Trail of Death: Breitbart Coroner Turns Up Dead, Arsenic Poisoning Suspected (Infowars)

Trail of Death: Breitbart Coroner Turns Up Dead, Arsenic Poisoning Suspected

Patrick Henningsen
Infowars.com
April 30, 2012

Veteran Los Angeles coroner forensic technican Michael Cormier had died, apparently due to arsenic poisoning. The 61 year old Cormier was discovered dead on April 20th - the same day the city officials had released their preliminary autopsy report on the death of conservative media powerhouse Andrew Breitbart.

According to early reports, Michael Cormier was “seemingly healthy,” yet “suddenly stricken” with a fatal condition – just like Andrew Breitbart.

It’s the latest twist in the case of Andrew Breitbart’s untimely death that will surely fuel increased speculation into possible foul play - in both cases. 

The sluggish release of the Breitbart autopsy follows the unorthodox, rushed announcement by city authorities at the time of Breitbart’s death that he had died of ‘natural causes’ on March 1, 2012 at the age of 43.

The timing of Breitbart’s death came on the eve of a few highly anticipated events. Firstly, he had announced that he would be releasing rare ‘game changing’, rather damning video footage of President Obama allegedly cavorting with communist activists years earlier. Some footage was released in the days after his death, but it is not believed to be material that would change the corse of the 2012 election as Breitbart had indicated beforehand. He was also due to reveal his new Breitbart.com format, and had met only one before his death with Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse team in Phoenix in relation to Obama’s forged PDF birth certificate and forged US Selective Service registration card. 

The LA County Coroner’s office announced in their preliminary report that Breitbart had died of heart failure, and that a negligible amount of alcohol was found in his system. No prescription or illicit drugs were discovered at any point during the autopsy. The final, definitive medical explanation on Breitbart’s death has yet to be made public.

Coroner Michael Cormier’s mysterious death was first reported by KTLA TV reporter Elizabeth Espinosa explaining how city detectives were investigating a possible ‘arsenic poisoning’ in the case. This report was later picked up and reported in an LA Times Local blog:

“The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that finding the presence of poison does not necessarily mean the death was a homicide, because the substance could have accidentally entered his system.”

“At this point we haven’t ruled out foul play,” said Lt. Alan Hamilton of the Los Angeles Police Department. “It is one of the things being considered. We are waiting for the coroner’s results.” 

A toxicology report is expected to be released sometime between May 25th and June 1st.

WND also recounted Breitbart’s early career, by summarizing:

Matt Drudge paid tribute to his colleague and friend with a posting on the Drudge Report: “In the first decade of the DRUDGEREPORT Andrew Breitbart was a constant source of energy, passion and commitment. We shared a love of headlines, a love of the news, an excitement about what’s happening. I don’t think there was a single day during that time when we did not flash each other or laugh with each other, or challenge each other. I still see him in my mind’s eye in Venice Beach, the sunny day I met him. He was in his mid 20′s. It was all there. He had a wonderful, loving family and we all feel great sadness for them today.”

Was Breitbart’s Coroner Poisoned to Death? (Infowars)

Infowars.com
April 29, 2012


This is getting ridiculous.



From Joe Kovacs at WND:

Medical examiners in Los Angeles are investigating the possible poisoning death of one of their own officials who may have worked on the case of Andrew Breitbart, the conservative firebrand who died March 1, the same day Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced probable cause for forgery in President Obama’s birth certificate.

Read full report at WND here

Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I. (NY Times)

By DAVID K. SHIPLER
NY Times
Published: April 28, 2012

THE United States has been narrowly saved from lethal terrorist plots in recent years — or so it has seemed. A would-be suicide bomber was intercepted on his way to the Capitol; a scheme to bomb synagogues and shoot Stinger missiles at military aircraft was developed by men in Newburgh, N.Y.; and a fanciful idea to fly explosive-laden model planes into the Pentagon and the Capitol was hatched in Massachusetts.

