ARTICLES - HOT OFF THE FAGGOT

You Can Now Download New York’s Official Apocalypse Manual

Amplify’d from gawker.com








Max Read


You Can Now Download New York's Official Apocalypse ManualIt's a well-known fact that someday, all of New York will be reduced to a smoldering, hellish wasteland, a post-apocalyptic desert so bad it will make The Road look like Sex and the City, a badland consisting of the ashes of a once-mighty city felled by war, disease, terror, or Zu'ul. Luckily, we've got an official legal manual!

Yes, the recently-created "Public Health Legal Manual," published by the state courts system, serves "as a guide for judges and lawyers who could face grim questions in another terrorist attack, a major radiological or chemical contamination or a widespread epidemic reports," reports The New York Times. (This is assuming that the judges and lawyers are not consumed by the brain-eating microbes). Grim questions like: How many old people will not get the medicine? And: Can we just shoot anyone we want, or is that, like, not cool, legally?

The idea here is that there's not a lot of precedent when it comes to serious crises, and people might not be super familiar with the laws—and you don't want to get sued for violating someone's rights by breaking into their house to confiscate their Cipro, or whatever. Here's a relevant excerpt:

Unconsolidated Laws §9129 [(1) "in the event of attack," the state civil defense commission may "(a) assume direct operational control of any or all civil defense forces"; (b) order the use of personnel and equipment where needed; (d) "take, use or destroy any and all real or personal property, or any interest therein, necessary or proper for the purposes of civil defense"; and (e) execute any of the civil defense powers and duties of counties or cities]; (2) [in the event of attack, a county or city (a) may compel evacuations (includes "anticipation" of an attack); (b) "shall control all pedestrian and vehicular traffic, transportation and communication facilities and public utilities.

The entire thing is available as a PDF here, but you should download it and print it out now, because when the space-worms come to enslave us there's a good chance you'll have trouble finding a computer with Acrobat Reader. Sadly, it doesn't do much to cover zombie-related eventualities, but that's still a fairly small body of law, so it's silly to assume it would.

[NYT; image via Shutterstock]

Read more at gawker.com
 

‘Minuteman’ Convicted of Murdering Nine-Year-Old

Amplify’d from gawker.com








Max Read


'Minuteman' Convicted of Murdering Nine-Year-OldOn Monday, a jury in Tucson found former beautician Shawna Forde guilty of killing nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul in a bizarre paramilitary raid on the Flores home in 2009. Forde, the leader of a group called "Minutemen American Defense," is what you might call an anti-immigration activist, if you include murdering fourth-graders under your definition of "activism"; two years ago, she and two of her fellow "minutemen" burst into the home of the Flores family, apparently looking for drugs that they planned on using to fund their creepy military games, and shot Raul, Brisenia, and Brisineia's mother Gina. Gina survived by playing dead and later testified against Forde.

This probably shouldn't come as a surprise, but Forde sounds like a real piece of work. "I wish I could say I was sorry it happened. I am not sorry on my behalf because I didn't do it," she told The Daily Beast in her only post-conviction interview. "People shouldn't deal drugs if they have kids." It gets crazier:


She described her group, MAD, as a vital militarized outfit with a "coastal alliance" and an "air alliance" and about 13,000 members who aren't "listed anywhere" because their work would be compromised and security would be breached.


That view of MAD contrasts sharply with testimony by Minutemen at the trial, who said only a few people showed up for a Forde-led "op" to round up unauthorized immigrants near Sasabe, Arizona, in 2007. Prosecutors characterized Minutemen as benign old guys who sit on lawn chairs and peer at the border with binoculars in search of migrants.


How surprising, that a person violently obsessed with a perceived threat has a loose grasp on reality. If only she were one of those "benign old guys"—they seem to manage their bizarre persecutory fantasies just fine with lawn chairs and binoculars and a lot of free time.

