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(WASHINGTONTIMES) — A besieged White House dug in its heels Sunday and defended figures at the center of the unfolding Internal Revenue Service scandal while reiterating that President Obama knew nothing of the misdeeds inside the agency.

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer, appearing on four Sunday morning political talk shows, offered strong support for Sarah Hall Ingram, who led the agency’s tax-exempt division as it admittedly targeted conservative groups. She recently was promoted to chief of the health care reform office, tasked with implementing “Obamacare.”

Critics of the administration expect many more heads to roll as the true scope and intent of the IRS actions come to light, but Mr. Pfeiffer on Sunday strongly defended Ms. Ingram.

“No one has suggested that she did anything wrong yet,” Mr. Pfeiffer said on “Fox News Sunday.”

A Philadelphia police officer who was publicly praised and given VIP treatment by the Obamas has been arrested for incredibly devious and violent attacks on women.

Michelle Obama with Accused Rapist Richard DeCoatsworth (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

By JG Vibes
Intellihub.com
May 20, 2013

Throughout his career as a professional bully, Richard DeCoatsworth has been accused of being unnecessarily angry and violent in many different circumstances.  It was even reported by some witnesses that he indiscriminately fired on innocent people while the streets were filled with children.  This sort of behavior is typical of most police officers today, so all of this was overlooked when he was given VIP treatment by the Obamas.  Now just a few years later he is being held in prison for the most serious of crimes.

NBC reported that:

A former Philadelphia police officer, once hailed as a hero and given a seat next to the first lady at a speech by President Obama, is being held on $60 million bail after he allegedly raped two women and assaulted another.  A source tells NBC10 former officer Richard DeCoatsworth, 27, met one of the women at a bar on North Front Street two weeks ago, then forced her into prostitution at a Days Inn hotel along Roosevelt Boulevard.  Between 2 a.m. Thursday and Friday evening, DeCoatsworth went to the woman’s home along North Howard Street in the Fishtown-Kensington area, according to the source.

Once he arrived, DeCoatsworth forced that woman and a second woman, both in their 20s, to use drugs and perform oral sex on him at gunpoint, according to the source. The alleged victims reported the assault Friday only after DeCoatsworth went home, according to police.

Police raided DeCoatsworth’s house on the 2700 block of Salmon Street in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. He was charged with rape, sexual assault, terroristic threats and related offenses. Police also confiscated drugs and guns from the home, according to a source. No word yet on what kind of drugs were removed from the home.

According to court documents, bail was set at $25 million for each of the alleged victims. Another $10 million bail was set in a separate domestic violence case DeCoatsworth is now being charged with, according to investigators. Police say he assaulted his live-in girlfriend on May 9. The $60 million bail is reportedly one of the highest set in Philadelphia history. Decoatsworth faces more than 32 crimes in all three cases.

Once he arrived, DeCoatsworth forced that woman and a second woman, both in their 20s, to use drugs and perform oral sex on him at gunpoint, according to the source. The alleged victims reported the assault Friday only after DeCoatsworth went home, according to police.

Police raided DeCoatsworth’s house on the 2700 block of Salmon Street in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. He was charged with rape, sexual assault, terroristic threats and related offenses. Police also confiscated drugs and guns from the home, according to a source. No word yet on what kind of drugs were removed from the home.

According to court documents, bail was set at $25 million for each of the alleged victims. Another $10 million bail was set in a separate domestic violence case DeCoatsworth is now being charged with, according to investigators. Police say he assaulted his live-in girlfriend on May 9. The $60 million bail is reportedly one of the highest set in Philadelphia history. Decoatsworth faces more than 32 crimes in all three cases.

One of DeCoatsworth’s neighbors said she was relieved to hear about his arrest. “I am scared to be saying this now but I hope he stays where he is at, he has been a thorn in the side of this neighborhood for so long,” said the woman who did not want to be identified.

“I haven’t spoken to Richie, but a family member did contact me. I expect to hear from him,” said attorney Jimmy Binns, who represented DeCoatsworth last February, when the former cop was accused of harassing a couple in Port Richmond.

According to Philly.com:

Capt. John Gallagher, a former commander of East Detectives now assigned to the department’s Counter-Terrorism Operations, said the recommendation stemmed from allegations that DeCoatsworth, 27, had kidnapped, assaulted, and robbed a Port Richmond man who lived two blocks from him over an unpaid debt.