But dramas were facilitated by the F.B.I., whose undercover agents and informers posed as terrorists offering a dummy missile, fake C-4 explosives, a disarmed suicide vest and rudimentary training. Suspects naïvely played their parts until they were arrested.

When an Oregon college student, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, thought of using a car bomb to attack a festive Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in Portland, the F.B.I. provided a van loaded with six 55-gallon drums of “inert material,” harmless blasting caps, a detonator cord and a gallon of diesel fuel to make the van smell flammable. An undercover F.B.I. agent even did the driving, with Mr. Mohamud in the passenger seat. To trigger the bomb the student punched a number into a cellphone and got no boom, only a bust.

This is legal, but is it legitimate? Without the F.B.I., would the culprits commit violence on their own? Is cultivating potential terrorists the best use of the manpower designed to find the real ones? Judging by their official answers, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department are sure of themselves — too sure, perhaps.

Carefully orchestrated sting operations usually hold up in court. Defendants invariably claim entrapment and almost always lose, because the law requires that they show no predisposition to commit the crime, even when induced by government agents. To underscore their predisposition, many suspects are “warned about the seriousness of their plots and given opportunities to back out,” said Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman. But not always, recorded conversations show. Sometimes they are coaxed to continue...

(click here to read the full article)

Russian troops to take part in joint U.S. drill on U.S. soil against 'terrorist'

Russian Troops To Target Terrorists in America As Part of Drill
Joint U.S.-Russian anti-terror exercise stokes fears of martial law

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Thursday, April 26, 2012

Russian airborne troops are set to train how to target terrorists in America as part of a joint anti-terror drill with the United States which will take place in Fort Carson, Colorado at the end of next month.

“Airborne troops from Russia and the United States would hold joint anti-terror drills in the U.S. state of Colorado between May 24 and 31,” reports the Xinhua news agency, citing Russian Defense Ministry Col. Alexander Kucherenko. The story was also reported by Russian news outletRIA Novosti.

The exercises, which will mark the first time the respective country’s two airborne forces have held joint drills on U.S. territory, will revolve around the the “reconnaissance of imaginary terrorists’ camp and a raid,” and will also involve evacuations of the troops by helicopter.

The Russian soldiers will also be given access to U.S. special service weapons at Fort Carson.

However, the Russian troops won’t just be confined to a U.S. military base – on May 27 they’ll be out in the local community attending a baseball game in Colorado Springs.

“This announcement comes at a time when Russia actually has troops working in cooperation with China,” points out Business Insider’s Eloise Lee, making reference to one of the largest ever Russian-Sino naval drills currently underway in the Yellow Sea.

Alex Jones has documented foreign troops being trained on U.S. soil to deal with “insurgents” since the late 1990′s as part of “urban warfare drills”.

Back in July 2010, our reporters covered the Operation Vigilant Guard exercises in Chicago which involved Polish troops training alongside U.S. National Guard troops in drills focused around raiding terrorists and drug dealers.


According to SFC Mark Ballard of the Illinois National Guard, the Polish forces were “integrating into some of the civil military units that are participating in this exercise” as part of Illinois’ partnership with the Republic of Poland, a relationship based around “integrative training” and blending military and civilian forces in the event of a national emergency, as well as making this process of integration with foreign troops more “visible”.

The exercises also involved volunteers from Boy Scouts of America, which was telling in light of a 2009 New York Times report which detailed how Homeland Security is training boy scouts to take on and disarm “disgruntled veterans” who are described as “terrorists”.

Fears that foreign troops would be used to carry out gun confiscations and incarcerate American citizens during a time of martial law have circulated for decades, concerns stoked by remarks such as the following quote from Henry Kissinger reportedly made at the 1991 Bilderberg conference in Evian, France.

“Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful,” Kissinger stated.

The idea of foreign soldiers taking over America has often cropped up in television series and movies, most notably in the 1984 film Red Dawn, which depicted the United States being invaded by Soviet troops.

