March 21, 2015

Karma? Cop Who Bragged About 'Legally' Stealing People's Property Arrested for Assault With a Deadly

Source: alternet

Last year, Nevada police officer Sgt. Lee Dove gained notoriety, and became a kind of twisted poster child for out of control civil asset forfeiture laws. A dashcam video of Dove seizing $50,000 in cash from a motorist then later boasting about "legally" taking people's money and property went viral on YouTube, and brought attention to the abusive practice of civil asset forfeiture. Here's video of him extorting $50,000 from a motorist he stopped:

But karma is a bitch, as they say. Dove has just been served a little comeuppance, when he was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. During the course of responding to a dispatch call about a man with a gun at a gas station, he ended up himself being charged with drawing his weapon in a threatening manner and assault with a deadly weapon. Watch a local news report about it:

Dove was released on $22,500 bail – he has also apparently been on administrative leave since January although the reason why is unclear. (Maybe something to do with taking people's property and bragging about it?

Read more: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/karma-cop-who-bragged-about-legally-stealing-peoples-property-arrested-assault

March 21, 2015

seed libraries sprouting up everywhere, are facing government crackdown

http://www.alternet.org/environment/seed-libraries-are-sprouting-across-planet-and-corporate-dominated-govts-are-trying-stop

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Sharing these wellsprings of sustenance may sound innocuous enough, yet this increasingly popular exchange—and wider seed access—is up against a host of legal and economic obstacles. The players in this surreal saga, wherein the mere sharing of seeds is under attack, range from agriculture officials interpreting seed laws, to powerful corporations expanding their proprietary and market control.

Seed libraries—a type of agricultural commons where gardeners and farmers can borrow and share seed varieties, enriching their biodiversity and nutrition—have sprouted up across the U.S. in recent years, as more Americans seek connection to food and the land. This new variety of seed sharing has blossomed from just a dozen libraries in 2010 to more than 300 today. The sharing of seeds “represents embedded knowledge that we’ve collected over 10,000 years,” says Jamie Harvie, executive director of the Institute for a Sustainable Future, based in Duluth, Minnesota. “Healthy resilient communities are characterized not by how we control other people, and more about valuing relationships.”


As Harvie suggests, seed libraries offer a profound alternative to the corporate takeover of seeds, which has reached frightful proportions: according to the non-profit ETC Group, just three firms control more than half of the worldwide seed business (more than doubling their 22% share in 1996), while the top ten corporations now occupy 76 percent of the global market. Monsanto alone has 26 percent of the world’s seed market, with Du Pont and Syngenta not far behind.

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But all this seed-sharing love is butting up against some prodigious economic and regulatory challenges. As the libraries spread across the US, they are catching scrutiny from agriculture officials in states such as Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Iowa, who express concerns about unlabeled seed packets, and the spreading of contaminated seeds and noxious or invasive species.

One flashpoint in this battle is a small seed library in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, which ran into a regulatory dispute with the state’s department of agriculture. Last June, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture informed an employee of the Joseph T. Simpson Public Library that its seed library ran afoul of state seed laws and would have to shut down or follow exorbitant testing and labeling rules intended for commercial seed enterprises. County Commissioner Barbara Cross raised the specter of terrorism, telling local media, “Agri-terrorism is a very, very real scenario,” she said. “Protecting and maintaining the food sources of America is an overwhelming challenge...so you’ve got agri-tourism on one side and agri-terrorism on the other.”
http://www.alternet.org/environment/seed-libraries-are-sprouting-across-planet-and-corporate-dominated-govts-are-trying-stop

March 20, 2015

NC State fraternity suspended after book of racist remarks, rape jokes found

The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity was suspended Thursday night, after a student showed the book to the staff of WRAL, a Raleigh television station.


"It will be short and painful, just like when I rape you," read one statement in the book, according to the WRAL report.

"That tree is so perfect for lynching," reads another.

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Mick Kulikowski, a university spokesman, said the campus obtained a copy of a Pi Kappa Phi pledge book on Friday morning, less than 12 hours after the WRAL report aired.

“NC State does not condone intolerant behaviors directed at any members of the community, and the content in the book that surfaced Thursday night is deeply troubling," Mike Mullen, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at NC State, said in a statement.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-fraternity-suspended-rape-sex-jokes-20150320-story.html

March 20, 2015

cop saves man from falling on subway tracks then beats him up

Last year the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority released a video showing an off-duty police officer saving a man from falling onto the tracks, a video that ended as Detective Sean Conway yanked Anthony Ferrier just as he was about to drunkenly tip off the subway platform.

But a lawsuit has compelled the release of the full video — eight months after the original’s release — that shows Conway punching Ferrier several times in a scuffle afterward.

“The MBTA misled the public and clearly intended to do so,” Ferrier’s lawyer said. “If they truly believe the officer’s actions were appropriate beginning to end, they should have released the entire video and let the public decide.”

