By Tracy Wilkinson
October 27, 2013, 5:05 p.m.
MEXICO CITY -- Assailants early Sunday blew up at least nine electrical power plants in one of Mexico's largest states, triggering blackouts that gunmen then used as cover to torch gasoline stations, residents and authorities said.
The attacks in Michoacan state, west of the capital, did not cause deaths or serious injuries, authorities said. But they served as a pointed reminder of the strength of drug gangs and other criminals.
Shortly after midnight, attackers armed with Molotov cocktails almost simultaneously disabled electrical substations in at least nine cities and towns in Michoacan, plunging an estimated 1 million people into darkness. The power was out for 15 hours.
Gunmen then torched four gasoline stations, including two in the state capital of Morelia, a popular tourist destination.
Michoacan for years has been controlled either by the Knights Templar or its predecessor La Familia, cartels that specialize in methamphetamine exported to the United States and that have controlled many city halls and police departments. More recently, groups of citizens have taken up weapons to form self-defense squads against the traffickers.
It may have been one of these groups that briefly seized the city hall in the large town of Apatzingan, residents said.
Federal authorities said they were sending hundreds of police and military troops to reinforce security in the region. The attacks came barely two days after the state's governor, Fausto Vallejo, resumed duties after a long illness.
"The only thing we can conclude ... is that the organized criminals are winning the battle against federal and state authorities," Miguel Angel Chavez, head of the opposition National Action Party, told the Quadratin news agency, adding that the violence of the last 24 hours was a terrorist attack.
Lou Reed dies at 71
Los Angeles Times | October 27, 2013 | 12:18 PM
Lou Reed, anchor of the New York rock band the Velvet Underground and widely regarded as one of pop's most influential musicians, has died, the Associated Press reported today. He was 71.
A cause of death has not yet been revealed, but the AP cited a "liver-related ailment." After canceling a scheduled appearance at April's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Reed had undergone a liver transplant.
Some of the Velvet Underground’s best known songs include "Sweet Jane," "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "Heroin." Reed’s most recently released recorded work was “Lulu,” a 2011 collaboration with heavy metal act Metallica.
Lou Reed - See that my grave is kept clean.
By Ellen Nakashima, Published: October 24
U.S. officials are alerting some foreign intelligence services that documents detailing their secret cooperation with the United States have been obtained by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, according to government officials.
Snowden, U.S. officials said, took tens of thousands of military intelligence documents, some of which contain sensitive material about collection programs against adversaries such as Iran, Russia and China. Some refer to operations that in some cases involve countries not publicly allied with the United States.
The process of informing officials in capital after capital about the risk of disclosure is delicate. In some cases, one part of the cooperating government may know about the collaboration while others — such as the foreign ministry — may not, the officials said. The documents, if disclosed, could compromise operations, officials said.
The notifications come as the Obama administration is scrambling to placate allies after allegations that the NSA has spied on foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The reports have forced the administration to play down operations targeting friends while also attempting to preserve other programs that depend on provisional partners. In either case, trust in the United States may be compromised.
Police can't say how accidental discharge happened during safety demo at anti-drug event.
Three California elementary school students suffered minor injuries Wednesday when a gun mounted on a police motorcycle discharged during a safety demonstration at an anti-drug event.
The students were not hit by gunfire in the "accidental misfire" at Newman Elementary School about 11:15 a.m. PT, said Chino Police Department spokeswoman Tamrin Olden. Two were treated at a hospital for cuts and one was treated for cuts and scrapes at the school, said a fire district spokeswoman.
"The weapon was mounted to a police motorcycle on display during Red Ribbon Week activities," a nationwide drug-prevention campaign for students, Olden said in a statement that did not explain how the gun discharged or why a loaded weapon was brought into the school. Police and school officials are investigating.
"We're still sorting out the extent of the injuries and how it happened," Olden told the Los Angeles Times.
"It's kind of strange that a gun would have been accessible, or not cleared, prior to doing the demonstration," parent Tim Everman told KTLA-TV when he came to get his son.
JPMorgan Chase has reached a tentative deal to pay $13bn to resolve state and federal investigations into its mis-selling of mortgage-backed securities, people familiar with the matter say....
That one way? We're really, really good at creating really, really rich people -- like, $50 million-plus rich. Just ignore the fact that our 400 wealthiest people are worth more than the entire bottom half of the country combined. And now, the chart:
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
"Now that the government has reopened and this threat to our economy is removed, all of us need to stop focusing on the lobbyists, and the bloggers, and the talking heads on radio and the professional activists who profit from conflict, and focus on what the majority of Americans sent us here to do, and that’s grow this economy, create good jobs, strengthen the middle class, educate our kids, lay the foundation for broad-based prosperity and get our fiscal house in order for the long haul."