Detectives who investigated said they believed the debt was over drugs, said Gallagher, who led the investigation.

Gallagher gave the following account:

The Port Richmond man told investigators in January 2012 that DeCoatsworth had kidnapped him at gunpoint and driven him around the city, including to a barbershop, in an effort to collect on the debt. DeCoatsworth slammed the man’s head against a wall and yanked a gold chain from his neck before eventually letting him go, he told police.

“He took the chain, and said, ‘I’m going to hold on to this until I get my money,’ ” Gallagher said the man alleged.

Then DeCoatsworth, who had retired from the force in December 2011, reached into his alleged captive’s pocket and stole $218, the man told police.

“We believe the man didn’t try to run because he was fearful DeCoatsworth would shoot him,” Gallagher said.

Sadly, this kind of behavior is exhibited on a daily basis by the professional bullies who claim to protect the people who they oppress.  They spend their days lording over their neighbors, using violence indiscriminately, and many of them get off on the power that they feel in these situations of  dominance.

The mainstream media is blaming PTSD, due to his injuries on the job.  However, i would blame the systematic role of domination that gave him this kind of power, and encouraged this kind of mentality in the first place.

******

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J.G. Vibes is the author of an 87 chapter counter-culture textbook called Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance, a staff writer, reporter for Intellihub.com and Executive Producer of the Bob Tuskin Radio Show. You can keep up with his work, which includes free podcasts, free e-books & free audiobooks at his website www.aotmr.com

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(THE HILL) — Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Sunday said he believed a special counsel to investigate the IRS targeting scandal would ultimately be “necessary.”

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Portman welcomed an inspector general’s report and the launch of congressional hearings, but said there were still many unanswered questions.

“I also think that special counsel is going to end up being necessary here, because it has to be independent of the White House,” said Portman of the ongoing investigation.

“What we do know is that politics was put ahead of the public interest. And it was done in two of the most sensitive areas of our government. One, of course, the tax collection agency, which has this enormous power over all of us. And second, our national security,” said Portman referring to the Justice Department’s seizure of journalists’ phone records in a leak probe.

(DAILYMAIL) — David Karp, the 26-year-old founder of blogging site Tumblr, has just made to make a lot of money – almost in spite of himself.

Yahoo’s board of directors agreed on Sunday to buy his wildly popular blogging platform, which boasts 100million users and 90million posts per day, for $1.1billion cash.

The deal could make the native New Yorker the latest 20-something tech billionaire, even though he was publicly opposed, even just last year, to selling the company he founded out of his mother’s small Manhattan apartment in 2007.

On Sunday afternoon, it was revealed Yahoo’s board approved the purchase of Tumblr, despite its revenue of only $13million last year. Even that figure was only made possible after $125million in capital investments.

During an apparently training mission in the Virginia area 2 FBI agents were killed, at this point the government is refusing to release any details about the drill that they were involved in.

FBI Agents

By Andrew Freeman
Intellihub.com
May 20, 2013

Two FBI agents were mysteriously killed during some sort of training exercise near Quantico military base in Virginia.  Unsurprisingly, the specific details of this drill, or how the deaths occurred has remained secret.

Press TV reported that:

FBI’s national press office issued a statement on Sunday, saying the two agents, who were members of Hostage Rescue Team, died in the accident which took place off the coast of Virginia Beach on Friday.

The two agents were identified as 41-year-old Christopher Lorek, and 40-year-old Stephen Shaw.  No further details of the accident were available immediately, but an FBI spokesman in Norfolk, Virginia said the deaths did not involve gunfire.

Other reports said the incident may have involved a helicopter. The Hostage Rescue Team, which is based at Quantico in northern Virginia, is part of the Critical Incident Response Group.

In a statement, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said, “We mourn the loss of two brave and courageous men. Like all who serve on the Hostage Rescue Team, they accept the highest risk each and every day, when training and on operational missions, to keep our nation safe. Our hearts are with their wives, children, and other loved ones who feel their loss most deeply. And they will always be part of the FBI Family.”

