Boys love their toys. But how long will it stay afloat in
an age of modern missile weapons?
The USS Zumwalt, a massive 610-foot modern-day destroyer with an advanced rocket system, launched into the water off a Maine dock on Monday, in a surprisingly quiet ceremony, given the vessel’s record-breaking size and unusual shape.
It’s the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy.
“It’s absolutely massive,” said Amy Lent, the executive director of the Maine Maritime Museum, in The Daily Mail. “It’s higher than the tree line on the other side. It’s an absolutely huge ship — very imposing. It’s massively dominating the waterfront,” reports the Washington Times.
Are we overspending for combat vehicles? The US is spending upwards of $140,000 each on ultra-expensive Humvees that can rapidly be turned into scrap metal by cheap roadside IEDs. While in the Libyan War, rebels won with converted, low-tech Toyota trucks backed by modern air power. See our article: It is time to re-organize our military.
The ship has a 155 mm “Advanced Gun System,” with rocket-propelled warheads that can shoot 100 miles. And due to its high-technology component, it only requires half the normal amount of sailors to operate.
Originally designed simply for shore bombardment, the ship is now intended to serve multiple purposes, including backing up Marines on clandestine missions.To go along with its forward-looking nature, many of the Zumwalt’s operations are automated. There are so many computers running the ship that it will only require about 158 crew members to be on board. A typical Navy destroyer requires almost double that number.
In fact, the Navy’s plan to pack in so much sophisticated technology carried such a high price tag that some senior Navy officials tried to kill off the project. Instead, the program’s goal was narrowed: Rather than build 20 ships, the Navy would approve the construction of only three reports RT News.
Currently, the Zumwalt is on track to cost more than $3.5 billion. That’s a hefty sum, but, much to the relief of Navy officials, the ship’s construction is on time and on budget. Previous Navy programs, like the new fleet of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), haven’t been nearly as lucky.
Although significantly smaller than destroyers, the LCS have been swamped with complications ranging from technical issues to cost overruns. Last year, the Navy said it had brought the cost for each LCS down to under $400 million, but the first two each carried a $700 million price tag.
To make matters worse, one suffered a major leak-causing crack in its hull, while the other’s on-board technology failed to distinguish underwater mines from light hitting the waves. The LCS’ computer networks also proved to be susceptible to hackers, and a Defense Department study found that the ships are “not expected to be survivable” in combat.
Navy's Next Generation Destroyer 'USS Zumwalt'
A Staggering cost of $3.5 Billion Each. Concept art of the Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers in operation. At a massive $3.5 billion each, are these ships practical for war? or are they designed to provide employment for military contractors? (Internet photo)
How long would any ship from any navy in the world last in an age of modern missile technology?
The bigger they are, the deeper they sink. lll The thousands of years of naval history have proven only one thing - all ships sink. . While heading for the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by obsolete biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable. Bismarck was neutralized by a sustained bombardment from a British fleet, was scuttled by her crew, and sank with heavy loss of life. . See more at German battleship Bismarck
The Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber biplane disabled the Bismarck. Simple technology disabling new, powerful and "modern" technology.
The USS Cole Bombing This was a Muslim suicide attack against the United States Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole in October, 2000, while it was harbored and being refueled in the Yemen port of Aden. 17 American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured. . In World War II Japanese Kamikaze "low tech" suicide attacks damaged over 300 Allied ships and sunk 57 ships including three aircraft carriers and fourteen destroyers. . So the question of the day - Is the USS Zumwalt just an expensive floating target?
Lohini Winn and her son, Andreas, are upset that St. Basil Elementary and Junior High School is moving away from recognizing its Grade 7 to 9 students academic achievements, dropping awards ceremonies and honor roll to avoid “hurting the self-esteem and pride of those who do not receive a certificate.”
School Eliminates the Honor Roll
Awards might ‘hurt the self-esteem’ of the dumb students
(Calgary Herald) - When Grade 9 student Andreas Winn, 14, made the honour roll last year, it was a point of pride for him and his parents.
He won’t make the honour roll this year. Not officially at least. And not for a lack of effort.
Administration and staff at St. Basil Elementary and Junior High School, in the northwest community of Tuscany, decided earlier this month to stop recognizing the academic achievements of its roughly 250 Grade 7 to 9 students, axing award certificates and year-end ceremonies.
“They’re telling us that the one per cent of students or so who have learning problems or the group of students who can’t get on the honour roll outweighs the kids who can,” said Winn.
“So we should all stoop down to their level so everyone is happy.”
