Drones Large and Small Coming to US

 

Most of the drones that have begun to appear in the skies above the U.S. homeland don't resemble the Predators or Reapers flown by the U.S. military and CIA above Afghanistan and Pakistan. Instead, these smaller versions of flying, unmanned vehicles almost rival the animal kingdom in their diversity. Government agencies such as NASA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection operate aircraft-size military drones that take off from runways like airplanes. Labs in the United States have even built tiny drones that look like hummingbirds. But most drones resemble the radio-controlled aircraft and toy helicopters flown by hobbyists for decades, capable of taking off horizontally, vertically or by being thrown into the air like a trained falcon or hawk. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration does not plan to permit drones armed with weapons in U.S. civilian airspace, according to an official quoted by the Washington Times. But state agencies, sheriff's offices and universities have already found more widespread use for drones that carry cameras for taking photos or video from above. 

Draganfly Innovations builds small drones weighing less than 5 pounds that fly under the control of a human operator using two joysticks. The Canadian company has sold some drones to law enforcement for taking pictures or video of traffic accidents or crime scenes, as well as aiding SWAT teams preparing to storm a building or housing compound. FAA drone license applications tracked by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights organization, suggest many other possible uses. Some U.S. states have begun considering drones for checking on highway traffic conditions, inspecting bridges and fighting wildfires. U.S. corporations, such as FedEx, have already begun planning for the day when drones could deliver packages. Bird watchers accustomed to spotting a gaggle of geese or a murder of crows may someday spot similar groupings of drones. Such drone swarms will likely use advanced forms of today's artificial intelligence programs to coordinate their missions without precise human control, a future with possibilities both delightful and daunting. Tech News Daily

Real Footage Of The Shootout Between Cops & Christopher Dorner In Big Bear!

Drones deployed in Dorner man-hunt

                             

Trey Songz Sued Over “YUUP” Catchphrase

(AllHipHop News) R&B singer Trey Songz is going after a reality show star he has accused of stealing his signature “YUUP” catchphrase. 

Trey’s lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to Dave “The Mogul” Hester of “Storage Wars,” claiming that his usage of the phrase during the show’s auction segments. As a result, Hester filed a lawsuit against Trey Songz in Manhattan Federal Court, claiming there’s a distinct difference in their usage of the term “YUUP.”
According to The New York Post, Hester’s lawsuit claims Trey Songz’ catchphrase resembles an “animal-like or non-human squeal which begins with a distinct ‘yeeee’ sound before finishing with a squeal-like ‘uuuup’ sound.”

Dave Hester says his auction phrase is meant to convey the meaning of ‘yes.’”

Las Vegas home to the next Judge Judy?

A New York City casting director is scouring Las Vegas for the next Judge Judy. “We’re looking for the Guy Fieri of Judge Judys,” casting agent Beth Schiff says. By that she means someone with personality, pizazz and a clear point of view to star in a new courtroom TV series that would be filmed in Las Vegas. (Fieri is the tattooed, spiky haired, blonde chef that has taken television by storm. He hosts two Food Network series and NBC’s “Minute to Win It.” He is also a UNLV alumnus.)

Experience matters, too. Just like home cooks look to Fieri for recipes and cooking tips, producers want their Las Vegas judge to be a legal expert. Bicoastal Productions hasn’t yet sold the unnamed project, but Schiff says several networks are interested. Although producers are tight lipped about details, the show is expected to follow the Judge Judy model: a judge in a courtroom presiding over cases. Schiff is looking for a judge or mediator with a background in small claims. “Once there’s a great talent attached to a project, that’s when deals are made,” Schiff said. “I’ve found some interesting characters so far, but I’m still looking.” Producers felt Las Vegas was a natural fit for a courtroom reality show. It’s a big enough city to offer credible legal minds, but still maintains a small-town feel, complete with kooky residents. The stories and characters are probably a little more unusual in Vegas than in other parts of the country,” Schiff said. Las Vegas Sun

UNLV student among 16 arrested in hacking roundup

A UNLV student was among 16 people arrested Tuesday in a nationwide roundup of suspected Internet hackers accused of attacking websites of several major U.S. companies. According to the FBI, Mercedes Renee Haefer, 20, also known by the aliases "No" and "MMMM," was part of the hacker group Anonymous that authorities allege coordinated Internet attacks on websites owned by PayPal, Amazon, Visa and Mastercard.

