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Virginia DMV Attempts to Shutter Ridesharing Companies Uber, Lyft

Just when you thought you couldn’t despise the Department of Motor Vehicles any more, Virginia’s DMV decided to wage war against popular passenger carrier companies Uber and Lyft, sending cease and desist letters urging them to stop doing business in the commonwealth.

The Virginia DMV, which has already fined Uber and Lyft $26,000 and $9,000, respectively, says Virginia law “requires for-hire passenger carriers to have proper operating authority,” and their business model—a model which allows passengers to conveniently look up driver ratings and connect with one such part-time driver of their choice via smart phone mobile apps—doesn’t fit the bill.

Since the state is currently reviewing its passenger carrier laws, DMV Commissioner Robert Holcomb told Uber and Lyft they should “focus [their] resources on participation in this study rather than continue illegal operations in the meantime,” according to the letters.

Virginia’s move to immobilize Uber and Lyft puts it on par with cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where taxicab companies have wielded their influence to try to halt competition.

“This is just the latest example of legislation getting in the way of entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Matthew Feeney, policy analyst with the Cato Institute. “If lawmakers in Virginia want Virginia to be an economically profitable and prosperous state, then they should welcome companies like Uber and Lyft, and not dissuade them from coming into Virginia.”

The DMV’s move wasn’t random.

Sunni Blevins Brown, spokeswoman for the Virginia DMV, confirmed that a “number of transportation companies, including taxis, have contacted DMV regarding this matter.”

And that, said Christopher Koopman, program manager for the Mercatus Center’s Project for the Study of American Capitalism at George Mason University, drives home the problem. No pun intended.

“These sorts of actions, they privilege existing firms and they stifle innovation and they limit consumer choice,” Koopman said. “In situations like this, regulations are being used to block the development of promising situations, products such as Uber that are market responsive, in a lot of ways, to issues that consumers have faced in the past. In a lot of ways firms like this pop up to respond to needs of consumers, and regulations act as barriers to entry. They make it more difficult and they make it more expensive for the entrepreneur or the innovator to provide higher quality services at a lower cost to consumers.”

The Virginia DMV, however, has gone even further.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, it’s circulating a notice that warns the public to research any ride service before using it and points riders to a website listing companies that have the DMV’s trusted stamp of approval. Uber and Lyft didn’t make the cut.

The DMV insists it’s looking out for the best interest and safety of consumers.

The free market, however, works out many of those safety concerns all on its own, said Feeney and Koopman.

“I think the technology that allows Uber and Lyft to work actually helps customers when it comes to things like safety,” Feeney said. “For example, Uber allows not only for the customers to rate drivers, but it also allows drivers to rate customers, which makes it safer for drivers and better for customers.”

Plus, Uber and Lyft perform background checks on their drivers, Feeney said.

Since companies like Uber rely on a ratings system, bad drivers are naturally weeded out and good drivers are rewarded with business, allowing consumers to make informed choices, Koopman said.

“When you get a cab, you don’t know what the record of the driver is like,” Koopman said. “You don’t know, is it going to be a good or a bad experience? But an innovation like Uber allows the consumer to know at least to a certain degree the type of driver they’re going to be dealing with.”

Uber isn’t giving up.

“The DMV’s actions today are shocking and unexpected. Uber has been providing Virginians with safe, affordable and reliable transportation options for months and has continued to work in good faith with the DMV to create a regulatory framework for ridesharing,” a statement from the company reads. “The DMV decision today hurts thousands of small business entrepreneurs who rely on the Uber platform to make a living, create new jobs and contribute to the economy — and it hurts the countless residents who rely on Uber to connect them with affordable, safe and reliable transportation alternatives. We look forward to continuing to work with the Virginia DMV to find a permanent home for ridesharing in the commonwealth.” http://dailysignal.com/2014/06/05/virginia-dmv-attempts-shutter-ridesharing-companies-uber-lyft/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

New NDAA Bolsters Guantanamo-style Indefinite Detention for Americans

Jamiol Cartoon

Top senators thought you wouldn’t notice. Behind closed doors, they wrote up newindefinite detention and Guantánamo provisions in the annual defense policy bill, and then waited 11 days to quietly file the bill.

