Feds refuse to investigate Police abuse in New York, Oakland , Los Angeles etc.
Some members of Congress raise Questions about US giving military aid to Bahrain
Congress refuse to give up lucrative Insider trading
New York Attorney General Sues Big Banks for Fraudulent Foreclosures
Tool Time: Anonymous Taps FBI/Scotland Yard Call
Uploaded by TheAlyonaShow on Feb 3, 2012
The FBI in attempts to nab those tied to the hacktivist group Anonymous, reached out to Scotland Yard to try to build a unified case against some of the hackers who are under the law enforcement's radar. During a conference call on January 17 between the two, Anonymous took the liberty to intercept the call.
Note: FBI Scotland Yard admits in the recording to keep the defense council off guard by not revealing their plans and agenda. This may in fact be a breach of full disclosure to the defense' lawyers by the FBI/Scotland Yard who are prosecuting these hackers???
Anonymous Hacked FBI Call About Hackers to Prove They Can
By Joe Coscarelli via DaiyIntel, Feb. 3, 2012
One of the biggest advantages of being a loosely organized, amorphous hacking collective like Anonymous is that when affiliated "members" are caught, not only can they distance themselves from the group, but others can pop up Whac-A-Mole style and make mischief on their behalf. Today, the group thumbed their noses at investigators by covertly hopping on a conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, and then posting the audio online.
On the call, authorities discuss their evidence against a handful of arrested LulzSec hackers, as well as potential arrests still to come. The audio, posted below, is pretty standard agency bureaucracy and includes a few minutes about how dismal Sheffield, England, is. For Anonymous, the move is simply a power play meant to show solidarity, and that there's no stopping all of them. "We are all Anonymous," as the hackers like to say. For good measure, the group posted the e-mail used to obtain information about the call, indicating that some official accounts have been compromised.
The FBI has confirmed the validity of the call and is investigating the breach. Meanwhile, it might just be an appetizer for Anonymous, who promised, "Big releases coming [Friday]. The day of m4yh3m is before us."
The issue of police abuse and police brutality is not just a New York issue but is an issue facing Oakland and other municipalities in the US.
Since such similar cases of police abuse are occuring across america and therefore in different states isn't it then in part an issue to be investigated by the federal government that is by the FBI or the Department of Justice and the White House.
There must be some sort of sfe guard if police forces across America refuse to conduct substantive investigations in allegations of abuse or are police forces in America now untouchable like the US military the Pentagon and Haliburton and the banks.
ANONYMOUS Intercept FBI & Scotland Yard Conference Call #FFF
Obama appointee Attorney General Eric Schneiderman files charges against banks about foreclosure fraud.
Companies charged include Bank Of America
JPMorgan Chase
Wells Fargo
Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS)
The question is whether Schneiderman will go ahead or will Obama and friends get Schneiderman to make some sort of deal with these companies and merely give them a slap on the wrist.
So will this just be more window dressing to cover the administration's collective ass.
New York Attorney General Sues Big Banks for Fraudulent Foreclosures
By Joe Coscarelli
Today, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a lawsuit against Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo over the large banks' use of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS, and alleging deceit and fraud. MERS is also named in the lawsuit. According to the AG's office, the banks "have repeatedly submitted court documents containing false and misleading information that made it appear that the foreclosing party had the authority to bring a case when in fact it may not have."
“The banks created the MERS system as an end-run around the property recording system, to facilitate the rapid securitization and sale of mortgages. Once the mortgages went sour, these same banks brought foreclosure proceedings en masse based on deceptive and fraudulent court submissions, seeking to take homes away from people with little regard for basic legal requirements or the rule of law,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “Our action demonstrates that there is one set of rules for all – no matter how big or powerful the institution may be – and that those rules will be enforced vigorously. Only through real accountability for the illegal and deceptive conduct in the foreclosure crisis will there be justice for New York’s homeowners.”
Schneiderman was recently appointed by President Obama as co-chairman of a national unit meant to investigate the role of mortgage-backed securities in the financial crisis. He should be quite busy for next little while!
