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Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke

At least 27 dead, including 18 children in US school shooting: report If confirmed, it would be one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. The holiday season tragedy follows a series of shooting rampages in the United States this year that have killed multiple victims, and it was certain to revive a debate about U.S. gun laws. The principal and school psychologist were among the dead, CNN said. Witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots with some saying as many as 100 were fired. The suspected shooter, 24, was armed with four weapons and wearing a bullet-proof vest, WABC reported. There were unconfirmed reports of a second shooter. Another person was being held in police custody after he was detained in the woods near the school wearing camouflage pants, CBS reported. Sandy Hook Elementary School teaches children from kindergarten through fourth grade - roughly ages 5 to 10. "It was horrendous," said parent Brenda Lebinski, who rushed to the school where her daughter is in the third grade. Sandy Hook is one of four elementary schools in the district.

Aegis Combat System The Aegis Combat System is an integrated naval weapons system developed by the Missile and Surface Radar Division of RCA, and now produced by Lockheed Martin. It uses powerful computer and radar technology to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. Initially used by the United States Navy, Aegis is now used also by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Spanish Navy, Royal Norwegian Navy, and Republic of Korea Navy. Etymology[edit] The word "Aegis" is a reference that dates back to Greek mythology, with connotations of a protective shield, as the Aegis was the buckler (shield) of Athena. Overview[edit] The diagram of the Aegis Combat System (Baseline 2-6). The Aegis Combat System (ACS) is an advanced command and control (command and decision, or C&D, in Aegis parlance), and weapon control system (WCS) that uses powerful computers and radars to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. The computer-based command-and-decision element is the core of the Aegis Combat System.

9 Emails Wall Street Hoped You'd Never See It's 2013, and Wall Street still doesn't seem to understand that emails and privacy typically don't mix well. Last week, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against S&P accusing the ratings agency of knowingly increasing its ratings on the mortgage investments that helped launch the U.S. into the 2008 financial crisis. In numerous internal emails released with the lawsuit, S&P analysts made claims suggesting that they were very aware of how little quality control was valued at S&P. This is far from the first time that Wall Street workers have incriminated themselves with emails they assumed no one other than the recipient would ever see. Here is our roundup of 9 of the most incriminating things traders have allegedly said via email: Loading Slideshow Also on HuffPost:

Facebook Now Suspending Accounts Which Question Mainstream Media Reporting/Account of Events It seems that Facebook is now in the business of shutting down the accounts of journalists who question the mainstream medias reporting of the news. Saturday night I was alerted by Facebook that I would have to wait three days until I was able to log onto my personal Facebook account again. I was informed the reason for this punishment was the result of meme I had shared. Facebook told me it “…violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities”. I was further warned that “If you continue to abuse Facebook’s features, your account could be permanently disabled”. Below is the image I had shared on my Facebook “Fan page” entitled “We Know The Secrets of the Federal Reserve” (www.Facebook.com/WKTSOTFR) which posts memes as well as stories from our alternative media website www.SecretsOfTheFed.com. Keep in mind this was posted on Friday, the day of the shooting, when every minute the “official story” of what occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School was changing. Liberating Elder

Ticonderoga class cruiser History[edit] Shoot down of Iran Air Flight 655[edit] Interception of United States satellite USA-193[edit] Possible early retirement[edit] Due to Budget Control Act of 2011 requirements to cut the Defense Budget for FY2013 and subsequent years, plans are being considered to decommission some of the Ticonderoga-class cruisers.[7] For the U.S. Because of these retirements, the U.S. By October 2012, the U.S. Design[edit] The Ticonderoga-class cruiser's design was based on that of the Spruance-class destroyer.[1] The Ticonderoga–class introduced a new generation of guided missile warships based on the AEGIS phased array radar that is capable of simultaneously scanning for threats, tracking targets, and guiding missiles to interception. Operations research was used to study manpower requirements on the Ticonderoga class. Vertical Launching System[edit] In addition to the added radar capability, the Ticonderoga-class ships subsequently built after the USS Thomas S. Upgrades[edit] See also[edit]

Royal Bank of Scotland Settles Case on Rigging Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesLanny Breuer of the Justice Department’s criminal division said on Wednesday that the investigation of banks was not finished. A campaign to root out financial fraud secured a victory on Wednesday, as authorities took aim at the Royal Bank of Scotland for its role in an interest rate manipulation scheme that has emboldened prosecutors and consumed the banking industry. American and British authorities struck a combined $612 million settlement with the bank, the latest case to emerge from the global investigation into rate-rigging. The Justice Department dealt another blow to the bank, forcing its Japanese unit to plead guilty to criminal wrongdoing. The penalty for the subsidiary, a hub of rate manipulation, underscores a recent shift in the way federal authorities punish financial wrongdoing. The R.B.S. case echoed an earlier action taken against a UBS subsidiary, which similarly pleaded guilty to felony wire fraud as part of a larger settlement.

