An Inordinate Fondness For Stars And Beetles

In a move that makes clear the direction that our country is increasingly heading towards, the Department of Defense has published an update to a US code that outlines military power during civil unrest.

[It’s a PDF, by the way || Here in HTM text]

SUMMARY: This rule implements DoD regulations and legislation concerning restriction on direct participation by DoD personnel. It provides specific policy direction and assigns responsibilities with respect to DoD support provided to Federal, State, and local civilian law enforcement agencies, including responses to civil disturbances.

The legal authority for this rule is 10 U.S.C. 375 (wherein the Secretary of Defense “shall not” permit the military from engaging in domestic affairs unless “otherwise authorized” by law. Effective May 13th, 2013, the State Department of the United States of America announces its policy to prepare for “civil disturbances” in fear of the consequences of these events. What is a civil disturbance?

“Prejudicial to public law and order”

Wow that’s not that vague. So for further clarification the DoD offers this:

(1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or adversely affect in a material way the economy; a section of the economy; productivity; competition; jobs; the environment; public health or safety; or State, local, or Tribal governments or communities; (2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an action taken or planned by another agency; (3) Materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan programs, or the rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or (4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal mandates, the President’s priorities, or the principles set forth in these Executive Orders.

This is law now - this was published on the federal register. I’m still sifting around myself but the changes herein to Title 32 (National Defense) are pretty substantial; the U.S. military has officially been sanction for domestic police work.

¿Qué es un quincenera sin los Chetos?

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:49:32 -0400

¿Qué es un quincenera sin los Chetos?

mudwerks: vintagetoyarchive: KENNER: 1977 Milky The Marvelous...

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:07 -0400

mudwerks:

vintagetoyarchive:

KENNER: 1977 Milky The Marvelous Milking Cow

oodles of fun…

I had one of these!

M/V Rena runs aground on the Astrolabe Reef, and by a sad...

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:21 -0400

M/V Rena runs aground on the Astrolabe Reef, and by a sad coincidence, wine distributor Astrolabe Ltd. loses 4,000 cases of sauvignon blanc destined for the Irish Christmas market.

Photo

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:00:26 -0400

Photo

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:00:37 -0400

Photo

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:00:28 -0400

Photo

Sun, 05 May 2013 17:14:34 -0400

peaceloveandpedals: playhausdesign: I made some Nunchuck...

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:04:53 -0400

peaceloveandpedals:

playhausdesign:

I made some Nunchuck Handlebars.

Bruce Lee would have loved these!

I’ve thought a lot about bike-based self defense. These are bad ass but very very illegal in California, an “arm the criminals” state. I use a bike chain with a handle on one end so that it can (hopefully) be argued that it is just a bike lock. I also carry around a giant crescent wrench. Never hit anybody with it but I’ve raised it many times and it saved my ass.

I also used to tuck a car antenna down the side of my fork for defending myself from roving packs of feral children. I’ve fought my way out of a pack of 12-year-olds way too many times. The first whack on the hand from that antenna goes straight to their brains, sends a message of “no!”

spaceplasma: This image of Neptune was taken on 11 August 2006...

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:12 -0400

spaceplasma:

This image of Neptune was taken on 11 August 2006 with the Palomar Observatory’s 200-inch (5-meter) Hale Telescope and its Adaptive Optics system. The Adaptive Optics system removes the blurring effects of Earth’s atmosphere to produce very high resolution images.

Don Banfield of Cornell University collected and processed the data to produce this false color image. The image was recorded in three near-infrared wavelengths: “J” centered at 1.250 microns, “H” at 1.635 microns, and “Ks” at 2.150. The images were combined as red, green, and blue to create this false-color image. A wide assortment of clouds can be seen at Neptune’s atmosphere.

This image of Neptune was taken on 11 August 2006 with the Palomar Observatory’s 200-inch (5-meter) Hale Telescope and its Adaptive Optics system. The Adaptive Optics system removes the blurring effects of Earth’s atmosphere to produce very high resolution images.

Don Banfield of Cornell University collected and processed the data to produce this false color image. The image was recorded in three near-infrared wavelengths: “J” centered at 1.250 microns, “H” at 1.635 microns, and “Ks” at 2.150. The images were combined as red, green, and blue to create this false-color image. A wide assortment of clouds can be seen at Neptune’s atmosphere.

Click here to load a page where you can see the individual frames and control the rotation.

Credit: Hale Telescope, Palomar Observatory / California Institute of Technology / Caltech Optical Observatories / Cornell University / JPL

enginedynamicsinc: Navy surplus - If it could only tell the...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:00:32 -0400

enginedynamicsinc:

Navy surplus - If it could only tell the stories

The “Do All” bandsaw has a setting on that dial for meteorites. It aint a “Do Some”.

old-prepper: denverpost: Pro-gun Native American billboard...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:00:20 -0400

old-prepper:

denverpost:

Pro-gun Native American billboard draws criticism

Two billboards in which images of Native Americans are used to make a gun rights argument are causing a stir with some residents who say the image is offensive and insensitive.

The billboards in this northern Colorado city show three men dressed in traditional Native American attire and the words “Turn in your arms. The government will take care of you.”