So-called "educators" are some of the most stupid people in society.
But he’s not happy. Neither are many parents and students who expressed shock, frustration and disappointment by the school’s decision and apparent lack of consultation.
Jason Redelback, whose 14-year-old son “hates” the decision, doesn’t think dropping awards and ceremonies is in the best interest of students.
“When you start to take away the recognition of a job well done, what you end up doing is you take away someone’s well-being,” said Redelback. “What they’ve done here is take away something of value and purpose.”
That’s not how officials at St. Basil see it.
In a letter to parents explaining the decision, school officials said, “Awards eventually lose their lustre to students who get them, while often hurting the self-esteem and pride of those who do not receive a certificate.”
That letter also cites the work of education guru Alfie Kohn, who contends that “dangling rewards in front of children are at best ineffective, and at worst counterproductive.”
Praise and recognition will now be immediate through feedback from teachers, not awards. Individualized goal-setting will be prepared by teachers and students. Parents are encouraged to celebrate academic success as a family.
Winn’s mother, Lo, believes awards and ceremonies serve a purpose: they act as an incentive for students to strive for high marks, and prepare kids for university and beyond.
“The students have nothing to work toward,” said Lo Winn. “They need incentive, they need motivation. I totally believe that if a child does well, a child needs to be recognized for it.”
Even China abandoned Socialism. The Chinese threw away Socialism and the moronic "equality" of bland Chairman Mao jackets in favor of capitalism, excellence, achievement, fashionable clothes and wealth. . As China adopts excellence and success, the nations of the West want to adopt the insane philosophy of Socialism, mediocrity and failure.
Comrade Obama's Department of Homeland Security is increasing its preparations for domestic unrest by spending half a million dollars on fully automatic pepper spray launchers and projectiles that are designed to be used during riot control situations reports journalist Paul Joseph Watson.
In an announcement of a no bid contract posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the federal agency signals its intention to purchase nearly 240,000 pepper spray projectiles, 100 pepper spray launchers, as well as 36 “riot expansion kits”.
The PepperBall TAC-700 pepper spray launcher “features full auto, semi-auto, or 3 round burst providing up to 700 rounds per minute,”according to the company which will provide the DHS with the weapons. It is also “accurate to 60 feet with area saturation up to 150 feet.” The weapon is routinely used in riot control situations around the world reports Infowars News.
According to a video demonstration, the TAC-700 has a “strong psychological influence” on the people it is being used against because it is so loud and sounds like an automatic machine gun.
Although the weapons are being purchased by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the document makes it clear that they will be used to train Federal Protective Service (FPS) agents.
The total cost of the contract amounts to $498,970 dollars and mandates that delivery of the weapons will be made within 60 days of the award.
Although the contract states that the pepper spray projectiles will be used for “training purposes,” 117,000 of them are inert compared to 120,000 “Live X Projectiles,” which are the most powerful projectiles available on PepperBall’s website, and are designed to be used during riot control situations.
The “riot expansion kits” being purchased by the DHS are holsters that accompany the PepperBall products and can be used to store projectiles. According to one website, they represent, “the perfect non-lethal crowd management tool for gaining compliance over rioters, organized protesters, and unlawful assemblies,” and can be used to, “Gain psychological advantage over unruly crowds.”
The purchase of these items sends another clear signal that the DHS is preparing for some form of civil disorder.
The author of the Patriot Act claims he is "shocked" that unconstitutional spying has been going on for years and says his new bill will fix it.
The 118-page bill would limit collection of business records to foreigners or those suspected of working with foreign agents. . . . hmmm, isn't that what they supposed to be doing in the first place?
Bottom line, the only reason these bastards are now for "reform" is because Edward Snowden exposed the entire corrupt spy system to the world.
Put on your hip boots. The Congressional bullshit is starting to flow deep and heavy.
I am sick of these Congressmen and Senators who claim they knew nothing about the unconstitutional spying going on. Hell, I have been reading stories about it for years. One can only conclude that these guys are fucking idiots or liars - pick one.
The Republican author of the Patriot Act in the House and the senior Democrat in the Senate teamed together Tuesday to write a bill that they claimed would stop the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records and require a court order if the government wants to search through Americans’ communications.
BS. Yeah, a court order. But will it be a phony rubber stamp court order? (See story below.)
“Somewhere along the way, the balance between security and privacy was lost. It’s now time for the judiciary committees to again come together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the law is properly interpreted, past abuses are not repeated and American liberties are protected,” said Rep. James Sensenbrenner with a straight face.
