/29/is-there-a-war-on-police-or-a-war-on-us/

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Former cop gets two years in prison for polygraph coaching website

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“Douglas G. Williams, a 69-year-old former Oklahoma City police officer, was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison for charges related to his business Polygraph.com.  Williams had worked for the Oklahoma City Police Department for about a decade, quitting in 1979 after he decided that the polygraphs tests he administered in the department were a fraud. He went on to claim through his website that he could teach anyone to pass such a test ‘nervous or not — lying or not — no matter what!’ Federal investigators caught wind of Williams‘ business and set up appointments that turned out to be a sting.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/23/douglas-williams-former-oklahoma-city-cop-gets-two/

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Oklahoma man faces life in prison for selling legal Colorado marijuana

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“An Oklahoma man faces a possible life sentence after he allegedly sold 4 grams of marijuana to a pair of confidential informants working with police in the city of Enid, an hour and a half drive north of Oklahoma City. Bourbonais was arraigned last week and faces charges of possession with intent to distribute within 2,000 feet of a school, two counts of distribution of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.  Because of his rap sheet, he faces 12 years to life in prison — a stunning sentence for an amount of marijuana that would have been legal in Colorado, which shares a border with Oklahoma.”

http://fusion.net/story/132914/oklahoma-man-faces-life-in-prison-for-less-than-an-ounce-of-marijuana/

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Trump Promises Death For Killing A Cop, Endorses Police Militarization

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“Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the endorsement of a New England union that represents police and corrections officers Thursday evening, and said that, as president, he would call for the death penalty for any person who kills a cop.  Trump also expressed support for local police departments using military equipment, which the Obama administration has worked to curb following complaints about officers using riot gear and armored vehicles to confront protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.  ‘We’ve got to let our police have the finest equipment and the finest training and if we don’t,’ he said, ‘we’re making a tremendous mistake as a country.'”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-union-endorses-trump-after-muslim-ban-proposal_566ad453e4b009377b2498a4

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Officers on college campus begin carrying ‘assault rifles’

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“The university said the move is necessary with the recent terror attacks in Paris and last week’s mass shooting in California. School officials also cited the recent rise in on-campus shootings. While some welcome the news, others do not think it is a great idea, including Mayor Marty Walsh.  ‘I get worried about local police like that carrying those rifles. You need a lot of training and certainly it begins a slippery slope,’ said Walsh. The school has more than 60 police officers and 20 of them will be armed with the rifles. Students on campus had mixed reactions to the change.”

http://www.whdh.com/story/30708798/officers-on-northeastern-campus-to-carry-assault-rifles

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Harvard researchers: US police killings should be a public health issue

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“The lack of accurate, real-time reporting of police killings in the US is causing what constitutes a public health issue, according to researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.  In a report published in PLOS Medicine this month, researchers arguethat because police killings affect more than just the deceased, data on these deaths should be released immediately as public information. The deceased’s family, as well as his or her community, is affected by civil unrest that often transpires when mortal shootings are not immediately publicly reported, such as in the April 2015 case of Freddie Gray, a man who died in custody of the police in Baltimore.”

http://qz.com/583593/harvard-researchers-us-police-killings-should-be-officially-considered-a-public-health-issue/

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California Law Allowing Government to Seize Legal Guns Goes into Effect

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“Beginning January 1, gun regulations in California will give authorities the right to seize a person’s weapons for 21 days if a judge determines the potential for violence exists.  The ‘law gives us a vehicle to cause the person to surrender their weapons, to have a time out, if you will,‘ Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Michael Moore told a local NPR affiliate.  You read that right — a government-imposed time out. Now go sit in the corner, and think about what you did.  Second Amendment and constitutional advocates have been understandably upset by the coming law, saying further rules in a state already rife with restrictive gun laws will only serve to punish law-abiding gun owners.”

http://theantimedia.org/california-law-allowing-government-to-seize-legal-guns-goes-into-effect-january-1st/

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