[An Nahar] U.S. prosecutors have dropped human trafficking charges against a Saudi princess accused of holding a Kenyan housekeeper against her will, officials said Friday.
Meshael Alayban, one of six wives of Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud, had been due to enter a plea in court to the felony charges, filed against her in July.
But Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced unexpectedly that he was dropping the charges, due to insufficient evidence.
The 42-year-old princess could have faced up to 12 years in prison if convicted of felony human trafficking. She has been free on $5 million bail, although required to wear a GPS tracking device.
The 30-year-old Kenyan housekeeper alleged that Alayban had forced her to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for $220 a month, according to the Los Angeles Times. She also claimed she could not leave because Alayban kept her passport and other documents.
But the Saudi's lawyers Paul S. Meyer and Jennifer Keller said the housekeeper traveled to Orange County in first class, had her own cellphone and shopped at neighborhood malls at Alayban's expense.
Rackauckas had described the case as "an example of forced labor."
The alleged victim, who has not been publicly identified, left Alayban's apartment on July 9 and flagged down a passing bus, claiming that she had been held against her will.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2013 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Moslem Values again.
Its quite common , you know.
#3
Given that the case rested on the domestic's testimony, I'd say there's a 50-50 chance she made up the whole thing as a way to strong arm her employer for cash.
#6
Me BS meter's atwitchn. A different article mentioned a possible motive for getting asylum in the US. Maybe, she figured, Oba-me's daughters look like her...
#3
You know, over the years I have come to realize that many in Great Britain, Canada and Australia, are much , much more interested in what goes on in the US than the activities occurring in their own countries. This is especially true with their media types.
I didn't understand how wide spread this was until the 2004 Presidential elections when so many of them shared the belief that they should be able to vote in American elections.
Geeze, people.
Posted by: Jefferson ||
09/21/2013 11:12 Comments ||
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#4
Babe you are so right, we are set the style, cover the bets and enforce the law. Part of us enjoy the shit out of it, but an enlarging percentage wants the world to die in it's own slime. Me? Well, just don't make any fast moves.
Earlier in the week, 100 million firearms owners did not go to Washington DC, enter into a secured US Navy facility, sneak a Remington 12 gauge pump shotgun inside, kill one guard and wound another, then go to a building where they knew others would be for the sole purpose of killing them.
Of those 100 million some of them were probably mentally ill by today's standards, and a lot of them, a lot more of them owned firearms considered by today's standards to be "illegal". They probably go around angry about things, family, friends, co-workers and the like, some even about the nut-crushing government we have which is still growing.
Yet a young man in his 30s, unmarried, childless, unattached in any meaningful sense, with a relatively good career in information technology did all that mayhem in Washington, DC which cost the lives of 12 and ruined the lives of many others.
Immediately following the shooting politicos, amateur and otherwise focused on the wrong things: what caused him to "snap", where did he get the weapons he used, etc. Very rarely in paid media did I read anything about how the man was just a treacherous asshole.
We have those in abundance in the United States, many of them with their hands on the media's microphones and some of whose writings appear in dead tree and digital media, whose sole goal in life is to use the US Constitution to wreck the parts they don't like, such as guns.
For all the many moments of belly drops we get from these incidents and the many more to come, nothing is worse than what the dead and the wounded experienced just before they were shot. Nothing could have prepared them for those shootings, save for the one thing our fascists in the media say they want to take away from everyone.
Guns.
So, what do the media focus on? The shooter? Sure, that's an obvious choice, but mostly the first thing proffered as a "solution" is gun control. They focus on everyone else, the 100 million firearms owners who would not, who could not conceive of such an act, but who wish to be both left alone to their own lives, and to be allowed to defend themselves against treacherous assholes like the shooter in Washington, DC.
Pointing out the shooter's pro-Obama pedigree doesn't help, nor does pointing out his penchant for "violent" video games; nor does imposing common sense gun laws. The only deterrent against a treacherous asshole is private individuals with guns who are ready to use them.
Speaking of treacherous assholes, a University of Kansas journalism professor (I know, shut up), for all intents and purposes on Twitter threatened the children of National Rifle association members for their role in the Washington, DC murders, which, in case you haven't been following, had no role in that incident. The University of Kansas supported David Guth's right to say what he did, but later suspended him for saying what he said.
And they say the 1st amendment is not alive and well in the United States.