[TDB; image via AP]

Read more at gawker.com
 

Newt Gingrich thinks too many Americans are being locked up

Amplify’d from www.npr.org

Budget Crunch Forces A New Approach To Prisons

Budget problems are forcing states and the federal government to rethink their approach to prisons. More than 2 million people are incarcerated in the United States, and the cost is getting unbearable.

Even conservatives who describe themselves as tough on crime are starting to call for the release of some inmates. That's in part because the numbers are speaking louder than ever.

States spend about $50 billion a year to house prisoners, and experts say incarceration is the fastest-growing expense in state budgets, except for Medicaid.

Adam Gelb, who studies public safety at the Pew Center on the States, says it's time to change direction, and he has some numbers to make his case.

"It costs 23 times as much to have somebody behind the walls as it does in the community, and I think that disparity is what's becoming compelling," Gelb told a House appropriations panel last week.

Overhauling Corrections

Researchers have been collecting evidence for years about how to cut prison costs and reduce crime rates. James H. Burch II at the U.S. Justice Department says politicians are finally starting to listen.

"The economic situation that we're in is certainly nothing to celebrate," Burch says in an interview. "But at the same time, it has served as an effective catalyst to get people to look at the facts and look at the data and to be more reasonable about the decisions that we're making."

Those decisions are reflected in President Obama's 2012 budget. It includes a plan to save $41 million by releasing well-behaved inmates.

Recently, Burch says, about a dozen states have reached out to the federal government for advice on how to overhaul their corrections policies.

Experts say the key is to evaluate each prisoner and the risk he poses to the community, just like an insurance company would before writing a policy to cover someone's house or car.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) says nonviolent criminals — people locked up on drug charges or for writing bad checks — may do much better out in the world than in a cell next to more dangerous inmates.

"You're finding people ... who have been sent into prison for a nonviolent crime who come out very, very violent," Wolf says. "Have you been in the prisons? I mean, they are very, very violent. So you've actually been counterproductive in what you're trying to do."

A Changing Atmosphere

Wolf is not the only prominent conservative to speak out about prisons. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and tax-reform advocate Grover Norquist belong to a new group called Right on Crime. The organization wants to see low-level criminals released, with more oversight in their local communities and more focus on programs cut down on repeat offenders.

Those are ideas that they say have worked and saved money in such places as Hawaii and Texas.

Pat Nolan has been working on those issues for 14 years. He says he's picking up a change in the atmosphere.

"All these conservatives now are saying: 'Gee, we need to rethink this huge spending on crime. We need to hold the bureaucracy accountable for results. We need to reserve prison space for people who are truly dangerous,' " Nolan says. "It's beginning to change the whole political equation on crime."

Current and former prosecutors say they aren't opposed to the idea of corrections reforms. "It just makes sense," says Jim Brady, a former U.S. attorney in Michigan during the Carter administration.

"The cost of the current penal system has just gotten to be too expensive," said Brady, who now practices law at the Dykema law firm. "They're looking at alternative methods in terms of rehabilitation, deterrence and the other factors that you consider in sentencing."

A Warning

Then there's Jim Reams, the Rockingham County, N.H., attorney and president of the National District Attorneys Association.

Reams said that his state dived head first into corrections reforms about six months ago. But he's got a warning: Those reforms haven't worked out quite as the activists promised.

"The problems in New Hampshire have to do with the fact that they didn't fund any system for the maintenance and the monitoring of the people in the community," Reams said. "They just started dumping them out with the predictable results."

That means more crime, said Jim Pasco of the national legislative office of the Fraternal Order of Police.

"If something needs to be done, it needs to be done at the front end, before crimes are committed," Pasco said. "This is a sociological, a societal problem."

Pasco said he's worried about proposals to cut police forces and release more criminals to save money.

"You put together reduced police strength on the street and more potentially violent criminals out there and it's a recipe for disaster," he said.

Pasco said his members are fanning out on Capitol Hill this week, to share their concerns with lawmakers.