But we now have the bill, and everyone can read it. And everyone should understand what is in this new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) before the full Senate makes a big mistake and paves the way for Guantánamo-style indefinite detention being brought to the United States itself.

The new Senate NDAA:

Brings Indefinite Detention to the U.S. Itself: The bill now says that detainees may be brought to the United States for “detention pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force” (AUMF). In plain English, that means the policy of indefinite detention by the military, without charge or trial, could be carried out here at home. Right now, the number of people in the U.S. in military indefinite detention is zero. If the bill is enacted, that number could immediately jump to 100 or more.

Bolsters Claims of NDAA and AUMF Indefinite Detention Authority: The AUMF is the basis for the indefinite detention authority included in the NDAA that Congress passed nearly three years ago. Indefinite detention is wrong today and certainly cannot be sustained past the end of U.S. combat in the Afghan war. But passing a new Senate NDAA that relies on detention authority based on the AUMF, just as the U.S. combat role in the war is winding down, could be used by the government to bolster its claim that indefinite detention can just keep on going. Even when any actual U.S. combat is over.

Requires Report on Even More NDAA and AUMF Indefinite Detention Authority: As if the government didn’t already have enough claims of indefinite detention authority, the Senate NDAA asks the administration to let Congress know what more indefinite detention authority it wants.

Tries to Strip Federal Courts of Ability to Decide Challenges to Harmful Conditions: In a stunning provision, the Senate NDAA tries to strip federal courts of their ability to “hear or consider” any challenge related to harmful treatment or conditions by detainees brought to the United States. This provision tries to gut our system of checks and balances by cutting out the courts.

Violates Supreme Court Decision by Stripping Habeas Rights from Detainees Left at Guantánamo: In a classic example of why it is never a good idea for a committee to legislate behind closed doors, the Senate NDAA includes language inadvertently stripping habeas rights from any Guantánamo detainee who is not moved to the United States. Habeas is the very fundamental protection of being able to have a judge decide whether it is legal or illegal to hold someone in prison. While this is almost certainly the product of sloppy drafting, the result squarely contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush, in which the Court said Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas.

Blocks Most Cleared Detainees from Going Home: The Senate NDAA would block the transfer home of the vast majority of cleared detainees by imposing a blanket ban on transfers to Yemen, instead of continuing to allow the secretary of defense to make decisions on an individual basis. That would mean dozens of detainees cleared for transfer would remain trapped in limbo.

There is a right way and a wrong way to close Guantánamo. Charging and trying in court anyone who committed a crime – and sending anyone who isn’t charged with a crime back home or to another country – is the right way to close Guantánamo. Simply moving all of the bad Guantánamo policies to the U.S. itself is the wrong way.

The Senate NDAA gets it very wrong. We urge all senators to say “NO” to these provisions.

Chris Anders is a Senior Legislative Counsel for ACLU Washington Legislative Office where this article first appeared. Learn more about closing Guantánamo and other civil liberty issues: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/06/08/new-ndaa-bolsters-guantanamo-style-indefinite-detention-americans/

H/T to Dean Garrison: https://www.facebook.com/dean.garrison2?fref=nf

Mass Murderers Brazenly Hold Conference, Discuss Tools of Trade

A unique conference is planned in Charlottesville, Va., featuring the latest technologies for the practice of large-scale killing. The Daily Progress tells us that,

"to allow participants to speak more freely about potentially sensitive topics, the conference is closed to the media and open only to registered participants."

Well I should think so! Registered participants? How does one get registered for such a thing?

"From a local perspective, this industry is really growing in Charlottesville," says one expert, speaking with great objectivity, as if this growth were a matter of complete moral indifference.

Exactly how many people will be there?

"About 225 people are expected to attend the inaugural event, which is attracting government, business and academic leaders, said conference chairwoman and organizer Joan Bienvenue, who is also the director of the UVa Applied Research Institute."

