Owned by Australian media dinosaur Rupert Murdoch, its demise came in the wake of a phone-hacking scandal of epic proportions, even for a publication infamous for reporting scandals, such as John Profumo’s affair with ex-showgirl Christine Keeler.

Profumo was, at the time UK minister for war.

Another of Keeler’s lovers was Soviet naval attaché, Eugene Ivanov, who was under MI5 surveillance.

In days, a group of powerful world leaders will ask the UN to end the war on drugs and move towards regulation. But politicians say that the public will not support alternative drug policies. Let’s give this unique opportunity massive public support and get urgent action. Sign below, and tell everyone:

In days, we could finally see the beginning of the end of the ‘war on drugs’. This expensive war has completely failed to curb the plague of drug addiction, while costing countless lives, devastating communities, and funneling trillions of dollars into violent organized crime networks.

Experts all agree that the most sensible policy is to regulate, but politicians are afraid to touch the issue. In days, a global commission including former heads of state and foreign policy chiefs of the UN, EU, US, Brazil, Mexico and more will break the taboo and publicly call for new approaches including decriminalization and regulation of drugs.

This could be a once-in-a-generation tipping-point moment — if enough of us call for an end to this madness. Politicians say they understand that the war on drugs has failed, but claim the public isn’t ready for an alternative. Let’s show them we not only accept a sane and humane policy — we demand it. Click below to sign the petition and share with everyone –if we reach 1 million voices, it will be personally delivered to world leaders by the global commission:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/end_the_war_on_drugs/?vl

For 50 years current drug policies have failed everyone, everywhere but public debate is stuck in the mud of fear and misinformation. Everyone, even the UN Office on Drugs and Crime which is responsible for
enforcing this approach agrees — deploying militaries and police to burn drug farms, hunting down traffickers, and imprisoning dealers and addicts – is an expensive mistake. And with massive human cost — from Afghanistan, to Mexico, to the USA the illegal drug trade is destroying countries around the world, while addiction, overdose deaths, and HIV/AIDS infections continue to rise.

Meanwhile, countries with less-harsh enforcement — like Switzerland, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Australia — have not seen the explosion in drug use that proponents of the drug war have darkly predicted. Instead, they have seen significant reductions in drug-related crime, addiction and deaths, and are able to focus squarely on dismantling criminal empires. 

Powerful lobbies still stand in the way of change, including military, law enforcement, and prison departments whose budgets are at stake. And politicians fear that voters will throw them out of office if they support alternative approaches, as they will appear weak on law and order. But many former drug Ministers and Heads of State have come out in favour of reform since leaving office, and polls show that citizens across the world know the current approach is a catastrophe. Momentum is gathering towards new improved policies, particularly in regions that are ravaged by the drug trade.

If we can create a worldwide outcry in the next few days to support the bold calls of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, we can overpower the stale excuses for the status quo. Our voices hold the key to change — Sign the petition and spread the word:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/end_the_war_on_drugs/?vl

We have a chance to enter the closing chapter of this brutal ‘war’ that has destroyed millions of lives. Global public opinion will determine if this catastrophic policy is stopped or if politicians shy away from reform. Let’s rally urgently to push our hesitating leaders from doubt and fear, over the edge, and into reason.

With hope and determination,
Alice, Laura, Ricken, Maria Paz, Shibayan and the whole Avaaz team

SOURCES:

Reports that show the war on drugs has failed…
http://idpc.net/publications/failure-regime-selected-publications

Reports that show alternative approaches of decriminalisation and regulation are working…
http://idpc.net/publications/alternative-strategies-selected-publications

What Can We Learn From The Portuguese Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs?…
http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/6/999.abstract

General report on drug law reform in practice…
http://www.tni.org/report/legislative-innovation-drug-policy

The Global Comission on Drug Policy that will call on the UN to end the war on drugs…
http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/Documents.aspx

Drug War by the Numbers…
http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-war-numbers

Final Report of the Latin American Comission on Drugs and Democracy…
http://www.drogasedemocracia.org/English/Destaques.asp?IdRegistro=8

General report on drug law reform in practice…
http://www.tni.org/report/legislative-innovation-drug-policy

Support the Avaaz community! We’re entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way –

donations can be made here.

---

Devil’s Advocate – p2pnet

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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“Two of the photos show soldiers in the unit lifting the body of an Afghan civilian by the hair and posing thus for the camera”, says WL Central. The third, it says, “shows two Afghans apparently or possibly killed while handcuffed together back to back. The photographs are not yet available onsite at Der Spiegel; David Dayen at firedoglake links to them here, here, and here.”

Says the Guardian >>>

Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of “trophy” photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless Afghan civilians they killed.

Senior officials at Nato’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul have compared the pictures published by the German news weekly Der Spiegel to the images of US soldiers abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq which sparked waves of anti-US protests around the world.

They fear that the pictures could be even more damaging as they show the aftermath of the deliberate murders of Afghan civilians by a rogue US Stryker tank unit that operated in the southern province of Kandahar last year.

Some of the activities of the self-styled “kill team” are already public, with 12 men currently on trial in Seattle for their role in the killing of three civilians.

Five of the soldiers are on trial for pre-meditated murder, after they staged killings to make it look like they were defending themselves from Taliban attacks.