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9mm Parabellum, 115 grain, From Last Week: +.02 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bangit Ammo, Precision One, reloaded, .30 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: Fitz Munition Works (all brass), reloaded, .27 per round
.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: +.12 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bud's Gun Shop, CCL Blazer, .50 per round
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Rifle Ammunition
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Guns for Private Sale
Rifles
.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average price: $990 Last Week Avg: $940
California: Custom AR-15: $1,250
Texas: Colt Sporter Match: $800
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.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,320 Last Week Avg: $1,570
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Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com.
#2
The only thing surprising about the KU teacher is the invokation of God. In that town, it makes him a moderate. Used to be a neat, exciting, diverse place then sometime in the mid 90's it went limp - now going downtown for a naked lunch is five star prices at three star quality and costs 10% extra for the snobbery.
It is also the university which produced the history teacher who wrote up the wet dream of Tea Party members rising up and being smacked down by the US military.
Also, they tried to evict the Chik-fil-A from the student union, but are so weekend neo-hippy and yuppy neo-liberal that the self vaunted Berkley-on-Kaw couldn't even get that done. Bunch of losers.
Are there good people there, sure of course, but they don't win the city council elections. The tradition of utopian policies has made the downtown area they campaign to protect so expensive that small businesses last about three years, and to keep the place from looking like a shuttered mess they started allowing chain restaurants in who can afford the taxes and expenses, so now it looks more like an open air shopping mall with designated drugged-out panhandle areas because it is a sanctuary city.
The kind of people who will praise the valor of suicide bombers, then wet their panties for suggesting a 20ga for trap shooting.
#3
One of the images I remember from downtown, other than the acid king with the clown hair directing traffic in a 4 traffic light intersection, was a building which had a really neat business had been shuttered, and on the door was a "Yes We Did" sticker.
[Al Ahram] A civilian was rubbed out in a drive-by shooting in northeast Cairo on Friday morning, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
Gunmen in a private vehicle, accompanied by a pickup truck, opened fire with machine guns at security personnel after speeding through a checkpoint in the capital's Al-Marg district.
Police have tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! at least two of the assailants.
A 23-year-old man was killed in the attack and a policeman was injured.
The gunnies were trying to flee in a stolen vehicle and the attack was not politically motivated, according to Al-Ahram.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
(1) fire with machine guns at security personnel
(2) A 23-year-old man was killed in the attack and a policeman was injured.
#4
Green peace is setting themselves up for an epic fail. A more serious terrorist organization will disguise themselves as green peace and commit a larger event. Once that happens greenies attacking an oil well will be met with immediate violent intervention.
#7
Without PR they're just a bunch of trust fund bored teenagers out to TP someone's house cause they can't think of something practical to do with their lives.
#13
"The last time a Greenpeace ship was seized was in 1985," the environmental group said on its Twitter feed, referring to the notorious sinking of its "Rainbow Warrior" in a covert operation by French secret services off the coast of New Zealand that year.
#15
Now if Putie would just direct their unofficial hacking army to show us how to raid Greenpeace's bank accounts and publicly release their donor lists, that might be fun.
The fast expansion of disability here is part of a national trend that has seen the number of former workers receiving benefits soar from just over 5 million to 8.8 million between 2000 and 2012. An additional 2.1 million dependent children and spouses also receive benefits. Yet my WASP brother, mostly unemployed for ten years and living with me for eight, did not qualify. But he was manic-depressive. Jus' sayin'.
The growth of the disability rolls has accelerated since the recession hit in 2007. As the labor market tightened, workers with disabilities that employers previously accommodated on the job -- painful hips, mental disorders, weak hearts -- were often the first to go. Finding new work often proved difficult, causing many to turn to the disability rolls for support. But see, with Obamacare, those folks would all have insurance, so would be employable, right?
Policymakers say the program's biggest vulnerability is the subjective criteria that create a large gray area for applicants. A worker with physical impairments that are difficult to document precisely, like a bad back, can tolerate the condition while on the job but claim it as a reason to go on disability if he falls out of work for a prolonged period.
Many recipients first go on unemployment, which can last a few months or even more than year. Disability, by contrast, can pay out benefits for decades. The vast majority of recipients never return to work. I couldn't live like that. Neither could my brother, who is now teaching at a Christian school in Korea, and lovin' it.
"The disability program is increasingly becoming a long-term unemployment program," said a Cornell University professor who co-wrote a book on disability policy and has testified before Congress about the program. "We see a lot of it now because of the effects of the recession."
