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Tuesday, 2 December 2014

'Functionally obsolete' draw bridge crashes down on mega yacht


© WSVN7



There was no party for a mega yacht called "RockStar" after a draw bridge unexpectedly came down on the passing vessel.

Chopper 4 was over the scene as the ship called the "Rockstar," was being towed from Fort Lauderdale to Miami.


The yacht, which costs a little more than quarter of a million dollars to charter for a week was waiting for a visit from the Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission before it could continue on.


The broad causeway that connects North Miami with Bay Harbor Islands and Bal Harbour is undergoing tests to make sure the locking mechanism works.


Assistant City Mananger J.C. Jimenez said the vessel was under tow when the tow company requested the bridge tender to raise both sides so it could pass.


As the ship passed through, the East side of the draw bridge suddenly started to slip and crashed down on the yacht, taking out part of the roof causing tens of thousands of dollars in damages.


Fifteen people were reported to be aboard the yacht with no injuries.


Incidentally, the broad causeway, which is about 60 years old, is about to undergo a $13-million dollar rehab project which includes replacing parts of the draw bridge mechanism because of past electrical problems.


The city has engineers are evaluating the causeway bridge and what to do next.


As of Tuesday evening, large vessels were still unable to go under the bridge. Vehicle traffic across the bridge was also restricted.


The FWC is investigating the cause of the incident.


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Israel: Netanyahu fires two ministers, dissolves Parliament, calls for early elections




Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today he would dissolve parliament and seek early elections and ordered the dismissal of his Finance and Justice ministers.


"The prime minister plans to call for parliament's dissolution as soon as possible and to go to the people and get a clear mandate to lead Israel," a statement from his office said.


Netanyahu, who leads the right-wing Likud party, also said he ordered the dismissal of Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who both head centrist parties.


"In past weeks, including the past day, ministers Lapid and Livni have harshly attacked the government that I head. I will no longer tolerate an opposition inside the government," Netanyahu said in the statement.




Stop the insanity! Dennis J. Kucinich: Speak out against proposed legislation H. Res. 758 by US congress to "greenlight" war on Russia


© John Shinkle/POLITICO

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich: one of the very few voices of sanity left in US political spheres.



H. Res. 758.

Russia's response to the terror unleashed by western-backed neo-nazis in Crimea and Odessa came after the local population appealed to Russia to protect them from the violence. Russia then agreed to Crimea joining the Russian Federation, a reaffirmation of an historic relationship.


The Western press begins its narrative on the Crimea situation with the annexation, but completely ignores the provocations by the West and other causal factors which resulted in the annexation. This distortion of reality is artificially creating an hysteria about Russian aggressiveness, another distortion which could pose an exceptionally dangerous situation for the world, if acted upon by other nations. The US Congress is responding to the distortions, not to the reality.


Similar distortions are developing now in the coverage of events in the eastern part of Ukraine, in Donetsk and Luhansk.


Tensions between Russia and the US are being fueled every day by players who would benefit financially from a resumption of the Cold War which, from 1948 to 1991 cost US taxpayers $20 TRILLION dollars (in 2014 dollars), an amount exceeding our $18 trillion National Debt.


With wars re-igniting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Syria being a staging ground for an ongoing proxy war between the great powers, the US treasury is being drained for military adventures, our national debt is piling up, and we are demonstrably less safe.


Tomorrow the US House will debate and vote on H. Res. 758 which is tantamount to a 'Declaration of Cold War' against Russia, reciting a host of grievances, old and new, against Russia which represent complaints that Russia could well make against the US, given our nation's most recent military actions: Violating territorial integrity, violations of international law, violations of nuclear arms agreements.


Congress' solution? Restart the Cold War!


The resolution demands Russia to be isolated and for "the President, in consultation with Congress, to conduct a review of the force posture, readiness and responsibilities of United States Armed Forces and the forces of other members of NATO to determine if the contributions and actions of each are sufficient to meet the obligations of collective self-defense [my emphasis] under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, and to specify the measures needed to remedy any deficiencies..." In other words, 'let's get ready for war with Russia.'