Haefer, a journalism and media studies student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has been charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and intentional damage to a protected computer. She appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leavitt in Las Vegas. He released the defendant on her own recognizance but ordered her to surrender her laptop computer. Her attorney, New York-based Stanley L. Cohen, said the charges were frivolous and his client will plead not guilty. Las Vegas Review Journal

FBI raids suspected Anonymous hackers in 10 states

Internet "hacktivist" group Anonymous was the target of a bevy of early morning raids conducted at homes in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio. FBI agents used search warrants to obtain computers and other electronics from the residences and arrested a total of 16 individuals with ages ranging from teens all the way to early 40s. Along with legal names, the indictment also notes screen names and internet monikers used by the group to communicate anonymously.

These arrests were just part of a total of 35 search warrants which were executed today as part of the ongoing investigation into the security-threatening hacking activities of the Anonymous collective. Among its various exploits, the brigade of cyber spies has been implicated in attacks on everyone from Sony to the federal government. The group has also executed web-based attacks on major credit card companies including Mastercard and Visa. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, today's arrests focused primarily on Anonymous members who waged a cyber war on PayPal. Anonymous was allegedly inspired to hack the online payment company in "Operation Avenge Assange" after Paypal refused to accept donations for Wikileaks, the well-known whistleblower site headed by Julian Assange. Anonymous' hacker cohorts, LulzSec, have taken aim at the CIA, as well as the Arizona Police Department in an effort to expose racial discrimination. Yesterday, LulzSec took credit for an attack on Rupert Murdoch's U.K. tabloid The Sun.

It wasn't immediately clear whether any of today's arrests also included members of LulzSec, but the group's Twitter feed appears to be as lively as ever. Today's actions clearly show that the federal government is no longer content to sit by while hackers have their run of the internet, but it's likely that Anonymous will respond in short order. MadOne

Army finds Mexico's biggest marijuana plantation

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican soldiers have found the largest marijuana plantation ever detected in Mexico, a huge field covering almost 300 acres (120 hectares), the Defense Department said Thursday.

The plantation is four times larger than the previous record discovery by authorities at a ranch in northern Chihuahua state in 1984. The pot plants sheltered under black screen-cloth in a huge square on the floor of the Baja California desert, more than 150 miles (250 kilometers) south of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego. Army Gen. Alfonso Duarte said the screening, which is often used by regular farmers to protect crops from too much sun or heat, made it difficult to detect from the air what was growing underneath. It was only when soldiers on the ground reached the isolated area Tuesday that they found thousands of pot plants as high as 2.5 yards (meters) tall. The average height of the plants was about 1.5 yards (meters). Duarte said they were not yet ready for harvest.

Video of the plantation showed a sophisticated system of piped-in irrigation to support the plants, which Duarte said was fed by two wells. The plantation also included some wooden outbuildings, presumably for use by people caring for the plants. Troops will destroy the fields by burning them, Duarte said. While it's unknown how much of Mexican drug cartels' income comes from marijuana, recent discoveries suggest it remains a large-scale trade.

Wow that is a lot of weed!

No More Privacy: Smart Meters Are Surveillance Devices That Monitor The Behavior In Your Home

Have you heard about the new “smart meters” that are being installed in homes all across America?  Under the guise of “reducing greenhouse gas emissions” and “reducing energy bills”, utility companies all over the United States are forcing tens of millions of American families to accept sophisticated surveillance devices in their homes.  Currently, approximately 9 percentof all electric meters in the U.S. have been converted over to smart meters.  It is being projected that by 2012, the number of smart meters in use will rise to 52 million, and the federal government is spending a lot of money to help get these installed everywhere.  Eventually the goal is to have these smart meters in all of our homes and if that ever happened there would essentially be no more privacy.  Once installed, a smart meter monitors your home every single minute of every single day and it transmits very sophisticated data about your personal behavior back to the utility company. So can’t we just tell the utility companies that we don’t want these stupid things?