“Special Agent Lorek, age 41, joined the FBI in 1996. He is survived by his wife and two daughters, ages 11 and 8. Special Agent Shaw, 40, joined the FBI in 2005 and is survived by his wife; a daughter, age 3; and a son, age 1,” the FBI said in a release

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Brazil has added 30 US military robots to the Israeli drones and ‘Robocop-style’ glasses with face recognition cameras to its arsenal after the country allocated $900 million to make 2014 World Cup “one of the most protected sports events in history.”

Photo : Sao Paulo Military Police

RT
May 20, 2013

The 30 PackBot 510 units, which usually cost between $100,000 and $200,000 apiece, will arrive in Brazil as part of the $7.2 million deal the country signed with American iRobot advanced technology company. The contracts include services, spare parts and associated equipment.

“IRobot continues its international expansion, and Brazil represents an important market for the company’s unmanned ground vehicles,” Frank Wilson, iRobot’s senior vice president, said in a statement. “IRobot is excited to be providing the company’s state-of-the-art robotic technologies to Brazil as the country prepares for several high profile international events, including the 2014 FIFA World Cup.”

The first real test for the PackBots will be the visit of Pope Franics to Brazil this July, with the country also looking to use the robots during the Rio Olympics in 2016.

The PackBots are equipped with cameras and are operated remotely in order to detect and examine suspicious objects or explore dangerous environments, while keeping their operators safe from harm.

The devices weigh about 27 kilogram and rely on caterpillar treads to move around, using videogame-style hand controllers to make it more familiar to the users.

More than 2000 of those military robots are currently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, with PackBots being the first to enter the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.   

Brazil is spending $900 million to bolster its security forces, including high-tech surveillance equipment and helicopters, as the country is hoping to make the 2014 World Cup “one of the most protected sports events in history.”

The country’s police will be equipped with facial-recognition camera glasses that can capture 400 facial images per second to store them in a central database of up to 13 million faces.

Brazil is also reported to have spent $25 million on four Israeli-made drones, which are expected to make their debut at the FIFA Confederations Cup in June.

There’ll also be plenty of manpower involved in the security operation as the World Cup organizers plan have 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers from the Brazilian Armed Forces at each of the 12 host cities during the event.

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Texas, alleges the companies and others “engaged in wilful and wanton misconduct” in the 2010 Deep Horizon oil spill.

A crane stands on the beach at dawn on the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill on April 20, 2011 in Orange Beach, Alabama. Orange Beach on the Gulf Coast was impacted by oil in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion which killed eleven crew members. 206 million gallons of oil eventually spilled into the Gulf of Mexico until the BP well was finally sealed. April 20 marks the one-year anniversary of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Aljazeera
May 20, 2013

Texas has joined the crowd of Gulf of Mexico states to file suit against BP Plc, Halliburton Co and others for their role in one of the worst oil spills in US history.

The complaint, filed on Friday in US District Court in Beaumont, Texas, alleges that the companies and others “engaged in wilful and wanton misconduct” for their role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The state has accused the firms – as well as Transocean, Anadarko and BP America in its suit – of violating Texas’ environmental regulations. Texas is seeking money from “lost” tourism revenues due to the spill, as well as monies that would have been generated from state park entrance and concession fees by visitors to the coastal communities.

In addition, the state is seeking civil penalties for each day the oil spilled into the Gulf, and each barrel spilled into the water, as compensation for natural resources that were “injured, destroyed or lost.”

An estimated 4.9 million barrels were spilled, but BP has argued that 800,000 barrels that were recovered should be excluded from calculations for the purposes of any legal settlement.

Texas joins four other states that have sued BP and other companies in connection to the spill: Florida and Mississippi filed complaints last month, while Alabama and Louisiana did in 2010.

In April of 2010, a surge of methane gas known to rig hands as a “kick” sparked an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 people. The vessel sank two days later.

London-based BP was the majority owner and operator of the Macondo well and Swiss-based Transocean Ltd owned the rig, which was drilling the 1.6 km-deep well in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana’s coast.

BP also is fighting a court battle in New Orleans over fines and other potential spill liabilities, but it struck a deal last year with a wide range of compensation claimants, including businesses.

The total amount was not set, and BP has set aside over $8bn to make the payments, but it now sees those business economic loss (BEL) payments escalating, and is challenging the way they are being calculated – calling some of the claims “fictitious” and “absurd.”