Wait, what? The University of Virginia has an "applied research institute" for applying research to the practice of mass murder?

Is there no shame left in any institution?

"Sen. Timothy M. Kaine and Rep. Randy Forbes, R-4th, are also scheduled to give key speeches at the conference."

I guess that answers my question.

And where exactly will this blood-soaked confab take place?

"Located in Albemarle County, Rivanna Station is a sub-installation of the Army's Fort Belvoir. The local base employs mostly civilians and houses operations of the National Ground Intelligence Center, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency."

The National Ground Intelligence Center, previously downtown in what became the SNL Financial building, is now north of Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia has built a "research park" next door, where this conference will be held. The NGIC famously played an utterly shameless role in marketing the war on Iraq that took at least a half a million lives and destroyed that nation.

When the experts at the Department of Energy refused to say that aluminum tubes in Iraq were for nuclear facilities, because they knew they could not possibly be and were almost certainly for rockets, and when the State Department's people also refused to reach the "correct" conclusion, a couple of guys at the NGIC were happy to oblige. Their names were George Norris and Robert Campus, and they received "performance awards" (cash) for the service.

Then Secretary of State Colin Powell used Norris' and Campus' claims in his U.N. speech despite the warning of his own staff that they weren't true. NGIC also hired a company called MZM to assist with war lies for a good chunk of change. MZM then gave a well-paid job to NGIC's deputy director Bill Rich Jr, and for good measure Bill Rich III too. MZM was far and away the top "contributor" to former Congressman Virgil Goode's campaigns, and he got them a big contract in Martinsville before they went down in the Duke Cunningham scandal. Rich then picked up a job with a company called Sparta, which, like MZM, was conveniently located in the UVA Research Park.

Local want ads in Charlottesville offer jobs "researching biological and chemical weapons" at Battelle Memorial Institute (located in the UVA Research Park). As you may know, researching such weapons is rarely if ever done without producing or at least possessing them. Other jobs are available producing all kinds of weaponry for all kinds of governments at Northrop Grumman. Then there's Teksystems, Pragmatics, Wiser, and many others with fat Pentagon contracts.

From 2000 to 2010, 161 military contractors in Charlottesville pulled in $919,914,918 through 2,737 contracts from the federal government. Over $8 million of that went to Mr. Jefferson's university, and three-quarters of that to the Darden Business School. And the trend is ever upward. The 161 contractors are found in various industries other than higher education, including nautical system and instrument manufacturing; blind and shade manufacturing; printed circuit assembly; real estate appraisers; engineering services; recreational sports centers; research and development in biotechnology; new car dealers; internet publishing; petroleum merchant wholesalers; and a 2006 contract with Pig Daddy's BBQ.

Have we at long last no sense of decency? War has taken 200 million lives in the past 100 years, costs the world $2 trillion a year and the United States half of that. It is the top destroyer of our natural environment and undergirds all the removal of our civil liberties and the creation of mass surveillance. Military spending produces fewer jobs that other government spending or even tax cuts. Numerous top officials say it produces more enemies than it kills.

And who does it kill? Over 90% are civilians of all ages. Over 90% are on one side of conflicts between wealthy and poor countries. These one-sided slaughters leave behind devastated nations: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. A poll of 65 nations found the U.S. most widely viewed as the greatest threat to peace. For 3% of what the United States spends on a program of killing that endangers us, impoverishes us, and erodes our way of life, starvation could be eliminated worldwide. It wouldn't take much to become the most beloved nation rather than the most feared.

And wouldn't it be nice to live in a society where our top public program didn't have to be kept hush-hush to protect "sensitive topics"? http://davidswanson.org/

How the Taliban got their hands on modern US missiles

June 8, 2014 | 3:55am

Taliban militia stand in the back of a pickup truck with heat-seeking Stinger missiles.Photo: Getty Images

In his new book, “Dark Forces: The Truth About What Happened in Benghazi” (Broadside Books), writer Kenneth R. Timmerman explains how the US government’s efforts to arm the Libyan rebels backfired, flooding weapons into Syria, and as he reveals here, Afghanistan:

The Obama administration isn’t only giving the Taliban back its commanders — it’s giving them weapons.