Unfortunately, in many areas of the country you can’t.  For example, one outraged resident of California contacted the utility company and was told that if he did not consent to taking a smart meter he would receive no service. So unless you want to live “off the grid”, what are you going to do?  Can any of us really survive without electricity these days? The sad truth is that these things are being forced upon us. InfoWars / MadOne

High court to rule on GPS tracking

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has added a couple of high-profile constitutional challenges to its lineup of cases for next term: One looking at governmental regulation of television content and the other dealing with the authority of police to use a GPS device to track a suspect's movements without a warrant. 

In the GPS case, the court will decide whether the police need a warrant before using the device to track a suspect's movements. The justices agreed to hear the Obama administration's appeal of a court ruling that favored a criminal defendant. The federal appeals court in Washington overturned a criminal conviction because the police had no warrant for the GPS device they secretly installed on a man's car. Other appeals courts have ruled that search warrants aren't necessary for GPS tracking. The Justice Department argued that warrantless use of GPS devices does not violate the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches. It also said prompt resolution of the divergent court opinions is critically important to law enforcement.

A three-judge panel of Democratic and Republican appointees unanimously threw out the conviction and life sentence of Antoine Jones of Washington, D.C., a nightclub owner convicted of operating a cocaine distribution ring. The Justice Department said GPS devices are especially useful in early stages of an investigation, when they can eliminate the use of time-consuming stakeouts as officers seek to gather evidence.

Court: Calif. can't ban violent video game sales

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court on Monday refused to let California regulate the sale or rental of violent video games to children, saying governments do not have the power to "restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed" despite complaints about graphic violence. On a 7-2 vote, the high court upheld a federal appeals court decision to throw out the state's ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Sacramento had ruled that the law violated minors' rights under the First Amendment, and the high court agreed. 

The California law would have prohibited the sale or rental of violent games to anyone under 18. Retailers who violated the act would have been fined up to $1,000 for each infraction.

Mexican police arrest drug boss "El Brad Pitt"

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican federal police on Thursday announced the capture of a senior crime boss linked to the powerful Juarez drug cartel known as "El Brad Pitt." "It's a name given to the man by his associates. I guess they think he looks like him," a spokeswoman for federal police said, referring to the 47-year-old Hollywood star Pitt.

A police photo taken after the arrest showed Guzman to have black hair, receding slightly at the temples, dark eyes and a goatee beard. His nose appears to resemble Pitt's. Members of Mexican drug gangs commonly have nicknames which can be prosaic "El Gordo" (fatso), colorful "El Piolin" (Tweety) and often somewhat bizarre: "El Winnie Pooh". Police arrested Guzman with two other suspected drug gang members in the state capital, the city of Chihuahua. He was wanted in connection with murders, kidnapping and attacks on police and had a 500,000 peso ($42,000) reward on his head.

Cypress Hill Wins $29 Million Lawsuit Over Sample Clearance

(AllHipHop News) Soul music legend Syl Johnson lost a round in court this week, when a long-running lawsuit against rap group Cypress Hill was officially dismissed. Syl Johnson sued Cypress Hill in 2003 for copyright infringement, claiming the group illegally sampled his song "It it Because I'm Black," which was featured on the track "Interlude" on the group's hit album Black Sunday.

Cypress Hill originally won a judgment for lawyer fees and court costs in 2008, after a judge ruled that Syl Johnson's original recording was not protected under law, because it was recorded three years before the Federal Copyright Act was passed in 1972. Johnson appealed the original 2008 judgment in favor of Cypress Hill, but the appeal was dismissed on Wednesday (June 1st). Syl Johnson recorded "Is It Because I'm Black in 1968 and in 1969 his record label, Twinight Records released a version of the song on 45 RPM.

