Saturday, 22 September 2012
Experts discuss the findings of the Roundup/GM cancer trial
The world's best-selling weedkiller, and a genetically modified maize resistant to it, can cause tumours, multiple organ damage and lead to premature death, a new study has revealed.
Its results are published in The Food & Chemical Toxicology Journal in New York. Here, experts discuss the significance of the findings.
US 'supermax' prison is condemned internationally for its abusive regime
The Bureau of Prisons boss seems oblivious, as ADX Florence faces a class action lawsuit brought by mentally ill prisoners
To give you an idea of why a previously sane person would lapse into madness at ADX, you need look no further than the circumstances of their confinement.
ADX was designed to ensure the total isolation of all its prisoners, who are held in cells about the size of an average toilet.
The cells have thick, concrete soundproof walls, a door with bars and a second door made of solid steel. The only possible means of communicating with other humans is to yell into the toilet bowl and hope that someone may hear.
The inmates are kept in their cell 24/7 for two days each week. On the other five days, they may get to spend approximately one hour in a similarly-sized cage for what is laughingly referred to as "outdoor" recreation.
By its own policy, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) excludes the mentally ill from ADX, but it seems that many prisoners with mental illness end up there because of a deficient screening process – and more still who were sane upon arrival tend not to remain so for long.
To give you an idea of why a previously sane person would lapse into madness at ADX, you need look no further than the circumstances of their confinement.
ADX was designed to ensure the total isolation of all its prisoners, who are held in cells about the size of an average toilet.
The cells have thick, concrete soundproof walls, a door with bars and a second door made of solid steel. The only possible means of communicating with other humans is to yell into the toilet bowl and hope that someone may hear.
The inmates are kept in their cell 24/7 for two days each week. On the other five days, they may get to spend approximately one hour in a similarly-sized cage for what is laughingly referred to as "outdoor" recreation.
By its own policy, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) excludes the mentally ill from ADX, but it seems that many prisoners with mental illness end up there because of a deficient screening process – and more still who were sane upon arrival tend not to remain so for long.
The Silenced Majority: Stories of Uprisings, Occupations, Resistance, and Hope
Democracy Now! is on the road for a 100-city tour, starting with the Republican National Convention in Tampa and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, running up to Election Day.
We'll travel through many of the electoral swing states, going beyond the mainstream media’s obsessive focus on the latest poll numbers and candidate gaffes, to examine how people are organizing; the impacts of restrictive voter ID laws that are making it harder to vote; and how the massive influx of campaign cash following the Citizens United decision is changing how our democracy works.
Join us for a public event near you -- to help raise critical funds for the public community television and radio stations across the country.
See the map of events here.
We'll travel through many of the electoral swing states, going beyond the mainstream media’s obsessive focus on the latest poll numbers and candidate gaffes, to examine how people are organizing; the impacts of restrictive voter ID laws that are making it harder to vote; and how the massive influx of campaign cash following the Citizens United decision is changing how our democracy works.
Join us for a public event near you -- to help raise critical funds for the public community television and radio stations across the country.
See the map of events here.
Federal Budget 101 Where Does the Money Come From?
The federal government raises trillions of dollars in tax revenue each year, though there are many different kinds of taxes.
Some taxes fund specific government programs, while other taxes fund the government in general. When all taxes for a given year are insufficient to cover all of the government’s expenses—which is often the case — the U.S. Treasury borrows money to make up the difference.
Corporate Taxes
Corporations pay income taxes similar to those paid by workers. Depending on how much profit a corporation makes, it pays a marginal tax rate anywhere from 15 to 35 percent.4 The top marginal tax rate for corporations, 35 percent, applies to taxable income over $18.3 million. As you can see in this line chart, individual income taxes make up a much larger share of all federal tax revenues than corporate taxes do, in part because the wages and salaries of all Americans are much larger than profits of all U.S. corporations. The share of federal tax revenue paid by corporations has also declined substantially over time.