Other charges include the mutilation of corpses, the possession of images of human casualties and drug abuse.

All of the soldiers have denied the charges. They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.

The WL Central post links to a Reuters story which states >>>

The guilty plea and sentencing of Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, of Wasilla, Alaska, marked a turning point in the most serious prosecution of alleged U.S. military atrocities during 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

Under questioning by the judge, Morlock recounted his role in the deaths of three unarmed Afghan villagers whose slayings by grenade blasts and rifle fire were staged to appear as legitimate combat casualties.

“I knew what I was doing was wrong, sir,” he said, adding that, contrary to his lawyers’ suggestions, his judgment was not impaired by drugs. He admitted smoking hashish three or four times a week during his deployment in Afghanistan.

According to WL Central, in a statement released by colonel Thomas Collins Sunday night, the US Army said:

“Today Der Spiegel published photographs depicting actions repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States Army. We apologize for the distress these photos cause … The actions portrayed in these photographs remain under investigation and are now the subject of ongoing U.S. court-martial proceedings, in which the accused are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.” [Reconstructed from two media sources]

Adds WL Central:

“Granted, the statement calls the apparent mockery of a dead body ‘repugnant’ to members of the US Army. But the only straight apology it offers is for the photographs themselves and the impact they may have.

“That apology is all the more odd since the US Army did not release these photos and a US military court has attempted to suppress them.

“We are left to ponder the mindset that considers publication of evidence of a crime more worrisome than the crime itself.”

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WL Central – US military blames photos of war crimes for causing “distress”, March 24, 2011
Guardian – US Army ‘kill team’ in Afghanistan posed for photos of murdered civilians, March 21, 2011
Reuters – U.S. soldier gets 24 years for murdering Afghans, March 24, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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That’s US Marine Corps bafflegab spouted to excuse the fact alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning ” is being forced to sleep naked in his cell and stand outside each morning to be handed back his clothes because he made a single sarcastic quip” as the Independent states, quoting Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs.

“Fresh outrage at the conditions faced by Bradley Manning, a former research analyst in the Army, at the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia erupted last week”, says the story, quoting congressman Dennis Kucinich as asking:

“Is this Quantico or Abu Ghraib?”

Says Coombs on his blog >>>

The Brig has stripped PFC Manning of all of his clothing for the past three nights, and they intend to continue this practice indefinitely.  Each night, Brig guards force PFC Manning to relinquish all of his clothing.  He then lies in a cold jail cell naked until the following morning, when he is required to endure the humiliation of standing naked at attention for the morning roll call.  According to Marine spokesperson, First Lieutenant Brian Villiard, the decision to strip him naked every night is for PFC Manning’s own protection.  Villiard stated that it would be “inappropriate” to explain what prompted these actions ”because to discuss the details would be a violation of PFC Manning’s privacy.”

The defense communicated with both PFC Manning and the Brig forensic psychiatrist and learned more about the decision to strip PFC Manning of his clothing every night.  On Wednesday March 2, 2011, PFC Manning was told that his Article 138 complaint requesting that he be removed from Maximum custody and Prevention of Injury (POI) Watch had been denied by the Quantico commander, Colonel Daniel J. Choike.  Understandably frustrated by this decision after enduring over seven months of unduly harsh confinement conditions, PFC Manning inquired of the Brig operations officer what he needed to do in order to be downgraded from Maximum custody and POI.  As even Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell has stated, PFC Manning has been nothing short of “exemplary” as a detainee.  Additionally, Brig forensic psychiatrists have consistently maintained that there is no mental health justification for the POI Watch imposed on PFC Manning.  In response to PFC Manning’s question, he was told that there was nothing he could do to downgrade his detainee status and that the Brig simply considered him a risk of self-harm.  PFC Manning then remarked that the POI restrictions were “absurd” and sarcastically stated that if he wanted to harm himself, he could conceivably do so with the elastic waistband of his underwear or with his flip-flops.

Without consulting any Brig mental health provider, Chief Warrant Officer Denise Barnes used PFC’s Manning’s sarcastic quip as justification to increase the restrictions imposed upon him under the guise of being concerned that PFC Manning was a suicide risk.  PFC Manning was not, however, placed under the designation of Suicide Risk Watch.  This is because Suicide Risk Watch would have required a Brig mental health provider’s recommendation, which the Brig commander did not have.  In response to this specific incident, the Brig psychiatrist assessed PFC Manning as “low risk and requiring only routine outpatient followup [with] no need for … closer clinical observation.”  In particular, he indicated that PFC Manning’s statement about the waist band of his underwear was in no way prompted by “a psychiatric condition.”

While the commander needed the Brig psychiatrist’s recommendation to place PFC Manning on Suicide Risk Watch, no such recommendation was needed in order to increase his restrictions under POI Watch.  The conditions of POI Watch require only psychiatric input, but ultimately remain the decision of the commander.

Given these circumstances, the decision to strip PFC Manning of his clothing every night for an indefinite period of time is clearly punitive in nature.  There is no mental health justification for the decision.  There is no basis in logic for this decision.  PFC Manning is under 24 hour surveillance, with guards never being more than a few feet away from his cell.  PFC Manning is permitted to have his underwear and clothing during the day, with no apparent concern that he will harm himself during this time period.  Moreover, if Brig officials were genuinely concerned about PFC Manning using either his underwear or flip-flops to harm himself (despite the recommendation of the Brig’s psychiatrist) they could undoubtedly provide him with clothing that would not, in their view, present a risk of self-harm.  Indeed, Brig officials have provided him other items such as tear-resistant blankets and a mattress with a built-in pillow due to their purported concerns.