Read more at www.npr.org
 

Billy Ray Cyrus: The Devil Destroyed My Daughter and Disney Helped

Amplify’d from gawker.com








Maureen O'Connor


Billy Ray Cyrus: The Devil Destroyed My Daughter and Disney HelpedBilly Ray Cyrus says "there's no doubt" his family is under attack from Satan. LiLo spent Valentine's Day with SamRo. January Jones only feels safe when photographers are near. Tuesday gossip sins.

  • In a trainwreck interview with GQ, Billy Ray Cyrus says "there's no doubt" that his family is under attack from Satan. The devil's instrument of torture: Hannah Montana. "I'll tell you right now, that damn show destroyed my family." Before the Cyruses moved to L.A., they had a group baptism in Tennessee. But the devil attacked as soon as his brood arrived at the Los Angeles city limits, when Miley pointed to a sign: ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY: ATHEISTS UNITED. "A physical sign. It could have easily said 'You will now be attacked by Satan. Entering this industry, you are now on the highway to darkness.'" At the time of the interview Billy Ray hadn't spoken to Miley since her bong-ripping video surfaced: "I'm scared for her. She's got a lot of people around her that's putting her in a great deal of danger." He compares Miley to Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson, and Anna Nicole Smith, then concludes, "I should have been a better parent. I should have said, 'Enough is enough, it's getting dangerous and somebody's going to get hurt.'" If the Cyrus family erupts into a feud, it could be the bloodiest Hollywood has ever seen, equal parts Spears, Lohan, and Southern Baptist tent revival. [GQ, image via Getty]

  • Speaking of trainwreck former Disney stars, Lindsay Lohan spent Valentine's Day with Samantha Ronson. Don't give her your heart, Lindsay! It will only hurt worse when the California penal system rips you away from her again! [Radar]

  • January Jones doesn't feel safe unless the paparazzi are around: "They wait down the street on either end to see which way I'm going to go. The weird thing about it is, it kind of makes me feel safe. I live alone, and I feel like they're always there, they're always watching. If someone were to come in and rob me—there's photographers. It's like the best security system ever. Maybe I'm that pathetic at this point. But it's a constant presence." Are we sure this isn't a monologue from Jane Krakowski's character on 30 Rock? January has a "thick steel door on her bedroom, a gift from a Navy SEAL friend. 'At night I crank it and my bedroom's a safe room.'" Now it's the set-up for a horror film. [USAToday]

  • Charlie Sheen called into a radio talk show and announced he was "peeing clean. I feel great, man. I feel great. I am here and ready… I'm actually hungry." Good for him, but is the reference to hunger putting anyone else in a drunk David Hasselhoff state of mind? Also, what's with addled alcoholics calling radio talk shows all the time? Shouldn't Charlie have a direct line to Oprah by now? [Star]

  • Meanwhile in the Two and a Half-iverse, the cast and crew of the favorite TV show of Austrian incest monsters are thoroughly pissed because Warner Brothers is canceling four episodes, which means salaries and jobs are getting slashed. [TMZ]

  • Rev. Al Sharpton keeps saying no to Dancing with the Stars, only because he's so talented: "I've got moves. I'd blow 'em out! There would be no chance for anybody to touch me." []

  • Tonya Harding is pregnant! Remember her? The sequin-bedecked ice hobo who hired a guy to whack Nancy Kerrigan in the leg, and make her cry? Yup, that lady's going to be a mom, with her new husband, who is not the guy who helped her destroy poor Nancy Kerrigan's dreams. [People]

  • Katy Perry's mother is desperate for grandchildren. Katy Perry is going to be the most annoying pregnant woman ever. [People]
  • Read more at gawker.com
     

    Congress Cracks Down on Naked TSA Photo Leaks

    Amplify’d from gawker.com








    Jim Newell


    Congress Cracks Down on Naked TSA Photo LeaksAre you worried about those airport security scans of your penis and vagina making it onto the Internet? First of all, don't flatter yourself. But just in case, the Senate voted 98-0 today in favor of an amendment "that would punish anyone who misuses images from full-body security scanners at airports with a $100,000 fine or a year in prison." How hot would a person need to be to make these penalties "worth it"? A 5.5 on the 1-10 scale, or lower?



