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Paul E Ester
Paul E Ester's Journal
Paul E Ester's Journal
April 14, 2013
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_23016422/michael-arrington-denies-ex-girlfriends-charges-techcrunch-founder
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington denies ex-girlfriend's charges
The attorney for TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington on Thursday denied allegations made by Arrington's former girlfriend, who accused him on social media and Internet sites of raping her, threatening to murder her and abusing her physically and emotionally.
Jenn Allen, the founder and CEO of the Rtist.com website for artists and art lovers, shocked Silicon Valley last month with accusations she made on Facebook saying Arrington had abused and threatened to murder her last year.
After the Gawker website wrote about Allen's Facebook post, Allen posted a comment on Gawker alleging that Arrington had raped her and another woman and had been taken to court "for sexual harassment and/or rape."
Thursday, on his blog, uncrunched.com, Arrington posted a letter from his Los Angeles attorney, Eric M. George, "categorically" denying Allen's allegations and demanding that she retract her statements.
Jenn Allen, the founder and CEO of the Rtist.com website for artists and art lovers, shocked Silicon Valley last month with accusations she made on Facebook saying Arrington had abused and threatened to murder her last year.
After the Gawker website wrote about Allen's Facebook post, Allen posted a comment on Gawker alleging that Arrington had raped her and another woman and had been taken to court "for sexual harassment and/or rape."
Thursday, on his blog, uncrunched.com, Arrington posted a letter from his Los Angeles attorney, Eric M. George, "categorically" denying Allen's allegations and demanding that she retract her statements.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_23016422/michael-arrington-denies-ex-girlfriends-charges-techcrunch-founder
April 14, 2013
Contractors’ Next Payday: Commando Logistics for Africa Shadow Wars
Here’s how serious the U.S. is about its African war on terror. The Pentagon is preparing to spend millions to create a privatized flying taxi service to fly its commandos everywhere from Libya to Congo.
That’s according to details in a recent solicitation notice for a Defense Department contract worth up to $50 million, expected to be handed over to a private contracting firm in August. Among the two main tasks contractors will be expected to carry out: medical evacuations during “high risk activities” — capable of being launched within a three-hour notice — as well as transporting equipment and commandos from Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara (or JSOTF-TS) within the borders of potentially 20 African nations. When you want to keep a U.S. military footprint small, you have to contract out a lot of logistics services.
Based at a secretive military airfield in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the contractors will be tasked with missions across central and northern Africa, with the most likely destinations being Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and other countries including Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria. Less likely, but within the contractor’s “primary operating areas,” are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan and Uganda — all suspected to be likely hiding spots for warlord Joseph Kony.
There’s no shortage of targets. Asisde from Kony to the east, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb operates just to the north. Drug traffickers are everywhere. In Nigeria, there’s Islamic terror group Boko Haram. Both have fallen under AFRICOM’s hit list.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/04/africa-commando-contractors/
That’s according to details in a recent solicitation notice for a Defense Department contract worth up to $50 million, expected to be handed over to a private contracting firm in August. Among the two main tasks contractors will be expected to carry out: medical evacuations during “high risk activities” — capable of being launched within a three-hour notice — as well as transporting equipment and commandos from Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara (or JSOTF-TS) within the borders of potentially 20 African nations. When you want to keep a U.S. military footprint small, you have to contract out a lot of logistics services.
Based at a secretive military airfield in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the contractors will be tasked with missions across central and northern Africa, with the most likely destinations being Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and other countries including Algeria, Cameroon and Nigeria. Less likely, but within the contractor’s “primary operating areas,” are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan and Uganda — all suspected to be likely hiding spots for warlord Joseph Kony.
There’s no shortage of targets. Asisde from Kony to the east, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb operates just to the north. Drug traffickers are everywhere. In Nigeria, there’s Islamic terror group Boko Haram. Both have fallen under AFRICOM’s hit list.
April 14, 2013
Mystery Texas killings 'solved': Disgraced court official to be charged with murders of Texas distri
Source: Daily Mail
Mystery Texas killings 'solved': Disgraced court official to be charged with murders of Texas district attorney, his wife and assistant DA after they convicted him of theft
A former justice of the peace is reportedly set to be charged with three murders, including a former Texas district attorney and assistant DA, after he was arrested on Saturday.
