OPD wishes somebody would

A recent study by Robert Washaw has found that Oakland police officers drew their guns and pointed them at individuals who did not present a threat 28 percent of the time.
Warshaw is the federal monitor assigned to oversee the Oakland Police Department in the wake of the Riders federal corruption case. He looked at reports of 80 incidents in which 215 officers had drawn their guns between Jan. 1 and March this year.

Officers are escalating their use of force with no information that supports their belief a person is armed, using a tactic that could quickly prove deadly while bypassing less dangerous methods, such as drawing a stun gun or using a hands-on technique.

"In a few instances," Warshaw wrote, "it seemed that the only offense that a subject 'committed' was running from the police. While it is reasonable to assume that someone may be running because (he or she) is wanted or guilty of an offense, running is not, in and of itself, against the law; and it does not serve as justification for pointing a firearm."
-Inside Bay Area

And right on cue, Oakland Police shot an unarmed homeless man last night in el Fruitvale.

World Revolution Update

"Historical" events happenin over in the UK.

Cameron also said he's considering banning individuals from social media if they are suspected of plotting criminal activity. Many young people in the melees were seen communicating by BlackBerry mobile e-mail and smartphone devices.

"Free flow of information can be used for good, but it can also be used for ill," Cameron said. "And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them.

"So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these Web sites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality," he said.

He later told reporters Home Secretary Theresa May would hold meetings with Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion to discuss their responsibilities to prevent future incidents.
-UPI

Interestingly enough, transit authorities in the Bay Area thwarted a planned protest by cutting off cell phone service at several BART stations yesterday.

NMA cartoon on crash of the Dow

World Revolution Update

"The whole system will collapse"

Mark Faber tells CNBC that the global economy needs a reboot.

"The next time we have a global economic crisis, it will be much worse than 2008. Before this happens there will be money printing and there will be war. The whole system will collapse," he said. "That's why I'm advising people that they have to think it through. In a total collapse you don't want to own government bonds and cash."
-CNBC

US credit downgraded to AA+

S&P downgraded the US credit rating today. For the first time in history.
The three main credit agencies, which also include Moody's Investor Service and Fitch, had warned that the country faced a downgrade if the government didn't sufficiently cut spending.
They didn't.

S&P said that in addition to the downgrade, it is issuing a negative outlook, meaning that there was a chance it will lower the rating further within the next two years. It said such a downgrade to AA would occur if the agency sees smaller reductions in spending than Congress and the administration have agreed to make, higher interest rates or new fiscal pressures during this period.
-Associated Press

And it was just sick the way they trotted out the woman who got shot in the head to cast the last vote on the debt bomb delay deal.

Dormant volcanoes coming back to life?

So I've been following this guy DutchSinse for a coupla months now (ever since the birth certificate fiasco), and he seems to be onto something pretty huge right now.
On Friday, he posted this video, which shows a major uptick in volcanic activity in California and Nevada.

On Sunday, he discovered similar activity (unexplained plumes coming out of formerly inactive volcanoes) in Oregon as well.
He claimed over the weekend that he was receiving photographic evidence of geothermal activity at some of these sites, but was waiting for video confirmation of an actual plume.
Yesterday, he posted this video evidence of a volcanic plume in Baja California del Sur.

Needless to say, coupled with a coinciding increase in earthquake activity throughout the globe, this situation deserves monitoring.