Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police force to keep them safe, are fighting back against the criminal scourge on their own. And theyre offering no apologies.
We got to have a little Old West up here in Detroit. Thats what its gonna take, Detroit resident Julia Brown told The Daily.
The last time Brown, 73, called the Detroit police, they didnt show up until the next day. So she applied for a permit to carry a handgun and says shes prepared to use it against the young thugs who have taken over her neighborhood, burglarizing entire blocks, opening fire at will and terrorizing the elderly with impunity.
I dont intend to be one of their victims, said Brown, who has lived in Detroit since the late 1950s. Im planning on taking one out.
#1
Could be an all new Detroit in a few years if this keeps up.
Perhaps they'll think twice about reelecting folks who can't protect them, actively disarm them, and then treat the villians Better than the victims while grinding the city into poverty and a swamp of nanny state laws. That applies to all levels of government.
#10
The World-renowned N. Korean National Pyongyang Symphony Orchestra will be laying down a few riffs in a free concert in the Park, just weeks before their up-coming televised debut on norkTV--just prior to dusk on 2-14 in the year of Very Deep Kimchi.
Due to the tiny, mal-nourished and misshapen fingers of our dear musicians, only the accordion, ukulele, mandolin and San Francisco finger cymbals section will be featured at this concert. We expect that after re-unification we, and our orchestra; will expand in size.
[Bangla Daily Star] Two Chittagong University students were killed and around 40 others injured in fierce festivities between Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... and Bangladesh Chhatra League ... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... activists on the campus yesterday.
While Shibir, a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... student organization, claimed both the victims to be its members, BCL said one of them was an activist of the pro-Awami League student body.
The dead, Masud bin Habib, a student of English, was the general secretary of Shibir's Suhrawardy Hall unit and Mujahidul Islam, a student of Zoology, was an activist.
Shibir has called a half-day hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... in the port city today to protest the killings.
Fearing further tension on the campus, the CU authorities shut the university till February 16 and ordered all resident students to vacate the halls by 11:00am today.
It all began with an altercation between Shibir activist Al-Amin and BCL activist Sharier Shahin, both second year students of Islamic history, teachers and witnesses said. At one stage of the squabble, Al-Amin slapped and punched Sharier, pushing him to the ground.
On information, Shibir and BCL men -- both groups equipped with sticks, iron rods and machetes -- started bringing out processions from different dormitories at 12:30pm, each side chanting slogans against the other.
When the Shibir men reached Suhrawardy Hall around 1:00pm, BCL activists swooped on them with iron rods, sticks, machetes and other local weapons. The Shibir men counter-attacked with similar weapons, campus sources said.
It was then that the violent festivities spread to Gol Chattar, Amanat Hall and the areas adjacent to Shah Jalal Hall, leaving many activists of both the groups badly injured and turning the campus into a battle zone.
Among the injured is CU Proctor Nasim Hasan, who was hit when he tried to calm both the groups. He was taking treatment at a private clinic.
Several sounds of gunfire were heard during the on-and-off running battle that continued till about 4:00pm, although none was immediately reported to be hit by bullets.
Many panic-stricken women students fell unconscious while others ran for their lives, said Madhap Dweep, a teacher of communication and journalism.
The injured students were initially taken to CU Medical Centre. Of them, 15 were shifted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where Masud and Mujahidul were declared dead. "They're dead, Jim!"
Their bodies bore marks of injury all over, including from beating and stabbing, police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] More than 120 people were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock in police raids across London on Wednesday by a new unit set up to combat gang violence following riots which rocked England last summer.
The suspects were picked up in more than 300 raids across the capital since dawn as hundreds of Metropolitan Police officers erupted into the streets to track down and arrest suspected gang members.
The arrests concerned suspected assault, robbery and the supply of drugs, with police seizing "significant amounts of crack cocaine, heroin and cash", according to the police.
The 1,000-strong Trident Gang Crime Command has been created to monitor gang activity and work with London boroughs.
The unit, thought to be the largest in the country, has 19 dedicated gang crime task forces.
The Met, or the MPS, said in a statement: "As part of the MPS crackdown on gang crime, 109 warrants have been executed so far, resulting in 121 arrests for a variety of offences including, the supply and possession of drugs and gang related violence.