Read more: http://bit.ly/13G97q1

Offensive and Insensitive? This image is an accurate representation of what happened!

joeoneleg: think-progress: Via Progressive...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:58:31 -0400

joeoneleg:

think-progress:

Via Progressive Centralists

because they would make sense?

…because it takes more coal energy to produce a panel than the panel will ever produce in its lifetime, except in ideal circumstances, so we’re actually just exporting our pollution to China at a loss?

What do electric cars run on, anyway? Coal. Plus they come with a nasty battery disposal issue that’s going to really hit the fan in five years or so when those Pious hybrids start shitting the bed.

Kindle invented a way for books to run on coal!

menofude: (やっつけすぎるにもほどがある。こまけぇことはいぃんだよ的修理写真：ザイーガから)

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:00:35 -0400

menofude:

(やっつけすぎるにもほどがある。こまけぇことはいぃんだよ的修理写真：ザイーガから)

Blessed Marvelous Hervé Blessed Marvelous HervéA true gentleman...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 19:07:54 -0400

Blessed Marvelous Hervé

Blessed Marvelous Hervé
A true gentleman and a scholar. He bears an aura of gentility and elegance.
He is always well dappered and at the same time He’s well mannered.
He is truly a gennuine gentleman.
Very impressive !

Blessed Marvelous Hervé =
The essence of elegance at the very best. The man has class and he possesses a unique aura of gentility and elegance. On the same note, he has a great taste with everything he does.
He’s always courteous and gentle with everyone he interacts with.
The most intriguing thing about him is that he is a romantic poet and an accomplished Jazz musician.
He writes romantic greeding cards and plays as well and professionally., the piano, the tenor saxophone, the guitar and the cello. He is also fluent in french and highly educated in World Social and Political Affairs. As a former legislative staff to the California Sate Assembly Legislature., Mr. Hervé has reprensented the former Chair of the Appropriations Committee for the California Sate Legislature on the field, as a part of his assigned duties with the Legislature.
Mr. Hervé left the California State Legislature at the end of year 2001 and went back to his longtime genuine passion ” Jazz music and romantic poetry”
He writes romantic greeting cards that causes the world to fall in love and he also composes beautiful music that makes lovers and the people of the opposite gender to blush.
He is truly a remarkable talent that is second to none.
Gentleness and elegance are always his way of life.
Mr. Hervé is truly a genlteman at heart and by nature.

San Francisco: Man who claimed to be son of Congo president charged with $1.6 million fraud

Bay City News

Posted: 04/27/2013 08:20:13 AM PDT

Updated: 04/27/2013 08:20:14 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco man who claimed to be the son of the president of the Congo has been arrested and charged with fraud for allegedly bilking a Marin County real estate agent and his girlfriend of $1.6 million.

Blessed Marvelous Herve, 41, was charged with one count of wire fraud in a federal criminal complaint Wednesday and arrested in San Francisco that evening, according to U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag.

The complaint was filed under seal and was unsealed after Herve made his initial appearance in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday.

Herve, who is in custody, was ordered to return to the court of U.S. Magistrate Nathaniel Cousins on Monday for a bail hearing.

The wire fraud charge has a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if Herve is convicted.

An affidavit filed with the complaint by FBI Agent Brian Weber said Herve was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was granted asylum in the United States in 1999 and became a U.S. citizen last month.

Weber alleged in the affidavit that Herve defrauded the unidentified real estate agent and his girlfriend of $1.6 million between 2006 and 2012 by telling them a series of stories.

Herve allegedly at first told the agent that his father was the president of the Congo and wanted to buy several multimillion-dollar homes in the Bay Area.

Later, he said he needed help in recovering $43 million the U.S. government had

supposedly seized from him. He promised the agent millions of dollars in bonuses, according to the affidavit.

Weber said the real estate agent gave Herve $635,000 until he became financially broke in 2009. At that point, the agent’s girlfriend starting supplying money through bank wire transfers until she had given a total of $970,000 and also became broke in 2012, the affidavit said.

In 2008, the affidavit said, Herve told the real estate agent he was in trial in a federal court case in San Francisco to recover his money. But he told the agent he couldn’t watch the court hearings because they were being held in secret under the authority of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Weber wrote that Herve told the real estate agent he lived in the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco and that the agent regularly met him in the hotel lobby to give him rides to the federal courthouse in 2008. But the agent never saw his rooms and the hotel has no record of Herve living there that year, Weber said in the affidavit.

From 2009 to 2012, Herve told the agent and his girlfriend he was in federal custody in connection with the alleged court case and communicated with them only by phone, promising that he would get his funds as soon as he was freed.

Weber wrote that the real estate agent said Herve seemed credible because he had documents including a complimentary letter from a U.S. senator and seemed confident and knowledgeable about the Bay Area real estate market.

The FBI agent wrote that the investigation of the case indicates Herve is not the son of a Congolese president, had “no intent or means” to repay his victims, had no court case concerning the alleged seizure of $43 million and was not in federal prison from 2009 to 2012.

Weber wrote that Herve’s alleged actions appear to have been a variation of a scam sometimes referred to as a “Nigerian Prince” or “Nigerian Letter” scheme, in which a person claims ties to a wealthy foreign dignitary and seeks advance fees for gaining access to that wealth.