The way to curb police abuse As the NYPD finds itself mired in yet another controversy, we look at how other big cities control corruption by John Farley, Salon.com,Feb. 3, 2012
The NYPD is mired in yet another scandal this week — one of many in the last 12 months — over Commissioner Ray Kelly’s participation in a controversial police training video.
Some politicians and policy analysts are calling for a new independent agency to oversee the NYPD — something Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city won’t do.
MetroFocus looked at the problems with the NYPD’s current monitoring system and, for comparison, at how other cities have used independent government watchdogs to reduce corruption.
...Public discontent with the NYPD’s practices seems to have reached its fever pitch with the “Third Jihad” episode, as New Yorkers emerge from a year already fraught with NYPD scandals, including:
A marked uptick in the number of stop-and-frisks
Collaboration with the C.I.A. to spy on Muslim communities
Infiltration of Shiite mosques to gain information on Iranian terrorists.
The cases of the so-called “rape cops” and “pimp cop”
Allegations of rampant ticket fixing
Reports of excessive force used on Occupy Wall Street protesters and the arrest of credentialed journalists covering them
Drug planting and allegations of a widespread culture of corruption in the NYPD’s drug units.
The racially charged detainment of City Council Member Jumaane Williams
The arrest of five officers on gun trafficking charges
The idea that the NYPD has been militarized and turned into Bloomberg’s “own army” in the years since 9/11 was widely discussed in the press last year. The Brennan Center op-ed suggests that many of the aforementioned scandals are partially the result of that transformation, and the veil of secrecy that comes with it. The writers of the op-ed lay out the problems they see with the department’s current self-monitoring system:
The Internal Affairs Bureau only investigates incidents of individual police misconduct and corruption, not department-wide problems.
The other monitor of the NYPD, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, doesn’t have the power to subpoena police officers in order to expose corruption, and the NYPD is famously reticent to disclose information.
City Council rarely uses its subpoena power to force the NYPD to disclose information, which the Brennan Center op-ed attributes to politicians being fearful of appearing soft on crime, but Lander says is due to the fact that the Council doesn’t have a system for closed-door hearings or the expertise to evaluate police activities.
Additionally, the mayor’s Commission to Combat Police Corruption is underfunded and lacks many powers — such as the power to subpoena — necessary to do its job, reported the New York Times.
and as for federal oversight it can happen :
...The Citizens Crime Commission report also listed Los Angeles in its list of major cities with an independent oversight agency equipped with subpoena power. In 2000, the city created a new inspector general’s office to oversee the department in response to the explosive Rampart scandal in the late 1990s. During that scandal, the LAPD division covering the gang-stricken Rampart neighborhood was found to be wildly corrupt, which many Los Angeles residents had suspected since 1991, when a video showed LAPD officers beating Rodney Kingsparked city-wide riots.
But Los Angeles’ story is in many ways more complex than that of other cities, because in 2001 — also in response to the Rampart Scandal — the U.S. Justice Department entered into what is called a consent decree with the city of Los Angeles, requiring a federal monitor to oversee the LAPD. Such an action is very rare, but happened just this week in Oakland, and another consent decree is expected in New Orleans.
By most accounts — including this intensive 2009 study by Harvard University — the inspector general and federal monitor were highly successful in reducing corruption and improving relations between minority groups and the police. Forty-five members of the LAPD’s Rampart division were fired. Between 2005 and 2009, for example, the Harvard study reported an 11 percent increase in the number of ethnic minority residents who believed the police had treated them with fairness.
In July 2009, a federal judge decided the LAPD had reformed, and terminated the consent decree, although the ACLU strongly condemned the decision.
see related article : How the feds fueled the militarization of police
Billions in post-9/11 taxpayer dollars have paid for combat-style gear on display in the Occupy crackdowns by Justin Elliott at Salon.com, December 24,2011
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US politicians unwilling to give up lucrative insider trading . So the members of Congress and Senate admit they work for their own self-interests and that of the 1% and owe no allegiance to the American people .
