Fire Walk With Me
Fire Walk With Me's JournalUS drone strikes illegal, govt should stop them – Pakistani court
http://rt.com/news/pakistan-us-drone-illegal-093/The Peshawar High Court has recommended the Pakistani government advance a resolution against the attacks in the United Nations. The court issued its verdict on the CIA-run air strikes in response to four petitions charging the attacks killed civilians and caused “collateral damage.”
Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan heard the petitions, and ruled that drone strikes on sovereign Pakistani territory were illegal, inhumane and a violation of the UN charter on human rights.
“The government of Pakistan must ensure that no drone strike takes place in the future,” the court said on Thursday, according to the Press Trust of India. Khan also asked Pakistan's foreign ministry to file a resolution against the attacks in the UN.
The court also recommended that if the US rejects these findings in the UN, Pakistan should break off relations with Washington: “If the US vetoes the resolution, then the country should think about breaking diplomatic ties with the US.”
(More at the link.)
Sallie Mae Profit Boosts College Endowments And Pension Funds As Students Pay More
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/sallie-mae-student-loans_n_3247979.html?icid=hp_front_top_artUniversity endowments and teachers’ pension funds are among big investors in Sallie Mae, the private lender that has been generating enormous profits thanks to soaring student debt and the climbing cost of education, a Huffington Post review of financial documents has revealed.
The previously unreported investments mean that education professionals are able to profit twice off the same student: first by hiking the cost of tuition, then through dividends and higher valuations on their holdings in Sallie Mae, the largest student lender and loan servicer in the country, which profits by charging relatively high interest rates on its loans and not refinancing high-rate loans after students graduate and get well-paying jobs.
Sallie Mae is a former government-sponsored enterprise that was fully privatized in 2004 and now trades publicly as SLM Corp.
“It’s a conflict of interest,” said Barmak Nassirian, a longtime higher education analyst who most recently served as associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars & Admissions Officers. “There is something inherently problematic about benefitting from the financing of the tuition you charge through investments in any lender.”
(More at the link.)
Fracking Activists Could Face Felony Charges as "Ag-Gag" Laws Spread
Joe Snow @NotAJoe
The literal death of America right here .. Fracking Activists Could Face Felony Charges as "Ag-Gag" Laws Spread |
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/05/09-10 …
The same "Ag-Gag" laws that make it a crime to film or document egregious abuses on industrial farms may soon be used to criminalize anti-fracking activists who seek to expose environmental harms brought on by the gas drilling industry—if a bill recently proposed in Pennsylvannia passes.
House Bill 683, sponsored by Rep. Gary Haluska, D-Cambria, would make it a felony to take photos, video or audio on private land used for "agricultural purposes," downloading or distributing any such recordings; and entering agricultural property if one plans on recording.
However, as Pittsburg'sTribLive reports, the bill would go even further, in that gas frackers now commonly drilling on land that would otherwise be used for "agricultural purposes" would also be protected—meaning anyone looking to document what goes on in the ordinary day of a gas fracker, could be slapped with felony charges.
According to TribLive, Ross Pifer, director of the Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center at Penn State University's Dickinson School of Law, said hydraulic fracturing operations could be protected under the new bill because gas companies often lease land from farmers.
(More at the link.)
Live(stream) from occupied Cooper Union
Stop The Wars @sickjew
"They'd have to arrest us to get rid of us." "Potentially." #FreeCooper (live at http://ustre.am/RwKE )
Occupy Wall Street @OccupyWallSt
Live from Occupied Cooper Union. Solidarity rally all night. Stop by, yo. http://fb.me/27qlHskwI
StudentBlocNYC @StudentBlocNYC
Students and supporters speak out in support of the Cooper Union occupiers. #freecooperunion #occupycooper #NYC
pic.twitter.com/VV0SiRAtQn
StudentBlocNYC @StudentBlocNYC
@OccupyWallStNYC @OccupyWallSt We need some drummers down at Cooper Union. Spread the word!
Retweeted by Jayron
OccupySantaFe OccupySantaFe @OccupySantaFe
Crowds cheering SOLIDARITY #educationshouldbefree @FreeCooperUnion http://fb.me/1HkdHS4fP
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Free Cooper Union @FreeCooperUnion
Yesterday, private security guards hired by Cooper Union were holding fire exit doors on the 7th floor shut pic.twitter.com/3BE1e7OZrG
https://twitter.com/FreeCooperUnion/status/332905102077734912/photo/1
Banks foreclosed, sold the factory. Workers occupied, started a co-op. Today, a New Era begins...
Occupy Wall Street @OccupyWallSt
Banks foreclosed, sold the factory. Workers occupied, started a co-op. Today, a New Era begins in Chicago:
http://www.newerawindows.com
Our Story
When the boss decided to close our windows factory in 2012, we decided to buy it for ourselves. Today, we are putting together the New Era Windows cooperative, and we hope to be an inspiration for how future jobs can be created in America. This is our story.
