AggroGator

At Guantanamo, a costly confinement --Military about to spend millions more to 'upgrade' Guantanamo prison camp 17 May 2013 Not only has Guantanamo Bay become a lightning rod for America's critics -- it's no prize for America's taxpayers, either. Running the prison camp costs the Pentagon more than $150 million a year -- just over $900,000 for each of the 166 detainees at the facility, located on a Navy base on the eastern end of Cuba. By comparison, costs for a typical federal prison inmate run about $25,000 a year; at the "supermax" prison in Colorado that holds domestic terrorists Eric Rudolph and Ted Kaczynski, it's about $60,000. The military is about to spend millions more to upgrade the prison camp.

Sixty injured, 5 critically, after trains collide outside NYC 17 May 2013 Five people were hospitalized in critical condition Friday and dozens more were treated for less serious injuries after a commuter train headed from New York City to suburban Connecticut derailed and hit a train headed in the opposite direction, officials said. Gov. Dannel Malloy updated the casualty figures late Friday after he arrived at the scene near the Fairfield, Conn., station about 50 miles north of New York City.

Hundreds of CT kindergarten students suspended from school --At least 1,967 students age 6 and under were suspended last school year -- almost all of them black or Hispanic. 17 May 2013 It started with a report to the state's Office of the Child Advocate that a child had been expelled from preschool. Jamey Bell, the child advocate, saw no reason why a child that young should be suspended, and wanted to know how widespread the problem was. She also had learned that a 7-year-old had been arrested while at school. According to a report from the Connecticut Department of Education, the number of students suspended is actually higher, but privacy issues restrict the state agency from releasing information that could identify unique student information.

Police arrest Anonymous suspects in Italy 17 May 2013 Italian police arrested four suspected hackers Friday, accusing them of having taken control of the Italian branch of the Anonymous network. The alleged hackers, aged between 20 and 34, were placed under house arrest near the northern cities of Bologna, Turin and Venice, and in the southern town of Lecce. Six more people were placed formally under investigation and a total of 10 premises were raided at the conclusion of a two-year police investigation code-named "Tango Down."

Natural News challenges Angelina Jolie to denounce corporate patents on human genes 17 May 2013 Following recent revelations of how Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy P.R. stunt feeds into the profits of the trillion dollar industry which claims to own human genes, Natural News is now calling on Jolie to publicly denounce patents on human genes, including the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes she has now made famous. The BRCA1 gene for breast cancer is patented by a corporation called Myriad Genetics. All patents are government-enforced monopolies over intellectual property, and they thus prevent anyone else from conducting research or testing on the BRCA1 gene without paying huge royalties to Myriad. This is why the BRCA detection tests cost $3,000 - $4,000 each. Angelina Jolie's announcement of a double mastectomy even though she had no breast cancer caused the stock price of Myriad to skyrocket to a 52-week high. Obamacare mandates that, over the next few years, taxpayers start paying for BRCA1 gene testing. This will be a direct transfer of money from taxpayers to the corporations that "own" the human genes being tested. An imminent Supreme Court decision could make or break the human gene testing industry. If the Supreme Court rules against corporate patents on human genes, BRCA1 testing will become amazingly affordable (in the $100 range), thereby denying billions of dollars in profits to gene patent holders.

FSB: CIA crossed 'red line' with agent Fogle 17 May 2013 The CIA has crossed a certain 'red line' in professional ethics of intelligence as American spy Ryan Fogle attempted to recruit a Russian agent, an FSB operative told RT. "In case with Fogle, the CIA crossed the red line and we had no choice but to react observing official procedures," a representative of the Russian Security Service, the FSB, said in an interview with RT. The spy story broke earlier this week after it was made public that Fogle -- who had worked under the guise of a third secretary at the US Embassy in Moscow -- was detained after being caught red-handed trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer for the CIA.