Eric Williams, 46, has been arrested by authorities investigating the murders of District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, last month - and the fatal shooting of ADA Mark Hasse in late January.
Williams was booked into Kaufman County Jail early Saturday morning for making terroristic threats and 'insufficient bond.' He is being held on a $3million bond.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2308824/Eric-Williams-Disgraced-court-official-charged-murders-Texas-district-attorney-wife-assistant.html
April 14, 2013
Police Brutality Caught on Cam?
Necessary force or police brutality? That’s the question being posed by a video showing Rehoboth Beach Police officers tasering a man several times.
The man in the video, 34-year-old Jeremy Anderson of Mechanicsburg, Pa., says he didn’t deserve the treatment he received from the three officers. He claims the entire ordeal started after he got into a verbal altercation with a hotel worker over a room key while vacationing in the Delaware city. Once police arrived, Anderson says they began to use a taser on him.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Police-Brutality-Caught-on-Cam-202880141.html
The man in the video, 34-year-old Jeremy Anderson of Mechanicsburg, Pa., says he didn’t deserve the treatment he received from the three officers. He claims the entire ordeal started after he got into a verbal altercation with a hotel worker over a room key while vacationing in the Delaware city. Once police arrived, Anderson says they began to use a taser on him.
April 14, 2013
On Friday the UN Security Council began informal talks on imposing sanctions on the al-Nusra Front after it pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
Syria's war to get dirtier than ever
Source: Herald Scotland
From small clandestine offices in countries as far flung as Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and Croatia, US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers have acted as brokers and overseers of a massive arms shipment programme to Syria's opposition rebels.
With the operation shrouded in secrecy, the CIA declines to comment publicly on the arms supply. US officials instead talk of its existence in a kind of coded doublespeak referring to "a maturing of the opposition's logistical pipeline."
But exist it definitely does, and according to arms-trafficking investigators who are monitoring data on the weapons' supplies, the scale of the shipments is huge.
"A conservative estimate of the payload of these flights would be 3500 tons of military equipment," confirmed Hugh Griffiths, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in a recent detailed analysis of the illicit transfer outlined in a New York Times (NYT) investigation.
Read more: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/syrias-war-to-get-dirtier-than-ever.20789863
On Friday the UN Security Council began informal talks on imposing sanctions on the al-Nusra Front after it pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
April 13, 2013
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/house-gun-control-bill-monday-peter-king-89991.html#ixzz2QO8atSpr
Peter King: House gun bill ready Monday
Reps. Peter King and Mike Thompson are planning to introduce a House version of the compromise on background checks for gun buyers on Monday or Tuesday, King told POLITICO exclusively on Friday.
“I will be introducing, along with Mike Thompson [D-Calif.], basically the House version of the Manchin-Toomey bill on Monday or Tuesday at the latest,” the New York Republican said, referencing the bipartisan agreement on background checks reached this week between Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).
He said the legislation will “replicate” what was agreed to by those senators, a bipartisan deal that expands background checks for commercial gun purchases, including those made at gun shows.
King, a moderate Republican who has long supported more far-reaching legislation on gun issues, said the pair felt that background checks were the “best route to go,” and credited his relationship with Toomey for some of the progress on the House version.
“I will be introducing, along with Mike Thompson [D-Calif.], basically the House version of the Manchin-Toomey bill on Monday or Tuesday at the latest,” the New York Republican said, referencing the bipartisan agreement on background checks reached this week between Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).
He said the legislation will “replicate” what was agreed to by those senators, a bipartisan deal that expands background checks for commercial gun purchases, including those made at gun shows.
King, a moderate Republican who has long supported more far-reaching legislation on gun issues, said the pair felt that background checks were the “best route to go,” and credited his relationship with Toomey for some of the progress on the House version.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/house-gun-control-bill-monday-peter-king-89991.html#ixzz2QO8atSpr
April 13, 2013
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-04-11/news/chi-cops-man-shot-during-logan-square-robbery-20130410_1_fire-extinguisher-gunman-fleeing-robbers
Store owner beats back armed robber: 'My blood boiled over.'
Luis Quizhpe doesn't remember getting shot as he grabbed a bat and swatted at a gunman holding his brother-in-law by the throat in their Logan Square store.