The director of the National Security Agency and his deputy are expected to depart in the coming months, U.S. officials said Wednesday, in a development that could give President Barack Obama a chance to reshape the eavesdropping agency.
Army General Keith Alexander's eight-year tenure was rocked this year by revelations contained in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the agency's widespread scooping up of telephone, email and social-media data.
Alexander has formalized plans to leave by next March or April, while his civilian deputy, John "Chris" Inglis, is due to retire by year's end, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
One leading candidate to replace Alexander is Vice Admiral Michael Rogers, currently commander of the U.S. Navy's 10th Fleet and U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, officials told Reuters. Like the NSA, both have their headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland, between Washington and Baltimore.
There has been no final decision on selecting Rogers to succeed Alexander, and other candidates may be considered, the officials said.
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said Alexander planned to leave office in the spring after three extensions to his tenure, and the process for picking his successor was still under way.
"This has nothing to do with media leaks, the decision for his retirement was made prior; an agreement was made with the (Secretary of Defense) and the Chairman for one more year -- to March 2014," Vines told Reuters in an email.
AFP - A Chinese ratings agency downgraded its US sovereign credit rating Thursday despite Washington's resolution of the debt ceiling deadlock, warning that fundamentals for a potential default remained "unchanged".
Dagong lowered its ratings for US local and foreign currency credit from A to A-, maintaining a negative outlook, the agency said in a statement.
The announcement came after the US Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed a bill that extends the nation's borrowing authority and ends a two-week government shutdown.
"The fundamental situation that the debt growth rate significantly outpaces that of fiscal income and gross domestic product remains unchanged," Dagong said in the statement, adding Washington's solvency was vulnerable as old debts were still repaid through raising new debts.
"Hence the government is still approaching the verge of default crisis, a situation that cannot be substantially alleviated in the foreseeable future," it said.
You don't cry when someone dies, you take care of fucking business.
When it's all said and done and they are in the ground, then you go home and cry where no one can see you.
“States across the country are being told to stop the supplemental nutrition assistance program for the month of November, pending further notice. That’s according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fox 13 obtained a copy from the Crossroads Urban Center in downtown Salt Lake City. Crossroads says if Utah families don’t get food stamps, they’ll turn to the local food pantries, which are already strapped due to the government shutdown. Homeless people Fox 13 talked to, some who use SNAP, say losing food stamps would mean going hungry.” Fox 13, Salt Lake City, October 14.
The federal EBT website was unavailable due to the government shutdown.
.....I was about to write that the main reason for that is Obama but it is not. Truth be told, it is not him nor any product of him, it is the culture that bred him and that morphed him into the end-all-be-all of the you-owe-me voter (Yom-V). Amazingly, almost as soon as I wrote that, and it took about 2 seconds of thought to come up with, I realized how much Yom-V sounds like Zombie (and that is the truth - so help me Ronald Reagan). While yom-v sound like zombie, they are not real zombies, they are just wanna-be zombies. Yet, they emulate zombies in that they offer nothing to society and nothing to the species survival as a whole. All they do is attempt to take everything they can from any source that is alive and thriving, to any degree better than are they, and then devour it
Mr Zeidan has been taken to an unknown destination by a group of men believed to be former rebels, the government website said.
Mr Zeidan was arrested by anti-crime department militia, sources say.
On Tuesday Mr Zeidan called on the West to help stop militancy in Libya.
In an interview with the BBC he said it was being used as a weapons base.
The prime minister told the Newsnight programme that his country was being used to export weapons throughout the region.
Two years after the revolt which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's government has been struggling to contain rival tribal >militias and Islamist militants who control parts of the country.
WHEELING, W.Va. -- WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia State Police say a man who fired shots at a federal courthouse in Wheeling has died from police fire.
State police spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous confirmed that the man died Wednesday. The U.S. Marshals Services says officers fired at the man after he shot up to two dozen rounds at the courthouse.
Marshals Service Chief Deputy Mike Claxton says one person inside the courthouse suffered minor injuries. Baylous did not have the gunman's identity.
The U.S. Marshals Service says the man fired between 15 and 25 shots at the court building with what they described as an assault-style rifle.
Police are seeking a motive.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
The U.S. Marshals Service says a man who they believe was armed with an assault-type rifle fired up to two dozen rounds at the federal court building in a West Virginia city on Wednesday before security officers returned fire, critically wounding the gunman.
One security officer within the Wheeling Federal Building was injured by flying debris, but there were no other injuries, said Chief Deputy Mike Claxton of the Marshals Service in northern West Virginia.