    Read more at gawker.com
     

    South Dakota Bill Could Legalize Murder of Abortion Providers

    Amplify’d from gawker.com





    South Dakota Bill Could Legalize Murder of Abortion ProvidersKilling a doctor who performs abortions could soon be legal in South Dakota — that is, if a bill passed out of committee in the state House of Representatives on Monday, which makes it a "justifiable homicide" for someone to kill anyone attempting to harm an unborn child, becomes law.

    State Rep. Phil Jensen (R), who introduced the bill, was quick to deny that the law is designed to prevent women from having abortions, telling TPM that it is instead a way to provide "consistency" to South Dakota law, and afford "a greater degree of personhood to an unborn child."

    Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones first reported on Tuesday that HB 1171 would amend the current law to include the following language (bold parts are new):


    Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child, or to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person is.


    Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person in the lawful defense of such person, or of his or her husband, wife, parent, child, master, mistress, or servant, or the unborn child of any such enumerated person, if there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony, or to do some great personal injury, and imminent danger of such design being accomplished.


    The legislation passed out of committee along party-lines with a vote of 9-3.

    Jensen cited a South Dakota law currently on the books that includes killing "an unborn child" as part of the definition for manslaughter. He told TPM he's "trying to bring some consistency to South Dakota" with this new language.

    He denied that the bill would open the door to killing abortion doctors, since abortion is legal. "This code only deals with illegal acts, which doesn't include abortion," he said.

    "There is a time and a place where you can defend yourself and it may result in the death of someone who's attacking you," Jensen continued.

    As an example, Jensen described a scenario in which an "ex-lover or ex-spouse who doesn't want to pay child support," and so confronts the pregnant woman and "begins to beat on their abdomen and try to abort their baby." This would "give protection for those who come to the aid of a pregnant woman."

    Even though the law already protects people (including, presumably, pregnant women) who commit murder in self-defense, and those who might commit murder while defending someone else, Jensen simply argued: "It protects not only the woman, but also the life of the unborn child."

    Vicki Saporta, the president of the National Abortion Federation, argued to Mother Jones that in practice,"this is not an abstract bill," and could invite "misguided extremist [to invoke] this 'self-defense' statute to justify the murder of a doctor, nurse or volunteer."

    Jensen said the bill will go to a vote Tuesday at 2:30 PM EST.

    Read more at gawker.com
     

    Vanity: Biggest Breasts Record-Holder in Coma After Suicide Attempt

    Amplify’d from gawker.com
    Biggest Breasts Record-Holder in Coma After Suicide Attempt








    Maureen O'Connor


    Biggest Breasts Record-Holder in Coma After Suicide AttemptSheyla Hershey—the dysmorphic damsel who went from having the world's largest breasts to no breasts at all when her KKK-cup implants nearly killed her—is currently in a coma after a deliberate drug overdose last night, her second suicide attempt in two months.

    After her first attempt, Sheyla began raising funds to restore her blimp-like bust: "Once I reclaim my identity as the World's Biggest Boobs I can be a better role model for my daughter. I feel so ugly without my breasts. Without them, I don't know who I am." Her breast augmentation was scheduled for today, according to the Sun's crushingly depressing report. [Sun, image via SheylaHershey.net]

    Previously:

    Read more at gawker.com
     

    All children to be registered in national biometric records Identity-tracking scheme assembled under radar

    Amplify’d from www.wnd.com

    All children to be registered in national biometric records

    Identity-tracking scheme assembled under radar for 'border pass' program

    PREMEDITATED MERGER

    By Jerome R. Corsi




    © 2011 WorldNetDaily


    Below the radar of public opinion, Mexico has started to assemble the type of biometric national identity database that could be used to document names for a North American Trusted Traveler border pass card, a plan already being developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Mexican citizens.