The Brig’s treatment of PFC Manning is shameful.  It is made even more so by the Brig hiding behind concerns for “[PFC] Manning’s privacy.”  There is no justification, and there can be no justification, for treating a detainee in this degrading and humiliating manner.

“There will be consequences under the law for Secretary Gates for continuing to be complicit in the way this soldier is being treated”, says Kucinich in the Political Fail blog.

But Kucini isn’t alone in condemning the barbarous treatment meted out to Manning.

Anonymous, the ungroup with millions of adherents,  has launched Operation Bradical.

Said Andy Greenberg at Forbes >>>

Over the weekend, the loose hacker collective Anonymous declared that it will go on the offensive against those who are currently detaining Manning in a Quantico military brig, keeping him in solitary confinement and forcing him to strip nightly and stand at attention naked each morning. In a crowdsourced document used to coordinate the group’s actions, Anonymous members name Department of Defense Press Secretary Geoff Morell and chief warrant officer Denise Barnes as targets and call on members to dig up personal information on both, including phone numbers, personal histories and home addresses. The goal of the operation, for now, is to “dox” the two officials, the typical Anonymous method of publishing personal information of victims and using it for mass harassment. “Targets established,” reads the document, before naming Morell and Barnes. “We’re in the ruining business. And business is good.” The group, which is calling its attack “Operation Bradical,” also lists demands as follows: “Manning must be given sheets, blankets, any religious texts he desires, adequate reading material, clothes, and a ball. One week. Otherwise, we continue to dox and ruin those responsible for keeeping him naked, without bedding, without any of the basic amenities that were provided even to captured Nazis in WWII.”

Stay tuned.

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Independent – Anger at Manning’s ‘naked punishment’, March 7, 2011
on his blog – The Truth Behind Quantico Brig’s Decision to Strip PFC Manning, March 5, 2011
Operation Bradical - Anons v The US Marines: Operation Bradical, March 8, 2011
Political Fail blog – ‘There will be consequences’ for Manning’s mistreatment, Kucinich warns Sec. Gates, March 8, 2011
Forbes – Anonymous Hackers Target Alleged WikiLeaker Bradley Mannings’ Jailers

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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But he isn’t alone.

Mariah Carey was paid $1 million to sing for Gaddafi’s son, Muatassim, Libya’s national-security adviser, “at a lavish New Year’s Eve party on the Caribbean island of St. Barts in 2008″, says the story.

He’s seen here at a laugh-in with US secretary of state Hilary Clinton.

“Beyoncé and Usher performed for an undisclosed sum on the island the following year. 50 Cent gave a performance before Muatassim at a 2005 film festival in Venice”, it says, going on, “They’ve done it for tons of artists,” says a music-business source, referring to Muatassim’s parties, which are often jammed with supermodels. “Those guys are all over the world.”

Now, donate the money “to a charity that somehow assists some of the people who have suffered at the hands of that regime”, suggests David T. Viecelli, agent for Arcade Fire.

But “Managers for Usher, 50 Cent and Carey declined comment, and Beyoncé’s management, run by her father, Mathew Knowles, did not return phone calls”, says Rolling Stone, adding >>>

The controversy has echoes of the condemnation that artists – including Rod Stewart and Queen – faced for playing the South African resort Sun City in the Seventies and Eighties despite the country’s apartheid regime; Stewart, Queen and the British band Status Quo donated money to charities after playing Sun City. R.E.M. agent Williams wonders why such prominent artists accepted the gigs in the first place and, like other music-business sources contacted by Rolling Stone, suggests some stars may not have known who they were playing for. “Ninety percent of the time the artist has no clue,” he says. “You hear about these things, it’s generally after the fact. But the majority of my artists, if they knew something was funded by Qaddafi, they would not play it, and morally it would not rest well with them.”

“I don’t think most artists go into [performing at a party like this] with that kind of in-depth focus, [of] how each country is governed and what goes on inside each country,” says Dennis Arfa, agent for Metallica, Billy Joel and Stewart. “Not every artist is a humanitarian. In more cases than not, for people, greed rules.”

Meanwhile, “My name is (…), a Libyan citizen,we have relatives in Tajurah, and we have a confirmed fact that Ghaddafi’s mercenaries are threatening people with death if they come out and talk to reporters or human rights [people]“, says a post on Alive in Libya.

“Please, please, please inform the United Nations, inform the whole world about this massacre that might take place soon. Please, please, raise an alarm. Peace be upon you. Thank you.”

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Rolling Stone – Mariah, Beyoncé, Usher Face Calls to Donate Qaddafi Money to Charity, February 28, 2011
Alive in Libya – Inform the whole world about this massacre, February 28, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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Senior management staffers noticed an increase of fraud claims by “global buyers against China Gold Supplier customers on the international marketplace that began in late 2009 and persisted through much of 2010″, says the story, going on:

“These fraudulent sellers usually provided high-demand consumer electronics at very attractive prices, a low minimum order quantity and less reliable payment transfer methods. The average value per claim by buyers against fraudulent suppliers was, according to Alibaba, less than USD1,200.