While the official tax rate for most corporations is 35 percent, the effective tax rate—that’s the percentage of profits a corporation actually pays in taxes—varies enormously from one corporation to the next.
That variation is the result of incredible complexity in the tax code as well as corporations’ varying exploitation of “loopholes” to avoid tax liability. Loopholes refer to provisions in the tax code that exempt certain activities from regular taxation. For example, multinational corporations can allocate profits to overseas operations and reduce their tax liability by doing so.
Some taxes fund specific government programs, while other taxes fund the government in general. When all taxes for a given year are insufficient to cover all of the government’s expenses—which is often the case — the U.S. Treasury borrows money to make up the difference.
Corporate Taxes
Corporations pay income taxes similar to those paid by workers. Depending on how much profit a corporation makes, it pays a marginal tax rate anywhere from 15 to 35 percent.4 The top marginal tax rate for corporations, 35 percent, applies to taxable income over $18.3 million. As you can see in this line chart, individual income taxes make up a much larger share of all federal tax revenues than corporate taxes do, in part because the wages and salaries of all Americans are much larger than profits of all U.S. corporations. The share of federal tax revenue paid by corporations has also declined substantially over time.
While the official tax rate for most corporations is 35 percent, the effective tax rate—that’s the percentage of profits a corporation actually pays in taxes—varies enormously from one corporation to the next.
That variation is the result of incredible complexity in the tax code as well as corporations’ varying exploitation of “loopholes” to avoid tax liability. Loopholes refer to provisions in the tax code that exempt certain activities from regular taxation. For example, multinational corporations can allocate profits to overseas operations and reduce their tax liability by doing so.
Occupy Protesters' Rights Must Be Protected, U.N. Says; U.S. Says Nothing
Federal officials have yet to respond to two United Nations human rights envoys who formally requested that the U.S. government protect Occupy protesters against excessive force by law enforcement officials.
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the two envoys called on U.S. officials to "explain the behavior of police departments that violently disbanded some Occupy protests last fall" and expressed concern that excessive use of force "could have been related to [the protesters'] dissenting views, criticisms of economic policies, and their legitimate work in the defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms."
The U.S. government has not answered the letter. A State Department spokeswoman told HuffPost that "the U.S. will be replying," but she couldn't say when or how. "We do not comment on the substance of diplomatic correspondence," she said.
"Lack of an answer does not make the U.S. look good in the international community," said Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's human rights program.
"The U.S. should at a very minimum respond to a letter like this," he said. "And if they believe that law enforcement agencies operated under legal, constitutional authority and there were no problems, then they should explain that and present that" before the Human Rights Council.
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the two envoys called on U.S. officials to "explain the behavior of police departments that violently disbanded some Occupy protests last fall" and expressed concern that excessive use of force "could have been related to [the protesters'] dissenting views, criticisms of economic policies, and their legitimate work in the defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms."
The U.S. government has not answered the letter. A State Department spokeswoman told HuffPost that "the U.S. will be replying," but she couldn't say when or how. "We do not comment on the substance of diplomatic correspondence," she said.
"Lack of an answer does not make the U.S. look good in the international community," said Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's human rights program.
"The U.S. should at a very minimum respond to a letter like this," he said. "And if they believe that law enforcement agencies operated under legal, constitutional authority and there were no problems, then they should explain that and present that" before the Human Rights Council.
Apple, Google, Microsoft Avoid Taxes By Keeping Billions In Profits Offshore: Senate Report
From Huffington Post Business
American multinational corporations have something in common with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, aside from being people, too: They both keep a lot of their income overseas to cut their tax bills.
Companies such as Microsoft and Apple quietly dodge billions of dollars in taxes each year with potentially illegal schemes to move their profits offshore, according to a Senate subcommittee report released on Thursday.
"Some multinationals use our current tax system to engage in gimmicks to avoid paying taxes they owe," Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations, said in a hearing on Thursday. Levin described "a system used to shift billions of dollars of profit offshore and avoid billions in taxes."