    It apparently would be similar to the program that has become commonplace in the European Union to allow free transit for EU citizens to move, live and work wherever they choose within the EU, disregarding nation-of-origin and national border restrictions.

    On Jan. 19, 2011, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon signed an executive order requiring within the next five years all Mexicans 17 years old and younger have a biometric national identity card that would include a facial photograph, all 10 fingerprints, and an iris scan.


    To carry out the presidential executive order, the Mexican Directorate General of the National Population Register plans to go to all elementary schools in Mexico schools in Mexico to record the required biometric information and issue individual identity cards.

    The Mexican National Institute of Geography and Statistics estimates that in 2005, there were 10.5 million Mexicans between 5 and 9 years old, 11 million between 10 and 14 years old, and 10 million between 15 and 19 years old.

    Reasonable estimates are that by the end of 2012, Mexico plans to issue more than 25.7 million biometric identity cards to the nation's children 18 years old and younger.

    While promoted as a way to prevent crimes such as identity theft, Mexico has decided to begin with the nation's school children to create the type of biometric national identity database that will allow Mexican children as they grow up to already possess the biometric information they will need to obtain North American Trusted Traveler border pass cards the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is preparing to issue to Mexican citizens.

    Once the nation's children are recorded in this biometric national identity database, the plan is to add a second phase that will extend the biometric identification cards to Mexican adults, with a third phase designed to establish a national registry for all foreigners residing in Mexico.

    The website of the Mexican Directorate General of the National Population Register, or RENAPO, Registro Nacional de Población e Identificatión Personal, displays a photo of a family holding an enlarged version of the new Personal Identity Card issued to the daughter:


    Also available on the website of the Mexican Directorate General of the National Population Register is a second photo that shows two smiling children holding an enlarged version of the Personal Identity Card created for the girl in the photo:

    The new Mexican Personal Identity Card includes a security hologram to prevent duplication or the creation of fraudulent cards; iris scan information embedded in a bar code on the reverse of the card; various biometric information included invisibly in the card, including all 10 digits in fingerprints.

    Each card bears a unique personal ID number and a face photo designed to make sure that only the person to whom the card was issued can use the card.

    Next to the eagle symbol of Mexico at the top of the card, the card reads "United States of Mexico."

    Critics in Mexico have charged that the Mexican effort to enroll school children in a national biometric personal identity database involves the early implementation of an incremental "new world order" plan designed to fit into initiatives designed under the Security and Prosperity Partnership to evolve the North American Free Trade Agreement into a continental or regional North American Union governmental structure.

    Trusted Travelers of North America

    WND previously reported that on Nov. 30, 2010, DHS Secretary Napolitano and Mexican Ministry of the Interior Secretary José Francisco Blake Mora signed an agreement expressing their intent to develop a Global Entry international trusted traveler pilot program between the United States and Mexico that Mexico estimated would allow 84 million Mexicans to apply for Trusted Traveler of North America biometric border pass cards for rapid entry into the United States.

    Four years ago, on Sept. 27, 2006, WND reported that the Department of Transportation acting through a Security and Prosperity Partnership "working group" was preparing to issue North American biometric border passes to Mexican, Canadian and U.S. "trusted travelers," according to documents released to WND under a Freedom of Information Act request.

    The agreement Napolitano signed with Mexico on Nov. 30 appears to bring the SPP working group "trusted traveler" commitment closer to fruition.

    As described on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website, the Trusted Traveler Program allows applicants to receive a biometric border pass to facilitate cross-border travel, after undergoing a thorough background check against criminal, law enforcement, customs, immigration and terrorist files, including biometric fingerprint checks and a personal interview with a CBP officer.