Some 1,219 of the company’s China Gold Supplier customers who signed up in 2009, and 1,107 China Gold Suppliers who signed up in 2010, “engaged in fraud against Alibaba.com’s buyers”, says ChinaTechNews, adding:

“According to the company, these suppliers represent approximately 1.1% and 0.8% of the total number of its company’s Gold Suppliers as of December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2010, respectively.”

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ChinaTechNews – E-Commerce Fraud Forces Alibaba To Replace Internet Executives In China, February 22, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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If not, he certainly deserves a place in the top five.

Because for eight years, he successfully scammed the US government out of more than $20 million “in government contracts by claiming that software he had developed could help stop Al Qaeda’s next attack on the United States”, says the New York Times.

George W. Bush (lest we forget) government officials “turned to Montgomery, a California computer programmer, for eye-popping technology that he said could catch terrorists”, says the story, going on:

“Now, federal officials want nothing to do with him and are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that his dealings with Washington stay secret.

“The Justice Department, which in the last few months has gotten protective orders from two federal judges keeping details of the technology out of court, says it is guarding state secrets that would threaten national security if disclosed. But others involved in the case say that what the government is trying to avoid is public embarrassment over evidence that Mr. Montgomery bamboozled federal officials.”

Mongomery claimed his software could, among other things, “find terrorist plots hidden in broadcasts of the Arab network Al Jazeera; identify terrorists from Predator drone videos; and detect noise from hostile submarines”, prompting an international false alarm that led Bush to order airliners to “turn around over the Atlantic Ocean in 2003″, says the story, observing:

“The software led to dead ends in connection with a 2006 terrorism plot in Britain. And they were used by counterterrorism officials to respond to a bogus Somali terrorism plot on the day of President Obama’s inauguration, according to previously undisclosed documents.”

The New York Times has Montgomery’s ex-lawyer, Michael Flynn, stating >>>

The Justice Department is trying to cover this up. If this unravels, all of the evidence, all of the phony terror alerts and all the embarrassment comes up publicly, too. The government knew this technology was bogus, but these guys got paid millions for it.

But, “Justice Department officials declined to discuss the government’s dealings with Mr. Montgomery, 57, who is in bankruptcy and living outside Palm Springs, Calif”, says the story, adding:

Now “Mr. Montgomery is about to go on trial in Las Vegas on unrelated charges of trying to pass $1.8 million in bad checks at casinos, but he has not been charged with wrongdoing in the federal contracts, nor has the government tried to get back any of the money it paid. He and his current lawyer declined to comment.”

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-And identi.caMore

New York Times – Hiding Details of Dubious Deal, U.S. Invokes National Security, February 19, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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“In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew”, says a CBS News statement, going on >>>

She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently home recovering.

In Egypt, “Logan had been outspoken about the Mubarak regime’s efforts to intimidate foreign journalists”, says the Los Angeles Times.

“We’re being prevented from telling this story,” she said during a recent CBS broadcast, according to the post, which goes on, “Earlier this month, she was detained, accused of being an Israeli spy, and told to leave Egypt. She returned to the U.S. after her release, but came back to Cairo not long before Mubarak fled his office.”

At least 140 reporters have been injured or killed while covering the protests in Egypt since January 30, adds the story.

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CBS News – CBS News’ Lara Logan Assaulted During Egypt Protests
Los Angeles Times – CBS News’ Lara Logan recuperating after Cairo attack, February 16, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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“Following weeks of scandal that have shaken his struggling center-right government, trial has now been set to start in a criminal court in Milan on April 6, the Milan chief judge’s office said in a statement”, says Reuters, going on:

“Berlusconi is not obliged to appear in person before the panel of three judges on that day, nor is there any legal obstacle to him continuing to hold office throughout any trial proceedings, which could take years before any conviction.”

His lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, has said he’ll appeal and ask to have the motion sent for vote in the Chamber of Deputies where “Berlusconi’s centre-right ruling party has the majority”, says Agence France-Presse, adding:

“The prime minister has previously refused to obey summons for questioning, claiming the magistrates based in Milan were not qualified to handle the case. But since a top court partially stripped him of political immunity in January, the Italian leader will have justify not appearing in court.

“The Rubygate case brings the number of trials currently involving Berlusconi to three.

“It will be a tough few months for the prime minister, who also faces old charges including tax fraud and witness corruption in trials that will resume in February and March.”

Stay tuned.

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Karima El Mahroug – Italian women besiege Berlusconi, February 13, 2011
Reuters – Berlusconi to face trial over prostitution scandal, February 15, 2011
Agence France-Presse – Berlusconi to face underage sex trial on April 6, February 15, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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“Colleen LaRose, 47, from the small Pennsylvanian town of Pennsburg, faces possible life in prison after pleading guilty at a court in Philadelphia on Tuesday to four charges, including conspiracy to murder a foreign target, conspiracy to support terrorists and lying to the FBI”, says the Independent, going on:

LaRose “worked obsessively on her computer to communicate with, recruit and incite other jihadists,’ using names that included Jihad Jane, SisterOfTerror and ExtremeSister4Life”, said prosecutors.