The gunman, whose name was not released, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, Claxton said.
FAIRFIELD (CT) ( By Daniel Tepfer) -- From the minute police entered Joseph C. Callahan's Greenfield Hill home, he freely discussed the array of bomb-making chemicals he collected in his house.
When they asked about some large containers in his garage, which contained about 100 pounds of a substance Callahan readily identified as ammonium nitrate, he couldn't have been more helpful.
"That's the chemical used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing," police said he explained to them.
Then he pointed to vats that he said contained the same kind of chemicals used in the Oklahoma City bombing.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit released Tuesday, Callahan also talked to police about how he liked to build rockets and had detonation cords in his house.
Oh, then there was the large bomb Callahan said he had been making for rocker Keith Richards, of The Rolling Stones. It was in the garage next to the spray tank. Callahan couldn't remember if he had attached a fuse to it yet.
Richards, who lives in Weston, was unavailable for comment, said his publicist at L.D. Communications, of London.
On Monday, Callahan, 69, of 1625 Bronson Road, was charged with 112 counts of illegal possession of explosives, six counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and one count of the manufacture of bombs.
Free on bond, Callahan is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 16 in state Superior Court in Bridgeport.
Callahan's lawyer, Richard Meehan, said he hadn't seen the arrest report and couldn't comment on it.
"He is a delightful gentleman who never had any intention to make a bomb and never intended to hurt anybody," Meehan said.
The arrest report notes that police visited Callahan's home, in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods along Fairfield County's gold coast, twice on Oct. 1.
Callahan's ex-wife, Mary, called police early that day, saying she had not spoken to him in over a day and asking them to check on him. They checked and everything seemed fine, the report said.
Later that day, Callahan himself called, complaining that he thought someone had broken into his home and stolen his prescription pills and a check.
Police determined that no burglary had occurred, but while walking through the white clapboard colonial they saw a rifle case lying on the living room floor, the affidavit states. Officers went into the detached garage after detecting a strong chemical smell. Police later found 142 guns in the home, all of which were registered to Callahan.
In talking to officers, police said Callahan admitted to taking numerous prescription medications, along with a mixture of medications that had not been prescribed for him, but he said he is a chemist and knows how to order medications from the Internet.
Callahan also admitted to playing with explosives as a hobby. He told officers he made homemade explosive devices by filling tubes with flash powder and attaching a fuse on his basement work bench, the affidavit states. Police found several homemade explosive devices there and another 112 explosive devices spread around other areas of the house.
Neighbor Tom Bruderman told officers he was concerned Callahan was going to blow up the neighborhood, according to the police report.
All the guns were owned legally, but Meehan said Callahan agreed to turn them over to police.
"We are making efforts to cooperate with police and the state's attorney's office," he added
The Pentagon has named Paul Lewis as its special envoy for closing the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the appointment on Tuesday.
It was part of President Barack Obama's renewed push to close the prison, which remains open despite his 2009 pledge to shutter the facility within a year.
Lewis has been an attorney for the Democratic minority on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, where he deals with Guantanamo-related issues.
"Special Envoy Lewis brings a wealth of experience from his previous position," the Pentagon said in a statement.
In his new position, he will work with the State Department on transferring Guantanamo detainees to other countries. He will also oversee efforts to transfer third-country nationals held by the US in Afghanistan.
He is to take up his position on November 1.
An off-duty undercover cop was charged with felony criminal mischief Tuesday after smashing the window of a Manhattan driver’s SUV in a fit of rage during a biker-mob attack, sources said.
“He totally lied when he said he did nothing [to help the victim] because he didn’t want to blow his cover,’’ a law-enforcement source seethed.
Wojciech Braszczok, 32, was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal court on the rap, which could land him up to four to seven years behind bars if convicted, depending on how much financial damage he did to Alexian Lien’s Range Rover when he bashed in the glass.
This is embarrassingly funny. The WSJ reports that the NSA's new Utah data center has suffered 10 meltdowns in the past 13 months because of electrical surges. The NSA is basically using so much power in its spying efforts that it is poetically killing its data centers. Seriously, the surges have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in machinery.
The WSJ got access to project documents that detail the problems of its Utah data center and it's unsympathetically brutal. Apparently, arc fault failures—described by an official who spoke to the WSJ as "a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box"—are causing fiery explosions, melting metal and destroying circuits inside the center.
The power chugging of the data center is no joke: it spends $1 million a month for power and uses 65 megawatts, enough to power a city of 20,000 people. All in the name of spying! It seems like officials are unsure how to fix the power problems as backup generators have failed tests, the cooling systems are untested and the government and contractors are disagreeing about "the adequacy of the electrical control systems".