This is exactly the type of sabre rattling which led to the initiation and escalation of the Cold War. It is time we demanded that the US employ diplomacy, not more military expenditures, in the quest for international order.

It is time the US stepped out of this expensive dialectic of conflict and seek to rebuild diplomatic relations with Russia and set aside the risky adventurism in the name of NATO.


If you agree, please contact your congressperson today, 202-224-3121, and ask them to vote against H. Res. 758.


Sincerely,


Dennis


@Dennis_Kucinich


http://ift.tt/1y3dF9h



© AFP



Greek protesters smash cars, clash with police in Athens (PHOTOS, VIDEO)



At least 15 people have been arrested after a peaceful support rally for jailed hunger strike anarchist turned into violent confrontation with police. Authorities used tear gas and stun grenades to quell rioters carrying Molotov cocktails.


As an estimated between 8,000 and 10,000 protesters marched through the central Athens shouting slogans in support of Nikos Romanos, the imprisoned anarchist who is staging a hunger strike as he demands the right to be able to attend university, anarchists’ march got violent on the streets of Exarchia, downtown Athens.


Protesters have been smashing cars, setting fire to bins, burned cars and erected barricades in several streets of the popular neighborhood. At least 10 cars have been overturned with five of them destroyed, local media reports.


Youths wearing hoods broke the glass front of the National Bank while overturning a bus to make barricades.


The focus of the riots became the gate of the Athens University, on Stournari road, where some 80 rioters entered the premises.


By 21:30 local time police responded by using tear gas and stun grenades as they engaged the anarchists who responded with stone-throwing and Molotov cocktails. The police arrested at least 15 people on the narrow streets of Exarchia, Tovima news reports.


Anarchists carry a banner reading


Tuesday's violence followed a large, up to 10,000 people strong rally in support of a jailed Romanos, who has been on hunger strike since November 10 to protest prison authorities’ refusal to let him leave the prison to attend university.


Romanos, now serving a term for robbery, was denied leave to attend classes, even after he was accepted to Athens University while in a prison education program.


Thousands march in central Athens on December 2, 2014 during a massive march in solidarity with a 22-years old anarchist hunger striker, Nikos Romanos (AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki)


Doctors have earlier voiced concern about his health.


On Tuesday, Nikos Romanos’s father Giorgos told reporters that his son's life is in mortal danger.


“The life of my child is in great danger and the Minister of Justice, with his hypocritical and calm and sober style has been dealing with [electric] bracelets for two years,†Giorgos Romanos said Thetoc online quotes.




Nikos Romanos was good friends with Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the unarmed pupil who was shot dead by a policeman during the anti-austerity riots in the Greek capital in 2008. Fifteen years old at the time, he witnessed his friend die. Romanos then became one of the symbols of public rage against authorities that has triggered rioting against police violence.





Tampa Christian-based homeless program forces impoverished to work for free


© You Tube

Tom Atchison



Christian-based Florida homeless program catering to recovering alcoholics and drug addicts has been accused of providing work crews to businesses and local events, then keeping their pay without them ever seeing it in exchange for room and board.

In an investigation conducted by the , New Beginnings CEO Tom Atchison is accused of exploiting residents staying in his residences by farming them out as unpaid labor, including working concessions at Tampa Bay Rays, Lightning, and Bucs games, the Daytona 500 and the Florida State Fair.


Workers who put in a day of work are unaware of how much they are being paid for their labor since their paychecks go straight to Atchison and the shelter.


Atchison, who claims to have a doctorate in theology he earned from a now defunct online school, is currently applying to run Hillsborough County's new homeless shelter with a contract worth millions of public dollars.


For residents who are able to pay, New Beginnings charges $150 a week, or $600 a month, which covers rent and three meals per day.


The program's CEO calls the labor "work therapy," but advocates for the homeless and labor lawyers say it is exploitative, calling it "indentured servitude."