In 1972, Johnson re-recorded the song, but it was never released in the United States. Johnson didn't apply for copyright registration for the re-recording until 1997, when he realized it wasn't being protected by a valid Federal copyright.

Maria Shriver Hires Celebrity Divorce Lawyer

Maria Shriver has retained celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser to represent her in her split from Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Wasser, 42, a mother of two, has been nicknamed a "disso-queen" for her reputation for handling marital dissolutions for some of the entertainment industry's biggest names. Indeed, she has represented dozens of celebrities in their divorces and custody battles, including Robyn Gibson, Kate Walsh, Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, and Kiefer Sutherland. She has been featured in Elle and Vogue magazines and served as an on-set legal consultant for the movie, "Liar Liar". Sources told People magazine that Shriver hired Wasser before Schwarzenegger publicly admitted to fathering a love child. Shriver reportedly has not decided whether or not she will file for divorce. Huffington Post

4 MORE YEARS Congressional Leaders Reach Agreement To Extend Patriot Act

WASHINGTON — Top congressional leaders agreed Thursday to a four-year extension of the anti-terrorist Patriot Act, the controversial law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks that governs the search for terrorists on American soil. The legislation would extend three expiring provisions until June 1, 2015, officials said. 

From its inception, the law's increased surveillance powers have been criticized by liberals and conservatives alike as infringements on free speech rights and protections against unwarranted searches and seizures. Some Patriot Act opponents suggest that Osama bin Laden's demise earlier this month should prompt Congress to reconsider the law, written when the terrorist leader was at the peak of his power. But the act's supporters warn that al-Qaida splinter groups, scattered from Pakistan to the United States and beyond, may try to retaliate.
Huffington Post

Fourth Amendment Busting Sneak and Peek Warrants On the Rise

An Albuquerque television news report aired earlier this week reveals a steep increase by the federal government in the use of unconstitutional sneak and peek search warrants. “The warrants have always been around, but their use has spiked since the War on Terror and revamped Patriot Act was signed in 2005,” reports KOAT. “The number of delayed-notice search warrants spiked nationally from nearly 700 in fiscal year 2007 to approaching close to 2,000 in 2009. According to KOAT, a majority of the search warrants were not related to terrorism cases. Justice Department figures indicate the majority of the secretive warrants were issued in drug cases. 

The ACLU said it expects so-called delayed-notice warrant numbers to increase so long as the PATRIOT Act remains law. Info Wars

Republicans rejects higher taxes on oil firms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday rejected a proposal to scale back tax breaks for big oil firms, calling it a political maneuver. Democrats have crafted a bill to scrap certain tax deductions used by the five biggest oil companies, and potentially free up $21 billion over a decade to help ease the budget deficit. Eliminating the tax breaks has been a goal of President Barack Obama and the call by Democratic lawmakers has become louder as gasoline prices have hovered near $4 a gallon.

Republicans for their part are hammering Obama over high gasoline prices, which threaten to slow the economy just as it is beginning to pick up steam.Under pressure over energy costs, Obama announced on Saturday the expansion of domestic oil production in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

Bethenny Frankel $100 million lawsuit

The way Bethenny Frankel tells it, the $100 million lawsuit filed against her by a former manager is much ado about nothing. Doug Wald, the co-president of Raw, where Frankel was once a client, has alleged he's entitled to a share of the profits the reality star made from selling her Skinnygirl cocktail line shortly after she fired him. "Unfortunately, one of the signs of success is being the subject of frivolous lawsuits, like this one," Frankel told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. "This is simply someone with his hand out, who did nothing to earn it, and I am not going to be bullied."

 

The former "Real Housewives of New York" cast member reportedly raked in a whopping $120 million for the sale. Wald is seeking a 10% cut in addition to $100 million in punitive damages. But Wald may up actually owing Frankel money if she proceeds with a lawsuit of her own. "We are exploring all of our options," she told THR, "including filing counterclaims against these people." Frankel further told People that despite this hiccup, life remains "good," particularly because her family – husband Jason Hoppy and 1-year-old daughter Bryn – are doing well.