North Carolina nuclear plant shut down after crack discovered 17 May 2013 A nuclear plant near North Carolina's capital city was shut down after operators reviewing ultrasonic tests from last year found the results showed tiny marks of corrosion and cracking that need repair, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Operators at the Shearon Harris plant on Wednesday found a quarter-inch flaw in the covering of the reactor vessel, which contains superheated steam produced by the nuclear reaction's energy. NRC inspectors will want to ask plant owner Duke Energy Corp. -- which acquired the 26-year-old plant through its buyout last year of Progress Energy -- why the testing performed during a spring refueling outage last year didn't find the problem, agency spokesman Roger Hannah said Thursday.

Justice Dept. Lost Track of Terrorists, Report Says 17 May 2013 The Justice Department temporarily lost track of two former terrorists who had participated in its witness protection program and until recently did not disclose the fictitious identities it created for terrorism-linked witnesses to the agency that generates watch lists, allowing some who were on the no-fly list to take commercial flights under their new names, according to a new report. A public summary of the classified report, issued Thursday by the office of the Justice Department's independent inspector general, Michael Horowitz, revealed that the internal watchdog raised alarms with senior department officials in early 2012 about how the witness protection program was dealing with terrorism-related witnesses, leading to an overhaul of its procedures.

Two Dozen NRC Inspectors at Browns Ferry 17 May 2013 (GA) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a team of inspectors going over the overall operation of TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens. Almost two dozens NRC inspectors will spend the next two weeks verifying safety procedures at the plant. This action stems from a critical safety issue discovered almost three years ago. In the fall of 2010, a water intake valve at Browns Ferry was found to be malfunctioning. It had been out of operation for roughly 18 months, according to the NRC. That water intake system is a crucial component, should there be another fire at the plant.

Senator Pushes Repeal of Secret 'Monsanto Protection Act' 16 May 2013 Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is planning to push an amendment to the upcoming farm bill that would repeal the secret provision known as the Monsanto Protection Act, a rider attached anonymously to a spending bill that sailed through Congress in March. An outcry greeted the news of the legislation once the public learned that it had been passed by Congress with no debate and signed into law by President Barack Obama. The provision allows Monsanto and other companies terrorist groups to continue selling genetically engineered seeds, even if a court has blocked them from doing so. Merkley will press for a floor vote on his repeal amendment when the farm bill is taken up next week, a Merkley aide told HuffPost.

Head of Fort Campbell Harassment Program Arrested 17 May 2013 The manager of the sexual harassment and assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was arrested in a domestic dispute and relieved of his post, authorities said Thursday. Lt. Col. Darin Haas turned himself in to police in Clarksville, Tenn., late Wednesday on charges of violating an order of protection, and stalking, authorities said Thursday. Master Sgt. Pete Mayes, a spokesman for the massive Army post on the Tennessee-Kentucky line, said Haas was immediately removed as manager of a program meant to prevent sexual harassment and assault and encourage equal opportunity.

Boise Man Arrested on Terrorism Charges 16 May 2013 A Boise man appears in federal court at 8:30 Friday morning on terrorism charges. Fazladdin Kurbanov, 30, was arrested Thursday in Boise at an apartment complex near Borah High School. The arrest comes after an investigation by the FBI out of Salt Lake City and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Kurbanov's Idaho indictment has three counts. The first two are conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization.

7 Foreign Chemical Engineers Caught Trespassing at Boston Water Supply --Patrols Stepped Up Across State 14 May 2013 Shortly after midnight Tuesday, seven people were caught trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir. State Police say the five men and two women are from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, and "cited their education and career interests" for being in the area. The men told police they were chemical engineers and recent college graduates. The Quabbin, in Belchertown, is one of the country's largest man-made public water supplies. Boston’s drinking water comes from the Quabbin and the Wachusett Reservoirs... The FBI is investigating and routine checks of public water supplies have been increased following the incident.