Lieberman, Cantor defend Capitol Hill’s inside traders
Wall Street's favorites resist the effort to ban profiteering on non-public information by Sam Knight at Salon.com,Feb. 2, 2012
“Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress,” President Obama told the assembled members of the House and Senate in his State of the Union address last week, “and I will sign it tomorrow.”
If only it were that simple.
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, a bill that prohibits legislators and federal officials from knowingly profiting off of nonpublic information related to impending legislation and regulatory decisions, looks certain to pass the Senate this week. On Monday, senators overwhelmingly approved a motion to cloture on S.2038 preventing the bill from being filibustered. But on Wednesday in the House of Representatives Reps. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., demanded a straight up or down vote on a different bill, HR 1148, also known as the STOCK Act. The House bill already has 271 sponsors.
And therein lies a tale of Washington. No one in Washington favors allowing Capitol Hill insiders using non-public information to reap profits — at least not publicly. But privately, well, that’s a different story.
The Senate version of the STOCK Act differs from the House version in crucial ways. The House bill regulates the so-called political intelligence industry, which consists of lobbyists and private businesses who milk information from members of Congress and their staff and sell it to hedge funds and other investors. The House bill requires people in the political intelligence industry to register as lobbyists. The Senate bill merely calls for study of this obscure sector of the Washington economy, which is worth an estimated $100 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
...The move to limit the scope of the STOCK Act seems to have been led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the less prominent but no less well connected Managed Funds Association. According to 2011 lobbying disclosure forms, lobbyists for both groups reached out to Congress with their clients’ concerns about the legislation.
According to Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a transparency advocacy group that lobbied for the House version of the STOCK Act, the two groups were especially concerned about the regulation of the political intelligence industry.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce represents some of the most powerful corporations in America and spent almost $350 million lobbying Congress over the past three years, according to OpenSecrets.org. A spokesperson for the Chamber said that the group has not taken a position on the STOCK Act.
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Finally some US elected officials standing up for the citizens of Bahrain who have been protesting against thier governemtnts draconian crack down on all protesters and dissidents and the media in Bharain.
The Obama administration while condemning some countries such as iran and Syria for violent repression of government critics the US has been defending the brutal and corrupt regimes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and other nations the US considers allies .
The US that is the Obama administration supported Mubarak of Egypt until it became too embarrassing for them as protests in Egypt grew and protesters garnered media support around the globe. Whereas in Iran the US and its allies have supported protesters there and in fact have been funding and encouraging dissent within Iran, When it comes to Iran Obama and friends have no problem interfering in their domestic politics even going so far as to use black-ops and undercover agents and agents provocateurs to incite dissent.
When it comes to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia President Obama and friends publicly claim that no matter how repressive these regimes are the US will not interfer in their domestic situation because supposedly it is none of America's business.
As we see the US and her allies change their rational and reasoning depending on whether the country is an ally or is just too powerful or America is too dependent upon because of oil or are needed for maintaining military bases as the fifth fleet for instance is stationed in Bahrain.
Congress protests Obama on Bahrain arms sale 18 representatives and three senators point to continued human rights abuses in letter to Hillary Clinton ,by Justin Elliott at Salon.com, Feb. 3, 2012
Three senators and and 18 representatives — all Democrats — have signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemning the deal (and remember, the administration still isn’t saying what equipment, exactly, it’s sending to Bahrain). Here’s the key section of the letter:
"We recognize the limited nature of the sales, and we acknowledge that the Bahraini government has taken some positive steps with respect to human rights in recent months. However, it has not done enough to justify the sale of any military items or services to Bahrain. Moreover, if the Administration wishes to reward the Bahraini government for any progress, there are other methods that do not involve strengthening the Bahraini military or security forces.
Tragically, even a brief survey of reports from reliable sources makes clear that the Bahraini government continues to perpetrate significant human rights violations."
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