The program, which is mostly funded by the Social Security payroll tax, paid out $135 billion in 2012, and it has spent more money than it has collected in payroll taxes every year since 2009, according to the Congressional Budget Office. People on disability can receive Medicare after two years, regardless of age, which adds another $80 billion to the program's tab. How you gonna get 'em out on the farm, after they've seen disability?
When President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Social Security disability program into law in 1956, it was envisioned as a safety net for people ages 50 to 64 who could not continue working because of long-term medical problems. But I bet it has expanded every year since then, like all government "good ideas".
The age criterion has since been unexpectedly! broadened. Applicants are subjected to a detailed process in which Social Security examiners, administrative law judges and sometimes the federal courts pore over their medical records to evaluate their claims.
But many of the judgments are ultimately subjective: More than half of awards go to applicants who claim musculoskeletal disorders or mental impairments that are often hard to document conclusively. When in doubt, pay it out! After all, it "Somebody Else's Money" Unexpectedly The number of people on the disability rolls has been growing rapidly even though workers report being ever healthier in surveys. They are also less likely than ever to have physically demanding jobs. Sittin' an me fanny all day be hard!
The nation's aging population explains part of the increase. As workers age, they are more likely to develop physical or mental impairments. Or just get tired of being among the minority working class and get drawn into the Gubbamint's web.
The growth in the number of women in the workforce -- which expanded the number of people covered by the program -- is also seen as a factor in disability's expansion. Changes in program eligibility in 1984 made it easier to qualify for the program with maladies such as pain and depression. Lawmakers are concerned that some states have encouraged unemployed workers with disabilities to apply for the program, shifting the economic burden for the jobless to the federal government. Karma, Baby! What goes around, comes around!
"The bad economy has coincided with baby boomers hitting the disability-prone years," said Daniel W. Emery, a disability lawyer in South Portland, Maine. "Most people want to work. But employers are less apt to make accommodations when the economy is down. One thing I always ask people is whether they liked their jobs. Often, people just tear up when you ask them that."
Benefits are hardly generous. They average $1,130 a month, and recipients are eligible for Medicare after two years. But with workers without a high school diploma earning a median wage of $471 per week, disability benefits are increasingly attractive for the large share of American workers who have seen both their pay and job options constricted. I imagine they do not pay taxes on that pittance, either, being disabled and all.
In 2004, nearly one in five male high school dropouts between ages 55 and 64 were in the disability program, according to a study. That rate was more than double that of high school graduates of the same age in the program and more than five times higher than the 3.7 percent of college graduates of that age who collect disability. I smell racism coming on!
These days, LaPorte spends a lot of his free time riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle to bike rallies around New England. He enjoys the freedom, but he said he would prefer to be working than collecting a government check. "I wanted to go to work," he said. "I love making paper. Fifty-eight is a ridiculous age to retire." [wipes tear] yur breakin' my heart, Laddie!
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/21/2013 08:44 ||
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#1
It's not racism Bobby, it's the lack of jobs for the marginally skilled, older workers. Coal miners in particular have hit the government for their check, the government having previously shut down their livelihood. I see some of the same thing in pulpwooding due to crazy safety rules. I can't find myself being too outraged when a 50 year old miner is out of work and needs cash and finds a sympathetic doctor (a local guy for sure). It a pisser, but I dunno, I just dunno.
#2
OK, Ship. I feel for the unemployed, less for the unemployable and I blame DC.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/21/2013 11:05 Comments ||
Top||
#3
...My wife, who has an immensely painful skin condition as well as bipolar, was turned down for disability earlier this year. The judge (and I want to make it clear I have no grudge against her; she listened fairly and has a reputation as being extremely fair and evenhanded) felt that my wife may have been exaggerating her symptoms. Since this was the second denial, there's not much we can do now.
What bothers me are the people I see who have never held a paying job - or tried to - in their entire lives. When I was working for a local loan shark finance company, I saw - quite literally - entire families where no one had ever tried to hold down constructive employment. Many of them had been pickling their brains from an early age, and then as soon as they were eligible applied for disability on the grounds that they were alcoholics. Granted, and from what I could see, without exception.
I have no grudge against the system or the people we dealt with - We played by the rules, and I have no reason to believe we were treated anything other than fairly given our circumstances and my wife's claim. I cannot, however, help but think that if she had simply made the decision not to stay clean and sober and try to work, but instead just stay home stoned and drunk, she would have a check.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/21/2013 11:08 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I received an application from a tweeker which said she wanted to be paid in cash because she is on disability.
There is the safety net, and then there is the hammock.