No Viable Connection Between Peter Lanza & US Senate LIBOR Hearings Susanne Posel Occupy Corporatism December 17, 2012 It seems the alternative media has been caught in purveying disinformation concerning the recent shootings in Connecticut, the father of one of the shooters, Peter Lanza and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) scandal. In fact, research proves that Lanza has no ties to the LIBOR debacle, nor is there documentative evidence that Lanza is scheduled to testify at an up-coming hearing regarding the technocratic scheme. One alternative media source claims that: “Peter Lanza was scheduled to testify in the ongoing global LIBOR scandal. In what could only be described an amazing coincidence, the father of Colorado Batman shooter James Holmes, Robert Holmes, was also a LIBOR witness in his position with FICO.” According to Lanza’s Linkedin page, Lanza has worked “closely with many of the preeminent partnership tax advisors in the United States on a daily basis.” Lanza’s responsibilities at GE-EFS include:

HMS Hood (51) HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1920, she was named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood. One of four Admiral-class battlecruisers ordered in mid-1916, Hood had serious design limitations, though her design was drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction. Profile drawing of Hood as she was in 1921, in Atlantic Fleet dark grey Hood's secondary armament was a dozen 50-calibre BL 5.5-inch Mk I guns, each with 200 rounds.[4] They were shipped on shielded single pivot mounts fitted along the upper deck and the forward shelter deck. The original anti-aircraft armament consisted of four QF 4-inch Mk V guns on single mounts. Two quadruple mountings for the 0.5-inch Vickers Mk III machine gun were added in 1933 with two more mountings added in 1937.[17] These mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of +70°. Aerial view of Hood in 1924.

New Questions Raised Over a Bank of America Settlement It has been a regular refrain at Bank of America. Last month, Brian T. Moynihan, the bank’s chief executive, told Bloomberg television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that carrying Countrywide was like climbing a mountain with “a 250-pound backpack.” But according to new documents filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan late on Friday, questionable practices by the bank’s loan servicing unit have continued well after the Countrywide acquisition; they paint a picture of a bank that continued to put its own interests ahead of investors as it modified troubled mortgages. The documents were submitted by three , in Boston, Chicago and Indianapolis, and Triaxx, an investment vehicle that bought mortgage securities. The filing raises new questions about whether a judge will approve the settlement. Lawrence Grayson, a spokesman for Bank of America, denied the bank was putting its own interests ahead of investors.

Will the internet end up controlled by big business and politicians? | Comment is free | The Observer It's all about control. Of course, nobody uses that particular term. The talk is always about "governance" or "regulation", but really it's about control. This year closed with two such skirmishes. The ostensible purpose of the meeting was to do what the ITU routinely does: update the regulations that harmonise international telecommunications – stuff such as dialling codes, mobile roaming charges and the like. But because the ITU is a UN body on which every member country has a vote, some regimes construed the conference as an opportunity for enabling governments to begin getting a grip on controlling the net. In the event, these various ambitions remained unfulfilled, though some fatuous wording found its way into the final communique of the conference, which concluded in thinly veiled disarray. Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, another illuminating skirmish took place. This caused such a storm that the company rowed back – a bit. That is the $64 trillion question for us all.

Blue-water navy A blue-water navy is a maritime force capable of operating across the deep waters of open oceans.[1] A term used in the United Kingdom to describe such a force is a navy possessing maritime expeditionary capabilities.[2] While definitions of what actually constitutes such a force vary, there is a requirement for the ability to exercise sea control at wide ranges. The Defense Security Service of the United States has defined the blue-water navy as, "a maritime force capable of sustained operation across the deep waters of open oceans. A blue-water navy allows a country to project power far from the home country and usually includes one or more aircraft carriers. Smaller blue-water navies are able to dispatch fewer vessels abroad for shorter periods of time."[3] [edit] Blue-water capability means that a fleet is able to operate on the high seas far from its home base. The term blue-water navy should not be confused with the capability of an individual ship. [edit] Blue-water navy France[edit]

Bill Moyers and Matt Taibbi: Everyone Pays If the Banksters Don't Go to Jail February 1, 2013 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. From Bill Moyers.com: Journalist Matt Taibbi assesses the Obama Administration’s approach to holding banks accountable for their behavior, and early indications are not promising. Full transcript appears below the video: BILL MOYERS: I t’s time to talk with journalist Matt Taibbi. You're working on a story right now that'll come out in a couple of weeks on the HSBC settlement. MATT TAIBBI: Well, the HSBC settlement was a really shocking kind of new low in the history of the too big to fail issue. BILL MOYERS: Drug cartels? MATT TAIBBI: Drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico. BILL MOYERS: $1.9 billion, a lot of money. MATT TAIBBI: It's a lot of money. BILL MOYERS: Lenny Breuer also forced the Swiss bank UBS, as you know, to pay a big fine in the LIBOR, the price fixing conspiracy. MATT TAIBBI: This is the, I think the biggest financial scandal of all time. MATT TAIBBI: I did.

Julian Assange: Two Years of Cablegate as Bradley Manning Testifies for the First Time Thursday, November 29th, Bradley Manning testified for the first time since his arrest two and a half years ago in Baghdad. Today also marks the two-year anniversary of the first front pages around the world from Cablegate, an archive of 251,287 U.S. State Department diplomatic cables -- messages sent between the State Department and its embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions around the world. In collaboration with a network of more than 100 press outlets we revealed the full spectrum of techniques used by the United States to exert itself around the world. The young intelligence analyst Bradley Manning was detained as an alleged source. WikiLeaks came under attack, with American politicians and right-wing pundits calling for all of us to be designated as terrorists, some even calling for my assassination and the kidnapping of our staff. Earlier this week, WikiLeaks released European Commission documents showing that Senator Lieberman and Congressman Peter T. A War of Terror

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