May 29, 2014

WNYC News - 71 (many prominent) New Yorkers arrested for child porn

(I looked for other links, and there is only one other strange one. I only heard about this as someone was just mentioning it on TV. Appears to be ignored, totally.)


71 Arrested in Child Porn Sting
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
By Annmarie Fertoli

http://www.wnyc.org/story/71-arrested-child-porn-sting/

Dozens of New Yorkers, including a Queens police officer and a Brooklyn rabbi, have been arrested and charged with possession, production and distribution of child pornography. Authorities are calling it the largest such operation ever in the state.

Special Agent James Hayes, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, said officers found tens of thousands of images shared on peer-to-peer networks.

Hayes called the crimes “hideous,” “depraved” and “shocking.” He added that perpetrators aren’t just stereotypical drifters — they come from all walks of life.

"They worked as nurses, paramedics, caretakers for mentally ill adults, computer programmers and architects,” he said. “One was an airline pilot and one was a police officer.”

The five-week operation yielded 71 arrests. Hundreds of devices, including laptops, tablets and smart phones were seized. Authorities said they expect additional charges against those arrested after their devices are examined.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said the crimes lead to repeat victimization.

“Each time that one of those recordings of a violent sexual assault is downloaded and viewed by a stranger over the internet, that child is being victimized all over again,” he said.

Vance is also urging state legislators to increase the penalties for possession and promotion of child pornography.

May 8, 2014

Tampa Bay Times - For some common sense in high places, let us pray

Ruth: For some common sense in high places, let us pray
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/ruth-for-some-common-sense-in-high-places-let-us-pray/2178725

snip:
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, please grant the strength to complete this column within the designated length. We implore you to protect us against the scourge of typos. Thank you once again for creating the blessings of spell check. We beseech you to help invoke the appropriate mix of metaphors, similes and snarkiness. And we look to your wisdom to avoid undue amounts of commas and dashes, which we confess we do so have a soft spot for employing. Amen.
Our first reading comes from the gospel of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has ruled by a 5-4 vote in favor of the town officials of Greece, N.Y., to begin public meetings with a prayer delivered by the chaplain of the month. The issue before the justices revolved around the objection on the part of some of the residents of Greece that the opening prayer always was distinctly Christian, often flirting with sectarian proselytizing to the exclusion of other faiths such as Islam or Judaism.

In his opinion essentially giving the green light to Greece to conduct a virtual 700 Club moment before the start of a public meeting, Justice Anthony Kennedy argued such supplications are largely "ceremonial" in nature to underscore the solemnity of the government proceeding.

Solemnity? In government? Kennedy needs to attend a Hillsborough County School Board meeting, which is about as solemn as a Three Stooges pie fight.
Even dissenting Justice Elena Kagan does not oppose the tradition of an opening prayer before public meetings. But she did raise a valid point that the Greece decision creates a slippery slope where local governments could now have legal cover to exclude other non-Christian faiths from being invited to offer a brief homily.
The city mandarins of Greece insisted they had tried and tried to invite clerics of other faiths to deliver the opening prayer, but it seems rabbis and imams are rarer finds in the area than unicorns.

You can lead politicians to the pulpit, but you can't make them drink the holy water.

They pray like there's no tomorrow in Tallahassee before legislative sessions. And yet before the echoes of the benediction have subsided, the Legislature thinks nothing of denying 1 million needy residents Medicaid coverage or making it easier to shoot one another, or turning the Lord's creation of Florida's springs into toxic dumps. How godly is that?

Our elected officials may pray to God, but they kneel in obeisance to the Capitol's money-changing lobbyists.They are praying machines in Washington as they shut down the government, oppose an increase in the minimum wage, vote more than 50 times to prevent Americans from getting health insurance, plot to scuttle Common Core education standards, oppose equal pay for women and take vacations while millions of Americans wait to have their unemployment benefits restored.

So much for Matthew 25:40: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Who has the time, or the inclination, for all these naive prayers when tribute must be rendered unto a Koch brother to be named later?
County commissions pray for guidance, too, just before rubber stamping the latest real estate development. Who knew heaven was a strip mall?

Let us pray. Blessed are those who survive the hypocrisy of faux sanctimonious politicians. Amen, brother.


Ruth: For some common sense in high places, let us pray 05/07/14 [Last modified: Wednesday, May 7, 2014 6:30pm]
© 2014 Tampa Bay Times

May 3, 2014

Oil drilling company ordered to shut down second Florida well pending tests

Source: Tampa Bay Times


The Texas oil company that incurred a $25,000 fine for violating its permit to drill a well in Florida panther habitat has a growing problem on its hands.

State Department of Environmental Protection officials announced Friday they have ordered the Dan A. Hughes Co. to cease operations at a second South Florida well until experts can analyze whether the violation at the first well spread pollution in the aquifer.

However, the announcement followed a call Thursday by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to open an investigation into what happened.
Hughes spokesman David Blackmon issued a terse statement that said the shutdown was something the company had agreed to after negotiations with DEP.

Hughes' drilling operations have sparked controversy among Collier County residents, who went so far as to stage a protest march on Gov. Rick Scott's Naples home. The controversy began when a Hughes contractor contacted Golden Gate Estates residents about their plans for an evacuation should something go wrong with the well being drilled less than 1,000 feet from their homes. That was the first they'd heard of it.

The company was injecting acid deep underground to fracture the limestone, then injecting a mix of sand and chemical gel under pressure, to prop open the new fractures and let the oil flow out. That's called using a "proppant."

Although the process is similar to fracking, Blackmon called it an "acid stimulation treatment," which he said is common in Florida. However, Miller of the DEP said no one has ever used a proppant in Florida before. The DEP order requires Hughes to install monitoring wells to check on whether any pollution is spreading through the aquifer, although Blackmon said the chemicals were injected thousands of feet below the drinking water supply.
Until the well results are analyzed by independent experts, Hughes has to shut down all other "new operations," DEP said Friday. Hughes has six other locations, but the only one fitting the DEP's description is a well near Immokalee, Miller said.

more at link....

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/oil-drilling-company-ordered-to-shut-down-second-florida-well-pending-tests/2178106

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The Gov, Slick Rick came from TX and I'll bet he knew all about this, before Nelson stopped it!