"A significant amount of cocaine and cannabis has been seized at various addresses across the capital."
Ten thousand pounds were found at another address.
Violence destroyed London in August, sparked by the death of a black man in a police shooting.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Operation Trident=Black gangs!
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/09/2012 7:01 Comments ||
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#2
Notice what wasn't said, that the police also probably confiscated a huge arsenal of guns, in gun-free London.
It used to be said that an "Irish king" was a man with a sword and two followers. Today it's a gun and two followers.
One of the alleged culprits in the 2011 debt scandal in the Mexican state of Coahuila had his bail revoked and is likely on the run, according to Mexican news accounts.
Javier Villareal Hernandez, the disgraced head of the Coahuila tax collection service had been out on bond after he was caught by Coahuila state police agents attempting to board an aircraft leaving for the United States in late October, 2011.
Villareal, along with several others had been accused of falsifying Coahuila state documents in order to get loans from private banks. As far as news reports indicated, the attempts by Villareal to get those loans had been going on since about 2009. His role became public as Partido Accion Nacional president Gustavo Madero Munoz began in August, 2011 to make the tremendous run up of Coahuila public debt a political issue. To read Rantburg reports on the scandal, click here and here.
Former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira Valdes had presided over that run up, and had left his post in early 2011 to lead the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). Just coming off a stunning series of wins in several state elections in July, 2011, Moreiria's role in the scandal affected the final race in Michoacan state, where, even though a PRI governor took the state, the win was by less than 40,000 votes. PRI also had a poor showing in the Michoacan Chamber of Deputies.
Moreira resigned from his post in December, 2011 after suffering near constant attacks and questions from both within and outside his political organization.
According to the El Diario de Coahuila website, a Coahuila state judge presiding over the matter revoked Villareal's bail Tuesday, and issued a rearrest warrant. Under Mexican criminal law, bail is usually very low even for serious crimes. Villareal was charged with falsifying public documents, apparently not a serious crime. News reports in late October, 2011 said that Villareal's bail had been set at MP $10.00 or about USD $0.77.
In November, 2011 when Villareal attempted flight, he was brought before the court and additional conditions were set on his bail, such as routinely checking in with the court.
News reports also indicated that Villareal and his family had purchased a number of real estate properties in Texas. The implication to those reports was that Villareal had so far dodged the far more serious crime of illicit enrichment. The purchase of real estate in the US on the salary of a public official may have been an indicator that Villareal could possibly -- though unlikely -- have been skimming proceeds, or had been paid by other parties to the transaction to make those loans.
Under Mexican law every loan contracted by a public entity such as a state must have legislative approval, and those approvals along with the loan proceeds must be brought to Mexico City to be registered. Additionally, documents showing legislative approval must be posted on the internet showing a serial number and the amount.
Villareal instead allegedly used unrelated legislative decrees, as well as those from other states to gain loan proceeds. In at least one case documented in a news report, two unidentified bank officials even travelled with Coahuila state officials -- namely Sergio Ricardo Fuentes and Jaime Rene Jimenez -- aboard official state aircraft to deliver the loan documents.
Fuentes Flores and an undisclosed number of former state officials also had their bail revoked. Fuentes Flores was formerly head of Administrador General de Politicas Publicas del SATEC, or Administrator General of Public Policy of SATEC. To see a list of other individuals allegedly involved in the Coahula debt scandal and some background material on the scandal, click here.
The El Diario de Coahuila report also says that Villareal may have run to Cuba.
China's most famous cop has been placed on leave for "vacation-style therapy" after a rumored U.S. asylum bid that had an American consulate surrounded by Chinese police.
This morning in China began with chatter that an incident had unfolded overnight outside the U.S. consulate in the western Chinese city of Chengdu. Pictures began to spread across Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, showing Chengdu police blocking off the streets around the consulate.
A name, Wang LiJun, began to trend alongside those pictures on the micro-blogging site. By mid-morning, searches for his name soon became blocked, usually a tell tale sign of a sensitive issue.
Wang, 52, is the vice mayor of neighboring Chongqing and until last week was the city-province's top cop credited in leading a successful crackdown on organized crime. A martial arts expert, he gained reputation for his tough and sometimes allegedly legally-tenuous gang-busting ways. He even inspired a TV series called "Iron-Blooded Police Spirits" based on his exploits. According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, Wang accumulated 20 scars from knife and bullet wounds and was once in a coma for 10 days after battling the triads.