Microsoft, Apple, Google and Hewlett-Packard were among the companies Levin singled out for criticism over their tax-avoidance practices, but they are not alone. Most multinational companies pay a tax rate well below the 35 percent rate mandated by law. Some avoid paying taxes altogether, or even get the government to pay them money.
These loopholes cost the U.S. government billions of dollars in revenue that could be used to help close the budget deficit.
Pay your taxes, Corporations, and we wouldn't have a recession!!!
American multinational corporations have something in common with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, aside from being people, too: They both keep a lot of their income overseas to cut their tax bills.
Companies such as Microsoft and Apple quietly dodge billions of dollars in taxes each year with potentially illegal schemes to move their profits offshore, according to a Senate subcommittee report released on Thursday.
"Some multinationals use our current tax system to engage in gimmicks to avoid paying taxes they owe," Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations, said in a hearing on Thursday. Levin described "a system used to shift billions of dollars of profit offshore and avoid billions in taxes."
Microsoft, Apple, Google and Hewlett-Packard were among the companies Levin singled out for criticism over their tax-avoidance practices, but they are not alone. Most multinational companies pay a tax rate well below the 35 percent rate mandated by law. Some avoid paying taxes altogether, or even get the government to pay them money.
These loopholes cost the U.S. government billions of dollars in revenue that could be used to help close the budget deficit.
Pay your taxes, Corporations, and we wouldn't have a recession!!!
To Match Walton Heirs' Fortune, You'd Need to Work at Walmart for 7 Million Years
The six wealthiest heirs to the Walmart empire are together worth a staggering $115 billion.
This marks the first time in American history that one family has controlled a 12-figure fortune. While the nation's richest person is still Bill Gates, the sixth-, seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-richest Americans are all Waltons.
To put that in perspective, here's a chart of things the Waltons could afford to pay for:
This marks the first time in American history that one family has controlled a 12-figure fortune. While the nation's richest person is still Bill Gates, the sixth-, seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-richest Americans are all Waltons.
To put that in perspective, here's a chart of things the Waltons could afford to pay for:
The GMO Population Cull… Getting Away with Murder
The US Food and Drug Administration said: ‘We know of no information showing that the foods created from these new methods differ in any meaningful or uniform way.’ It was a big lie, a statement of sheer insanity, and people like FDA/Monsanto double agent, Michael Taylor, knew it.
A lawsuit later brought to light 44,000 internal FDA documents which revealed that GMO can produce allergies, toxins, new diseases, antibiotic-resistant diseases, nutritional problems and cancer-causing agents.
They also confirmed that scientists and experts at the FDA had said that GMO food was different from that produced normally and therefore had different risks. The effect on human health in GMO-soaked America has since proved catastrophic and potentially genocidal.
How come, then, that the FDA said publicly that there was no difference between non-GMO food and that produced with GMO, especially by Monsanto, which has led to the FDA not requiring independent safety checks on GMO products?
One of the key people responsible for taking that line was Michael Taylor, the number two at the FDA, a former attorney to Monsanto and later a Monsanto Vice-President for Public Policy.
Taylor was also at the US Department of Agriculture between 1994 and 1996 and in his government roles he was highly influential in the decision not to insist that GMO had to be labelled which has denied the public the free choice to eat or not eat GMO food.
A lawsuit later brought to light 44,000 internal FDA documents which revealed that GMO can produce allergies, toxins, new diseases, antibiotic-resistant diseases, nutritional problems and cancer-causing agents.
They also confirmed that scientists and experts at the FDA had said that GMO food was different from that produced normally and therefore had different risks. The effect on human health in GMO-soaked America has since proved catastrophic and potentially genocidal.
How come, then, that the FDA said publicly that there was no difference between non-GMO food and that produced with GMO, especially by Monsanto, which has led to the FDA not requiring independent safety checks on GMO products?
