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29 Sep 2011 22:13

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U.S.: Flyin’ no more: Boeing plant targeted in prescription drug bust

  • 23 people were arrested for selling painkillers such as Oxycontin, or anti-anxiety drugs, at the plant
  • 14 people were arrested for attempting to buy said drugs at the plant in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania source
  • » More serious due to nature of the job: With the 6,000-strong plant producing such military aircraft as the V-22 Osprey vertical take-off aircraft and the H-47 Chinook helicopter, officials took extra care with this drug ring. “This investigation and prosecution focused not only on the sellers, but also on the users because of the critical role that these employees play in manufacturing military aircraft,” noted U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger. Officials say that the quality of the aircraft was not affected by the drug ring, and that current and former employees were arrested.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Sep 2011 00:36

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U.S.: Today’s lesson: Don’t buy cantaloupe from Jensen Farms.

  • If it’s not Jensen Farms, it’s okay to eat. If you can’t confirm it’s not Jensen Farms, then it’s best to throw it out.
  • CDC director Thomas Frieden • Discussing the tainted cantaloupes that have killed and/or sickened dozens of people. The CDC is calling this listeria outbreak the deadliest one of its kind in the past decade. There’s no official list of the distributors in 25 states of the listeria-ridden cantaloupe, and on top of that, not all of the cantaloupes are labeled — or have such obscure labels as “Colorado Grown,” “Distributed by Frontera Produce,” “Jensenfarms.com” or “Sweet Rocky Fords.” The CDC recommends you ask your grocer where the cantaloupe came from. If it came from US3, however, you should be fine. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Sep 2011 20:28

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U.S.: Lone wolf terror suspect thought he worked with al-Qaeda, not the FBI

  • See this model plane here? It was a terror threat. This model plane was reportedly owned by a 26-year-old Massachusetts musician (and apparent lone wolf terror suspect) named Rezwan Ferdaus, who wanted to use this model plane (and another one) to blow up the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. Obviously, it would’ve been loaded to the gills with explosives … if Ferdaus’ plan actually worked. See, the guys he was reportedly working with? He thought they were al-Qaeda operatives. Actually, they were FBI. Oops. Ferdaus also reportedly built some cell phones modified to blow up roadside bombs in Afghanistan. However, he also handed those to the FBI. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Sep 2011 10:50

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U.S.: Judge to decide on Jared Lee Loughner’s fitness to eventually stand trial

  • The gunman in the Gabrielle Giffords shooting has been diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Loughner’s mental health issues, which manifested themselves in a disturbing way back in January, could prevent him from going to trial on 49 charges relating to the shooting which nearly killed a congresswoman. Did his time in a federal prison hospital help improve his condition enough to eventually stand trial? Does he need more time (as prosecutors are arguing), or is he not improving at all, as his defense attorneys claim? A judge will parse through these issues today. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Sep 2011 10:23

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U.S.: Deadly listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes kills, sickens dozens

  • 13+ people killed in a deadly listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes
  • 72+ people sickened by the worst outbreak in over a decade source
  • » Not like E. Coli or Salmonella: While those diseases are more well-known because outbreaks happen more often, listeria is deadlier, especially for those who are elderly, pregnant or have a weakened immune system. And the disease often manifests itself in a way that makes it tough to detect immediately. “That long incubation period is a real problem,” said the CDC’s Dr. Robert Tauxe. “People who ate a contaminated food two weeks ago or even a week ago could still be falling sick weeks later.” The cantaloupes, from Colorado, were sold in 25 states between late July and early September.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Sep 2011 10:13

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U.S.: NYT indirectly calls Occupy Wall Street protesters stupid

  • So even as the members of Occupy Wall Street seem unorganized and, at times, uninformed, their continued presence creates a vexing problem for the Police Department.
  • New York Times writer Joseph Goldstein • In an article about the NYPD’s seemingly poor handling of Occupy Wall Street. The article as a whole makes intelligent and understandable points (and goes in-depth about the use of pepper spray on Saturday), but this particular line really bothered us. This comes off as The New York Times ripping the dirty hippies for being dirty hippies, which is just an approach they should not take here. It’s condescending and shows a lack of respect for the protesters. What if they just dropped a line like that into an article about the Tea Party? It’d get savaged by the blogs! Instead of just interviewing your sources at the NYPD, Mr. Goldstein, why don’t you interview the protesters (who, we don’t know if you’ve noticed, have been clamoring for media attention), instead of discretely calling them idiots? You did it before, with this article. This piece feels like you’re writing an article about one side of the story. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2011 21:19

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U.S.: U.S. Army cutting nearly 9 percent of its forces by 2016

  • 50k number of troops the U.S. Army plans to trim from its roster
  • 8.6% the share of the Army being cut over the next five years
  • 22k number of soldiers getting cut in the first round source
  • » Going on a diet: With over half a million soldiers, the U.S. Army isn’t lacking in warm bodies, but those numbers went way up in recent years, in part due to the troop surge in Afghanistan. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, the Army is ready to move on. “We feel that with the demand going down in Iraq and Afghanistan, and given the time to conduct a reasonable drawdown, we can manage (the force reduction) just as we have managed drawdowns in the past,” noted Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick. Is this nearly enough?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

25 Sep 2011 23:37

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U.S.: Occupy Wall Street: How often does the NYPD pull out the pepper spray?

  • Not very often at all, according to the New York Times. In the weekend’s most unbelievable video, a number of young women were pepper sprayed after reacting towards another man’s arrest, seemingly arbitrarily. “A cop in a white shirt — I think he’s a superior officer — just comes along and does these quick little spritzes of pepper spray in my and these three other girls’ eyes,” said Chelsea Elliott, one of the four women sprayed. It’s not a common occurrence for the NYPD to use it. While it got used during a 2003 antiwar protest, it didn’t get used in a much-larger 2004 protest that accompanied the Republican National Convention. “We don’t use it indiscriminately like other cities do,” notes former deputy chief Thomas Graham. So why was it needed for this protest? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Sep 2011 18:31

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U.S.: Early investigation: Mechanical failure may have caused Reno crash

  • A tiny part of the plane might have gone missing. Competitive planes such as Jimmy Leeward’s Galloping Ghost are often highly-customized to help them move quicker and more efficiently. One of those part is the “elevator trim tab,” a piece of the plane that helps neutralize controls during a flight — something which comes in handy more than usual if, say, you regularly fly more than 500 miles per hour, like you might in a racing plane. In planes like Leeward’s, not having that piece would have made maneuvering the plane very difficult, and may have forced the plane to pitch severely upward. It might have even caused him to black out just before the crash itself. While the NTSB’s own report was vague, those in the aviation community suggest this combination of things caused Leeward to black out, leading to the crash. In the photo above, the part appears to be missing from the plane, so it’s entirely feasible. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Sep 2011 11:07

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U.S.: Jaycee Dugard sues the government for failing to monitor her captor

  • The lawsuit claims the government really failed the recently-freed sexual abuse victim. Why was it that a man convicted of rape and sentenced to 50 years in jail was out after 11 years? And how did the U.S. government, which was supposed to check on him due to the fact that he was a paroled sex offender, miss a giant fortress where Dugard and her two daughters was held hostage for nearly two decades? Why did they miss obvious tell signs, like neighbors calling the police? And why didn’t parole officers come at all some years? These are all obvious questions, and all reasons why Jaycee Dugard, now 31, is suing the federal government. Philip Garrido and his wife Nancy are already in jail for their crimes against Dugard. Now, Dugard’s going after the government. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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