She was arrested by the FBI when she returned to the US from Sweden, where she’d “teamed up with a group of conspirators seeking to kill the cartoonist Lars Vilks”, says the story.

LaRose and co-defendant Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Leadville, Colorado, “are the rare U.S. women charged with terrorism. Paulin-Ramirez has pleaded not guilty since she was arrested in Ireland with other terror suspects”, says Worldmag, adding:

“The March 2010 indictment charged LaRose with conspiring with jihadist fighters and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war. The indictment was announced hours after authorities arrested seven suspected terrorists in Ireland allegedly linked to LaRose.

“In emails recovered by the FBI over 15 months, LaRose agreed to marry an online contact from South Asia so he could move to Europe. She also agreed to become a martyr, the indictment said.

“The man she had agreed to marry told her in a March 2009 email to go to Sweden to find the artist, Lars Vilks … ”

LaRose pleaded guilty to conspiracy to support terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, lying to investigators, and attempted identity theft, the story adds.

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Muhammad as a dog – Prophet Muhammad ‘massacre’ plot foiled, December 29, 2010
Independent – Live-in helper was ‘Jihad Jane’ terrorist, February 3, 2011
Worldmag – Jihad Jane pleads guilty, February 1, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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A lawyer said his client wouldn’t have a fair trial “if members of the public are not controlled in their postings of prohibited testimony”.

Early last year, Dustin LaFortune went missing in Calgary, said p2pnet. His family “had been crying out for police attention, or media attention, or any attention at all”, we quoted the Winnipeg Free Press as saying at the time, going on:

“But nothing happened. So they started a Facebook ‘group to push for action’, says the story, and for over a month, again, nothing happened. Then, ‘all of a sudden, something did’,” it went on, with Dustin’s brother, Ryan, saying:

“Before this blew up, we had absolutely no help from anybody. Now… it’s going to speed up the process of catching his attacker. If we have to sacrifice ourselves to an extent… well, my life has been altered irrevocably. It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing compared to the suffering my brother is going through.”

Now, amid “growing concerns about the effect of social media and instant messaging on the impartiality of the courts, a Calgary judge made the rare move of barring the public from a sensational case involving torture allegations”, says the Calgary Herald.

Judge Brian Stevenson has stopped the public from “sitting in on the preliminary hearing in Calgary for Dustin Ward Paxton (right) after his lawyer argued there have already been substantial postings on social media networks on the Internet discussing the case”, says the story, continuing >>>

Jim Lutz said he is concerned that his client, who will have his case heard by judge and jury, would not have a fair trial if members of the public are not controlled in their postings of prohibited testimony.

The ban does not apply to media who are accredited with the court. Any media not accredited could still apply and have their arguments heard, but they would have to sign an undertaking to abide by the rules of court.

“Paxton is accused of brutally torturing and starving his roommate, Dustin LaFortune”, said a CTV News story, since amended to read, “The case centers around Dustin Paxton and another man. Paxton is accused of brutally torturing and starving his roommate.”

Yesterday, “You can tweet, a judge told reporters covering the murder trial of Russell Williams, a former Canadian forces base colonel who once flew prime minister Stephen Harper”, said p2pnet.

But Russell’s lawyers, Michael Edelson and Vince Clifford, “said journalists inside the courtroom were being traumatized by lurid images displayed on big screens while simultaneously racing to send comments on Twitter and other instant messaging services”, according to the Montreal Gazette

Stay tuned.

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p2pnet – Dustin LaFortune: ’starting his long recovery’, May 18, 2010Winnipeg Free Press – Media moratorium for family of abused city man, May 18, 2010
Calgary Herald – Social media fears see public barred from Paxton torture trial, January 25, 2011
CTV News – Public banned from torture trial, January 25, 2011
p2pnet – ‘Crude, unnecessary, misplaced tweets’, January 24, 2011
can tweet – ‘You Can Tweet’, reporters told at Williams trial, October 15, 2010
Montreal Gazette – Russell Williams’ defence team says lurid courtroom tweets were ‘crude, unnecessary’, January 24, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to p2pnet.net | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/feed

In one of Canada’s most bizarre murder trials Williams, seen here with defence minister Peter MacKay, was convicted of being a rapist and serial killer

However, Russell’s lawyers, Michael Edelson and Vince Clifford, “said journalists inside the courtroom were being traumatized by lurid images displayed on big screens while simultaneously racing to send comments on Twitter and other instant messaging services”, says the Montreal Gazette, going on >>>

“What resulted from time to time was crude, unnecessary, misplaced tweet comments,” said Clifford.

“With tweeting you have 140 characters so there is very little you can cover,” added Edelson. “You are losing the context and not giving substantive descriptions of what’s going on. And some of what was coming back (from readers) was ‘this is horrible, it’s too much information and we don’t want to hear about this’.”

During their interview with the Ottawa Citizen, “the lawyers called for a high-level national debate over new media and its growing impact on Canadian court proceedings”, says the post.

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can tweet – ‘You Can Tweet’, reporters told at Williams trial, October 15, 2010
Montreal Gazette – Russell Williams’ defence team says lurid courtroom tweets were ‘crude, unnecessary’, January 24, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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The results had been promised for “later this year” in 2010, but “it’s the beginning of 2011, so what was the court’s verdict?” – I wondered, going on, “They must have come to a decision by now, but we haven’t been able to find it.