It is important to add that a story circulating which attempts to piggy-back off these confirmed drills in claiming that the U.S. has given Russian troops permission to “take and hold Denver airport” comes from a notorious disinformation source which routinely puts out bogus articles and as such should be completely disregarded as a hoax. Unfortunately, Glenn Beck’s The Blaze and others have bought the scam, which takes away from the importance of the drills which are fully confirmed.

Watch our report about Polish troops training to target terrorists on U.S. soil in the video below.

Voyager, our interstellar travelers reaches the outer boundary of our solar system

To infinity and beyond! Voyager probe will become first man-made spacecraft to reach the edge of our solar system 'within months' (35 years after it left Earth)

By ROB WAUGH
Daily Mail
April 26, 2012

• 'Shouldn't have long to wait to find out what space between stars is like'
• Probe launched in 1977
• More than 11 billion miles from sun
• Still detecting spikes in cosmic radiation - so it is still technically 'within' our solar system
• Batteries will last until 2020 - allowing vehicle to enter 'interstellar space'

More than three decades after launching, NASA’s workhorse spacecraft is now close to the edge of our solar system.

According to recent research published in Geophysical Letters, the probe is now 111 astronomical units from the sun - meaning it is 111 times further from the sun than it is from the Earth.

Voyager 1 has been exploring the fringes of the solar system since 2004 - and it is now close to the very edge of our solar system, affording the first-ever 'alien's eye' view of our planet.

The probe is still detecting 'spikes' in the intensity of cosmic ray electrons - which lead scientists to think it's still within the 'heliosheath', the very outer edge of our solar system. Photo credit: DailyMail

The probe is still detecting 'spikes' in the intensity of cosmic ray electrons - which lead scientists to think it's still within the 'heliosheath', the very outer edge of our solar system.

Voyager 1 still has a little way to go before it completely exits the solar system and becomes the first manmade probe to cross into interstellar space, or the vast space between stars.
The spacecraft has enough battery power to last until 2020, but scientists think it will reach interstellar space before that - in a matter of several months to years.

Chief scientist Ed Stone of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the timing is unclear because no spacecraft has ever ventured this far.

For the past year, Voyager 1 used its instruments to explore the new region. It appeared to be the cosmic doldrums where solar winds streaming out from the sun at 1 million mph have dramatically eased. Photo credit: DailyMail

'The journey continues,' Stone told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

For the past year, Voyager 1 used its instruments to explore the new region.

It appeared to be the cosmic doldrums where solar winds streaming out from the sun at 1 million mph have dramatically eased and high-energy particles from outside are seeping in - a sign that Voyager 1 is at the doorstep of interstellar space.

Voyager is now detecting the first traces of 'interstellar winds' - the signs it is finally reaching the edges of solar system. Photo credit: DailyMail

Scientists expect to see several telltale signs when Voyager 1 finally crosses the boundary including a change in the magnetic field direction and the type of wind. Interstellar wind is slower, colder and denser than solar wind.

Even with certain expectations, Stone warned that the milestone won’t be cut-and-dried.
'We will be confused when it first happens,' Stone said.

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched in 1977 to tour the outer planets including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. After their main mission ended, both headed toward interstellar space in opposite directions. Voyager 2 is traveling slower than Voyager 1 and is currently 9 billion away miles from the sun.

Iran, the largest saffron producer in the world, exceeds exports of 100 tons

Iran's saffron exports exceed 100 tons
Press TV
Thu Apr 26, 2012

Saffron flowers, photo credit: PressTV

Iran's saffron exports have increased by more than 40 percent over the past Iranian calendar year (ended March 19, 2012), standing at over 130 tons.

Ali Safarzadeh, the head of Industry, Mines and Commerce Organization in the northeastern province of Khorassan Razavi, said on Thursday that Iran exported 133 tons of the precious spice worth $409 million last year.

He added that the figure indicated a 48-percent rise compared to the year earlier, which ended on March 20, 2011.

Iran, the largest saffron producer in the world, exports the spice to 46 countries all over the world.

Due to Iran’s diverse climate and fertile soil, the country’s agricultural products are rated among the best in the world, with its saffron standing second to none.