The Wisconsin Republican was the sponsor of the Patriot Act in 2001, and has written the new bill along with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee reports the Washington Times.
“Modest transparency and oversight provisions are not enough. We need real reform,” Leahy said.
The new bill earned words of encouragement from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican who called it an important part of the debate but signaled that any final legislation will look different.
Yeah, it will look real different . . . as in any change will be phony window dressing with tons of loopholes for Big Brother to use.
“With each revelation of the scope of NSA’s intelligence gathering programs, it’s increasingly clear that we need to take legislative action with regard to these programs to ensure that they adequately protect Americans’ civil liberties and operate in a prudent manner,” Goodlatte said.
Known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection, and Online Monitoring Act, or USA FREEDOM Act, the bill also takes steps to make sure the administration doesn’t just shift the legal justification for bulk records collection to another part of the law.
. Secret court never says no to NSA spying ll Several civil liberties groups have long flayed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act because it allows warrantless wiretapping and revolves around a secret court that renders decisions not disclosed to the general public.
Consider this information from a U.S. Attorney General's Office report presented to Congress: Of the 1,789 applications seeking electronic surveillance submitted to the court in 2012 by the federal government, all but one was granted — 1,788. The one not granted was withdrawn by the NSA.
Andrew McCullough, a Salt Lake attorney who specializes in civil liberties law, said he is not surprised at the court's record of "blanket" decisions.
"I was at a seminar and able to talk to a judge who was on the FISA court. He told me he was unaware of orders that were denied," he said. "He told me, 'We don't deny them. That bothers you doesn't it, Andy?' It does."
McCullough, too, said he can't fathom the amount of information the Verizon cellphone records would represent — and wondered aloud if they would join the other "secret" records to be stored at the NSA's Utah Data Center when it opens this fall. . See more at: Deseret News.
Big Brother Spying Edward Snowden touched a nerve with liberty loving people all over the world. But to this day you see Statist whores in both the GOP and Democrat parties defending unconstitutional spying, secret courts hearing secret evidence, that issue secret search warrants for the secret police to watch and record your every move, email, phone call, text, photo or private message.
Using your health as an excuse, the Democrats are spying on
and recording your Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Now Big Brother is using the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to “mine” and record your private Facebook and Twitter accounts without your permission.
Our Masters in Washington claim this new spying is to improve their understanding of social media footprint and to assess how Tweets can be used as “change-agents” for health behaviors.
The NLM, a division of the Obama run Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will have software installed on government computers that will store data from social media as part of a $30,000 project announced last week.
“The world-wide explosion in the use of social media provides a unique opportunity for sampling sentiment and use patterns of NLM’s ‘customers’ and for comparing NLM to other sources of health-related information,” the agency said reports the Washington Free Beacon.
“By examining relevant tweets and other comments,” the contract said, “NLM will gain insights to extent of use, context for which information was sought, and effects of various health-related announcements and events on usage patterns.”
Specifically, NLM will look at the “value of tweets and other messages as teaching tools and change-agents for health-relevant behavior.”
OhMyGov Inc., a media company that specializes in the promotion of government agencies, will be paid $30,660 to monitor social media for NLM for one year.
The company will install software on computers at NLM headquarters in Bethesda, Md. to “maintain a comprehensive ‘universe’ of social media data.” Government bureaucrats will be trained on the software so they can search the database for health-related content.
“Content from Twitter, Facebook, blogs, news sites, discussion boards, video and image sharing sites will be maintained by the Contractor and kept up-to-date in a timely manner and made available for query by Government,” the contract said.
When asked by a vendor if they are interested in storing the data for “historical analysis,” NLM said “Yes.”
. “Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.” ― George Orwell, 1984
Comrade Obama and McCain's Syrian rebels are busy setting up and Islamic state with arms and money from Islamist Saudi Arabia and Islamist Turkey.
Meanwhile the secular Ba'ath Party Syrian government, supported by the "evil" secular Russians, tries to crush Islamic terrorists.
Sixty Syrians have been kidnapped and imprisoned by Al-Qaeda terrorists trying to set up a state ruled by a supreme religious and political leader across the country.
Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) have targeted a town near the Turkish border where 200 residents have already pledged loyalty to the group.
The local sharia court has been taken over by ‘foreigners’, schools with mixed sexes up to the age of six have been segregated and businesses intimidated says the UK Daily Mail.
Last month, al-Qaeda seized the town of Azaz, – until recently the main centre for foreign aid delivery – from moderate rebels, the Times reported.