One of the key people responsible for taking that line was Michael Taylor, the number two at the FDA, a former attorney to Monsanto and later a Monsanto Vice-President for Public Policy.
Taylor was also at the US Department of Agriculture between 1994 and 1996 and in his government roles he was highly influential in the decision not to insist that GMO had to be labelled which has denied the public the free choice to eat or not eat GMO food.
Friday, 21 September 2012
Genetic Roulette FULL Movie
They are poisoning us, and we must stop them. Please share this video with as many people as will watch!
Manufacturers of pink slime sue ABC for reporting on pink slime
South Dakota’s evocatively named Beef Products Inc., incorporated makers of beef products, is suing ABC News for economic damage wrought by the network’s use of the term “pink slime” to describe the slimy, pink filler material that BPI once proudly ginned up.
Earlier this year, BPI announced that it was halting production of the horrifying concoction, largely because people find the concept of finely mushed animal parts treated with ammonia to be unappealing. Or, as BPI sees it, because of ABC.
The company filed its lawsuit in a South Dakota state court seeking at least $1.2 billion in damages under a state law that gives agricultural companies the ability to sue when their products are criticized.
Dan Webb, a lawyer representing BPI, said ABC defamed its products by simply calling the beef additive “pink slime.” Mr. Webb said BPI blames ABC for causing consumers “to believe that our lean beef product, which is 100% beef, is something called pink slime; that is some type of unhealthy and repulsive liquid product that is not even meat.”
What ABC is being sued for, then, is basically just reporting — what BPI’s additive is, where it ends up, what it’s called. If precedent is any indicator, BPI faces an uphill battle. In 1998, Oprah Winfrey was sued by cattle ranchers who claimed that her report on mad cow disease cost them millions in lost sales. Winfrey won the case.
Earlier this year, BPI announced that it was halting production of the horrifying concoction, largely because people find the concept of finely mushed animal parts treated with ammonia to be unappealing. Or, as BPI sees it, because of ABC.
The company filed its lawsuit in a South Dakota state court seeking at least $1.2 billion in damages under a state law that gives agricultural companies the ability to sue when their products are criticized.
Dan Webb, a lawyer representing BPI, said ABC defamed its products by simply calling the beef additive “pink slime.” Mr. Webb said BPI blames ABC for causing consumers “to believe that our lean beef product, which is 100% beef, is something called pink slime; that is some type of unhealthy and repulsive liquid product that is not even meat.”
What ABC is being sued for, then, is basically just reporting — what BPI’s additive is, where it ends up, what it’s called. If precedent is any indicator, BPI faces an uphill battle. In 1998, Oprah Winfrey was sued by cattle ranchers who claimed that her report on mad cow disease cost them millions in lost sales. Winfrey won the case.
The More Americans That Go On Food Stamps The More Money JP Morgan Makes
JP Morgan is the largest processor of food stamp benefits in the United States. JP Morgan has contracted to provide food stamp debit cards in 26 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
JP Morgan is paid for each case that it handles, so that means that the more Americans that go on food stamps, the more profits JP Morgan makes. Yes, you read that correctly. When the number of Americans on food stamps goes up, JP Morgan makes more money.
In the video posted below, JP Morgan executive Christopher Paton admits that this is "a very important business to JP Morgan" and that it is doing very well.
Considering the fact that the number of Americans on food stamps has exploded from 26 million in 2007 to 43 million today, one can only imagine how much JP Morgan's profits in this area have soared.
But doesn't this give JP Morgan an incentive to keep the number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program as high as possible?
There are just some things that are a little too "creepy" to be "outsourced" to private corporations.
The JP Morgan executive in the interview below does his best to put a positive spin on all this, but it just seems really unsavory for a big Wall Street bank to be making so much money off of the suffering of tens of millions of Americans.
Sorry, the video associated with this story has been taken down, but I found a related one.
JP Morgan is paid for each case that it handles, so that means that the more Americans that go on food stamps, the more profits JP Morgan makes. Yes, you read that correctly. When the number of Americans on food stamps goes up, JP Morgan makes more money.