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus.

Some 300 tons of dried whole threads and powder are gleaned yearly worldwide, of which 50 tons is top-grade "coupe" saffron.

Iran, with its cultivation of different varieties, is the largest producer of saffron with more than 90 percent of the world's total production.

Saffron also has a long medicinal history as part of traditional healing. Several modern research studies have also hinted that the spice has possible anti-carcinogenic (cancer-suppressing), anti-mutagenic (mutation-preventing), immunomodulating, and antioxidant-like properties.

MP/HJL/IS

Feds: Crooked TSA Screeners Arrested in Drug Trafficking Scheme

Editor`s note: yet another TSA scandal, when will they dismantle this inept institution?


By JASON RYAN (@JasonRyanABC) and LEE FERRAN
ABC News
April 25, 2012

Multiple airport screeners have been arrested for allegedly taking handsome bribes to look the other way while loads of illegal drugs slipped through security at Los Angeles International Airport, federal officials announced today.

Two current and two former officials at the Transportation Security Administration were arrested in the last 48 hours in connection with at least five incidents from February 2011 to July 2011 in which on duty screeners took payments of up to $2,400 to allow suitcases filled with drugs to pass unimpeded through X-ray machines at LAX, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr.'s office said in a statement.

According to Birotte's office, the scheme was uncovered after a member of the alleged conspiracy accidentally went through the wrong security line and was busted by TSA screeners who were not in on the plot. In another case, a TSA screener unknowingly arranged with a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration to receive $1,200 for a shipment of methamphetamine to pass through security.

The current TSA employees, 23-year-old John Whitfield and 25-year-old Capeline McKinney, and the former screeners, 30-year-old Naral Richardson and 27-year-old Joy White, are all expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles today. If convicted, each could potentially face life in prison, Birotte's office said. The two current officials have been suspended indefinitely without pay, officials from the Department of Homeland Security told ABC News. The plot also allegedly involved a couple of known drug runners.

"Airport screeners act as a vital checkpoint for homeland security, and air travelers should believe in the fundamental integrity of security systems at our nation's airports," Birotte said. "The allegations in this case describe a significant breakdown of the screening system through the conduct of individuals who placed greed above the nation's security needs."

A spokesperson for the TSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report, but Randy Parsons, the TSA Federal Security Director at LAX, said in the statement from Birotte's office the TSA "has assured the investigating agencies we will do everything we can to assist in their investigation."

"While the arrests are a disappointment, TSA is committed to holding our employees to the highest standards," he said.

Bank of Un-America`s war on guns and the 2nd Amendment: Interview with Kelly McMillan

Interview with Kelly McMillan: Bank of America Targets US Firearms and 2nd Ammendment

Infowars.com
April 25, 2012

In this latest breaking interview from SGT Report, Kelly McMillan, the Director of Operations for weapons manufacturer McMillan International Group, explains why ’Bank of America’ no longer wants to do business with his company.

Infowars.com’s recent article by Kurt Nimmo detailed how bankster giant Bank of America has joined the White House’s effort to take down the Second Amendment, and ultimately deny Americans the right to own and use firearms. Now the line of attack looks to widen with the federal government employing new tactics to target Americans’ arms.

In this segment, McMillan also discusses how the DOJ and other federal government agencies will attempt to use the recent Gibson Guitar shutdown as a precedent, allowing the feds raid gun manufacturers over the use of “rare wood” in products to possible target US firearms manufacturers in the near future. Listen:

Published on Apr 25, 2012 by SGTbull07
http://youtu.be/xd96uw8FeD0

Kelly McMillan, the Director of Operations for weapons manufacturer McMillan International Group says 'Bank of America' no longer wants to do business with his company. Why? Kelly believes it's because they make guns. Welcome to the new freedom in the Fascist USSA.

READ: 
Bank of America’s War on the Second Amendment

4 new species of fresh water crab discovered on the Philippine island of Palawan

Incredible purple crab is one of four brand new species discovered on Philippine island
The crabs are unique to the island, but are threatened by mining projects

By TED THORNHILL
DailyMail
April 24, 2012

An amazing purple crab is one of four new species of the creature that have been discovered on the Philippine island of Palawan.

