Month: December 2014

RT

Despite, or because of, the fallout from the 2007 Great Recession, annual earnings between the richest Americans and everybody else have exploded to record levels. Meanwhile middle- and lower-class wealth growth remains stagnant.

The median wealth for high-income families hit $639,400 last year, a whopping 7 percent jump from three years earlier and seven times greater than middle-class incomes, which stood at $96,500 according to Pew Research Center, citing data from the Federal Reserve.   Continue reading “America’s wealthiest families smash income ceiling, middle-class left far behind”

RT

Britain’s oil industry is in a “crisis” and may be “close to collapse,” a senior oil industry expert has said, as the UK’s biggest oil and gas companies continue to cut staff and investment and the price of crude slumps.

Speaking to the BBC, Robin Allan, chairman of the independent explorers’ association Brindex, echoed warnings made by other figures in the oil industry in the past month, saying that no new projects in the North Sea would be profitable while oil is being traded at below $60 a barrel.   Continue reading “UK oil industry ‘close to collapse’ as price plunges below $60 per barrel”

Mail.com

BOSTON (AP) — Mold and bacteria were in the air and on workers’ gloved fingertips. Pharmacists used expired ingredients, didn’t properly sterilize them and failed to test drugs for purity before sending them to hospitals and pain clinics. Employees falsified logs to make it look as if the so-called clean rooms had been disinfected.

Federal prosecutors leveled those allegations in bringing charges Wednesday against 14 former owners or employees of a Massachusetts pharmacy in connection with a nationwide meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people.   Continue reading “14 charged in deadly 2012 meningitis outbreak”

Mail.com

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Just days before he shot to death a 17-year-old German exchange student, Markus Kaarma told hair stylists he had been waiting up to shoot some kids who were burglarizing homes.

He told them they would see it on the news. Kaarma hoped to bait an intruder by leaving his garage door partially open and placing a purse inside, prosecutors said. And when he did, a motion detector alerted him early April 27. Kaarma took a shotgun outside and almost immediately fired four blasts into the garage. Diren Dede, unarmed, was hit twice. He died after the final shot hit him in the head.   Continue reading “‘Stand your ground’ defense fails in Montana murder trial”

Mail.com

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev returned to court Thursday for the first time since he was arraigned in July 2013, and he received a shout of encouragement from the mother-in-law of a man who was shot and killed while being questioned by law enforcement after the bombings.

Security was tight at the federal courthouse in Boston for the final pretrial conference before Tsarnaev’s trial begins next month. The judge made no rulings, saying he would rule in writing on pending motions, including the defense’s latest push to move the trial.   Continue reading “Tsarnaev appears in court for 1st time since 2013”

Spying on Americans 2014: ‘See Something, Say Something’ is great I can call the police on my neighbors but now I’ll get paid $100 to call police on my ex-wife or that annoying guy at the bar.

Sun Sentinel – by Angel Streeter

Report an impaired driver in Palm Beach County and you could get $100.

During the holiday party season, the number of drunken revelers rises, so county residents are being enlisted in the DUI battle.   Continue reading “Receive $100 for reporting an impaired driver in Palm Beach County”

Reason – by J.D. Tuccille

Puerto Rico has restrictive firearms laws. Getting a concealed carry permit to legally tote a handgun is an arbitrary affair that largely comes down to a matter of knowing the right people. As with all laws that give government officials the authority to dispense favors, this creates an opportunity for a market—and Lieutenant Sergio Calderón-Marrero, head of the Puerto Rico Police Department’s Bayamón Criminal Investigations Corps, is just the sort of guy to introduce supply to demand. Unfortunately, federal officials don’t care for those sort of shortcuts, and the former police lieutenant has been arrested and indicted.   Continue reading “When Guns Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Who Pay Off the Cops Will Have Guns”

UPI – by Richard Tomkins

FORT HOOD, Texas, Dec. 18 (UPI) — A system to support unmanned aerial systems in flying safely from airfields to restricted areas for training and testing has been deployed by the U.S. Army.

The Ground-Based Sense-and-Avoid radar system was put in place earlier this week at Fort Hood, Texas, the first of five installations receiving the capability, the Army reported.

Fort Hood is home to two MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system companies.   Continue reading “Army installs ground-based sense-and-avoid system for drones”

Reuters – by DANIEL WIESSNER AND EDWARD MCALLISTER

New York state will ban hydraulic fracturing after a long-awaited report concluded that the oil and gas extraction method poses health risks, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration said on Wednesday.

New York Environmental Commissioner Joseph Martens said at a cabinet meeting he will issue an order early next year banning fracking, which has been under a moratorium since 2008. Once that happens, New York will join Vermont as the only states to completely prohibit fracking.   Continue reading “New York bans fracking after health reportNew York bans fracking after health report”

The Free Thought Project – by John Vibes

As the debate surrounding police militarization continues to grow, some police departments are actually seeking to become more like military organizations. Some of those departments are actually even going public with their militaristic aspirations.

The California Highway Patrol for example, lists as its #1 question on its employment application paperwork, “Are you willing to work in a paramilitary organization, operating under a structured chain of-command?”   Continue reading “Largest State Police Agency in the US, Now Openly Self-Described as a “Paramilitary Organization””

MSNBC – by Michele Richinick

President Barack Obama on Wednesday committed to spending tens of millions of dollars on preventing gun violence, by signing a measure into law.

The bill, the Omnibus Appropriations Act, includes several funding increases for curbing gun violence. The law calls for $73 million to help prevent felons, fugitives, and domestic abusers from buying guns by improving state submissions of prohibited people into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The price tag is the highest amount ever allocated to the system.   Continue reading “Obama spends millions to prevent gun violence”

Courthouse News Service – by VICTORIA PRIESKOP

ALBUQUERQUE (CN) – A residential work ranch for troubled youths in New Mexico abuses, neglects, shackles and “waterlogs” children, denies them food and beats them with weapons, parents of four young people claim in court.

Lead plaintiff Coulton Quevedo sued Tierra Blanca Ranch, its owner Scott Chandler and others on Monday in Santa Fe County Court.

Quevedo, 18, claims the ranch advertises itself as a place where troubled youths and those with learning disabilities can responsibility, self-discipline and self-respect.   Continue reading “Youth Home Accused of Welter of Abuses”