“Does anyone know?”

I think I was the only one who was curious.

Today, “I just saw this on Cyberpresse.ca”, says Captain555 in a Reader’s Write to my earlier story on Bronfman’s attempts to sell his tattered music empire, simultaneously trying to figure out how he can continue his ongoing efforts to buy EMI.

“It’s from the Associated Press in Paris, and here’s a rough translation”, says the good captain, going on >>>

Suspended prison sentence and 6.8 millions fine for Edgar Bronfman Jr.

Two former executives of Vivendi, including one influential member of the Bronfman family, were sentenced by a court on Friday in France.

First, the former CEO, Jean-Marie Messier, was sentenced to three years suspended sentence by the Paris court for abuse of corporate assets and for dissemination of false and misleading.

As the former executive vice president of Vivendi, Edgar Bronfman Jr., he was sentenced to 15 months suspended sentence and a fine equivalent to more than 6.8 million CDN for dissemination of false or misleading prospects or condition of an issuer from 2000 to 2002, and price manipulation in 2001.

Jean-Marie Messier of Vivendi left the presidency in 2002, several months after the publication of huge financial losses. The management of the firm was then subjected to a flood of complaints and investigations for a variety of equity and capital offenses.

In the final trial in the United States last year, Mr. Messier has however escaped condemnation.

For their part, the former CEO of VU (Vivendi Universal) Eric Licoys and former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer William Hannezo were sentenced Friday in Paris, to sentences of six and fifteen months in prison suspended. Three other defendants were freed.

Edgar Bronfman Jr., who is 55 years old, is the grand-son of Samuel Bronfman, the elder of the famous family, who spent most of his life in Montreal where he died in 1971.

If it’d been Joe Blogs, he’d have been instantly clapped behind bars.

The Bronfman family made their original millions during the days of booze prohibition in the early 20th century.

Has Edgar given his kids any talks on bright lines and honesty lately, do you think?

Meanwhile, “Bronfman’s lawyer Thierry Marembert said his client would appeal against the decision and ‘continue to vogorously [sic] defend against this charge’,” says the BBC.

“Vogorously”, eh?

Stay tuned.

Jon Newton - p2pnet

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p2pnet – Edgar Bronfman jr ‘insider trading’ trial, January 3, 2011
tattered music empire – For Sale by Owner: Warner Music, January 21, 2011
talks on bright lines – Edgar Bronfman’s kids: online file sharers, December 11, 2007
BBC – Ex-Vivendi bosses convicted in French court, January 21, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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That was two years ago and Bean “pleaded guilty in September to a single count of stalking after e-mailing a school the photos that a student had posted to the site of his erect penis”, says the story.

In what assistant US attorney Michael Levy called a case of “cyberstalking or bullying”, Bean, of Bergenfield, New Jersey, posed as the “concerned mother” of another boy at the school saying “this sort of behavior [should not be] allowed to run rampant,” court papers said, according to the story, which goes on:

“U.S. District Judge Anita Brody said Tuesday that “it is important that people understand this is a crime” and sentenced Bean to 45 days in jail. He is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on March 4.”

Defense attorney Donald Goldberg argued Bean’s arrest was a “significant wake-up call” asking, “Give us a chance to save this shy, very vulnerable young man, who is sweet beyond belief.”

He argued “putting Bean in the slammer — even for a brief period of time — could potentially subject him to sexual assault”, says the story, adding, “Bean is 5-foot-4 and weighs 110 pounds, Goldberg said.

“Brody said she thought he was 12 or 13 when she first saw him.”

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Philadelphia Daily News – N.J. man gets 45 days for cyberstalking, bullying, January 18, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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When he found them, he posted them online, says IT World.

When Bronk’s home in California was raided last September, “investigators found more than 170 explicit photographs of women stored on his hard drive”, says The Register.

The women were from California and 16 other states, as well as the UK, it states, going on >>>

Bronk acquired the pictures by trawling Facebook for women who included their email addresses and personal information, such as their favorite food, their high school or mother’s maiden name. He then used those details to reset the passwords for their email accounts. Once in, he searched the victims’ sent folders for nude or semi nude pictures.

In some cases, he sent the pictures to everyone in the victim’s address book. In other cases, he threatened to make the pictures public unless the women sent even more explicit images. He told one woman he did it “because it was funny.”

The investigation began after one victim notified Connecticut State Police that her account had been breached. The agency then contacted the California Highway Patrol after discovering the perp was likely located there.

Bronk “scoured his victims’ Facebook accounts for answers to the security questions used by Web-based e-mail services such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail”, says IT World, continuing, “Then, posing as his victim, he would claim to have forgotten the account’s password and try to answer the security questions that would let him back in.

“Often, the security questions are easy to guess. The questions Bronk faced asked him things like, ‘What is your high school mascot?’ and ‘What is your father’s middle name?’

“Once in, he would change the account password — locking out his victim — and search for any racy photographs. If he found any, he posted them to the victim’s Facebook profile.”

He’s now looking at six years in prison for felony hacking, child pornography and identity theft charges, the story adds.

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same techique – That dingbat Sarah Palin, January 15, 2011
IT World – Man stole nude photos from women’s e-mail accounts, January 16, 2011
The Register – Man nabbed nude pics from women’s email accounts, January 14, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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“They have approximately 40 witnesses to interview and have brought in three more investigators to expedite the investigation.”