Miliary records and sources reveal that on July 25, 2012, Taliban fighters in Kunar province successfully targeted a US Army CH-47 helicopter with a new generation Stinger missile.

They thought they had a surefire kill. But instead of bursting into flames, the Chinook just disappeared into the darkness as the American pilot recovered control of the aircraft and brought it to the ground in a hard landing.

The assault team jumped out the open doors and ran clear in case it exploded. Less than 30 seconds later, the Taliban gunner and his comrade erupted into flames as an American gunship overhead locked onto their position and opened fire.

The next day, an explosive ordnance disposal team arrived to pick through the wreckage and found unexploded pieces of a missile casing that could only belong to a Stinger missile.

The Taliban took out a US Chinook helicopter in 2012 with a Stinger missile signed out by the CIA around the time of the attack.Photo: Reuters

Lodged in the right nacelle, they found one fragment that contained an entire serial number.

The investigation took time. Arms were twisted, noses put out of joint. But when the results came back, they were stunning: The Stinger tracked back to a lot that had been signed out by the CIA recently, not during the anti-Soviet jihad.

Reports of the Stinger reached the highest echelons of the US command in Afghanistan and became a source of intense speculation, but no action.

Everyone knew the war was winding down. Revealing that the Taliban had US-made Stingers risked demoralizing coalition troops. Because there were no coalition casualties, government officials made no public announcement of the attack.

My sources in the US Special Operations community believe the Stinger fired against the Chinook was part of the same lot the CIA turned over to the Qataris in early 2011, weapons Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department intended for anti-Khadafy forces in Libya.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Luis Trochez demonstrates how to use a Stinger on the National Mall in 2005.Photo: Getty Images

They believe the Qataris delivered between 50 and 60 of those same Stingers to the Taliban in early 2012, and an additional 200 SA-24 Igla-S surface-to-air missiles.

Qatar now is expected to hold five Taliban commanders released from Guantanamo for a year before allowing them to go to Afghanistan.

But if we can’t trust the Qataris not to give our weapons to the Taliban, how can we trust them with this?