Fifteen killed by suicide bomber in Kabul --Two Nato troops, four contractors killed in attack 17 May 2013 A suicide bomber drove his explosives-packed Toyota Corolla into armoured SUVs carrying Nato troops and civilians through Kabul, killing six passengers and nine Afghan civilian passersby, two of them children. The attack was the deadliest in Kabul this year, ripping through morning traffic in the western side of the Afghan capital at the peak of the morning rush hour. The blast was so loud it echoed across the city, and a huge plume of smoke rose from the debris as helicopters, US military vehicles and Afghan security services rushed to the site.

Inspectors find radioactive leak at Entergy nuclear plant 16 May 2013 U.S. inspectors have found the source of a [radioactive] water leak that forced the shutdown of Entergy Corp.'s Palisades Nuclear Power Plant is on the Lake Michigan shoreline. The inspection has turned up a crack about half-inch-long around a nozzle. New Orleans-based Entergy idled the plant May 5 , 2013, after operators found a tank leaking faster than regulations allow. Some slightly [?] radioactive water entered Lake Michigan, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says there's no health risk. ['Slightly radioactive.' Is that like being 'a little bit pregnant?']

Just like the fortuitous Mohamed Atta passport 'find:' Boston bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left note in boat he hid in, sources say 16 May 2013 Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left a note claiming responsibility for the April 13 attack on the Boston Marathon, reports CBS News. Sources tell CBS News that Tsarnaev wrote the note in the boat he was hiding in as police pursued him, and as he bled from gunshot wounds sustained in an earlier shootout between police and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. It reads as part manifesto, part suicide note, and part justification for the killing and maiming of innocent civilians. The note -- scrawled with a marker on the interior wall of the cabin -- said the bombings were retribution for U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, and called the Boston victims "collateral damage" in the same way Muslims have been in the American-led wars. "When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims," Tsarnaev Craft International wrote.

AT&T/Yahoo blocking the CLG Newsletter again 16 May 2013 AT&T, and all of its domains including Yahoo, is blocking the CLG Newsletter again. [Gee, here's a story for the mainstream media to cover, how corpora-terrorists will not allow this newsletter to pass, no matter what. Thanks, Obusha, for the free speech! --LRP]

Boston fire chief criticized over bomb response has mayor's support 15 May 2013 A group of top Boston fire officials has criticized their chief's response to the deadly Boston Marathon bombing last month, but the mayor on Wednesday stood by him. Thirteen of the city's 14 deputy fire chiefs in a letter to Mayor Thomas Menino expressed no confidence in city Fire Chief Steve Abraira, the Boston Globe reported on Wednesday. Abraira, who had previously served in Dallas, in 2011 was named Boston fire chief, the first time an outsider was picked for that job.

Boston fire chief gets vote of 'no confidence' in handling of bombings --Chief defends his actions to CNN, says incident was "well in hand" when he arrived 15 May 2013 Thirteen Boston deputy fire chiefs have signed a letter of "no confidence" in Fire Chief Steve Abraira regarding his handling of the Boston Marathon bombings, according to the letter, which CNN independently obtained from a deputy chief who signed it but requested anonymity. The deputy chiefs wrote of their displeasure to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino on April 26, according to the letter. "You can unequivocally consider this letter a vote of no confidence in Chief Abraira," the deputy chiefs wrote in the letter. They said the chief failed to assume command responsibility or show any leadership at the scene.

KBR Tells U.S. Army It Will Cost $500 Million and Take 13 Years to Close Its Iraq Contract 15 May 2013  The recipient of the largest government services contract in U.S. history has told military officials it will take another 13 years and half a billion dollars to finish off its 'work' stemming from the Iraq war. This assessment from [Dick Cheney's corpora-terrorists,] KBR Inc., which won the $38 billion deal from the U.S. Army in 2001, is at the heart of a legal battle between the two sides. KBR was responsible for aiding virtually all American military support operations as part of the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) III in Iraq. [See also: Pentagon Lets $100 Million in Overcharges by KBR Go Uncollected and Pentagon Fines KBR…Then Gives it a $2.8 Billion Contract. Then, start reading.]