Atchison defended sending residents out in work crews, saying, "Because of what we do at those games, we can afford to take guys off the street who have nothing and give them the opportunity to work and get their lives back together. We take the guys no one else does."


Former employees and residents of New Beginnings dispute that, saying Atchison is more concerned with the financial future of his program than with providing genuine help.


"It needs to stop," said Lee Hoffman, a former New Beginnings resident and minister. "There are a bunch of homeless people who are being exploited."


Labor lawyers say companies may compensate employees with shelter and food but need to document hours worked and the value of the housing and meals provided in order to ensure workers earn at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.


According to Atchison, New Beginnings does not keep track of hours worked.


"This is outrageous," said Catherine Ruckelshaus, general counsel for the National Employment Law Project. "These workers are doing a job. They need to be treated with dignity."


According to a former residents and staff, Atkinson also takes residents' Social Security checks and food stamps, even if they amount to more than residents owe in program costs.


"He would say, 'They're drug addicts, they're alcoholics, they're just going to spend it on cigarettes and booze,' " said Hoffman. "The only way they get any of it is if they complain hard enough."


Former employee Victoria Denton said, "If a check comes in, it doesn't matter if it's your name, my name, or Timbuktu's name, it's going in his (Atchison's) name."


"People who are homeless are desperate," said Nan Roman, president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. "It's not an equal, typical relationship between a landlord and a tenant. ... It should err on the side of protecting the homeless people who are more vulnerable in the relationship, and making sure their rights are preserved."


Watch video of Atchison explaining his homeless program below, uploaded to YouTube by FSNTV:


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Psychopaths in action: Corporate bribery and corruption grease the gears of global capitalism


© Tax Credits

Though substantial, report authors say that the documented cases of corporate bribery are only "the tip of the iceberg."



Large multinational corporations are behind the majority of documented bribes worldwide, with most payers and takers hailing from rich nations, according to a study released Tuesday by the 34-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The report, which evaluated data obtained from 427 bribery offense cases spanning the past 15 years, found that 57 percent of all bribes examined involved corporate efforts to obtain public contracts - mostly in western, more developed states. Customs and defense officials accounted for a significant proportion of bribe recipients, at 11% and 6% respectively.


According to the study, the average bribe amounts to 10.9% of the total value of the transaction, with the average payout calculated at nearly $14 million for the cases reviewed.


Regarding the impact such bribery is having on business and governance, the report states:



"The true social cost of corruption cannot be measured by the amount of bribes paid or even the amount of state property stolen. Rather, it is the loss of output due to the misallocation of resources, distortions of incentives and other inefficiencies caused by corruption that represent its real cost to society."



When it comes to corporate bribes, the analysis found that these instances are generally not committed by lone low-ranking individuals. According to the report, 53 percent of known bribery cases directly involved high-level corporate managers or CEOs. "Most international bribes are paid by large companies, usually with the knowledge of senior management," the study states.

Almost two-thirds of bribery cases occurred in just four sectors, the report revealed. The highest proportion of bribes occur in the extractive industries - such as fossil fuels and other mining activities - and account for 19 percent of all bribery cases. This was followed by the construction, transportation and storage, and information and communication sectors.


However, the report states that, due to the complex and secretive nature of global corruption, its findings are just "the tip of the iceberg."


More posturing in Western media - The myth of the "reckless" Russian Air Force


© Unknown



Western media trumpets ridiculous claims by a comically obscure "think-tank" that is loaded with pro-NATO politicians

What I wanted to talk about today is the emergence of a disturbing meme - that whenever aircraft of the Russian Air Force conduct sovereignty patrols or reconnaissance flights, they endanger civil aviation.


This notion has been floated by several sources lately, and it is bulls***.


The first I noticed it (more accurately, it was brought to my attention) was a month ago, at the end of October.


NATO, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno and Pentagon spokeswoman Vanessa Hillman all voiced what they described together as a "troubling trend" (and which Odierno referred to as "Russian aggression").