Jim 5804 11253 Holiday	RE: Local Stuff What's Happening in your area? 6/3/2014 8:56:07 PM
	Cop Enters Family’s Fenced in Yard and Shoots Their Dog in Front of Two Young Children Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dog-killed/#obzSyra6IAd8uYoR.99 John Vibes June 1, 2014 A police officer in Oklahoma has been accused of waving a gun around in a family’s back yard and shooting their pet dog. The entire incident was witnessed by multiple people, including neighbors and small children. The police were reportedly told not to enter the property, because the family did not want the dogs to anger the police. Unfortunately, the police entered into the family’s fenced in yard uninvited and with an aggressive posture, waving guns around, according to neighbors. Dog owner Cindy Wickham and her two young nephews were in her back yard when police entered and shot one of her dogs. “It just happened so fast that I couldn’t do nothing, I couldn’t prevent it.” Wickham said. “The only thing I could do was put my nephews behind my back.” Wickham said the incident traumatized both her and her nephews. “I’m hurt because I couldn’t prevent my nephews from seeing that.” Wickham added. Kaci Malicoat, one of the neighbors who witnessed the incident described to a local news crew how the officer pointed his gun not only at the dogs, but at the family as well. Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dog-killed/#obzSyra6IAd8uYoR.99 “I could see him waving the gun back and forth at her and the dog,” Malicoat said. According to the family, the officer shot one of the dogs when it sniffed him, but the officer claimed that the dog bit him. The local police department said that the incident is under investigation, but no disciplinary measures have been taken against the guilty officer. Just this week we reported on a police officer in Oklahoma who was charged with murdering 6 dogs in his neighborhood. While this is a systematic problem that exists in every police department throughout the country, police departments in Oklahoma have been in the news a lot recently for crimes against animals. Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/dog-killed/#obzSyra6IAd8uYoR.99
	May Wisdom and the knowledge you gained go with you, Jim Allen III Skype: JAllen3D Everything You Need For Online Success
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Jim 5804 11253 Holiday	RE: Local Stuff What's Happening in your area? 6/6/2014 12:51:37 PM
	Seems here in America, ingenuity and competition is no longer good it seems. The government intruders have decided in many states that Uber and Lyft cannot operate. Because they don't operate like the other guys. Can the government be this dumb? Yes! They can. In my area most cab drivers own or lease their cabs and operate as independents anyways. Government wants a corporation responsible for dispatching and such for some reason. Virginia DMV Attempts to Shutter Ridesharing Companies Uber, Lyft Kathryn Watson / June 05, 2014 Just when you thought you couldn’t despise the Department of Motor Vehicles any more, Virginia’s DMV decided to wage war against popular passenger carrier companies Uber and Lyft, sending cease and desist letters urging them to stop doing business in the commonwealth. The Virginia DMV, which has already fined Uber and Lyft $26,000 and $9,000, respectively, says Virginia law “requires for-hire passenger carriers to have proper operating authority,” and their business model—a model which allows passengers to conveniently look up driver ratings and connect with one such part-time driver of their choice via smart phone mobile apps—doesn’t fit the bill. Since the state is currently reviewing its passenger carrier laws, DMV Commissioner Robert Holcomb told Uber and Lyft they should “focus [their] resources on participation in this study rather than continue illegal operations in the meantime,” according to the letters. Virginia’s move to immobilize Uber and Lyft puts it on par with cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where taxicab companies have wielded their influence to try to halt competition. “This is just the latest example of legislation getting in the way of entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Matthew Feeney, policy analyst with the Cato Institute. “If lawmakers in Virginia want Virginia to be an economically profitable and prosperous state, then they should welcome companies like Uber and Lyft, and not dissuade them from coming into Virginia.” The DMV’s move wasn’t random. Sunni Blevins Brown, spokeswoman for the Virginia DMV, confirmed that a “number of transportation companies, including taxis, have contacted DMV regarding this matter.” And that, said Christopher Koopman, program manager for the Mercatus Center’s Project for the Study of American Capitalism at George Mason University, drives home the problem. No pun intended. “These sorts of actions, they privilege existing firms and they stifle innovation and they limit consumer choice,” Koopman said. “In situations like this, regulations are being used to block the development of promising situations, products such as Uber that are market responsive, in a lot of ways, to issues that consumers have faced in the past. In a lot of ways firms like this pop up to respond to needs of consumers, and regulations act as barriers to entry. They make it more difficult and they make it more expensive for the entrepreneur or the innovator to provide higher quality services at a lower cost to consumers.” The Virginia DMV, however, has gone even further. According to the Virginian-Pilot, it’s circulating a notice that warns the public to research any ride service before using it and points riders to a website listing companies that have the DMV’s trusted stamp of approval. Uber and Lyft didn’t make the cut. The DMV insists it’s looking out for the best interest and safety of consumers. The free market, however, works out many of those safety concerns all on its own, said Feeney and Koopman. “I think the technology that allows Uber and Lyft to work actually helps customers when it comes to things like safety,” Feeney said. “For example, Uber allows not only for the customers to rate drivers, but it also allows drivers to rate customers, which makes it safer for drivers and better for customers.” Plus, Uber and Lyft perform background checks on their drivers, Feeney said. Since companies like Uber rely on a ratings system, bad drivers are naturally weeded out and good drivers are rewarded with business, allowing consumers to make informed choices, Koopman said. “When you get a cab, you don’t know what the record of the driver is like,” Koopman said. “You don’t know, is it going to be a good or a bad experience? But an innovation like Uber allows the consumer to know at least to a certain degree the type of driver they’re going to be dealing with.” Uber isn’t giving up. “The DMV’s actions today are shocking and unexpected. Uber has been providing Virginians with safe, affordable and reliable transportation options for months and has continued to work in good faith with the DMV to create a regulatory framework for ridesharing,” a statement from the company reads. “The DMV decision today hurts thousands of small business entrepreneurs who rely on the Uber platform to make a living, create new jobs and contribute to the economy — and it hurts the countless residents who rely on Uber to connect them with affordable, safe and reliable transportation alternatives. We look forward to continuing to work with the Virginia DMV to find a permanent home for ridesharing in the commonwealth.” http://dailysignal.com/2014/06/05/virginia-dmv-attempts-shutter-ridesharing-companies-uber-lyft/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
	May Wisdom and the knowledge you gained go with you, Jim Allen III Skype: JAllen3D Everything You Need For Online Success
	+0