But he can still hear the loud bangs of gunfire. Ten shots in all as he and his brother-in-law Luis Ernesto Aucaquizhpe bashed and battered and finally chased the robbers out of Quizhpe's Gifts and Sports Tuesday afternoon.
"I thought it was a toy, but what made me frightened and really made me angry was when they grabbed my brother-in-law by the neck and they were pointing the gun at him," Quizhpe, 62, said Wednesday from Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was nursing a leg wound.
"It was like the Fourth of July. Pow, pow, pow," he said. "Then he was yelling, 'Kill the (expletive)."
But he can still hear the loud bangs of gunfire. Ten shots in all as he and his brother-in-law Luis Ernesto Aucaquizhpe bashed and battered and finally chased the robbers out of Quizhpe's Gifts and Sports Tuesday afternoon.
"I thought it was a toy, but what made me frightened and really made me angry was when they grabbed my brother-in-law by the neck and they were pointing the gun at him," Quizhpe, 62, said Wednesday from Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was nursing a leg wound.
"It was like the Fourth of July. Pow, pow, pow," he said. "Then he was yelling, 'Kill the (expletive)."
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-04-11/news/chi-cops-man-shot-during-logan-square-robbery-20130410_1_fire-extinguisher-gunman-fleeing-robbers
April 13, 2013
http://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/04/11/r-i-pot-decriminalization-takes-effect/
Vt. lawmakers consider decriminalizing pot
http://www.wcax.com/story/20971259/bills-introduced-to-decriminalize-pot-in-vt
Vermont House Approves Marijuana Decriminalization Bill
98-44 Roll Call Vote Sends HB 200 to Third and Final Reading
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/17118/vermont-house-approves-marijuana-decriminalization-bill/
http://legiscan.com/VT/rollcall/H0200/id/264072
Respect State Marijuana Laws Act Introduced In Congress
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/12/respect-state-marijuana-laws-act_n_3070501.html
Medical marijuana campaign coffers are growing fast (Florida)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/medical-marijuana-campaign-coffers-are-growing-fast/2114874
A Senate panel unanimously approved a bill earlier this week that will pave the way for medical marijuana dispensaries in the state of Nevada.
http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/202782871.html
NH medical marijuana bill gets Senate hearing
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/NH-Senate-to-hold-medical-marijuana-hearing-4425942.php
NC lawmakers may downgrade marijuana possession penalties
http://wtkr.com/2013/04/12/nc-lawmakers-may-downgrade-marijuana-possession-penalties/
Cannabis Political News - Vermont, Nevada, RI, NH, Florida, NC and one national bill
R.I. pot decriminalization takes effecthttp://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/04/11/r-i-pot-decriminalization-takes-effect/
Vt. lawmakers consider decriminalizing pot
http://www.wcax.com/story/20971259/bills-introduced-to-decriminalize-pot-in-vt
Vermont House Approves Marijuana Decriminalization Bill
98-44 Roll Call Vote Sends HB 200 to Third and Final Reading
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/17118/vermont-house-approves-marijuana-decriminalization-bill/
http://legiscan.com/VT/rollcall/H0200/id/264072
Respect State Marijuana Laws Act Introduced In Congress
Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-Calif.) introduced a bipartisan bill on Friday to protect marijuana users and businesses from federal prosecution when they are following state laws. The Respect State Marijuana Laws Act would shield both medical and recreational pot users.
The bill is cosponsored by Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Don Young (R-Alaska), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.). Rohrbacher, whose state has a large medical marijuana program, has previously introduced legislation seeking to reclassify marijuana at the federal level as a drug that does have medical uses.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/12/respect-state-marijuana-laws-act_n_3070501.html
Medical marijuana campaign coffers are growing fast (Florida)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/medical-marijuana-campaign-coffers-are-growing-fast/2114874
A Senate panel unanimously approved a bill earlier this week that will pave the way for medical marijuana dispensaries in the state of Nevada.
http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/202782871.html
NH medical marijuana bill gets Senate hearing
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/NH-Senate-to-hold-medical-marijuana-hearing-4425942.php
NC lawmakers may downgrade marijuana possession penalties
http://wtkr.com/2013/04/12/nc-lawmakers-may-downgrade-marijuana-possession-penalties/
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