It will “take time to conduct a proper probe”.

That’s RCMP superintendent Bill McKinnon quoted by the Province on the investigation into an appalling incident in which a Kelowna, BC man, Buddy Tavares, already on his knees, was kicked hard in the face by a Mountie, gun in hand.

The pic shows Tavares going down flat just after constable Geoff Mantler booted him in the teeth.

You don’t need 40 people to know it actually happened. It’s on a video.

Just like the death of Robert Dziekanski, who died after being tasered by four Mounties in another brutal BC police attack.

How many other ‘incidents’ go undiscovered or unreported because no one was around with a camera?

And they wonder why many (most) people are scared of the police.

Mantler, meanwhile,  has been suspended from duty with pay.

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Province – Protest planned over violent arrest, January 16, 2011
tasered by four Mounties – Cops to be charged in Dziekanski taser death?, June 30, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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The decision “is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments”, it says.

But, um, isn’t the Bank a company that makes its billions of billions of dollars and yen and pound and franks and pfennigs by using money owned by other people?

So has it polled each of the owners of the money it stores in its vaults in their behalf to see if they’re cool with this?

Meanwhile, ‘tens of thousands” of the bank’s “internal documents will be exposed on Wikileaks.org with no polite requests for executives’ response or other forewarnings”, says the New York Times, in turn quoting Forbes magazine, which quotes WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as saying a bank — “perhaps Bank of America” could be the next target.

Then yesterday “Assange told a reporter from The Times of London that he had enough material to make bosses of a big bank resign”, says the NYT via the Sydney Morning Herald, going on >>>

You would think that executives would be quaking in their Gucci loafers.

But guess who may be even more nervous about the possible data dump? Regulators in Washington.

It seems the prospect of gigabytes of email and other documents from financial institutions can be viewed in two ways: as a treasure trove for regulators to scrutinise — or as an embarrassment for the US government, which has spent millions of dollars investigating Wall Street in the past two years without a scalp to show for it.

Inside the Securities and Exchange Commission, the organisation is bracing for a public outcry, according to people who have spoken with senior officials about the prospect of a WikiLeaks publication of bank documents.

“The SEC could be on the horns of a dilemma,” said Mark Zauderer, a veteran corporate litigator at Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer.

The commission declined to comment. Of course, no one knows what information Assange actually has or how damaging it could be. In truth, it is hard to believe any emails could be that shocking. The scuttlebutt is that WikiLeaks will publish documents in which bankers discussed how they duped a client, how they dressed up their numbers or even how they tried to pull one over on the regulators. Sadly, perhaps cynically, that’s almost to be expected.

The big surprise would be that such chicanery was documented, in black and white, and that regulators had not found it yet – or worse, they found it and did nothing about it.

Indeed, legal experts say that if evidence emerged of shady dealings, the biggest problem regulators may face would be explaining to the public why they had not brought charges against a bank.

Another difficult issue will be what to do if damning information is published. Can the SEC or the Justice Department use WikiLeaks as a source to build a case?

Does this mean the many honest and upright (you thought) corporate BofA citizens upon whom you’ve been relying all these years to act for you and serve you fairly and squarely are actually a bunch of lying, cheating scum of the same ilk as the crooks behind the Hollywood and Big Music Mafia

Oh dear.

Of fraud and ethical misconduct

“Bank of America’s history of fraud and ethical misconduct are already well documented in the news”, says Death + Taxes. “Here are four reasons why leaving Bank of America should be your New Year’s resolution”, it says, citing WikiLeaks as the first.

OK. You already knew that. So, what are the other three reasons?

2 — Blackwater, the rent-an-army company. Its employees among other things “committed serious abuses in Iraq, including killing civilians”, says the Wikipedia.

“Apparently financing the sale of the mercenary army, Blackwater (now Xe) is consistent with ‘internal policies for processing payments’,” says the post. “Blackwater’s founder Erik Prince is selling the company to a group of Los Angeles financiers, reported the ‘New York Times,‘ and sources say that Bank of America will be bankrolling the deal.”

Through its online pro shop, Blackwater’ll sell you  a Kimber Grand Raptor Lmtd Addit handgun for a mere $1,549, or a Kimber Stainless Goldmatch for only $1,499.

3 — Fraud. “On December 7th, Ronald D. Orlo of MarketWatch reported that Bank of America admitted to fraud in the municipal bond derivatives market and will pay $137.3 million in damages”, says Death + Taxes. “This story was covered in business sections, but made surprisingly few headlines.”

And last but not least, #4, the Arizona/Nevada lawsuit in which, continues the story, the two US states “are suing Bank of America on charges of misleading customers in loan-modification, reports the “Los Angeles Times.”

“On Friday, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed a lawsuit against Bank of America for ‘failing to implement anti-foreclosure measurements it promised in 2009′,” states the item, quoting him as declaring, “Bank of America has been the slowest of all the servicers to ramp up loss mitigation efforts in response to the housing crisis. It has shown callous disregard for the devastating effects its servicing practices have had on individual borrowers and on the economy as a whole.”