They are all variants of the colourful Insulamon freshwater crab and are unique to the island.

However, various mining projects pose a huge threat to them.

Claws for concern: The purple crab is one of four new species discovered - but mining projects threaten its existence

Bright: The crab is completely unique to Palawan

Located between the Sundaic and Philippine region, Palawan combines two of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots.

Around 50 per cent of the species living on Palawan are defined as endemic, which means they are exclusively native to the island.

‘In the Aqua Palawana research programme I am head of, we have been investigating the biodiversity of Palawan’s inland waters for over 10 years’, says Dr Hendrik Freitag from the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden.

‘This also included taking a closer look at the Insulamon crabs and we discovered four new species in the process.’

The reddish violet species of the Insulamon crab genus are the only varieties that are endemic to only one or a few islands.

Unique: The recently discovered Insulamon johannchristiani species also exists only on Palawan

The sea means these creatures are unable to spread elsewhere, as they depend on freshwater at all stages of their development.

Having been completely separated from their relatives, they have developed their own separate species and genera over tens of thousands of years.

‘We have proved that the only previously known type of Insulamon is restricted to the Calamian group of islands to the north of Palawan. The four newly discovered species live exclusively on the actual island of Palawan and make it a unique habitat’, says Freitag.

Insulamon magnum ¿ another of the freshwater crabs recently discovered

But this unique biodiversity is under threat. Several mining projects are to be conducted despite massive protests by people from all walks of life and against the resistance of indigenous peoples, according to a statement from Senckenberg.

Freitag adds: ‘The smaller the remaining natural habitat the greater is the risk to endemic fauna and flora. Even minor environmental changes can lead to extinctions.

‘It is all the more important to do research in this region and show that the biodiversity of these islands is unique and worth protecting. That’s why our next step is to investigate Palawan’s species-rich freshwater prawns’.

The study was recently published in the scientific journal Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.

The crabs all live on Palawan in fresh water

Where`s PETA and Greenpeace when you REALLY them!? 22 Elephants gunned down by poachers in the Congo (Warning: Graphic images)

Unimaginable horror as helicopter-borne poachers massacre 22 elephants before hacking off their tusks and genitals
Record numbers of ivory seizures amid rise of organised crime gangs

By SIMON TOMLINSON
DailyMail
April 24, 2012

In a scene of inconceivable horror, these slaughtered elephant carcasses show the barbaric lengths poachers will go to in their hunt for nature's grim booty.

The bodies were among a herd of 22 animals massacred in a helicopter-borne attack by professionals who swooped over their quarry.

The scene beneath the rotor blades would have been chilling - panicked mothers shielding their young, hair-raising screeches and a mad scramble through the blood-stained bush as bullets rained down from the sky.

Barbaric: In a scene too graphic to show in full, the carcasses of some of the 22 massacred elephants lay strewn across Garamba National Park in the Congo after being gunned down by helicopter-borne poachers. Photo credit: Reuters/DailyMail

When the shooting was over, all of the herd lay dead, one of the worst such killings in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in living memory.

'It's been a long time since we've seen something like this,' said Dr Tshibasu Muamba, head of international cooperation for the Congolese state conservation agency, ICCN, as he surveyed the macarbre scene at Garamba National Park.

After the slaughter, the killers set about removing their tusks and genitals before likely smuggling them through South Sudan or Uganda, which form part of an 'Ivory Road' linking Africa to Asia.

Elephant and rhino poaching is surging, conservationists say, an illegal piece of Asia's scramble for African resources, driven by the growing purchasing power of the region's newly affluent classes.

