Crisis Begets Opportunity

Chicago ‘Safe Passage’ routes put to test amid more shootings

"Six hundred newly hired Safe Passage workers in yellow vests fanned out early Monday along 53 new routes marked with bright yellow 'Safe Passage' signs. The new routes are an expansion of an already existing program that Emanuel has touted as a success. The routes, released less than three weeks ago, are meant to offset any hazards that could arise as children walk unfamiliar sidewalks and, many parents worry, cross gang boundaries to get to their new schools. The program has garnered negative news coverage for what critics say is an ill-thought-out plan that was hatched at the last minute. CPS approved in June the closure of 49 elementary schools and a high school program." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChicago ‘Safe Passage’ routes put to test amid more shootings

Al-Qaeda ‘targeting European rail network’: report

"Al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on Europe’s high-speed rail network, German mass circulation daily Bild reported, citing intelligence sources. The extremist group could plant explosives on trains and tunnels or sabotage tracks and electrical cabling, said Bild. Bild said the information came from the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States, which had listened in to a conference call involving top Al-Qaeda operatives. The attacks on Europe’s rail network was a 'central topic' of this call, Bild said. Authorities in Germany have responded to the threat with discrete measures such as deploying plain-clothed police officers at key stations and on main routes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAl-Qaeda ‘targeting European rail network’: report

US Set to Launch ‘Iraq, The Sequel’, in Syria

"If you liked the run up to the US attack on Iraq, with the lurid fictional tales of mobile chemical weapons labs and Saddam's nukes, you will love 'Iraq, The Sequel', currently unfolding in Syria. It is everything the interventionists have been hoping for: a heady brew of Kosovo, Iraq, and Libya all rolled into one. The possibility for an infinitely more toxic conflagration is exponentially higher, to boot, adding for the interventionists much excitement to the mix. A fourth US warship capable of launching the type of cruise missiles that turned Libya to rubble and paved the way for al-Qaeda affiliates to take control of that country is now rushing to the waters off of Syria." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Set to Launch ‘Iraq, The Sequel’, in Syria

Transparent Hoax Could Lead to War

"Those rollicking jihadists, the Syrian rebels, love a joke: although they can be deadly serious – such as when they’re eating the internal organs of their enemies – what they enjoy more than anything is a really good prank. There was the time they claimed the Assad regime was killing babies in incubators – not very original, but hey, it worked for the Kuwaitis! Then there was the 'massacre' at Houla, which was alleged to have killed 32 children and over 60 adults: a photo started appearing in the mainstream media, documenting the slaughter. The state-supported BBC was first to run with it – until it was discovered the supposedly incriminating photo was taken in Iraq during the recent war." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTransparent Hoax Could Lead to War

Papers Please: TSA-Style Checkpoints at UK Bus & Train Stations

"‘Airport-style’ security checkpoints are being rolled out at local bus and train stations up and down the UK after local pilot schemes conducted over the last two years were deemed a success by police. The checkpoints comprise metal detector arches, drug-sniffing dogs, police pat-downs and bag searches. The reason? To 'help people who use public transport feel safer.' Over the last couple of years more and more of these ‘security’ checkpoints have been quietly introduced at local bus and train stations across the UK under a number of pretexts that simply don’t bear scrutiny." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPapers Please: TSA-Style Checkpoints at UK Bus & Train Stations

Concealed Carry Proves Guns Are Part of Solution to Gun Violence

"In his seminal work, 'More Guns, Less Crime,' scholar John Lott brought together FBI crime stats to show not only that concealed carry lowers crime but that it it lowers violent crime especially. During the early 1990s, as concealed carry laws were being instituted around the country, Lott observed the impact on crime at the county level: 'When state concealed-carry handgun laws went into effect in a county, murder fell by about 8 percent, rapes fell by 5 percent, and aggravated assaults fell by 7 percent.' Yet the mainstream media seizes on one criminal use of a gun to ban guns altogether?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingConcealed Carry Proves Guns Are Part of Solution to Gun Violence

Henry Hazlitt at The New York Times

"Hazlitt was the top man in economics at the most influential newspaper in the world during the most important period of revolution in the history of the United States. This is not a story that the American Left is aware of. Hazlitt was the most prominent disciple of Ludwig von Mises in the United States during these years. He was by far the most effective voice of liberty in the country, both in his ability to write and the influence of his position. The American Right forgets this. In an era of neoconservative dominance, Hazlitt’s libertarianism is not part of an intellectual legacy that the leadership of the conservative political movement chooses to highlight." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHenry Hazlitt at The New York Times

Hackers who targeted media last year now targeting think tanks

"The hackers who penetrated the computer network of The New York Times last year have resurfaced with an attack on 'an organization involved in shaping economic policy,' experts warned Monday. The security firm FireEye said the original perpetrators 'appear to be mounting fresh assaults that leverage new and improved versions of malware.' Chinese officials repeatedly denied responsibility for the attacks, and since then the United States has in turn been accused of penetrating foreign networks through the spy programs revealed by leaker Edward Snowden. FireEye said it had detected 'a retooling of what security researchers believe is a massive spying operation based in China.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHackers who targeted media last year now targeting think tanks

DEA Bans Security Companies, Armored Cars From Serving Pot Dispensaries

"Less than two weeks after Attorney General Eric Holderannounced plans for sweeping drug sentencing reform to help fix a 'broken system,' the Drug Enforcement Administration has ordered security and armored vehicle companies to quit serving state-legal cannabis providers, according to industry sources. Armored vehicles allow California's legal medical marijuana dispensaries a secure way to transport large amounts of cash. The services are critical, since federal authorities pressured banks and credit card companies to stop servicing the pot industry in 2011." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDEA Bans Security Companies, Armored Cars From Serving Pot Dispensaries

Venezuela will install 30,000 surveillance cameras

"Venezuela is installing 30,000 surveillance cameras to crack down on rampant crime, officials said Wednesday. Most of the Chinese-made equipment will be put up in the capital Caracas. Some is already in place in a municipality within the Caracas metropolitan area as part of a pilot program. The equipment, manufactured by Chinese company CEIEC, will be delivered to Venezuela under cooperation agreements agreed by Caracas and Beijing. The information picked up by the devices will be made available to police for use in crime probes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVenezuela will install 30,000 surveillance cameras