In the video posted below, JP Morgan executive Christopher Paton admits that this is "a very important business to JP Morgan" and that it is doing very well.
Considering the fact that the number of Americans on food stamps has exploded from 26 million in 2007 to 43 million today, one can only imagine how much JP Morgan's profits in this area have soared.
But doesn't this give JP Morgan an incentive to keep the number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program as high as possible?
There are just some things that are a little too "creepy" to be "outsourced" to private corporations.
The JP Morgan executive in the interview below does his best to put a positive spin on all this, but it just seems really unsavory for a big Wall Street bank to be making so much money off of the suffering of tens of millions of Americans.
Sorry, the video associated with this story has been taken down, but I found a related one.
Koch brothers’ ‘free-market’ group plans anti-Occupy rally in New York
Americans for Prosperity to gather in Manhattan on Thursday to ‘stand up to these extremists who despise free enterprise’
An activist group funded by the billionaire Koch brothers is planning a rally in New York on Thursday to “stand up to Occupy Wall Street extremists”.
Americans for Prosperity will gather at the Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan to demonstrate against Occupy protesters and Barack Obama’s handling of the economy.
“The Occupy Wall Street crowd is nothing but a fringe element of malcontents bent on mayhem and destruction,” said Steve Lonegan, Americans for Prosperity’s New Jersey state director.
“These are people who despise free enterprise. They are not attacking Wall Street. They are attacking the very freedoms that everyday Americans cherish to pursue their own dreams and succeed.”
Lonegan added that it was “time that someone stood up to the Occupy Wall Street mob”.
An activist group funded by the billionaire Koch brothers is planning a rally in New York on Thursday to “stand up to Occupy Wall Street extremists”.
Americans for Prosperity will gather at the Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan to demonstrate against Occupy protesters and Barack Obama’s handling of the economy.
“The Occupy Wall Street crowd is nothing but a fringe element of malcontents bent on mayhem and destruction,” said Steve Lonegan, Americans for Prosperity’s New Jersey state director.
“These are people who despise free enterprise. They are not attacking Wall Street. They are attacking the very freedoms that everyday Americans cherish to pursue their own dreams and succeed.”
Lonegan added that it was “time that someone stood up to the Occupy Wall Street mob”.
Romney's ads show miners not paid during campaign stop
Mitt Romney’s campaign is airing two ads in eastern Ohio that include footage of the coal miners who lost pay because he campaigned at their mine.
The footage is from Romney’s Aug. 14 campaign stop at the Century Mine in Beallsville, Ohio, owned by a subsidiary of Murray Energy Corp. It was later learned that the miners on stage were ordered out of the mine because of Romney’s campaign stop and were not paid for the portion of their shift that was canceled by the event.
The Romney campaign confirmed the miners shown in the two ads were the miners from Romney’s campaign stop.
The footage is from Romney’s Aug. 14 campaign stop at the Century Mine in Beallsville, Ohio, owned by a subsidiary of Murray Energy Corp. It was later learned that the miners on stage were ordered out of the mine because of Romney’s campaign stop and were not paid for the portion of their shift that was canceled by the event.
The Romney campaign confirmed the miners shown in the two ads were the miners from Romney’s campaign stop.
British MP Banned From Parliament for Saying the Government is Lying About Afghanistan - Paul Flynn
September 20, 2012 "Information Clearing House" - IN THE HOUSE of Commons, on 18 September 2012
MP Paul Flynn was kicked out of the UK parliament for telling the defence secretary Phillip Hammond that he was using British soldiers as human shields for ministers' reputations by sending them to die in vain in a war which was lost.
He compared Hammond and other government ministers to politicians in the First World War "who lied and soldiers died." Paul Flynn refused to withdraw the accusation of lying and was banned from the House of Commons for five days.