Massacred: Members of the Pilanesberg National Park Anti-Poaching Unit stand guard as conservationists and police investigate the scene of a rhino poaching earlier this month in South Africa, where nearly two rhinos a day are being killed to meet demand for the animal's horn, which is worth more than its weight in gold. Photo credit: Reuters/DailyMail

Rising trend: Elephant and rhino poaching is being driven by the growing purchasing power of the continent's newly affluent classes. Photo credit: Reuters/DailyMail

A record number of big ivory seizures were made globally in 2011 and the trend looks set to continue in 2012 as elephant massacres take place from Congo to Cameroon, where as many as 200 of the pachyderms, listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as 'vulnerable', were slain in January.

In South Africa, nearly two rhinos a day are being killed to meet demand for the animal's horn, which is worth more than its weight in gold. More are being killed each week now than were being taken on an annual basis a decade ago.

Conservation group TRAFFIC, which monitors the global trade in animals and plants, said 2011 was the worst year for large ivory seizures in the more than two decades it has been running a database tracking the trends.

After the trade in ivory was banned at the end of the 1980s - a policy implemented to stem a slaughter of elephants at the time - the illegal trade declined sharply, helped by the co-operation of Japan from where most of the demand had been coming.

Conservationists say there was a spike in the mid 1990s driven by emerging Chinese demand that bubbled for a few years, then dropped off as red flags were raised...

(click here to read the full article)

Disastrous Bank of America`s War on the 2nd Amendment (Infowars)

Bank of America’s War on the Second Amendment

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
April 24, 2012

Bankster giant Bank of America has joined the effort to take down the Second Amendment and deny Americans the right to own and use firearms.

Kelly McMillan, the CEO of McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, McMillan Group International, and McMillan Firearms Manufacturing, recently wrote on his Facebook page that Bank of America has refused to do business with his companies because they sell firearms. Bank of America admitted its decision was political. McMillan’s response was to immediately stop doing business with Bank of America.

Here is Mr. McMillan’s post:
    McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, McMillan Firearms Manufacturing, McMillan Group International 
    have been collectively banking with Bank of America for 12 years. Today Mr. Ray Fox, 
    Senior Vice President, Market Manager, Business Banking, Global Commercial Banking 
    came to my office. He scheduled the meeting as an “account analysis” meeting in order to 
    evaluate the two lines of credit we have with them. He spent 5 minutes talking about how 
    McMillan has changed in the last 5 years and have become more of a firearms manufacturer 
    than a supplier of accessories.

    At this point I interrupted him and asked “Can I possible save you some time so that you 
    don’t waste your breath? What you are going to tell me is that because we are in the firearms 
    manufacturing business you no longer what my business.”
“That is correct” he says.
    I replied “That is okay, we will move our accounts as soon as possible. We can find a 2nd 
    Amendment friendly bank that will be glad to have our business. You won’t mind if I tell the 
    NRA, SCI and everyone one I know that BofA is not firearms industry friendly?”
    
    “You have to do what you must” he said.

    “So you are telling me this is a politically motivated decision, is that right?”

    Mr Fox confirmed that it was. At which point I told him that the meeting was over and there 
    was nothing let for him to say.

    I think it is import for all Americans who believe in and support our 2nd amendment right to  
    keep and bear arms should know when a business does not support these rights. What you 
    do with that knowledge is up to you. When I don’t agree with a business’ political position I 
    can not in good conscience support them. We will soon no longer be accepting Bank of 
    America credit cards as payment for our products.

    Kelly D McMillan
Director of Operations
McMillan Group International, LLC
623-582-9635
    www.mcmillanusa.com

It is nice to see a company taking a stand against the banksters on principle, especially when that principle is one of the cornerstones of the Constitution.

Related:
READ: 2nd Amendment Sneak Attack

Utter defiance by TSA: Leaves note telling passenger "go to hell"

TSA Leaves Note Telling Passenger To “Go To Hell”
Scrawled comment on complaint form after agents tampered with luggage

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
April 24, 2012

New Yorker Ross Berenson can burn for ever in eternal damnation as far as the TSA are concerned, following his attempts to find out why his luggage had been broken into and tampered with during a flight from LAX to JFK.

