A possible witness in the Whitey Bulger case, Stephen “Stippo” Rakes, has been found dead at the side of a road. Rakes, 59, had no obvious signs of trauma on his body, and detectives are awaiting autopsy results to discover the cause of death.
Rakes accused Bulger, the notorious Boston mobster, of taking over his liquor store in order to provide a legitimate front from which to operate his criminal activities from. Rakes, also claimed that Bulger had threatened his family at gun point. However, earlier this week prosecutors had informed Mr Rakes that his testimony would not be needed, something that had apparently left him feeling “despondent”, he had been waiting many years to have his day in court.
Teenagers went on a crime spree in Los Angeles and 12 arrested, as Hollywood was hit by roaming bands of robbers on Wednesday night, causing mayhem when approximately 40 young people rampaged through the area. Eight robberies have been reported, and police are investigating how the groups formed, probably using social media to send out information to the swarming groups.
Investigators are also looking into whether the group was made up of some of the same youths who were attacking people and vandalizing stores in the Crenshaw district earlier this week, when demonstrators protested the George Zimmerman murder trial verdict.
Detroit has become the latest city to file for bankruptcy, and will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history.
Rick Snyder, the Governor of Michigan, had been trying to broker a deal with Detroit’s creditors to restructure it’s debt, estimated to be around $18.5 billion.
However, Mr Snyder’s plans received stiff resistance from some creditors, most notably from Detroit’s two pension funds.
Mr Snyder said, “it is clear that the financial emergency in Detroit cannot be successfully addressed outside of such a filing, and it is the only reasonable alternative that is available.”
For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government’s mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences. But on July 2, that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The result: an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. So what just happened?
Until this month, a vast ocean of U.S. programming produced by the Broadcasting Board of Governors such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks could only be viewed or listened to at broadcast quality in foreign countries. The programming varies in tone and quality, but its breadth is vast: It’s viewed in more than 100 countries in 61 languages. The topics covered include human rights abuses in Iran; self-immolation in Tibet; human trafficking across Asia; and on-the-ground reporting in Egypt and Iraq.
The restriction of these broadcasts was due to the Smith-Mundt Act, a long standing piece of legislation that has been amended numerous times over the years, perhaps most consequentially by Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright. In the 70s, Fulbright was no friend of VOA and Radio Free Europe, and moved to restrict them from domestic distribution, saying they “should be given the opportunity to take their rightful place in the graveyard of Cold War relics.” Fulbright’s amendment to Smith-Mundt was bolstered in 1985 by Nebraska Senator Edward Zorinsky who argued that such “propaganda” should be kept out of America as to distinguish the U.S. “from the Soviet Union where domestic propaganda is a principal government activity.”
Zorinsky and Fulbright sold their amendments on sensible rhetoric: American taxpayers shouldn’t be funding propaganda for American audiences. So did Congress just tear down the American public’s last defense against domestic propaganda?
A former U.S. government source with knowledge of the BBG says the organization is no Pravda, but it does advance U.S. interests in more subtle ways. In Somalia, for instance, VOA serves as counterprogramming to outlets peddling anti-American or jihadist sentiment. “Somalis have three options for news,” the source said, “word of mouth, Al-Shabaab or VOA Somalia.”
This partially explains the push to allow BBG broadcasts on local radio stations in the United States. The agency wants to reach diaspora communities, such as St. Paul Minnesota’s significant Somali expat community. “Those people can get Al-Shabaab, they can get Russia Today, but they couldn’t get access to their taxpayer-funded news sources like VOA Somalia,” the source said. “It was silly.”
Lynne added that the reform has a transparency benefit as well. “Now Americans will be able to know more about what they are paying for with their tax dollars – greater transparency is a win-win for all involved,” she said. And so with that we have the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, which passed as part of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, and went into effect this month.