BREAKING: Hundreds of Philadelphia Public School Students Hold Surprise Walkout and Rally
http://www.ragingchickenpress.org/2013/05/09/breaking-hundreds-of-philadelphia-public-school-students-hold-surprise-walkout-and-rally-storify/Happening right now, hundreds of Philadelphia School students held a surprise walkout.
(Tweets and several images at the link!)
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Dustin M. Slaughter @DustinSlaughter
Great @isaiah_thompson piece reveals how four kids mustered student power for a second walkout:
http://axisphilly.org/article/how-a-few-philly-high-school-students-organized-themselves-into-a-few-hundred-in-four-days/
… #SavePhillyEducation
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Update: I believe this is related; my internet connection is faulty and does not allow me to play the video to confirm.
Under the neocon surveillance state, civil disobedience will eventually be called "terrorism".
This is purposeful and carefully designed. All disobedience will become illegal and under the word "terror", others will shun anything even remotely reeking of "terrorism". People are already being encouraged to "see something, say something". Snitch culture designed against the righteous, Constitutional activist. It doesn't seem so very unConstitutional when you're preventing TERROR!!!! All dissent may eventually be crushed in this manner. "You are either with us or with the terrorists." Never question. Never rock the boat. Loyalty Day is every day. Smile. Or be justifiably punished as a threat to the State. Because anything against the State is terror.
I don't like Trends either. They are winning, through fear.
"And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense.”
― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
83-year-old nun convicted of sabotage for breach of US atomic complex
http://rt.com/usa/nun-convicted-breach-nuclear-complex-033/Three activists, including an 83-year-old nun, who broke into a US nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee were convicted on Wednesday of interfering with national security.
In what The New York Times labeled the biggest security breach in the history of the atomic complex, the trio broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012 and defaced a uranium processing plant.
The Y-12 facility has been in operation since 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, and today is responsible for both the production and maintenance of all uranium parts for the entire US nuclear weapons arsenal. Over the years, the facility has also been the target of nonviolent anti-nuclear protests.
Now, a jury in Tennessee has charged the three protesters with sabotaging the plant, with a second charge of damaging federal property.
(More at the link.)
On the News With Thom Hartmann: Banksters Are Violating Their $25 Billion Settlement
http://truth-out.org/news/item/16239-on-the-news-with-thom-hartmann-banksters-are-violating-their-$25-billion-settlementIf that link doesn't work, the "$" character appears to cause a break, use this:
http://tinyurl.com/bv3qa95
"You need to know this. Last year, five major U.S. Banks and 49 state attorneys general agreed on a $25 billion settlement to compensate victims of abusive bank practices and foreclosure fraud. But, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the banksters are violating the terms of that agreement. The settlement required the banks to pay restitution to victims of illegal foreclosures, modify existing loans to keep people in their homes, and abide by new rules aimed at protecting consumers. Despite the terms in the settlement agreement, Attorney General Schneiderman said that his office alone has documented 210 violations by Wells Fargo and 129 by Bank of America. And, he says he is prepared to file a lawsuit against the banks if the problems aren't corrected. In addition to the issues reported in New York, the settlement monitor, Joseph Smith, says his office has received nearly 6,000 consumer complaints about bank services. These violations include not meeting loan processing deadlines, not informing borrowers of missing documents, and not making loan decisions in the 30-day period mandated by the settlement. The allegations are practically the same complaints made against the banks before the settlement agreement, and they indicate that the big banks aren't holding up their end of the bargain. The $25 billion settlement may sound like a huge payout, but only a portion of the fund was meant to repay victims of foreclosure fraud. So, someone who lost their home in an illegal foreclosure could end up with as little as $500. And now the banksters aren't even living up the deal. This is why no settlement agreement should have been made. The big banks should have been broken up, and held accountable for their illegal practices. If too-big-to-fail means too-big-to-jail, then the big banks are too-big-to-exist. No more fines and settlements over fraud – it's time to break up the banks."
(Much more at the link on other but equally important stories. Thank you Thom.)
Albuquerque: Corporate interests sue to end ABQ ban on contributions by city contractors to Mayor
Occupy New Mexico @0ccupyNewMexico
WHOA! Corporations Sue City of #Albuquerque In Order To Wield More Influence Over City Elections, #citizensunited
http://www.scribd.com/doc/140047037/Corporate-interests-sue-to-end-ABQ-ban-on-contributions-by-city-contractors-to-Mayor
(Document at the link. I don't understand legal-ese. If this is what it appears, a win will open the floodgates nation-wide, yes?)
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Member since: Sat Apr 9, 2005, 09:20 PM
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