Jim 5804 11253 Holiday	RE: Local Stuff What's Happening in your area? 6/8/2014 2:44:19 PM
	New NDAA Bolsters Guantanamo-style Indefinite Detention for Americans Posted on June 8, 2014 by Chris Anders Jamiol Cartoon Top senators thought you wouldn’t notice. Behind closed doors, they wrote up newindefinite detention and Guantánamo provisions in the annual defense policy bill, and then waited 11 days to quietly file the bill. But we now have the bill, and everyone can read it. And everyone should understand what is in this new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) before the full Senate makes a big mistake and paves the way for Guantánamo-style indefinite detention being brought to the United States itself. The new Senate NDAA: Brings Indefinite Detention to the U.S. Itself: The bill now says that detainees may be brought to the United States for “detention pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force” (AUMF). In plain English, that means the policy of indefinite detention by the military, without charge or trial, could be carried out here at home. Right now, the number of people in the U.S. in military indefinite detention is zero. If the bill is enacted, that number could immediately jump to 100 or more. Bolsters Claims of NDAA and AUMF Indefinite Detention Authority: The AUMF is the basis for the indefinite detention authority included in the NDAA that Congress passed nearly three years ago. Indefinite detention is wrong today and certainly cannot be sustained past the end of U.S. combat in the Afghan war. But passing a new Senate NDAA that relies on detention authority based on the AUMF, just as the U.S. combat role in the war is winding down, could be used by the government to bolster its claim that indefinite detention can just keep on going. Even when any actual U.S. combat is over. Requires Report on Even More NDAA and AUMF Indefinite Detention Authority: As if the government didn’t already have enough claims of indefinite detention authority, the Senate NDAA asks the administration to let Congress know what more indefinite detention authority it wants. Tries to Strip Federal Courts of Ability to Decide Challenges to Harmful Conditions: In a stunning provision, the Senate NDAA tries to strip federal courts of their ability to “hear or consider” any challenge related to harmful treatment or conditions by detainees brought to the United States. This provision tries to gut our system of checks and balances by cutting out the courts. Violates Supreme Court Decision by Stripping Habeas Rights from Detainees Left at Guantánamo: In a classic example of why it is never a good idea for a committee to legislate behind closed doors, the Senate NDAA includes language inadvertently stripping habeas rights from any Guantánamo detainee who is not moved to the United States. Habeas is the very fundamental protection of being able to have a judge decide whether it is legal or illegal to hold someone in prison. While this is almost certainly the product of sloppy drafting, the result squarely contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush, in which the Court said Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas. Blocks Most Cleared Detainees from Going Home: The Senate NDAA would block the transfer home of the vast majority of cleared detainees by imposing a blanket ban on transfers to Yemen, instead of continuing to allow the secretary of defense to make decisions on an individual basis. That would mean dozens of detainees cleared for transfer would remain trapped in limbo. There is a right way and a wrong way to close Guantánamo. Charging and trying in court anyone who committed a crime – and sending anyone who isn’t charged with a crime back home or to another country – is the right way to close Guantánamo. Simply moving all of the bad Guantánamo policies to the U.S. itself is the wrong way. The Senate NDAA gets it very wrong. We urge all senators to say “NO” to these provisions. Chris Anders is a Senior Legislative Counsel for ACLU Washington Legislative Office where this article first appeared. Learn more about closing Guantánamo and other civil liberty issues: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/06/08/new-ndaa-bolsters-guantanamo-style-indefinite-detention-americans/ H/T to Dean Garrison: https://www.facebook.com/dean.garrison2?fref=nf
	May Wisdom and the knowledge you gained go with you, Jim Allen III Skype: JAllen3D Everything You Need For Online Success
	+0