But if anyone needed a reminder of the dangers of domestic propaganda efforts, the past 12 months provided ample reasons. Last year, two USA Today journalists were ensnared in a propaganda campaign after reporting about millions of dollars in back taxes owed by the Pentagon’s top propaganda contractor in Afghanistan. Eventually, one of the co-owners of the firm confessed to creating phony websites and Twitter accounts to smear the journalists anonymously. Additionally, just this month, The Washington Post exposed a counter propaganda program by the Pentagon that recommended posting comments on a U.S. website run by a Somali expat with readers opposing Al-Shabaab. “Today, the military is more focused on manipulating news and commentary on the Internet, especially social media, by posting material and images without necessarily claiming ownership,” reported The Post.
But for BBG officials, the references to Pentagon propaganda efforts are nauseating, particularly because the Smith-Mundt Act never had anything to do with regulating the Pentagon, a fact that was misunderstood in media reports in the run-up to the passage of new Smith-Mundt reforms in January.
One example included a report by the late Buzzfeed reporter Michael Hastings, who suggested that the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act would open the door to Pentagon propaganda of U.S. audiences. In fact, as amended in 1987, the act only covers portions of the State Department engaged in public diplomacy abroad (i.e. the public diplomacy section of the “R” bureau, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.)
But the news circulated regardless, much to the displeasure of Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), a sponsor of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012. “To me, it’s a fascinating case study in how one blogger was pretty sloppy, not understanding the issue and then it got picked up by Politico’s Playbook, and you had one level of sloppiness on top of another,” Thornberry told The Cable last May. “And once something sensational gets out there, it just spreads like wildfire.”
That of course doesn’t leave the BBG off the hook if its content smacks of agitprop. But now that its materials are allowed to be broadcast by local radio stations and TV networks, they won’t be a complete mystery to Americans. “Previously, the legislation had the effect of clouding and hiding this stuff,” the former U.S. official told The Cable. “Now we’ll have a better sense: Gee some of this stuff is really good. Or gee some of this stuff is really bad. At least we’ll know now.”
Since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power, Egypt had been blighted by petrol and water shortages and power outages. As soon as Egypt’s first democratically elected President was ousted from power the petrol supplies returned to normal, and there have been no power outages since.
Egyptians are delighted, one taxi driver from Cairo told reporters, “For a year, life was very difficult. There were water shortages, power outages, no fuel. But now, everything has returned to normal.”
A local petrol station owner, Achraf Hader, said “Before the demonstrations on June 30, I had to send two employees to negotiate all night in order for us to have enough petrol, and that didn’t always work. Tonight, both pumps are full. And the petrol supplier called to ask if I wanted more!”
Many Egyptians believe the Muslim Brotherhood were blocking supplies to stop protesters from reaching Cairo.
However, many believe the sudden return of power and petrol are signs that supporters of former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, free market economists and the military are behind the shortages. They believe they created unrest within the civilian population, by blocking supplies so as to create the correct atmosphere for protests to begin.
Simi Valley 4th July firework celebrations turned to disaster as fireworks exploded into the crowd. Some reports say the staging holding the display collapsed, others say the fireworks were set off by accident, shooting burning darts of fire into the audience. People ran for cover and paramedics attended the scene quickly. Investigations continue but foul play is not suspected.
An estimated 10,000 people were watching the event, following appeals to attend professional pyrotechnic displays rather than light fireworks of their own, for safety reasons.
16-year-old Josh Antonucci, was in a large group of spectators about 500 feet from the fireworks stand, close enough to see part of the staging area tip over and see fireworks begin shooting into the crowd.
Antonucci turned to run and a projectile struck him in the back. “It felt like a punch,” he said. “I knew I just had to get away.”
The Independence Day celebration took place at the Rancho Santa Susana Community Centre and Park in Simi Valley, California, on Thursday. 36 people were reported injured, with at least 20 requiring hospital treatment.
Egypt’s first democratically elected President, Mohammed Morsi, has been removed from power in a military coup. Morsi had been President for less than a year, however the people were becoming increasingly unhappy with Morsi, leading to mass protests in Cairo. The army had given President Morsi an ultimatum to enter into a greater dialogue, however he refused, so on Wednesday the army seized power. Egypt’s top judge is now acting as leader of the nation.
Tensions had been increasing in Egypt after Morsi granted himself sweeping powers late last year. Religious leaders from the Muslim as well as the Coptic Christian communities have backed the coup with Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, and Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Church saying that the military was taking up it’s “patriotic duty to the Egyptian masses” by removing President Morsi from power.