When Berenson discovered that the “TSA-certified” green lock on his bag had been removed and the loops of the zippers cut, he enquired with airline JetBlue as to what had happened.

The Manhattan-based graphic designer was referred to TSA representatives.

“Nobody could give me any answers about what happened in LA, but they very politely told me if I wanted to file a complaint I could fill out this form,” Berenson told Gothamist.

TWITTER VIA @ROSSBERENSON; Infowars

When he looked at the form more closely, Berenson discovered that someone from the TSA had scrawled the words “go to hellllll” on it.

“Everyone was very helpful and nice. I didn’t realize the form said ‘Go to hell’ until I got on the subway.” Berenson said. ”

I’m pretty laid back, but seeing an official form like this say ‘Go to hell’ is pretty shocking.” he added.

Berenson also said that he believes the form, including the handwritten portion, is a photocopy and that other versions may have been issued to other passengers wishing to make complaints against the agency.

A TSA spokesperson told the blog site issued the following statement in response to the incident:

    The TSA looks forward to the opportunity to work directly with the passenger to learn more 
    about his interaction with the employee and the hand-written note on the form he received. 
    This will assist us in reviewing the issue. Additionally, we will work with the passenger to 
    address the damaged luggage.

    TSA-recognized locks are easily identified by the screening workforce and can be opened 
    and relocked by TSA officers if a physical inspection is required. Also, when TSA opens a 
    checked bag, a notice of inspection is placed inside.

“I can’t prove the TSA did this to my bag,” Berenson said. “And there was no note saying they inspected it.”

However, the TSA has a history of leaving handwritten notes in passengers’ luggage. Last October a TSA screener saw fit to make a humiliating joke about the contents of a flyer’s luggage, writing “GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL,” on a TSA inspection note after finding a sex toy.

In another incident in December, a screener left a note reading “C’mon Son” after discovering two bags of marijuana in the suitcase of rapper Freddie Gibbs.

Although he says he has no immediate plans to visit hell, Ross Berenson says he is going to file a formal complaint with the TSA

“I’m a pretty calm person,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world, it’s just luggage.”
—————————————————————-

Whistleblower: The NSA is Lying–U.S. Government Has Copies of Most of Your Emails (Democracy Now)

Democracynow.org
April 20, 2012


Published on Apr 20, 2012 by democracynow
http://youtu.be/hfS2Op9l3nk

DemocracyNow.org - National Security Agency whistleblower William Binney reveals he believes domestic surveillance has become more expansive under President Obama than President George W. Bush. He estimates the NSA has assembled 20 trillion "transactions" — phone calls, emails and other forms of data — from Americans. This likely includes copies of almost all of the emails sent and received from most people living in the United States. Binney talks about Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and challenges NSA Director Keith Alexander's assertion that the NSA is not intercepting information about U.S. citizens.

This interview is part of a 4-part special. Click here to see segment 1, 2, and 4. [includes rush transcript]


GUESTS:
William Binney, served in the NSA for over 30 years, including a time as director of the NSA’s World Geopolitical and Military Analysis Reporting Group. Since retiring from the NSA in 2001, he has warned that the NSA’s data-mining program has become so vast that it could "create an Orwellian state."

Jacob Appelbaum, a computer security researcher who has volunteered with WikiLeaks. He is a developer and advocate for the Tor Project, a network enabling its users to communicate anonymously on the internet.

Laura Poitras, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and producer. She is working on the third part of a trilogy of films about America post-9/11. The first film was My Country, My Country," and the second was The Oath.

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Huge underground water aquifers discovered in North Africa...will this start the re-colonization of Africa or has it started with AFRICOM?

We'll drink to that: Massive underground reserves of water found in some of Africa's driest areas - including the Sahara Desert
Researchers estimate that reserves of groundwater across the continent are 100 times the amount found on its surface

By TED THORNHILL
DailyMail
April 21, 2012

Huge reserves of underground water in some of the driest parts of Africa could provide a buffer against the effects of climate change for years to come, scientists said.

Researchers from the British Geological Survey and University College London have for the first time mapped the aquifers, or groundwater, across the continent and the amount they hold.