Russian aircraft - frequently the Tupolev TU-95 "Bear" bomber, a favoured Soviet reconnaissance aircraft which first flew in 1952 and entered service in 1956 - flying in international airspace now have NATO's panties in a bunch, because they might be a danger to passing civilian flights.




"We have been keeping track of incidents and have noticed an increase in Russian flights close to NATO airspace since the start of the Ukraine crisis," said Lt. Col. Hillman;


"We don't think those flights help de-escalate the current situation at all."




Close to NATO airspace.

Which means not in it.


Russian aircraft flying in international airspace should clear their flight plans with NATO and the Pentagon beforehand, so that those authorities could lecture Moscow on flight safety. Anything else is "escalation".


I'm sure you can imagine what the reaction from Washington and Brussels would be if the Kremlin announced it wanted to be consulted before any NATO aircraft conducted reconnaissance patrols in international airspace. Yeah; that'll happen.


Next up was a mention of Russian carelessness in the crowded skies by The Independent. Owned by Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, The Independent frequently runs virulent anti-Russian pieces, while it is generally approving to the point of cheerleading of capitalistic moneymaking, as you might expect of a paper run by an oligarch.




Nobody in the west calls him that, though, or goes on about his having been a KGB agent. All forgiven, all friends together now, since Lebedev lives in London.

The British press playfully soft-pedals Lebedev's KGB activities as having been no more harmful than reading the British newspapers every day, ho, ho, how sinister, my dears!!


Vladimir Putin did essentially the same in East Germany for his KGB stint, but you would think from those same press sources that he had slit more throats than Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard.


The Independent tells us:




"The European Leadership Network (ELN) said Russia is risking military escalation across Europe with Cold War-style military "brinkmanship", following 39 "near-misses" involving its planes and ships where military confrontation or the loss of life was narrowly avoided."




More about that in a minute - who is the European Leadership Network?

Well, they're a "non-partisan, non-profit organisation based in London and registered in the United Kingdom. The network is led by its Director, Dr. Ian Kearns, and the Chair of the pan-European Executive Board, Lord Browne of Layton."


That Executive Board is stiff with former Foreign Ministers and Defense Ministers, including those of Turkey, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia.


The Russian - Igor Ivanov, was Russia's Foreign Minister before Sergei Lavrov, and since 2000 has worked for The Moscow Times.


Here's a sample of Director Dr. Ian Kearnes' work: "Sanctions Are Not Enough". An excerpt from it:




" ...the West should make it unequivocally clear to Putin that any incursion on to the territory of a NATO member state will be viewed as an attack on NATO as a whole and will be met with a military response.


This statement should be backed up with more forward basing of NATO forces in Eastern Europe to re-assure allies in the region.


Ambiguity is the friend only of miscalculation in a crisis. A line has to be drawn, and Putin needs to be clear as to where it is."




Uh huh, sure: that sounds non-partisan to me.

The report , entitled "Dangerous Brinksmanship" includes incidents in which Canadian and American warships are dragging their coattails up and down the Russian coast in the Black Sea, and Russian aircraft which pass close aboard are "acting aggressively".




You want to see passing close aboard? Remember the former Turkish Foreign Minister, on the Board at ELN? Here's a Turkish F-16 passing over the heads of observers at the Waddington Air Show, just this year. Is that passing close enough for you, Mr. Foreign Minister?

I see Poland's former Defense Minister sits on the Board as well - remember the head-on collision at the Radom Air Show in Poland in 2007? Nobody killed but the pilots, but the show remains the most popular of its type in Poland, doesn't it?


But those are air show crashes, right? Although the pilots are among the best-trained and most highly skilled flyers in the world, accidents do happen and the audience must know that. We're talking here about commercial aircraft, and Russia playing fast and loose with safety.


Incidents abound recently, and civil aviation has every reason to be scared, right?


Of who? According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the ultimate authority for commercial pilots of the world, the Russian Federation is quite responsible in the air.


In its 2013 report on the State of Global Aviation Safety, North America and Europe are almost tied for the highest number of accidents.