More importantly, however, Wang, an ethnic Mongolian whose Mongolian name "Wuen Bart" means "Truth Hero" was seen as the right-hand man of Chongqing's powerful and ambitious Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai.
It is no secret that the charismatic and often times controversial Bo has been angling for a promotion to Beijing this fall when the country's central leadership is expected to reshuffle.
Last week Wang was suddenly stripped of his law enforcement duties and reassigned to a portfolio which included educational and the environmental issues. Instantly speculation began whether Wang had fallen out with Bo.
Rumors came to a head this morning when Wang's name became linked with the police cordon outside the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.
"We can't comment on what happened in Chengdu (Tuesday) night," Richard Buangan, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing told ABC News today. Buangan told Reuters that "there was no threat to the (Chengdu) consulate yesterday and the U.S. government did not request increased security around the compound."
It is still unclear whether Wang made it inside the consulate or where he is at the moment. The day has been full of questions and unconfirmed reports.
The only allusion to his whereabouts came from his employer the Chongqing Municipal Government, which posted on its Weibo: "It is understood that Deputy Mayor Wang Lijun, who has suffered overwork and immense mental stress for a long time, is seriously indisposed physically. He is currently undergoing vacation style therapy."
ABC News calls to the Chongqing Municipality spokesperson's office Wednesday went unanswered.
Whatever transpired between Wang and his longtime patron Bo Xilai is now being seen in many circles as a blow to Bo's public image. Especially since the usually media savvy Bo rested so much of his reputation on his Wang-led anti-gang campaign. Some analysts have even begun to question Bo's own political future.
Despite being high-profiled, Wang was essentially a top city cop. If he really was seeking asylum, the move is seen as an act of desperation.
The most pressing question, however, is what exactly does "vacation-style therapy" entail? Sounds killer!
#2
I've been around there. Lots of People's Armed Police standing around looking tough. Some with German Shepherds. I doubt the guy could get in even without extra security. He would have been better going to Hong Kong and defecting there.
Vacation style therapy means a house in the middle of nowhere in the countryside with armed guards and one road in, one road out.
#3
I suspect it is something more mundane, or crime related. The Triad is truly ginormous, and as powerful as the Capone mob in Chicago at its peak, except a thousand times as large.
#1
In their defense, these grants are waivers of attempts to recover payments or overpayments FEMA made in the first place, and do not involve known or alleged fraud by the recipient. After Katrina there was a lot of money being passed out without much documentation, and more than occassionally the recipients would not even know why they were given the money - and it was sometimes difficult-to-impossible to give it back. The money's long gone, and the overpaid recipients don't generally have any means of paying it back; attempts will just make lives miserable for the most part. I personally wouldn't forgive the payments, at least not if there is a house involved; I'd just put a claim or lien on the house against the proceeds whenever it is sold.
#2
In common law, keeping money or payments that do not belong to you can be referred to as larceny. In Georgia and many other states, $ 500. (USD) is characterized as Grand Larceny.
Mr Guerlain, now retired, caused offence during a TV interview in October 2010 in which he was asked to explain how he created the Samsara perfume.
"For once, I set to work like a ------. I don't know if ------- have always worked so hard, but anyway ..." he said.
Yesterday (Thurs), the 75-year-old apologised profusely as he appeared in court in Paris on charges of casting "racist insults".
He faces up to six months in prison and a 22,500 euro (£19,900) fine.
"The first part of my phrase was something I heard my entire childhood when I worked in my grandfather's garden. I come from another generation. It was a common expression at the time."
"As for the second phrase, it was an idiocy on my part. I was trying to make the interviewer laugh and I regret it." "I deeply regret it and present my excuses to the black community," he went on.
"I am anything but racist," he added, recounting how he met black GIs after the Second World War who introduced him to "chewing gum and Coca-Cola".
Mr Guerlain's remark on air had sparked angry condemnation from anti-racism groups, and a deluge of protests on Twitter with comments like "Guerlain, the parfumier who stinks".
Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30 yo Iranian student and "activist" was shot and killed in Houston's Galleria district : "No evidence suggests that her death was linked to her background or political views, but officials are still exploring that as one of many possibilities."