And “Within hours of Goddard’s complaint, Nevada’s Attorney General, Catherine Cortez Masto filed a similar complaint, saying, “We are holding Bank of America accountable for misleading and deceiving consumers. Nevadans who were trying desperately to save their homes were unable to get truthful information in order to make critical life decisions.”

They were the first but it’s reasonable to assume they won’t be the last.

And Oh Yeh, the Bank of America received $45 billion in taxpayer-supported government bailout funds over the past two years, Death + Taxes reminds us.

Stay tuned.

(Cheers, Filip)

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McClatchey Newspapers – Bank of America says it won’t process payments intended for WikiLeaks, December 17, 2010
New York Times – WikiLeaks dump on a US bank could leave regulators in a pickle, December 17, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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The son of a Massachusetts woman “who died from the cigarettes she was induced to begin smoking when she was just 13 years old turned tearful and hugged his attorneys as a Suffolk Superior Court jury ordered a tobacco company yesterday to pay her estate $81 million”, says the Boston Globe.

“The punitive damage award for the estate of Marie Evans was in addition to $71 million in compensatory damages the jury awarded the estate and her only son, Willie, in a groundbreaking decision Tuesday”, says the story.

The jury “understood that what Lorillard had done to addict kids was really evil”, the Boston Herald has Tom Frisardi, co-counsel representing the Evans estate and Willie Evans in the case, satting.

“This jury understood that for some people, addiction is a problem that they simply won’t overcome — even very, very strong-willed people”, he said.

“That’s what the cigarette companies are counting on to keep their business going … ”

On its web page, “To address the issue of underage smoking Lorillard Tobacco launched our voluntary Youth Smoking Prevention Program (YSPP) in 1999″, says the company, adding >>>

Since starting the program, Lorillard has committed more than $80 million to its efforts.

Recently, Lorillard’s YSPP has focused its efforts on a parent education program, featuring the slogan, ‘Real Parents. Real Answers.’ The program attempts to prompt parents to discuss not smoking with their children, and features a website, www.RealParentsRealAnswers.com, which allows parents to blog with other parents, listen to podcasts, watch videos, and allows parents to learn how to conduct this important conversation.

The program utilizes the expertise of Dr. Michael Popkin, a renowned parenting expert. Dr. Popkin’s messages through Lorillard’s YSPP have reached hundreds of thousands of parents. Those interested may receive a free brochure from Dr. Popkin and receive regular E-mail newsletter updates by signing up at the website.

Now you know.

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Boston Globe – Lorillard ordered to pay $81m penalty, December 17, 2010
Boston Herald – Jury adds $81M to award, December 17, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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The attorney is Robert Shapiro.

His ex-client is music producer Phil Spector, in jail for 19 years for allegedly murdering actress Lana Clarkson.

He’s seen  on the right before and after.

Now Spector is demanding the $1 million he paid to criminal lawyer  Shapiro after his 2003 arrest, says CTV News, going on:

“Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey on Tuesday rejected a bid by Shapiro’s lawyers to have Spector’s claims dismissed, saying it would be up to jurors to decide whether the fee was nonrefundable.

“Shapiro, a member of O.J. Simpson’s defence team, was Spector’s first attorney and bailed him out of jail after he shot a woman at his mansion in 2003.”

Spector will have to wait until next March for a jury to make a decision, the story adds.

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allegedly murdering – Phil Spector, au naturel, June 11, 2009
CTV News – Judge won’t dismiss Phil Spector legal fee dispute, December 14, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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“Shortly before the blast, Säpo and the TT news agency received an email containing audio files in Swedish, Arabic, and English which criticised Sweden for its military presence in Afghanistan and its acceptance of Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who sparked a backlash in the Muslim world in 2007 by portraying the prophet Mohammed as a dog in a cartoon”, says The Local.

An Islamist website, Shumukh al-Islam, named Taymour Abdel Wahab as the suicide bomber “and published a photograph showing a man with stubble and wearing a jacket and white shirt”, says the story, stating:

“A police cordon surrounded the neat-looking terraced house in Luton, a town with a large immigrant population to the north of London where Taymour Abdel Wahab lived, apparently with his wife and three children.”

He was a student at Bedfordshire University in Luton.

Sweden’s chief prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand “said he assumed the man had accomplices, as the attack seemed to be well-planned”, says Deutsche Welle, quoting Lindstrand as saying:

“If it had all exploded at the same time it could have caused very serious damage.

“It is not a very wild guess that he was headed to some place where there were as many people as possible, perhaps the central station, perhaps [the department store] Ahlens.”

“MI5 is now investigating possible links with extremists in Luton, whether the bomber was radicalised at the university and claims that he was helped by an extremist group in Yemen, the base for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula”, says the Telegraph.

During this season of goodwill to all, it’s interesting to note  Vilks, who’s front and center in the Swedish bombing, once had the prophet Muhammed as Santa.

But his real crime seems to have been in caricaturing the Muslim icon as a dog —- several times.

Stay tuned.

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The Local – UK police search home of Swedish suicide bomber, December 13, 2010
Deutsche Welle -Police say Stockholm suicide bomber may have had accomplices, December 13, 2010
Muhammed as Santa – Arson attack on Lars Vilks’ home, May 18, 2010
Telegraph – Sweden suicide bomber: Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was living in Britain, December 13, 2010
as a dog – Lars Vilks – ‘You will die, you shall die’, May 14, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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