Speaking by Skype, activist Mahmoud told the paper: ‘People are afraid. If ISIS knows you hate them, they will arrest you.’
There are signs and wall murals heralding the coming of the caliphate, or religious state.
‘They have been visiting people in their shops, telling them they have to work to make the caliphate,” added Mahmoud.
ISIS, believed to number up to 8,000 fighters, have learned from their mistakes in Libya where they fought against Colonel Gadaffi's army but won no land when he was defeated.
Now they hand out free food and petrol and pay for streets to be cleaned as they woo the 40,000 residents.
In local squares, speakers promote Jihad, resisting President Assad's regime and offering activities for children.
Syria FSA Rebels shooting RPG against Assad forces
Syria War 2013 Videos Compilation
The Most Intense Videos From Syria!
Map of Syria showing Azaz which has been taken over by al-Qaeda terrorists.
The American middle class is being devoured before our very eyes by technology and robotics.
As much as I slam Obama as the Food Stamp King, the food stamp issue started long before he appeared. Food stamps are only a symptom of the problem. Food stamps are the new normal.
We are not out of work because the economy is bad. The economy is bad because we are out of work.
It amazes me the more I study this story. If you listen to the so-called "experts" in the main stream media, you will believe that what happened to the global economy only happened starting in the latter part of 2008. They are way off base. For many years we have been seeing a slow motion job implosion of the Americans economy driven by the Internet, robotics and outsourcing.
A huge part of the food stamp explosion is millions of jobs being eliminated by robotics, the Internet and outsourcing to Asia and Latin America.
EBT cards are the modern version of the old Roman bread and circuses to keep the permanently unemployed mobs fed and entertained so they would not rise up against the political system.
The number of people enrolled in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka "food stamps") has doubled to 47 million people in the past ten years. Perhaps more disturbingly, the number of people on the program increased during a period of economic growth, something that has never happened before.
Poverty used to fall in tandem with the jobless rate, reducing the need for food stamps but the researchers found poverty did not decline as the economy grew in the mid-2000s -- and in the recovery following the Great Recession, the number of people receiving food stamps kept rising.
The assumption has always been a stronger labor market would reduce the need for food stamps, the economists said, but the new trend suggests rising employment might no longer be enough.
SNAP is also being expanded in several states to include food from restaurants. Gift baskets that include both food and non-food items are also eligible to be purchased with SNAP.
The government is encouraging enrollment—and reliance—on their programs. EBT Bingo games occur in Rhode Island to enroll residents in the program.
China helped create the Food Stamp Explosion When China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001, tariffs were lowered, and it became very profitable for American companies to relocate production to China’s sweatshops. . Millions of American jobs were lost, and those former workers have piled up on the food-stamp rolls. Experts say the cause of the ongoing crisis is trade imbalances created by then-President Clinton about 20 years ago when he granted China most-favored-nation trading status --- when he negotiated World Trade Organization membership for China.
Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
And the situation is even worse than it appears.
Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What's more, these jobs aren't just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren't just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.
They're being obliterated by technology.
Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing more efficiently tasks that humans have always done. For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines; an Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived. Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/02/robot-wars-in-china-bugger-flipping.html#rmIlzyAFl702EfvB.99
Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
And the situation is even worse than it appears.
Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What's more, these jobs aren't just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren't just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.
They're being obliterated by technology.
Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing more efficiently tasks that humans have always done. For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines; an Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived. Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/02/robot-wars-in-china-bugger-flipping.html#rmIlzyAFl702EfvB.99
Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
And the situation is even worse than it appears.
Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What's more, these jobs aren't just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren't just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.
They're being obliterated by technology.
Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing more efficiently tasks that humans have always done. For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines; an Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived. Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/02/robot-wars-in-china-bugger-flipping.html#rmIlzyAFl702EfvB.99
Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
And the situation is even worse than it appears.
Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What's more, these jobs aren't just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren't just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.
They're being obliterated by technology.
Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing more efficiently tasks that humans have always done. For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines; an Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived. Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/02/robot-wars-in-china-bugger-flipping.html#rmIlzyAFl702EfvB.99
The Middle Class - Busted & Betrayed
While both parties fall all over themselves to legalize and import citizens of foreign nations, the jobs held by American citizens are being abolished by the millions.
Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
And the situation is even worse than it appears.
Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What's more, these jobs aren't just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren't just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.
Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing more efficiently tasks that humans have always done. For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines; an Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived.