Absolutely no mention of this in anything other than the Chronicle nor that she had converted to Christianity, joining the Persians for Jesus at a local Baptist church. Any bets this was an honor killing?
[Bangla Daily Star] Violence erupted in the Maldives yesterday as supporters of the ex-president who claims he was forced out by a coup clashed with security forces in Male and stormed cop shoppes on outlying islands.
Local officials on four atolls in the holiday paradise nation told AFP that residents overran several cop shoppes and set fire to government buildings.
The attacks followed festivities in the capital Male where protesters, some throwing stones, fought army and police in riot gear who fired tear gas and used batons to disperse several thousand people in the city's Republic Square.
It is the worst unrest since festivities in 2003 following the death of an inmate at the hands of security forces, an event which sparked the process of democratic change on the islands in the Indian Ocean.
Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first elected president who resigned on Tuesday, told AFP he suspected new president Mohamed Waheed had known about a plot to overthrow him involving rebel army and coppers.
"I am afraid he's always entertained an idea to become the president... When the opportunity was available to him, he took it," the 44-year-old said of his former vice president -- from a different party -- who denies the allegation.
The ousted president said he was forced out of power at gunpoint and urged his successor to step down.
"Yes, I was forced to resign at gunpoint," Nasheed told news hounds after his party meeting a day after his resignation.
"There were guns all around me and they told me they would not hesitate to use them if I did not resign," he said.
Nasheed, 44, was later injured along with other senior members of his Maldivian Democratic Party during a rally in the capital, with family members saying he was beaten by police.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012 00:00 ||
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I file Maldives stuff under India-Pakistain because it's a member of SAARC and we don't have a "Nowhere" category. [Dawn] Several thousand supporters of former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed clashed with police and troops in riot gear Wednesday, a day after his resignation which he blamed on a coup d'etat.
Nasheed was among the crowd that rallied in the centre of the capital Male in a square next to the police and military headquarters.
Chanting slogans in support of Nasheed, the protesters threw stones and security personnel responded with tear gas and pepper spray, finally forcing the crowd back and away from the square.
"We're not going to stop," said Mohamed Abdulla, a supporter of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
"We'll just regroup and protest elsewhere.These people have seized our power!" another protester shouted.
Nasheed had led the crowd into the square following a meeting of the MDP leadership, which passed a resolution calling the new administration of President Mohamed Waheed illegitimate.
In an exclusive interview with AFP, Nasheed insisted that he had been forced into resigning by a group of armed rebel police and army officers who had threatened a bloodbath if he refused.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] India's most populous state went to the polls Wednesday in a contest pitting the scion of the Gandhi political dynasty against the ruling party of local low-caste leader Mayawati. India is the world's most populous hereditary democracy...
Rahul Gandhi, whose family has dominated post-independence Indian politics, has led campaigning for the Congress party in politically vital Uttar Pradesh (UP) in a key test of his ability to become a national leader.
The 41-year-old is widely seen as a prime minister-in-waiting, but he faces a tough task reviving the fortunes of Congress in a state where the party has been out of power for 22 years and was trounced in the last elections in 2007.
Arrayed against him is the formidable and mercurial figure of Chief Minister Mayawati, a low-caste populist who inspires a devoted following from those at the bottom of India's strict social order.
She trumpets her efforts to fight discrimination and improve the lives of the poor and marginalised, but her administration also stands accused by critics of rampant corruption and wasting public funds on vast urban landscaping projects.
She has built statues of low-caste icons -- including herself -- in huge parks in the state capital, with total expenditure estimated officially at more than a billion dollars.
Uttar Pradesh has a population of about 200 million. If it were a country in its own right it would be the worlds fifth most populous, larger than Brazil, and in places it has poverty as bad as in sub-Saharan Africa.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Police said Wednesday a mob had stormed the Maldives national museum and smashed Buddhist statues, an act of vandalism which former president Mohamed Nasheed blamed on Islamic radicals.
"A mob entered the museum yesterday (Tuesday). They smashed many statues. This included some statues of Buddha," police front man Ahmed Shiyam told Agence La Belle France Presse.
In an interview with AFP, Nasheed, who resigned the presidency on Tuesday, said the vandals included Islamist hardliners who had attacked the museum because they believed some of the statues inside were "idolatrous".