At the time the MBTA praised Conway’s actions. “Without Detective Conway’s work, this man likely would have been electrocuted,” said Transit Chief Paul MacMillan. “We’re very proud of him.”

The MBTA stood by him in a statement to WCVB. “Detective Conway’s use of force was justified and commensurate for the situation,” the agency said, adding that Conway had in fact reported that he’d struck Ferrier during the altercation.

Ferrier’s lawyer said his client plans on filing a civil suit.

Watch the video below, via PINAC:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/watch-video-shows-cop-punching-man-he-saved-from-subway-tracks/

March 20, 2015

Dogs rescued from South Korean meat farm brought to S.F.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Dogs-rescued-from-Korean-meat-farm-brought-to-SF-6146170.php
Thirteen frightened young dogs and puppies arrived in San Francisco in a van Thursday, some trembling, tails between their legs, others with sad but hopeful eyes, and all of them unaware of how close they came to an agonizing, gruesome death.
They were the last of 57 dogs that were rescued from a dog meat farm in South Korea, part of a program by Humane Society International to bring awareness to and ultimately end the cruel treatment and consumption of canines.
The dogs were brought to the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where clapping and cheers were heard when the first terrified canine, a 120-pound short-haired mastiff-type breed known as a Tosa, was carried out of his crate.
The muscular, droopy-eyed dog, whom humane society workers named Austin, sat back in his crate and silently resisted when workers put a leash on him and tried to lure him out.

March 20, 2015

guy cooks bacon by wrapping on assault rifle and firing it 90 times

Well, you’re in luck, because this guy made a video featuring all four. In a recent video tutorial, gun enthusiast Dustin Ellermann shows you how to cook bacon using an M16 assault rifle. Why? Because this is America, that’s why. And Americans have the freedom to do what they want (and cook their delicious fatty pork however they want).
Here’s the low-down on how to prepare bacon the way our forefathers intended: Ellermann wraps uncooked bacon around the barrel of his rifle, covers it with aluminum foil, and then cooks it by firing almost 90 rounds in a row.



The method, known as the “gun grill,” takes about three minutes to transform raw bacon into sizzling perfection. Perfectly cooked gun-smoked bacon is best accompanied by a cold glass of beer, a round of fist pumps, and declarations of “’Merica! Heck yeah!”
http://www.thedailymeal.com/news/entertain/guy-cooked-bacon-shooting-it-m16-assault-rifle/031615

March 19, 2015

hot mic! Janet Napolitano says UC regents don't need to hear protesters' 'crap'

Student protesters interrupted Wednesday morning’s UC regents meeting, university President Janet Napolitano had a tart reaction that she probably thought was private.


“Let’s go. We don’t have to listen to this crap,” she said to UC regent Chairman Bruce Varner, who was sitting next to her at the meeting in San Francisco. With all the chanting and yelling in the room, few others probably heard her at the time, but her comments were caught on a UC video stream of the meeting that is posted on the regents' website. (The incident occurs around minute 51.)

A group of about 30 students had started chanting loudly and some stood up on chairs and stripped down to their underwear or exercise clothes to symbolize what they said was having to give the shirt off their back for higher tuition. After police warnings, they left the room and no arrests were made.

After making that remark, Napolitano and most of the other regents left the hall during the protest and resumed the meeting after things quieted down.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-president-napolitano-protesters-crap-20150318-story.html

March 19, 2015

Michelle Obama makes a splash with daring yellow dress as she arrives in Japan

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3000239/US-1st-lady-visits-Japan-showcase-girls-education-aid.html

March 19, 2015

the discrepency that pushed Schock into resigning: 170K miles billed on car w 80K miles

The rise and fall of Aaron Schock, 'America's fittest congressman'


Then a Politico investigation found that Schock had billed the government and his campaign for reimbursements for 170,000 miles of travel on his personal car, a Chevy Tahoe -- which had only 80,000 miles on the odometer when he sold it in July. The congressman announced his resignation less than 12 hours after he was confronted with the discrepancy
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-aaron-schock-profile-20150318-story.html

March 19, 2015

‘I just don’t like the black kids’ says California school vice principal on video

‘I just don’t like the black kids’: Calif. school vice principal put on leave after video of hateful comment surfaces

A California middle school vice principal has been suspended and is under fire from the Fresno community after he was recorded on video telling his young charges, “I just don’t like the black kids.”

Veteran administrator Joe DiFilippo is on paid administrative leave from Scandinavian Middle School in Fresno after the 18-second clip, posted Friday to YouTube, came to light.

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The uproar stems from a clip, filmed outside the school’s cafeteria, on which a student can be heard saying, “Mr. DiFilippo, who at this school do you not like?” as the administrator leans against a support column next to another student.

“Me,” says one voice, while another says, “All of us.” That’s when DiFilippo says, “I just don’t like the black kids,” and someone off camera exclaims, “Awwwww!” before the video ends.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/calif-admin-suspended-don-black-kids-comment-article-1.2154125