Jim 5804 11253 Holiday	RE: Local Stuff What's Happening in your area? 6/8/2014 3:32:59 PM
	Mass Murderers Brazenly Hold Conference, Discuss Tools of Trade A unique conference is planned in Charlottesville, Va., featuring the latest technologies for the practice of large-scale killing. The Daily Progress tells us that, "to allow participants to speak more freely about potentially sensitive topics, the conference is closed to the media and open only to registered participants." Well I should think so! Registered participants? How does one get registered for such a thing? "From a local perspective, this industry is really growing in Charlottesville," says one expert, speaking with great objectivity, as if this growth were a matter of complete moral indifference. Exactly how many people will be there? "About 225 people are expected to attend the inaugural event, which is attracting government, business and academic leaders, said conference chairwoman and organizer Joan Bienvenue, who is also the director of the UVa Applied Research Institute." Wait, what? The University of Virginia has an "applied research institute" for applying research to the practice of mass murder? Is there no shame left in any institution? "Sen. Timothy M. Kaine and Rep. Randy Forbes, R-4th, are also scheduled to give key speeches at the conference." I guess that answers my question. And where exactly will this blood-soaked confab take place? "Located in Albemarle County, Rivanna Station is a sub-installation of the Army's Fort Belvoir. The local base employs mostly civilians and houses operations of the National Ground Intelligence Center, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency." The National Ground Intelligence Center, previously downtown in what became the SNL Financial building, is now north of Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia has built a "research park" next door, where this conference will be held. The NGIC famously played an utterly shameless role in marketing the war on Iraq that took at least a half a million lives and destroyed that nation. When the experts at the Department of Energy refused to say that aluminum tubes in Iraq were for nuclear facilities, because they knew they could not possibly be and were almost certainly for rockets, and when the State Department's people also refused to reach the "correct" conclusion, a couple of guys at the NGIC were happy to oblige. Their names were George Norris and Robert Campus, and they received "performance awards" (cash) for the service. Then Secretary of State Colin Powell used Norris' and Campus' claims in his U.N. speech despite the warning of his own staff that they weren't true. NGIC also hired a company called MZM to assist with war lies for a good chunk of change. MZM then gave a well-paid job to NGIC's deputy director Bill Rich Jr, and for good measure Bill Rich III too. MZM was far and away the top "contributor" to former Congressman Virgil Goode's campaigns, and he got them a big contract in Martinsville before they went down in the Duke Cunningham scandal. Rich then picked up a job with a company called Sparta, which, like MZM, was conveniently located in the UVA Research Park. Local want ads in Charlottesville offer jobs "researching biological and chemical weapons" at Battelle Memorial Institute (located in the UVA Research Park). As you may know, researching such weapons is rarely if ever done without producing or at least possessing them. Other jobs are available producing all kinds of weaponry for all kinds of governments at Northrop Grumman. Then there's Teksystems, Pragmatics, Wiser, and many others with fat Pentagon contracts. From 2000 to 2010, 161 military contractors in Charlottesville pulled in $919,914,918 through 2,737 contracts from the federal government. Over $8 million of that went to Mr. Jefferson's university, and three-quarters of that to the Darden Business School. And the trend is ever upward. The 161 contractors are found in various industries other than higher education, including nautical system and instrument manufacturing; blind and shade manufacturing; printed circuit assembly; real estate appraisers; engineering services; recreational sports centers; research and development in biotechnology; new car dealers; internet publishing; petroleum merchant wholesalers; and a 2006 contract with Pig Daddy's BBQ. Have we at long last no sense of decency? War has taken 200 million lives in the past 100 years, costs the world $2 trillion a year and the United States half of that. It is the top destroyer of our natural environment and undergirds all the removal of our civil liberties and the creation of mass surveillance. Military spending produces fewer jobs that other government spending or even tax cuts. Numerous top officials say it produces