Paul Flynn's accusation of lying came the day after a number of MPs called in parliament for British troops to be withdrawn immediately from Afghanistan, and not wait for the supposed exit date in 2014.
The former Labour minister Denis MacShane -- who had previously supported all the wars of the last eleven years -- asked why the government was allowing British soldiers to "be sacrificed without any purpose".
They were engaged in an unwinnable conflict to no strategic benefit to the UK, he said.
MP Paul Flynn was kicked out of the UK parliament for telling the defence secretary Phillip Hammond that he was using British soldiers as human shields for ministers' reputations by sending them to die in vain in a war which was lost.
He compared Hammond and other government ministers to politicians in the First World War "who lied and soldiers died." Paul Flynn refused to withdraw the accusation of lying and was banned from the House of Commons for five days.
Paul Flynn's accusation of lying came the day after a number of MPs called in parliament for British troops to be withdrawn immediately from Afghanistan, and not wait for the supposed exit date in 2014.
The former Labour minister Denis MacShane -- who had previously supported all the wars of the last eleven years -- asked why the government was allowing British soldiers to "be sacrificed without any purpose".
They were engaged in an unwinnable conflict to no strategic benefit to the UK, he said.
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Inspectors Certified Pakistani Factory as Safe Before Disaster
A Pakistani police officer guarded a factory in Karachi that was destroyed this month by a fire that killed nearly 300 people, many trapped behind locked exits.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A prominent factory monitoring group heavily financed by industry gave a clean bill of health to a Pakistani apparel plant last month, just weeks before a fire engulfed the premises and killed nearly 300 workers, many of them trapped behind locked exit doors.
In August, two inspectors who visited the factory, Ali Enterprises in Karachi, to examine working conditions gave it a prestigious SA8000 certification, meaning it had met international standards in nine areas, including health and safety, child labor and minimum wages.
The two inspectors were working on behalf of Social Accountability International, a nonprofit monitoring group based in New York that obtains much of its financing from corporations and relies on 21 affiliates around the world to do most of its inspections.
Weeks later, a fire swept the plant on Sept. 12, trapping hundreds of workers in a building with barred windows and just one open exit, resulting in one of the worst industrial disasters in history — one that killed nearly twice as many workers as the landmark Triangle shirtwaist factory fire of 1911 in New York.
The disaster has also revived scrutiny of the procurement policies of the Western companies that have their clothes made in factories like Ali Enterprises.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A prominent factory monitoring group heavily financed by industry gave a clean bill of health to a Pakistani apparel plant last month, just weeks before a fire engulfed the premises and killed nearly 300 workers, many of them trapped behind locked exit doors.
In August, two inspectors who visited the factory, Ali Enterprises in Karachi, to examine working conditions gave it a prestigious SA8000 certification, meaning it had met international standards in nine areas, including health and safety, child labor and minimum wages.
The two inspectors were working on behalf of Social Accountability International, a nonprofit monitoring group based in New York that obtains much of its financing from corporations and relies on 21 affiliates around the world to do most of its inspections.
Weeks later, a fire swept the plant on Sept. 12, trapping hundreds of workers in a building with barred windows and just one open exit, resulting in one of the worst industrial disasters in history — one that killed nearly twice as many workers as the landmark Triangle shirtwaist factory fire of 1911 in New York.
The disaster has also revived scrutiny of the procurement policies of the Western companies that have their clothes made in factories like Ali Enterprises.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
180+ arrests on Occupy Wall St. anniversary — in pictures
This is the injustice we are fighting.
The Limping Middle Class
Robert B. Reich is the former secretary of labor, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.”
THE real reason for America’s Great Regression was political.
As income and wealth became more concentrated in fewer hands, American politics reverted to what Marriner S. Eccles, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, described in the 1920s, when people “with great economic power had an undue influence in making the rules of the economic game.”
With hefty campaign contributions and platoons of lobbyists and public relations spinners, America’s executive class has gained lower tax rates while resisting reforms that would spread the gains from growth.