It has already lost one appeal to have the payments stopped and now plans to go to a higher court.

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Critics of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and its numerous successors argue however that these agreements really are not about trade. They are mechanisms by which corporations with international reach can overcome barriers, regulations, and other restrictions on their profit-making activities.

Global Research
May 20, 2013

“Through this agreement, the Obama Administration is seeking to boost U.S. economic growth and support the creation and retention of high-quality American jobs by increasing exports in a region that includes some of the world’s most robust economies and that represents more than 40 percent of global trade.”[1] Statement from the Office of the United States Trade Representative

“I think we need to look at the Trans-Pacific Partnership as the neo-liberal arm of the US pivot at Asia. So we have all these countries in South East Asia that basically have more incentive to do business with China….Many policy papers state the importance of South-East Asia in …counterbalancing the influence of China in the region. So that is what I perceive the TPP to be.”  Nile Bowie

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Lost in the wake of headlines about controversies surrounding Canadian Senators’ housing and living expenses and allegations of a Toronto big city Mayor ailing from an apparent crack addiction, is the important negotiations on a major trade and investment deal taking place in Lima, Peru this past week.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) had its origins in the 2005 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement or the P4 which involved the countries of Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore, and was aimed at liberalizing trade in those countries. [2] This deal was expanded in 2008 to include the US in negotiations and by 2009, the TPP began its first round of talks. [3], [4].
There are currently twelve negotiating partners in this comprehensive pact. In addition to the P4, and the US there are Australia, Peru, Vietnam, and Malaysia, with Mexico and Canada having joined the negotiations last October and Japan jumping on board in March. [5], [6]

TPP is the latest in a string of numerous free trade agreements that proponents say will generate increased economic activity between and within countries thereby leading to greater prosperity for citizens. [7]

Critics of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and its numerous successors argue however that these agreements really are not about trade. They are mechanisms by which corporations with international reach can overcome barriers, regulations, and other restrictions on their profit-making activities. [8]

Three critics from three separate countries explain their concerns in this week’s instalment of the Global Research News Hour.

Stuart Trew, Trade Campaigner for the Ottawa-based Council of Canadians provides his group’s analysis not only of the TPP, but also the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and the Canada-China Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA).

Kristen Beifus of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition dissects the impacts of free trade on Americans and the concerns specific to the TPP.

Kuala Lampur-based Nile Bowie provides his analysis of TPP in terms of its impacts on Malaysia where elections have recently been held. His commentaries on TPP appear on the globalresearch website.

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Length (59:46)

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The Global Research News Hour, hosted by Michael Welch, airs on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg Thursdays at 10am CDT. The programme is now broadcast weekly (Monday, 5-6pm ET) by the Progressive Radio Network in the US, and is available for download on the Global Research website.

References

1. http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/fact-sheets/2011/november/united-states-trans-pacific-partnership
2. “Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement” 2005 http://www.mfat.govt.nz/downloads/trade-agreement/transpacific/main-agreement.pdf
3. Daniels, Chris (10 February 2008). “First step to wider free trade”. New Zealand Herald.
4. US TRADE Representative TPP Round Updates; http://www.ustr.gov/tpp
5. “Mexico: Unexplored opportunities”. TPP Talk. New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade. 10 October 2012. http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Trade-and-Economic-Relations/2-Trade-Relationships-and-Agreements/Trans-Pacific/1-TPP-Talk/0-TPP-talk-10-Oct-2012.php
6. Canada Formally Joins Trans-Pacific Partnership” (Press release). Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. 9 October 2012; http://www.international.gc.ca/media_commerce/comm/news-communiques/2012/10/09a.aspx?view=d
7) Dr. Claudio Loser, May 6, 2013; Where Trade Is Free, Powerful Economic Growth Is The Norm; Forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/05/06/where-trade-is-free-powerful-economic-growth-is-the-norm/
8) Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, March 27, 2013, Truthout; http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/15353-transpacific-partnership-will-undermine-democracy-empower-transnational-corporations

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White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer went on three Sunday shows today and indicated that the Obama administration is irrelevant in the midst of growing scandals, including Benghazi talking points, where Obama was during the Benghazi attacks, and the IRS debacle.