more enemies than it kills. And who does it kill? Over 90% are civilians of all ages. Over 90% are on one side of conflicts between wealthy and poor countries. These one-sided slaughters leave behind devastated nations: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. A poll of 65 nations found the U.S. most widely viewed as the greatest threat to peace. For 3% of what the United States spends on a program of killing that endangers us, impoverishes us, and erodes our way of life, starvation could be eliminated worldwide. It wouldn't take much to become the most beloved nation rather than the most feared. And wouldn't it be nice to live in a society where our top public program didn't have to be kept hush-hush to protect "sensitive topics"? http://davidswanson.org/
	May Wisdom and the knowledge you gained go with you, Jim Allen III Skype: JAllen3D Everything You Need For Online Success
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Jim 5804 11253 Holiday	RE: Local Stuff What's Happening in your area? 6/8/2014 5:34:10 PM
	How the Taliban got their hands on modern US missiles By Kenneth R. Timmerman June 8, 2014 \| 3:55am Modal Trigger Taliban militia stand in the back of a pickup truck with heat-seeking Stinger missiles.Photo: Getty Images In his new book, “Dark Forces: The Truth About What Happened in Benghazi” (Broadside Books), writer Kenneth R. Timmerman explains how the US government’s efforts to arm the Libyan rebels backfired, flooding weapons into Syria, and as he reveals here, Afghanistan: MORE ON: TERRORISM Obama to free Gitmo terrorist ‘because he took up yoga’ Officials shame NYC by backing terrorist in parade Al-Masri wrote judge to ask permission to fire lawyers Critics blast Bergdahl trade after Qatar report The Obama administration isn’t only giving the Taliban back its commanders — it’s giving them weapons. Miliary records and sources reveal that on July 25, 2012, Taliban fighters in Kunar province successfully targeted a US Army CH-47 helicopter with a new generation Stinger missile. They thought they had a surefire kill. But instead of bursting into flames, the Chinook just disappeared into the darkness as the American pilot recovered control of the aircraft and brought it to the ground in a hard landing. The assault team jumped out the open doors and ran clear in case it exploded. Less than 30 seconds later, the Taliban gunner and his comrade erupted into flames as an American gunship overhead locked onto their position and opened fire. The next day, an explosive ordnance disposal team arrived to pick through the wreckage and found unexploded pieces of a missile casing that could only belong to a Stinger missile. Modal Trigger The Taliban took out a US Chinook helicopter in 2012 with a Stinger missile signed out by the CIA around the time of the attack.Photo: Reuters Lodged in the right nacelle, they found one fragment that contained an entire serial number. The investigation took time. Arms were twisted, noses put out of joint. But when the results came back, they were stunning: The Stinger tracked back to a lot that had been signed out by the CIA recently, not during the anti-Soviet jihad. Reports of the Stinger reached the highest echelons of the US command in Afghanistan and became a source of intense speculation, but no action. Everyone knew the war was winding down. Revealing that the Taliban had US-made Stingers risked demoralizing coalition troops. Because there were no coalition casualties, government officials made no public announcement of the attack. My sources in the US Special Operations community believe the Stinger fired against the Chinook was part of the same lot the CIA turned over to the Qataris in early 2011, weapons Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department intended for anti-Khadafy forces in Libya. Modal Trigger U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Luis Trochez demonstrates how to use a Stinger on the National Mall in 2005.Photo: Getty Images They believe the Qataris delivered between 50 and 60 of those same Stingers to the Taliban in early 2012, and an additional 200 SA-24 Igla-S surface-to-air missiles. Qatar now is expected to hold five Taliban commanders released from Guantanamo for a year before allowing them to go to Afghanistan. But if we can’t trust the Qataris not to give our weapons to the Taliban, how can we trust them with this? FILED UNDERAFGHANISTAN, TALIBAN, TERRORISM http://nypost.com/2014/06/08/how-the-taliban-got-their-hands-on-modern-us-missiles/
	May Wisdom and the knowledge you gained go with you, Jim Allen III Skype: JAllen3D Everything You Need For Online Success
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How the Taliban got their hands on modern US missiles

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