    The "Trusted Traveler Network" is more completely described on the "Global Entry website maintained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

    "Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low risk travelers upon arrival in the United States," the CBP website proclaims. "Though intended for frequent international travelers, there is no minimum number of trips necessary to qualify for the program. Participants may enter the United States by using automated kiosks located at select airports."

    As described on GlobalEntry.gov, the Global Entry kiosks look much like ATM machines placed to assist Trusted Travelers passing through U.S. ports of entry including airports:

    Global Entry kiosks under the Trusted Traveler program have been installed at the following 20 airports, according to the CBP website.

    • Boston-Logan International Airport (BOS)

    • Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

    • Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW)

    • Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW)

    • Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (FLL)

    • George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston (IAH)

    • Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

    • Honolulu International Airport (HNL)

    • John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK)

    • Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

    • McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas (LAS)

    • Miami International Airport (MIA)

    • Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

    • Orlando International Airport (MC))

    • Orlando-Sanford International Airport (SFB)

    • Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)

    • San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

    • San Juan-Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport (SJU)

    • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport-SeaTac (SEA)

    • Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD)

    North American continental logo

    WND also has reported that the Trusted Traveler of North America cards the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, or CBP, is in the process of issuing are being branded, not with a map of the United States, but with a logo that depicts North America as a continent, with the borders between the U.S. and Canada and between the U.S. and Mexico conspicuously absent.

    In a file on the CBP website that instructs applicants how to obtain a Trusted Traveler of North America biometric card, a generic sample of the Trusted Traveler card is presented, complete with the logo of North America in the upper right hand corner:


    The CBP website defines NEXUS cards being issued by CBP as being "WHTI-compliant [Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative] for land and sea travel, as well as air travel from airports using the NEXUS program" designed to "provide expedited travel via land, air or sea to approved members between the U.S. and Canada border."

    Searching the Canadian website for the Canada Border Services Agency, an adaptation of the generic Trusted Traveler card can be found for the NEXUS program:

    The CBP website identifies the FAST Driver card as being a WHTI-compliant document "for entry into the United States by land or sea" that can afford "expedited release to approved commercial truck drivers making fully-qualified FAST trips between the U.S. and Canada and the U.S. and Mexico."

    Searching the Canadian website for the Canada Border Services Agency, an adaptation of the generic Trusted Traveler card can be found for the FAST program:

    FAST, an acronym for "Free and Secure Trade," is identified on the CBP website with a logo that includes the three flags of the North American countries – the United States, Canada and Mexico.









    Read more at www.wnd.com
     

    Congressman blasts $212 million plan to spot terror suspects TSA 'not capable' of detecting airport threats

    Amplify’d from www.wnd.com

    TSA 'not capable' of detecting airport threats

    Congressman blasts $212 million plan to spot terror suspects

    FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN

    © 2011 WorldNetDaily

    The chairman of the House Transportation Committee has warned that the Transportation Security Administration is not capable of detecting an attack similar to the one that happened last month at Moscow's main airport, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

    Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said that the TSA's $212 million program which is supposed to spot suspected terrorists at U.S. airports is "not capable of detecting what took place in Moscow."

    The Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT, which has been existence since 2006 has some 3,000 "behavior detection" officers at 161 airports.

    Critics, including the congressional Government Accountability Office, say the technique is unproven behavioral science and hasn't helped remove vulnerabilities at the airports.

    "I see the classified results and it gives me great concern," Mica said. "I saw what happened in Moscow and I have even more concern."

    The suicide bombing which took place at the Moscow airport occurred in an area where security doesn't exist at most airports – near where incoming passengers pick up their luggage after disembarking from the aircraft.

    "Every airport in the world, including every airport in the United States, has virtually no security until you get to the security checkpoint," said former White House counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke. "Very large parts of all airports are inherently insecure."

    TSA counters, however, that its SPOT program is a "vital layer that enhances security at the nation's airports."

    Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

    Read more at www.wnd.com
     

    CBS Reporter Appears to have a stroke on Live TV | Western Journalism.com