"The jobs that are going away aren't coming back," says Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of "Race Against the Machine." ''I have never seen a period where computers demonstrated as many skills and abilities as they have over the past seven years."
The global economy is being reshaped by machines that generate and analyze vast amounts of data; by devices such as smartphones and tablet computers that let people work just about anywhere, even when they're on the move; by smarter, nimbler robots; and by services that let businesses rent computing power when they need it, instead of installing expensive equipment and hiring IT staffs to run it.
Whole employment categories, from secretaries to travel agents, are starting to disappear.
The AP's key findings:
For more than three decades, technology has reduced the number of jobs in manufacturing. Robots and other machines controlled by computer programs work faster and make fewer mistakes than humans. Now, that same efficiency is being unleashed in the service economy, which employs more than two-thirds of the workforce in developed countries. Technology is eliminating jobs in office buildings, retail establishments and other businesses consumers deal with every day.
Technology is being adopted by every kind of organization that employs people. It's replacing workers in large corporations and small businesses, established companies and start-ups. It's being used by schools, colleges and universities; hospitals and other medical facilities; nonprofit organizations and the military.
The most vulnerable workers are doing repetitive tasks that programmers can write software for — an accountant checking a list of numbers, an office manager filing forms, a paralegal reviewing documents for key words to help in a case. As software becomes even more sophisticated, victims are expected to include those who juggle tasks, such as supervisors and managers — workers who thought they were protected by a college degree.
Technology is replacing workers in developed countries regardless of their politics, policies and laws. Union rules and labor laws may slow the dismissal of employees, but no country is attempting to prohibit organizations from using technology that allows them to operate more efficiently — and with fewer employees.
More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas
The droids are taking our jobs An Oxford University study concluded that 47% of all
Touch Screens at McDonalds Abolish Jobs. McDonald's and the Japanese sushi chain, Kura, just installed 7,000 touch-screens throughout Europe, eliminating the need for workers to take customers' orders. Kura, for its part, has been able to fully eliminate cashiers from their workforce.
. “The Master created humans first as the lowest type, most easily formed. Gradually, he replaced them by robots, the next higher step, and finally he created me, to take the place of the last humans.” ― Isaac Asimov - I, Robot
The NSA Utah Data Center is unconstitutionally recording you without a warrant.
NSA Data Center Goons Detain Journalists Confiscate Cameras
NSA data center police confiscated cameras and detained reporters for 'photography' on the outskirts of the massive NSA data center in Salt Late City Utah. They were told that a posted sign now overrides the First Amendment when it comes to our rights. . The NSA records us, but we are not allowed to record them.
(The Salt Lake Tribune) - The National Security Agency does not want you at the Utah Data Center.
And the NSA especially does not want you filming there.
Three journalists learned as much Thursday when they entered the Utah Data Center parking lot and security officers confiscated their cameras.
Infowars.com posted video of the confrontation Thursday. The website said it livestreamed the confrontation.
Anthony Gucciardi, a journalist for the website Storyleak.com who is a frequent contributor to Infowars.com, is seen on the video telling security he wants to speak to NSA public affairs. A security agent repeatedly tells Gucciardi and his two camera operators they need to stop filming.
"I wasn’t expecting a confrontation in the parking lot," Gucciardi said Friday in an interview with The Tribune. "I thought maybe they would get mad when I asked for a tour and tell me no."
Instead, security personnel took an iPhone that was filming and a larger handheld video camera. That’s where the video posted online stops.
Off camera, Gucciardi said, the security agents told the threesome they could not leave until they deleted the footage. At one point, Gucciardi said, an agent was holding one of the cameramen by the arm preventing him from getting into his car.
"After I kept saying, ‘We’re not deleting the footage,’ he ripped the cameras from the camera guy’s hands and deleted all of the footage except for that one video," Gucciardi said.
The missed video is the one posted online.
Then an agent wrote Gucciardi a warning on a standardized form. In the space for listing the violation, the agent handwrote "PHOTOGRAPHY."
Gucciardi said he wasn’t seeking a confrontation; his goal was to demonstrate U.S. surveillance is a one-way relationship.
"While the NSA spies on everything we do, we can’t even film them and have any kind of check on what they’re doing," Gucciardi said.
"I'm shocked, shocked to find that data-mining is going on in here."
SM-3 launch from the USS Lake Erie. The SM-3s are going to Romania.
Russia - 'The missiles are pointed at us.'
Moscow has demanded legal guarantees from Washington that missile defense systems deployed in Europe would not target Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities. Washington has refused to grant Russia such assurances.