Photo: Wikipedia Commons

by Tim Brown
Freedom Outpost
May 20, 2013

Pfeiffer appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation and told Bob Schieffer that is was “largely irrelevant” who edited the talking points which the Obama administration pushed on the American people following the attacks in Benghazi on September 11, 2012.

Scheiffer asked, “That was just a PR plan, to send out somebody who didn’t know anything about what had happened. Why did you do that? Why didn’t the Secretary of State come and tell us what they knew, and if they knew nothing, say ‘We don’t know yet?’ …. Why are you here today? Why isn’t the White House Chief of Staff here to tell us what happened?”

Pfeiffer answered, “What we do is we want to go out and speak to the problems as they happen. And what’s important here is that when problems happen, the President takes responsibility for them and tries to fix them. That’s what we’re talking about in Benghazi. It’s an absolute tragedy what happened. The question isn’t, ‘Who edited what talking points?’ That’s largely irrelevant.”

He then showed up on Fox News Sunday where he was asked by Chris Wallace, “What did the President do the rest of that night to pursue Benghazi?”

“Look, the President was kept up to date on this as it was happening the entire night, from the moment it started until the very end,” he said. “I recognize that there’s a series of conspiracy theories Republicans have been spinning about it since the time it happened.”

“The question here is not what happened that night,” he added.

Wallace wasn’t going to let that stand. “With due respect, you didn’t answer my question: what did the president do that night?”

While Pfeiffer said that he was in touch with his national security team, Wallace pointed out that he only had one conversation with his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and that occurred after the attack was over. Wallace pointed out that Obama didn’t talk to any of the other important people in his administration, including his Defense Secretary or the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

When asked if Barack Obama was even in the Situation Room, Pfeiffer exclaimed, “I don’t remember what room the President was in on that night and that’s a largely irrelevant fact.”

Pfeiffer was an evader the entire time, never actually answering the questions that were posed to him.

Finally, Pfeiffer appeared on ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos where he told the host that the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups was “inexcusable.” However, he then went on to attempt to deal with the law without dealing with the law by saying it was “irrelevant.”

“I can’t speak to the law here,” he said. “The law is irrelevant. The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was stopped and it needs to be fixed so we ensure it never happens again.”

When Stephanopoulos asked him to clarify his statement, Pfeiffer said, “What I mean is, whether it’s legal or illegal is not important to the fact that the conduct doesn’t matter. The Department of Justice has said they’re looking into the legality of this. The president is not going to wait for that. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again, regardless of how that turns out.”

Wow! Just Wow! Whether or not the IRS’ actions are legal or illegal is not important? That’s just a statement from someone attempting to cover the Obama administration’s backside is what that is.

All I have to say is that Dan Pfeiffer is the new Susan Rice. He’s being trotted out to make these “irrelevant” statements about the criminal and very relevant scandals that have occurred in this administration.

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Officials at the University of Alabama in Huntsville unveil a new plan to use remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles to provide an “eye in the sky” for police to monitor students on campus.

Photo: Press TV

Press TV
May 20, 2013

The plan was divulged at a press conference at the university on May 8. Gary Maddux, the lead research director of Systems Management and Productions Center, said the aircraft could help stop a mass murder on campus.

He cited the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school as the catalyst pushing the research into overdrive.

On December 14, 2012, twenty children and six adults were fatally shot by a gunman – who later killed himself – at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in the US state of Connecticut. Earlier in the day, the assailant had killed his mother in another location.

Maddux said the technology used in the remote-controlled surveillance devices is not as advanced as controversial military drones, and they fly at a lower altitude.

He added the UAVs would be capable of using small spotlights, or infrared cameras in addition to video cameras.

Maddux did not explain how the surveillance aircraft will prevent criminal activity or improve campus police response time.

Thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles could be buzzing US airspace by 2015 because of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Modernization and Reform Act passed last year. The law requires the FAA to fully integrate unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System by September 2015.

Additionally, it allows law enforcement agencies, including local police forces, to buy and use unmanned aircraft for evidence gathering and surveillance.
The law has however raised safety and privacy concerns among some lawmakers and advocacy groups.

Moreover, Washington uses assassination drones in several countries, claiming that they target “terrorists.” According to witnesses, however, the attacks have mostly led to massive civilian casualties.

US officials refuse to publicly discuss any details of the covert program and the death toll from drone strikes remains a mystery.

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