Mohammed Morsi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Brotherhood have been linked to al-Qaeda, and with Morsi in power the Christian minority had seen a significant increase in persecution.
Today authorities have moved to arrest prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Despite the jubilant scenes on the streets of Cairo, there are concerns that the country could see further violence with Muslim Brotherhood supporters vowing to die to defend Morsi’s “legitimate” right to power.
In a sweeping move, the congress is now considering a bill that would give 10 billion to the Federation of LGBT who will now turn their attention on promoting youth, not to abort their unborn babies but to instead consider putting them up for adoption.
“Who would have thought the LGBT community would have helped solve the anti-abortion problems in America.” The congressman went on to say: “It’s time we come together and heal as a nation and come up with real solutions. The way I see it, these Gays and Lesbians are Gods angels to the world. After all they are not the ones creating all these unwanted babies right!”
This move was brought on by the recent polling of adoption agencies across the nation, who report the wait time for a traditional marriage couple to adopt, has gone from 6 months to nearly 3 years, due to the increased demand by the newly legalized same sex marriage and the tremendous influx of new adoption requests by these gay couples.
When asked if they thought this bill would be blocked by the right wing controlled anti-abortion house, they said: “These anti-abortion groups should be happy. The LGBT community is now working with them to bring all these unborn babies into the world now that Gay marriage is legal. These loving gay couples are the solution to these unwanted babies and they will raise them up in a world where there is tolerance and no hate. These rightwing nuts should really be happy and stop hating everyone.”
When asked to comment, one unnamed major player in the anti-abortion movement had no comment.
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision on gay marriage today will see same-sex married couples in States who already have gay marriage, given the same constitutional rights as heterosexual couples. The case means that it is unconstitutional for the federal government to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
The Supreme Court also dismissed California’s ban on same-sex marriage, under Proposition 8, meaning same-sex marriages conducted in California will be reinstated.
The DOMA decision split the Supreme Court down lines of liberal and conservative, with the centralist Justice Anthony Kennedy having the swing vote, on this occasion voting with the liberals.
The courts decision is seen as a reflection on the changing face of America. Within a decade Americans have gone for only 21% being in favor of same-sex marriage, at the time of George W Bush’s re-election, to 30% when President Obama first took office in 2009, and the most recent polls place support for gay marriage at 51%.
The full impact of these decisions will become apparent to ALL Americans, in the coming days and months ahead.
Defense of Marriage act, being struck down by the US Supreme Court, who will pay for all the law suits that will now be brought against the United States?
And now the very media that pushed Gay marriage, now sits in judgment of things Paula said 10 years ago. Tomorrow will those at 30 Rock, sit in judgment of you?
The corporations are keeping all your emails, videos, voice mails, scanning your computers etc, and the Federal government has required Verizon and all these companies to turn over your information for selected targeting in the future.
Note Matt and just about everyone else you know has done the same or worse 20 years ago. It was just a different time. (DL changing times and law… wow it’s working)
South Africa whites dominated until a short while ago. Now Blacks dominate and punish the whites. Whites cannot get a job they are discriminated against and terrible crime against them.
It’s called backlash…
It is expected that the Supreme Court will announce it’s decision on the Prop.8 and Defence of Marriage Act tomorrow morning. The Prop. 8 case will decide if California’s ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional or not. In the DOMA case law makers will decide if it is constitutional to withhold state benefits for same-sex couples who are married, whilst heterosexual couples are in receipt of them.
The two cases could in effect pave the way for same-sex marriage to be legalized nation wide. Many religious and other civil liberties groups are concerned with what the wider implications could be for free speech, if the Supreme Court rules in favour.
Italy’s second largest Bank, Mediobanca, has warned the nation could need a rescue deal in the next six months. The economic crisis within Italy is deepening, and even large companies are feeling the effects of the credit crunch in the country.
Italy’s €2.1 trillion debt is the third largest sovereign debt in the world after the US and Japan.
Any stress in the markets could threaten to reignite the eurozone crisis once more.