...Ship, it's hard to explain. Maybe the best way to put it is that I've worked with the Government in one way or another since I was 18. We did what we were supposed to do to make our case, and to the best of our ability to determine things, we were treated respectfully and fairly - we just didn't get the results we hoped for. In my life and my family, when this happens you suck it up and press on. :D
Now, on the other hand - if somebody shows me proof that my wife lost while somebody else was unfairly awarded disability, then all bets are off.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/21/2013 17:16 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... on Friday insisted that Ukraine free tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko if it expects to sign a deal bringing Kiev closer to Europe.
"Requests from the EU on Tymoshenko's case are still on the table," Lithuanian President Dalia Gribauskaite told news hounds at a regional forum in Yalta in southern Ukraine.
"Without a solution of this question I do not see a possibility for the signing of the (association) agreement," she added.
The EU, whose rotating presidency is currently held by Lithuania, has pressed Ukraine to release Tymoshenko or at least allow her to seek medical help abroad for back problems which had kept her in hospital for most of her prison term.
In August, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych pledged to fulfill all the conditions put forward by the EU to sign the agreement, but gave no hint of a breakthrough in the dispute with Brussels over the jailing of Tymoshenko.
He reiterated Friday that he has no legal authority to free Tymoshenko as it is up the courts to decide, but added that he had not yet given a "no" answer.
"We are trying, we are looking for how to approach this most difficult issue related to Tymoshenko," he said, arguing there are pending cases against the opposition leader which "have to be answered".
Kiev is hoping to sign the Association Agreement at the EU's Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November, which would be a first formal step on the road to EU membership.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Four accused in a murder case were bumped offed allegedly by their rivals while two constables sustained injuries in a firing incident in front of additional district and session judge's court at Sangla Hill here on Thursday.
Police said Asad, Husnain, Asif and Adnan of Badu Mallhi village were accused in a murder case and were produced in the court of AD&SJ Mian Shabbir Husain. As they came out of the court escorted by Sangla Hill city police, four people belonging to their rival group opened fire killing them on the spot.
Constables Ehsan and Munshi also received injuries and were shifted to Allied Hospital, Faisalabad ...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
The motive behind the incident was stated to be an old rivalry between Arain and Dogar groups of Badu Mallhi in Sangla Sadar police jurisdiction. All the dear departed belonged to Arain group.
Later, the relatives of the dear departed blocked Pakistain Chowk at Sangla Hill by placing the bodies there for about two hours to protest the killings.
The police reached the spot and assured the protesters that the killers would be tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! soon. Following the assurance, the protesters dispersed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2013 00:00 ||
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Voice of America (VOA) is on track to eliminate all of its Persian-language editorial broadcasts to Iran if its supervisory board's 2014 budget recommendation is approved by Congress, according to an internal memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Rohani must have complained to Champ...
The development is part of a larger effort by management to quietly phase out the airing of official U.S. government policy positions on the taxpayer-funded international broadcast services, sources say.
Congress mandated in 1998 that VOA broadcast editorials reflecting the U.S. government's position as part of its public diplomacy mission. The policy office's editorials, which provide the government's stance on human rights and current foreign affairs issues, have long been a source of contention inside VOA and the International Broadcasting Bureau. Critics argue that the editorials detract from VOA's efforts to appear objective.
The Office of Policy, a five-person department at the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) that produces the official U.S. government editorials aired on VOA, would have its budget slashed by nearly half if the Broadcasting Board of Governors' proposal goes forward. The proposed cuts would "gravely impair" VOA's ability to fulfill its public diplomacy mission, gut the office staff, and potentially violate federal law, according to a May 31 memo sent from IBB's Office of Policy Director Charles Goolsby to IBB Director Richard Lobo.
When contacted by the Washington Free Beacon, Goolsby said he was not allowed to discuss the memo or how the proposed cuts would impact the policy office. A spokesperson for the Broadcasting Board of Governors said she would not comment on internal correspondence.
"[Goolsby] has one perspective on the budget as opposed to the larger agency," spokesperson Letitia King said. "We have advised him not to discuss an internal memo."
IBB Director Richard Lobo said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon that the funding would not violate VOA's congressional mandate.
Lobo said "The proposed reduction in funding for the Office of Policy in the President's FY14 budget request would not prevent VOA from meeting its legal requirements and is a component of the reductions in positions being proposed across the agency, including offices throughout the IBB.".
#1
sounds like they're on the NPR/BBC path - want to be gubbamint-funded yet free to be anti-American when they want "independent journalists". They should get jobs that aren't tax-payer paid
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/21/2013 8:53 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