Ahhh, but Europe probably includes the Russian Federation! Yes, it does - so lets look at who had the most accidents. You'll find that information in Appendix II (2012 accidents) and Appendix III (2013 accidents), starting on page 41. For 2012 - accidents involving aircraft of: The United States of America (24), the United Kingdom (10), and the Russian Federation (3).


While the greatest number of fatalities resulted from Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), as might be expected, the majority of accidents in 2012 were attributed to RS, Runway Safety. Patrolling aircraft of the Russian Air force are hardly likely to contribute to accidents in either case. The only category in which they might be presumed to have an effect - LCIF, or Loss of Control In-Flight - is by far the lowest accident category.


In 2013, accidents were as follow: aircraft of the United States (6), the United Kingdom (2) and the Russian Federation (1). The report appears to have been produced during the 2013 year, so that only accidents up to June of 2013 were recorded.


Now you know very well we're talking about the danger to civil aviation caused by Russian aircraft: we have it on no less an authority than Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary-General.


Yes, just a few days ago the Secretary told us




"Russia's growing military presence in the skies above the Baltic region is unjustified and that its aircraft regularly fail to file flight plans or communicate with air controllers, and fly with their transponders off, posing a risk to civil aviation."




As substantiation for this, he cited an incident in which a Russian Ilyushin-20 surveillance aircraft flying in international airspace came within 300 feet of a Scandinavian Airlines jet taking off from Copenhagen airport. The Russian aircraft was flying without its IFF transponder turned on.

Copenhagen is in international airspace? Gee, I'm pretty sure it's not. It's also not attached to a Baltic country.


Oh, wait - thank God we have ELN's report to clear things up. It tells us the incident happened 50 miles southeast of Malmo. Wait - the plane was still taking off from Copenhagen airport, 50 miles southeast of Malmo? That's, like, 70 miles from Copenhagen airport !


The report says the plane was carrying 132 passengers: were they Rush Limbaugh and 131 clones of him? Seems like it must have been quite a load if they still weren't at cruising altitude 70 miles away.


And how does Copenhagen know the IL-20 did not have its transponder on? It wasn't even in Danish airspace. Maybe Sweden reported it, just like that Russian submarine that was crippled off Stockholm and firing off distress calls a couple of weeks ago. Uh huh.


Listen, Mr. Secretary. Military aircraft do not file flight plans with enemy countries; you'd think information like that would not come as a surprise to the NATO Secretary-General.


They file a flight plan with the base or station they take off from, and that's it, unless they plan to land at a different airfield on completion of their patrol - NATO aircraft, too.


Was that the Norwegian Air Force's practice when you were Prime Minister - file a flight plan with Moscow when they intended to test Russia's surveillance capability? Please don't embarrass me in front of the Russians by saying such stupid things.


They don't turn on their transponders unless they are part of an exercise, or flying in a civilian air corridor, which they typically do not do, because it's dangerous, and because they don't conduct probes at 35,000 feet where early-warning radar can see you hundreds of miles away with your transponder on. Russian military aircraft can reach the Baltics without flying in any civil air corridors, provided they avoid the Riga/Moscow route.


The ELN report also cited instances in which Russian fighters responded to probes by NATO surveillance aircraft in the Russian Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) as examples of the Russian Air Force "behaving aggressively", when it is NATO's standard practice to do the very same when Russian surveillance aircraft are detected in international airspace, but near a NATO country.


What a bonus - Russian surveillance aircraft are misbehaving when they test NATO surveillance capability, and then Russia is misbehaving again when their Air Force responds to NATO doing the same thing to them - I guess they're just a naturally aggressive people, whereas NATO can be trusted to go wherever it wishes and do whatever it likes.


There is no reason for Air Traffic Controllers to be contacting Russian aircraft which are outside their control zone in international airspace, and therefore no reason for such aircraft to reply.


I recommend the ELN's report be re-titled "Dangerous Dinkmanship", and that it carry pictures of the report's authors and nothing else. Maybe a nice photo of Stoltenberg on the cover.


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