 
"But let's be clear, I am a strong woman, and I am not afraid and won't back down when I'm bullied by something with zero merit," she told the magazine. "Success is earned by hard work, not taking advantage of others."

Is a Per-Mile Driving Tax in Our Future?

The government has a problem with your new, high-mileage, low-pollution car: you aren’t paying enough in gas taxes to keep up the federal highway system. Recently, at Congress’s behest, the Congressional Budget Office studied another way to raise money; charge drivers per mile driven, rather than (or in addition to) taxing your gas. The Vehicle Mileage Tax (VMT) is meant to directly reflect some of the costs of maintaining the highways that are not a direct consequence of the gas you burn. 




The technology to track where you drive and how far is now available, as well, combining things like the E-ZPass with GPS and wireless networking. The VMT is not suggested just as a way to bring in revenue, though. It is also envisioned as a way to shape human behavior. How would it work? There are a couple of implementation possibilities. The government could mandate new cars be fit with some sort of tracking and reporting device. This means it would take 15-20 years before all vehicles are outfitted. Or it could require all drivers to have their current car retrofitted with such a device, which would be a large one-time expense. These devices could serve multiple purposes, though; they could also be used to buy insurance-by-the-mile, or deliver real-time traffic information to the driver. 


How real is the potential for this “user fee”, the government supplemented the Highway Trust Fund to the tune of $30 billion from 2008 to 2010. It could end up as a state-level program. Read up on state and federal laws and statues. Power Your Mind! MadOne/ Forbes

Criminal Charges Loom For Goldman Sachs After Scathing Senate Report

A Senate panel released a damning report accusing the likes of Goldman Sachs of engaging in massive conflicts of interest, contaminating the U.S. financial system with toxic mortgages and undermining public trust in U.S. markets in the months leading up to the financial crisis.

Senator Levin said in the release yesterday:

“Using emails, memos and other internal documents, this report tells the inside story of an economic assault that cost millions of Americans their jobs and homes, while wiping out investors, good businesses, and markets,” said Levin. “High risk lending, regulatory failures, inflated credit ratings, and Wall Street firms engaging in massive conflicts of interest, contaminated the U.S. financial system with toxic mortgages and undermined public trust in U.S. markets.  Using their own words in documents subpoenaed by the Subcommittee, the report discloses how financial firms deliberately took advantage of their clients and investors, how credit rating agencies assigned AAA ratings to high risk securities, and how regulators sat on their hands instead of reining in the unsafe and unsound practices all around them.  Rampant conflicts of interest are the threads that run through every chapter of this sordid story.”

This isn’t the first time Levin is gunning for Goldman. Back in April 2010, the Senator had a memorable back-and-forth with a Goldman executive during a testimony where the two discussed a “shitty deal” the firm was selling to clients.



In fact, Levin is referred to that very testimony yesterday saying he doesn’t think Goldman executives were being truthful about its activity, and that he would refer the testimony to the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible criminal investigations.

CEO Lloyd Blankfein at the Senate hearing

Gucci Mane Arrested For Pushing A Woman Out Of A Moving Vehicle

Gucci Mane is in trouble with the law yet again. The Atlanta rapper was arrested Friday (April 8) and charged with a misdemeanor count of battery for allegedly pushing a woman out of a moving vehicle back in January.


WSB-TV Atlanta is reporting that Gucci (born Radric Davis) was arrested while visiting his probation officer at the Georgia Department of Corrections Probation Office by the DeKalb County Fugitive Squad. MTV News obtained the incident report from the DeKalb County police, and the details are eye-opening.


On the morning of January 28, the victim, a a 36-year-old Atlanta resident, was at the South DeKalb Mall when she was approached by a male driving a white Hummer who turned out to be Gucci Mane. The victim says Gucci asked if she wanted to get breakfast and she entered the vehicle after agreeing. However, once in the vehicle, Gucci allegedly offered the victim $150 to "go to the hotel." It is when she refused and asked to be returned to the mall that the rapper allegedly leaned over to open the passenger side door and proceeded to shove her out of the car, after several tries, while the vehicle was in motion. Mtv.com