Islam is the official religion of the Maldives and open practice of any other religion is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
Islam is the official religion of the Maldives and open practice of any other religion is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
The museum in the capital Male boasts a large collection of historical artifacts, ranging from stone objects to fragments of royal antiquities from the country's Buddhist era to the rule of Islamic monarchs.
"I can tell you that the damage is very big," a museum official told AFP by telephone, asking not be named because police had requested him not to speak to the media.
"A team of coppers are here and are investigating," he added.
Police front man Shiyam said the building had been sealed off to allow a proper assessment of the damage.
Religious radicals, who had painted Nasheed and his administration as un-Islamic, had taken part in three weeks of anti-government protests that led to the president stepping down.
Alleging that Nasheed was under the influence of Jews and was trying to bring Christianity to the Sunni Mohammedan nation, they had attacked him over flights arriving with Israeli tourists and "improper" social conduct on island resorts.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
To paraph SGT. SCHULTZ > "Copts in Egypt, Christians + Druze in Lebanon, now Buddhists in Maldives - SQUASHED FLAT LIKE A PANCAKE"!
Duplicate from yesterday but we like the comments :-)
A federal judge dismissed on Wednesday a lawsuit filed in San Diego by PETA against SeaWorld, alleging the park's performing killer whales are being held in captivity as slaves, in violation of the U.S. Constitution's 13th Amendment. "only counting as 3/5ths of a white for voting, too, your honor!"
Judge Jeffrey Miller dismissed the lawsuit two days after hearing an hour of arguments about the case's merits. Miller ruled that the 13th Amendment, adopted in 1865, applied only to humans, and the lawsuit could not proceed. "So, you see, you're clearly nucking futs. Dismissed. Counselor? I'm recommending you spend 2 or 3 hours in the tank to discuss the appeals with your 'clients'"
A lawyer for PETA said the group has not decided if it will appeal the ruling but vowed the fight on behalf of the whales will continue. they need to pay the Sea World Atty's costs and court's time
"We'll look at the order closely and see where we go from here," said lawyer Jeff Kerr. "We're concerned only with the well-being of the orcas and trying to end their enslavement." "Nobody knows...the trubble I seine"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Proof we need to bring back slavery.
Any idiot that comes up with this idea and the idiot that files it for the court just NEED to be sent to the spice mines.
#6
It used to be a legal principal that courts would only hear cases based on subjects involving the law, not a judge's whim that he wanted to be entertained by something interesting.
The US has some 3,600 federal judges, any one of whom can now whimsically hear cases for their entertainment. And they do. Unfortunately there is no organization other than congress that can say, "No, that is stupid. Quit wasting taxpayer money and log-jamming your court with b.s. like that."
#8
That's OK - PETA will just appeal to the "9th Circus" which will rule in their favor.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
02/09/2012 10:53 Comments ||
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#9
Since it appears we now have lawyers doing stand up comedy, perhaps we should declare a ten year moritorium on graduating lawyers from school and just send them all to Ringling Brothers?
I believe the ruling took a long time because the judge broke his hip falling out of his chair laughing at the poor barristership of the plantiff. Even Namu was shaking his head at the thin porridge in the brief.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/09/2012 11:34 Comments ||
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#10
Bill: Wouldn't that be terribly cruel to people who suffer from Coulrophobia?
"A clown is coming to get you!"
"Eeek!"
"A clown who is also a lawyer!"
"Eeek! Eeek!" (faints)
(There are too many 'evil clown' pictures to choose from on GIS.)
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Bangla Daily Star] Two Chittagong University students were killed and around 40 others injured in fierce 
More than 120 people were 
Violence erupted in the Maldives yesterday as supporters of the ex-president who claims he was forced out by a coup clashed with security forces in Male and stormed 
[Dawn] Several thousand supporters of former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed clashed with police and troops in riot gear Wednesday, a day after his resignation which he blamed on a coup d'etat.
[Dawn] India's most populous state went to the polls Wednesday in a contest pitting the scion of the Gandhi political dynasty against the ruling party of local low-caste leader Mayawati.
[An Nahar] Police said Wednesday a mob had stormed the Maldives national museum and smashed Buddhist statues, an act of vandalism which former president Mohamed Nasheed blamed on Islamic radicals.
