Anonymous hacks Oakland officials in retaliation for OWS crackdowns

Concerned with the continuous acts of police brutality perpetrated by law enforcement in Oakland, California, the online group Anonymous has published the personal details of some of the city’s leading officials.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Police Chief Howard Johnson and several members of the City Council are targeted in the loose-knit collective’s latest release, which is being touted as retaliation for the ongoing unjust actions by way of the Oakland Police Department and the mayor herself directed at Occupy Oakland. Since its inception, the Occupy Wall Street offshoot in the city of Oakland has undergone intense police scrutiny and spawned several city-wide demonstrations, repeatedly marred by violence made possible by an overzealous police response that often involves the deployment of weaponry to disrupt peaceful protests. - In the latest posting by an alleged member of Anonymous, the city’s actions are called into questioned. “Since the inception of Occupy Oakland, we have been actively monitoring your behavior and exposing the identities and sensitive information of Officers of the Oakland Police Department; as they have continued to act in an unprofessional and violent manner,” a member writes on a website affiliated with the group. “You tear gassed us. You shot us with your weapons. You arrested us. You beat us. You also did this to our friends and to our families.”

'Hysteria' over Russia veto after West jumps the gun at UN +

Russia and China are facing a barrage of criticism from some Western and Arab states for their decision to block the latest UN resolution on Syria. Moscow has already dubbed the reaction 'hysterical', saying the resolution took a biased approach to resolving the civil conflict. RT's Sara Firth was in Syria when the diplomatic showdown began.

The Silver Paradigm Shift

Bill Gates Pours Millions Into Toxic Global Bio/Geoengineering

Billionaire funds projects aimed at injecting upper atmosphere with sulphur particles. Paul Joseph Watson Source

Obama freezes all Iranian assets in the US

The United States has escalated tensions with Iran once again, this after mad President Obama called for a freeze of all Iranian assets

Local News: 'Bristol Pound' to boost independent traders

The Euro is in trouble, the world's financial system is in turmoil. Is this the perfect time for cities to go it alone and print their own money?

A group of independent traders in Bristol are launching their own currency, with the backing of the council and a credit union.

The "Bristol Pound" will be printed in notes, and also traded electronically. There are other local currencies in the UK, but this is the first which can be used to pay local business taxes. Ciaran Mundy, the director of the Bristol Pound, explained the concept behind the currency.

"Big companies just hoover up money from a local area," he told me. "Money goes into their financial system and typically out into London and into the offshore sector."

Corporate challenge - But by definition, Bristol pounds must stay in the city. Spend a tenner in a Bristol bakery, and they must use it to pay their suppliers or staff. In turn, those companies will have to use the money within the local economy. "We'll be driving more business to independent traders and ensuring the diversity of our city, which is one of the things people love about Bristol," Mr Mundy said.

Atlanta Street Gang Members Videotaped Brutal Hate Crime Attack On "Faggot"

Members of an Atlanta street gang were filmed beating a man who was brutally assaulted because “faggots” were not allowed in their neighborhood, according to a videotape of the apparent hate crime.

The 30-second clip, posted today to the Worldstar Hip Hop web site, was shot outside a grocery store in Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood. The business, located at 1029 McDaniel Street SW, is a popular congregating spot for members of the Pittsburgh Jack City Gang (or “PBJC”). The group has also used the name “Jack City 1029.”

BBC bans the word ‘Palestine’ from recent broadcast

What rapper Mic Righteous was actually trying to say was ‘Free Palestine’, but the word ‘Palestine’, it seems, has been categorized as a dangerous word by the BBC. According to the BBC censors, using the two words together – free and Palestine, is classed as “contentious”.

A "Quality Assessment" Of US Jobs Reveals The Ugliest Picture Yet

Submitted by Tyler Durden: Over the past week we have repeatedly exposed the BLS' shennanigans to both keep the headline unemployment rate suppressed and to generate an upward bias in the market courtesy of a "bigger than expected beat" of expectations. Granted, various semantics experts continue to scratch their heads in attempting to explain a collapsing labor force when even Goldman's Sven Jari Stehn just predicted that it will drop to 63.1% by the end of 2012 (and 62.5% by the end of 2015). Funny then that the US will have no unemployment left when the participation rate drops to 58.5%.

And no, the "population soared argument based on revised data" doesn't quite cut it when the bulk of said surge not only did not get a job, but was not even counted toward the labor force. Yet what the biggest flaw with all these arguments that vainly (and veinly) attempt to defend the US economy as if it is growing, is that they focus exclusively on the quantity of jobs, doctored or not, and completely ignore the quality. We have decided to step in and fill this void.

Mike Norman on Austerity in Europe, Debt Deflation, and the Emasculation of Wall Street?

As Greek debt talks continue to painfully drag on, new EU statistics speak to the success of debt crisis policy prescriptions in counties forced to seek bailouts...THET DEBT, rose in Greece, Portugal and Ireland in Q3 of 2011. So when is this giant elephant in the room going to be confronted? Are politicians and economist alike at all interested in confronting a reality where debt levels are now cursing any hopes for future growth? And the cover of New York magazine shows a wall street banker holding his recently "emasculated" genitalia. Is this for real? Are we really to believe that Wall Street has been emasculated? How about we see some of these financial criminals face charges for their roles and maybe go to jail?

Night raids and hit lists - new Afghan exit strategy for US?

The Pentagon recently revealed plans to revamp its military strategy in Afghanistan, hoping to end combat operations there a year earlier than expected. As the US prepares to pull the plug on the war, however, they will meanwhile increase its Special Operations teams, and perhaps for a while to come.

Preparing for the pull-back in Afghanistan, Pentagon officials say this week that the US will begin shifting away from combat missions overseas and will instead rely more heavily on Special Operations. Rather than focusing on repeated assaults across the Afghan countryside, senior Pentagon officials tell reporters that now they will emphasize on Special Ops, concentrating their efforts on training local allied forces to fight against insurgency. Additionally, the US Special Ops teams will continue ongoing missions to tackle top leaders with terrorist ties.

While the Department of Defense announced last week that the role of combat troops will be diminished in the year to come, Special Ops forces could keep on the offensive in Afghanistan for a while longer. The New York Times writes that the number of Special Ops forces that will stay behind after America’s combat role comes to a close could stretch into the thousands and grow well after the (undeclared) war is officially over.

400 Chernobyls, Solar Flares, EMP & Nuclear Armageddon with Author Matt Stein

Alex talks with environmentalist, bestselling author, and MIT trained engineer Matt Stein, who will talk about his article, 400 Chernobyls: Solar Flares, EMP, and Nuclear Armageddon. Stein's latest book is When Technology Fails.