Year: 2016

Off the Grid News – by Daniel Jennings

Civil asset forfeiture hit a new low in Oklahoma when sheriff’s deputies seized $53,249 intended as donations to a Christian school and an orphanage from the manager of a Christian band. Even worse, deputies accused the band manager of being a drug dealer and labelled the cash drug money.

“I realized that they were seizing all of the money,” the manager, Eh Wah, told The Washington Post. “I was like, ‘This can’t be happening.’ But I didn’t know what to do.”   Continue reading “Police Found $53,249 In Cash From A Christian Ministry, And, Well, You Know How This Ends”

Mail.com

HONOLULU (AP) — A church in Hawaii looking to address the state’s ongoing homelessness crisis has settled on a solution that on first look appears better suited for the frigid winters of Alaska than the islands’ tropical climate: igloos.

There’s no risk of the dome-shaped structures melting. They are made of fiberglass and their construction keeps the interior about 10-15 degrees cooler when the hot sun is blazing down, officials at First Assembly of God in Honolulu said.   Continue reading “Hawaii church deploying igloos to house homeless families”

Mail.com

BAGHDAD (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Thursday to implore the country’s leaders to resolve a crippling political crisis that has hindered efforts to defeat the Islamic State group.

Biden landed in Baghdad mid-afternoon after a secret, overnight flight from Washington on a military plane. Stepping onto the tarmac in blistering heat, he greeted the U.S. ambassador and Lt. Gen. Sean McFarland, the U.S. commander heading the fight against IS, as swirling dust masked the skyline behind them.   Continue reading “On surprise Iraq visit, Biden urging end to political crisis”

Mail.com

DETROIT (AP) — A dozen Detroit principals and an administrator are accused of finding a way to bleed their struggling public schools of $900,000 — ordering chairs, writing paper and other supplies that in most cases were never delivered, even as investigators doggedly battled fraud in a district that lacks textbooks and even toilet paper.

Federal authorities say the bribery and kickback scheme started as early as 2002 and ended earlier this year. It is the latest in a string of embarrassing public corruption cases where elected officials and workers succumbed to the temptation of an easy dime left in a too-often unguarded public till.   Continue reading “Some principals charged with kickbacks faced financial woes”

Economics – by Steve Roth

In a recent post on the “evolution of money,” which concentrated heavily on the idea of (balance-sheet) assets, I promised to come back to the fundamental idea behind “assets”: ownership. Herewith, fulfilling that promise.

There are a large handful of things that make humans uniquely different from animals. In many other areas — language, abstract reasoning, music-making, conceptions of self and fairness, large-scale cooperation, etc. — humans and animals vary (hugely) in degree and kind. But they still share those phenotypic behavioral traits.   Continue reading “You Don’t Own That! The Evolution of Property”

WSB-TV 2

A local man said an off-duty police officer working security for Walmart severely beat him after he was falsely accused of stealing a tomato.

After he was handcuffed to his hospital bed with a broken leg and severed artery, Tyrone Carnegay told Channel 2’s Craig Lucie he spent three days in jail and the charges were dropped.   Continue reading “Lawsuit: Man leaving Walmart beaten by off-duty officer over tomato”

Reuters

Air strikes hit a hospital in a rebel-held area of Syria’s Aleppo and killed at least 27 people, including three children and the city’s last pediatrician, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday.

A new wave of aerial bombing on Thursday on rebel-held districts of the city killed at least 30 more civilians, a rescue worker said. The Observatory put the toll at least 20.

In government-held areas, rebel mortar shelling killed at least 14 people, the Britain-based Observatory and Syria’s state news agency SANA reported.   Continue reading “Air strikes hit Aleppo hospital, at least 27 killed: Observatory”

Daily Caller – by Chuck Ross

Federal immigration authorities last year released 19,723 criminal illegal aliens back onto U.S. streets who have been convicted of 64,197 crimes — including 208 homicides.

That’s according to data that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provided to Congress this week ahead of a House Oversight Committee hearing scheduled for Thursday.   Continue reading “Murderers, Rapists, Kidnappers: Nearly 20,000 Criminal Aliens Released in 2015”

Breitbart – by Katie McHugh

Barack Obama’s Department of Justice is deploying a new term for convicted criminals: “justice-involved individuals.”

“In an effort to help young people involved in the justice system find jobs and housing, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced $1.75 million for Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and nonprofit legal service organizations to address the challenges justice-involved individuals face when trying to find work and a place to call home,” a statement from the Department of Justice reads.   Continue reading “DOJ Coins New Term for Convicted Criminals: ‘Justice-Involved Individuals’”

New York Post – by Keith J Kelly

Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait told his 2,400 journalists in a memo on Tuesday that he was forming a 10-person team to lead a study on how to use more automation in writing and reporting.

Micklethwait called the robot-generated copy “smart automated content (SAC).”   Continue reading “Bloomberg turning to robots to deliver the news”

Gov’t Slaves

(MIAMI)  A former Florida Power & Light manager traded nuclear information from the company for cash to assist one of China’s top nuclear power companies, according to federal court records unsealed in Tennessee last week.

The unnamed former FPL employee was recruited by Szuhsiung Ho, also known as Allen Ho, to help China General Nuclear Power Co. develop special nuclear material in China,according to the grand jury indictment unsealed April 14 in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Tennessee in Knoxville.   Continue reading “Former Florida Power & Light Manager Accused Of Trading Nuclear Secrets In Chinese Spy Case”

The Daily Sheeple – by Melissa Dykes

According to the American Trucking Association, there are some 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States alone.

That’s 3.5 million people who may lose their jobs once driverless trucks hit the roads in full force… which appears to be in the not-too-distant future.

Tech Crunch reports that a convoy of these trucks recently drove across Europe and arrived without incident at their destination at the Port of Rotterdam for 75% cheaper than it would have cost had human beings been driving them:   Continue reading “Driverless Trucks Already Being Tested; Three Million-Plus Truck Drivers To Lose Their Jobs Soon”

Sharyl Attkisson

Beyond the issue of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server for public business, including some classified materials; and beyond the fact that some of the documents continue to be improperly withheld from Freedom of Information requests after years, many more questions have arisen. One of them surrounds the State Department’s removal of Benghazi-related files from the secretary of state’s office a year ago, even though they were under Congressional subpoena.   Continue reading “State Department removed Benghazi files after subpoena”

The News Tribune – by Alexis Krell

A Tacoma lawyer has been dispensing more than legal advice during visits to the Pierce County Jail, according to prosecutors, who accused him of having sex with an inmate and providing drugs to others.

William Mack Stoddard Jr., 68, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of second-degree introducing contraband, unlawfully delivering a controlled substance and conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance.   Continue reading “Lawyer accused of having sex, bringing drugs to Pierce County Jail inmates”

PNN

Israeli occupation forces(IOF) and several settlers invaded on Thursday at dawn the city of Nablus, leading to clashes with dozens of local youths; one teen was shot with a live round.

Local media in Nablus said the IOF shot Ahmad Adel Mas’oud, 17, with a live round in his thigh.

In addition, many Palestinians received treatment for the effects of tear gas inhalation.   Continue reading “Thursday Overnight: IOF Raids Continue Across the Occupied West Bank”