‘The largest groundwater volumes are found in the large sedimentary aquifers in the North African countries Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Sudan,’ the scientists said in their paper.

Revelation: Scientists have mapped Africa's underground water reserves

They estimate that reserves of groundwater across the continent are 100 times the amount found on its surface, or 0.66 million cubic kilometres.

Writing in the journal Environmental Research Letters, they cautioned, though, that not all these reserves can be accessed.

Where they can, small-scale extraction using hand pumps would be better than large-scale drilling projects, which could quickly deplete the reservoirs and have other unforeseen consequences.

Groundwater is no panacea for Africa's water shortages but it could form an important part of a strategy to cope with an expected sharp increase in demand for water as the continent's population increases.

Even now, some estimates put the number of Africans without access to safe drinking water at more than 300 million and only 5 per cent of arable land is irrigated.

‘It is not as simple as drilling big bore holes and seeing rice fields spring up everywhere,’ said Dr Stephen Foster, a London-based senior adviser for aid group Global Water Partnership and an expert in groundwater issues.

‘In some places it could be economically and technically feasible to use groundwater to reduce crop loss, but I would question whether that is true everywhere. It will need detailed evaluation.
Foster noted that projects have failed due to cost and logistics problems.

‘In northern Nigeria there have been groundwater irrigation projects that have failed because of the rising cost of fuel - a major factor in drilling costs - and distribution difficulties.’

The researchers say some of the largest deposits are in the driest areas of Africa in and around the Sahara, but they are deep - at 100 to 250 meters below ground level.

‘Water levels deeper than 50 meters will not be able to be accessed easily by a hand pump,’ said the study, led by Dr Alan MacDonald of the British Geological Survey. ‘At depths greater than 100 meters the cost of borehole drilling increases significantly due to the requirement for more sophisticated drilling equipment.’

The amount of water a borehole yields is another key issue. A small community hand pump needs a borehole with a flow rate of 0.1 to 0.3 litres per second. For large-scale irrigation, the rate needs to be much higher, say around 50 litres.

Dry research: It turns out that the biggest reserves of underground water are found near the Sahara Desert. Photo credit: Dailymail/Alamy

Phoebe White, a water, sanitation and hygiene specialist for the UK Department for International Development based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, said hand pumps in the DRC cost up to $13,000 apiece but in some areas the aquifers are too deep and other pumps must be used.

In areas of DRC where drilling deep boreholes is required the cost can be around $130,000, although problems of accessibility and infrastructure can push that figure up, according to White.

The researchers say the maps, based on existing geological charts from governments and hundreds of aquifer studies, are aimed at promoting a ‘more realistic assessments of water security and water stress’.

Roger Calow at UK think-tank the Overseas Development Institute, which was involved in the program that spawned the research, said the paper shows water shortages in large parts of Africa do not stem from scarcity.

‘What the science is telling us is that we have more storage in these shallow, relatively unproductive (aquifers) than we thought,’ he said, adding that about 60 per cent of Africans still live in rural areas and 80 per cent of those rely on groundwater systems.

Calow said a third of hand pumps across Africa have broken down due to a lack of maintenance.

Aid agencies gave the research a cautious welcome.

‘The discovery of substantial water reserves under parts of Africa may well be good news for the continent but it may prove hard to access in the near term and, if not sustainably managed, could have unforeseen impacts,’ Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi.

Nuttall said over-abstraction exploitation of groundwater in Mexico City, for example, is undermining the foundations of buildings.

He said the focus of efforts to improve water supply should be on better collection and storage.
‘The fact is that there is already a tremendous amount of water available for Africa but it is rarely collected’.

A study by UNEP and the World Agroforestry Centre found there is enough water falling as rain over Africa to supply the needs of some 9 billion people.

‘Ethiopia, where just over a fifth of the population are covered by domestic water supply and an estimated 46 per cent of the population suffer hunger, has a potential rainwater harvest equivalent to the population needs of over 520 million people,’ Nuttall told Reuters.