In the "How to win friends and influence people department".
The question of the day: is the US trying to create a new Cold War with Russia in order to justify endless military spending?
Obama and hacks in both parties painted Russia as the spawn of Satan during the Syria crisis. Never mind that the Russians were simply defending their ally of 40 years.
Now we come to Romania. On Oct. 28 the nation started building a military base, which will host a U.S. ballistic missile defense system as part of the NATO system. NATO claims the missiles are directed at Iran.
The plan is to have the Deveselu base in southern Romania operational in 2015. It will house SM-3 interceptor missiles and radar equipment reports Hurriyet Daily News.
‘Serious partnership’
Russia has voiced strong opposition against the missile defense plans, fearing they could jeopardize its own security. Romanian President Traian Basescu and U.S. Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy James Miller attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Aegis Ashore missile defense system.
Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa said: “This is a serious partnership with the U.S. It is the first capability of its kind being deployed here in Eastern Europe.” .
(L-R) US Vice Adm Syring, Romanian President Basescu, Miller, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and Dusa, Defense Minister shovel during the ceremony. AFP photo
Romania’s participation in the NATO system constitutes the second phase of the missile defense. The first part of the system, an early warning radar station in Turkey, went operational in January 2012. Aside from Romania, other elements of the system will be built in Portugal, Poland, and Spain.
The issue of the US missile shield in Europe has been a longstanding bone of contention in Russia-US relations. Moscow has demanded legal guarantees from Washington that missile defense systems deployed in Europe would not target Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities. Washington has refused to grant Russia such assurances, citing a need to protect Europe from ‘rogue states' like Iran and North Korea.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov "missile defense remains a burning issue," adding that Russia’s position is well-known.
"We are ready for a constructive dialogue with the US and NATO and are open to finding a compromise, but let's not pretend that the incessant talks that there is nothing within the scheme of the American-led ABM that needs to be changed, nor that it’s not against Russia, that all this talk can somehow settle things,” Lavrov said reports RT News.
Lavrov said Russia is interested in strengthening all aspects of strategic stability, regional stability the neutralization of threats through political and diplomatic means.
Earlier this month, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said there is yet to be mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and NATO on the issue of the missile defense program, as not all the security concerns of Russia are being taken into account by its partners.
A bilateral agreement to deploy missile interceptors inside Romania was signed at the Pentagon one day after the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The planned interceptors include the land-based SM-3 ballistic missile defense system.
"We had to cancel this and all future car washes.”
The People's Republic of California - Don't expect to see teens standing on corners waving signs at motorists encouraging them to participate in a school car wash any time soon in San Jose.
While car washes have become a favorite tool for school clubs, teams, cheerleaders and classes to raise funds for trips, uniforms or supplies, the liberal Democrat run city of San Jose is now saying stop.
This is what happened to Lincoln High School cheerleaders trying to raise money to attend a national competition in April. The San Jose Mercury News reports that local environmental officials warned the high school cheerleaders that their car wash violated the city’s water discharge laws.
“We had a visit from the city of San Jose Environmental Services Department who said that the car washes at Hoover [Middle School] are in violation of water discharge laws, therefore we had to cancel this and all future car washes,” said an email that was sent out to neighborhood email lists on Oct. 18.
“Anything that is not storm water or rain water is considered a pollutant,” said Jennie Loft, acting communications manager for San Jose’s Environmental Services Department.
“If it goes into a storm drain, that pollutant will harm wildlife and habitats in the creeks. Water goes directly from the storm drains into our creeks.”
The city intervened in response to two complaints received about the car wash events Lincoln High Schoolers had been holding at Hoover Middle School. City officials reached out to school and district staff to give them information on how to prevent pollutants from getting into storm drains.
You must obey your Green Masters.
Asked if the city came out in response to complaints, Loft wrote in a follow-up email, "The City of San Jose responded to two complaints, one about a month ago and one last week, re: the Lincoln High School Car wash events held at Hoover Middle School.
"Our staff responds to complaints to ensure that pollutants do not go directly into our storm sewer system since it flows into local creeks, and the SF Bay and Delta.
"As part of our protocol when we received these complaints, our staff reached out to staff at Lincoln High School and San Jose Unified last month to provide information about preventing pollutants into storm drains.
"Our staff also met directly with Lincoln High School Staff last week."
Greens Ban Harmless Fun
The Enviro-Nazis are now preventing community car washes that raise money for charity and other causes. The hand-wringing Leftists were up all night worried that water with soap in it might get on the ground. Oh the humanity!