Yet the rich are now being bitten by their own success. Those at the top would be better off with a smaller share of a rapidly growing economy than a large share of one that’s almost dead in the water.
The economy cannot possibly get out of its current doldrums without a strategy to revive the purchasing power of America’s vast middle class.
The spending of the richest 5 percent alone will not lead to a virtuous cycle of more jobs and higher living standards.
THE real reason for America’s Great Regression was political.
As income and wealth became more concentrated in fewer hands, American politics reverted to what Marriner S. Eccles, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, described in the 1920s, when people “with great economic power had an undue influence in making the rules of the economic game.”
With hefty campaign contributions and platoons of lobbyists and public relations spinners, America’s executive class has gained lower tax rates while resisting reforms that would spread the gains from growth.
Yet the rich are now being bitten by their own success. Those at the top would be better off with a smaller share of a rapidly growing economy than a large share of one that’s almost dead in the water.
The economy cannot possibly get out of its current doldrums without a strategy to revive the purchasing power of America’s vast middle class.
The spending of the richest 5 percent alone will not lead to a virtuous cycle of more jobs and higher living standards.
The Federal Reserve, a Privately Owned Banking Cartel, Has Been Given Police Powers, with Glock 22s and Patrol Cars
By mid morning on Monday, September 17, as Occupy Wall Street protesters marched around the perimeter of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, all signs that an FRPD (Federal Reserve Police Department) existed had disappeared.
The FRPD patrol cars and law enforcement officers had been replaced by NYPD patrol cars and officers. That decision may have been made to keep from drawing attention to a mushrooming new domestic police force that most Americans do not know exists.
Quietly, without fanfare or Congressional hearings, the USA Patriot Act in 2001 bestowed on the 12 privately owned Federal Reserve Banks, domestic policing powers.
Section 364 of the Act, “Uniform Protection Authority for Federal Reserve,” reads: “Law enforcement officers designated or authorized by the Board or a reserve bank under paragraph (1) or (2) are authorized while on duty to carry firearms and make arrests without warrants for any offense against the United States committed in their presence…Such officers shall have access to law enforcement information that may be necessary for the protection of the property or personnel of the Board or a reserve bank.”
The police officers are technically known as FRLEO, short for Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officer. The system has its own police academies for training, their own patch and badges, uniforms, pistols, rifles, police cars and the power to arrest coast to coast without a warrant.
They have ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and a recruitment ad campaign with the slogan: “It’s about respect and recognition from your peers. It’s you.”
The FRPD patrol cars and law enforcement officers had been replaced by NYPD patrol cars and officers. That decision may have been made to keep from drawing attention to a mushrooming new domestic police force that most Americans do not know exists.
Quietly, without fanfare or Congressional hearings, the USA Patriot Act in 2001 bestowed on the 12 privately owned Federal Reserve Banks, domestic policing powers.
Section 364 of the Act, “Uniform Protection Authority for Federal Reserve,” reads: “Law enforcement officers designated or authorized by the Board or a reserve bank under paragraph (1) or (2) are authorized while on duty to carry firearms and make arrests without warrants for any offense against the United States committed in their presence…Such officers shall have access to law enforcement information that may be necessary for the protection of the property or personnel of the Board or a reserve bank.”
The police officers are technically known as FRLEO, short for Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officer. The system has its own police academies for training, their own patch and badges, uniforms, pistols, rifles, police cars and the power to arrest coast to coast without a warrant.
They have ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and a recruitment ad campaign with the slogan: “It’s about respect and recognition from your peers. It’s you.”
Full Secret Video of Private Romney Fundraiser
From Mother Jones
Update: According to the source, the recording device was inadvertently turned off between these two segments. The source noticed quickly and began to re-record, resulting in an estimated a one-to-two minute loss of tape.
Update: According to the source, the recording device was inadvertently turned off between these two segments. The source noticed quickly and began to re-record, resulting in an estimated a one-to-two minute loss of tape.
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